The Hamptons!

So crazy.  Can't believe we just spent the last 4 days in the Hamptons of all places.  Really had no real frame of reference for where we were going other than Royal Pains and HankMed, and what you see and hear about in movies.  I assure you....it's all TRUE!  It's kinda unbelieveable.   First let me explain how we ended up there.  Scott's godparents, Paul and Eunice, grew up with his parents in Brooklyn.  They remained friends even after Sue and Allan moved to Austin.  They are seriously some of my favorite people, they feel like family.  Eunice is possibly my idol for how I want to be at her age.  Totally comfortable in her own skin, says what she thinks and her world centers around her family.  She is also 100% New Yorker in every sense of the word!  So, they have an apartment in Manhattan and a house in Montauk (what we think of as the Hamptons) and invited us and Scott's dad and sister to come stay for the week.  We then just centered the rest of our road trip around our time with them.  This was our first time to go to the house in Montauk and boy were we in shock!  The whole drive in is adorable.  Fresh fruit stands, specialty markets, local restaurants, boutiques.  It's very wooded, which suprised me.  You can't see any houses.  They are all down these quaint little gravel lanes and buried in the most beautiful, lush greenery.  This is the front of Paul and Eunice's...

This is the only picture I could really get of the front of the house.  You can't stand far enough in the front to get the whole thing.  They are very tightly nestled in the trees...

And, the best part...the view from the deck...

They have a deck with an infinity edge pool and one incredible view of Long Island Sound. But, the coolest thing about the house is that it was clearly all about the grandkids.  Toys, books, pool toys, ping pong, pool table, wii, a crib in one bedroom, their artwork displayed in the kitchen.  That whole house was built so that they could have all 3 of their kids, all their grandkids, and extended family in one place at the same time.  So they could all be together.  They are such a wonderful example.
Here is the back view of the house...

So, for the last 4 days here is what we've done...

 The first day the heater hadn't had a chance to heat the pool up yet, so since the water was a bit chilly, they decided to try canoeing in the pool instead of swimming!

 Mandy paddling with a pool noodle!

 Coffee and my book in the morning.  A little wine and my book in the evening.  The weather was crisp in the morning and evening.  The high was probably 74 most days.

Oh..we did go to the beach one day...

I had the best time hanging out with Scott's sister Robyn and her friend Crystal!!

Our driver (Scott's dad!) drove Robyn, Crystal and I into Sag Harbor one day for lunch.  We had the best lobster roll ever...

We ate outside by the marina...

Then our driver took us shopping in East Hampton.  It's hard to explain what the shopping is like.  It's this super quaint little main street type area, but instead of touristy shops, it's Tiffany, Salvatore Ferragamo, Louis Vuitton, Ralph Lauren (He lives in Montauk).

We had to pick up a rental car at the East Hampton airport Friday afternoon.  Wasn't prepared for that experience.  It was 5:00 and while I waited in the car, watched 3 helicopters and 2 private planes land.  They were delivering the wealthy from NYC for the weekend.  We're not talking Love Field here, more like the Rockwall airport.  This is one of the 100 (yes, 100) porches that Jerry Seinfeld owns.  They park a different one in this spot every weekend so that it's there when he lands and all he has to do is walk out and get in it.  No joke.

They took us to an amazing little place for dinner on Friday night.  While we were there, Eunice explained that the last time they were there with my in-laws, they saw John Travolta and Steven Spielberg. I've learned all kinds of things this week:  "The Hamptons" are several small, very small towns next to each other...West Hampton, South Hampton, East Hampton and Bridgehampton. Also, Agamanset, Sag Harbor and Montauk.  All right next to each other.  Montauk is known as "The End", because it is. Literally. No more towns after it, the eastern (?)most point of NY.  We were there a little early in "The Season" which is the 23rd of June until after Labor Day. You can rent a "modest" house like Paul & Eunice's (not sure who came up with the definition of modest up here) for 6 weeks during "the season" for $150,000.

 The Montauk lighthouse is one of the oldest in New England...

We said goodbye to Paul and Eunice and left this morning.  Reluctantly so.  We took two short ferry rides from the South Fork of Long Island to the North Fork.  We strolled around Greenpoint for a little while until time for our reservation on the bigger ferry that took us to New London, Connecticut.

The first Greenpoint kindergarten, built in 1810 .

We are spending the night in Mystic, Connecticut.  For you 80's movie fans, this is the home of Mystic Pizza, Julia Roberts first movie.  Gonna hang around here for a little while tomorrow and then head to Cape Cod.

The kids are getting homesick.  Mandy always wants to go home about now, but this year so do Thomas and Grace.  They really miss their friends.  This may be one of the last years it's just the 5 of us for this long.  Makes me cherish it all that much more.

Blessings,

Leslie