We're back...again!

We got back last night from our trip to New England. Deirdre, my cousin closest to me in age, got married in her hometown in Selden, New York, (on Long Island) and I was a bridesmaid. It was a traditional Catholic wedding, so needless to say, we had tons of fun! Most of that side of the family lives on various parts of New England, so it was so nice to get to see them all and for Josh to get to know them better. Because they live so far away, Josh had only seen them at our wedding. He was a trooper and really tried to get to know everyone, which really meant a lot to me. He was fascinated by the culture up there and all of the accents of my family. They liked his, too! We had a wonderful time and got to see many beautiful places. Last Friday, while the girls did wedding stuff, my dad, brother, brother-in-law, and Josh drove through the Hamptons and out to Montauk Point. That is the very end of Long Island and is beautiful. That night everyone came together for the Rehearsal Dinner, and my mom, aunts, sister, and I sang "May You Always". The next day was the wedding. One of the neat things about this wedding was that Deirdre's fiance (now husband) was from Finland, so his family and friends all came over from Finland. His sister, Jenny (pronounced Yenni) Vartiainen, is a famous rock/pop star over there! I asked her tons of questions about fame (she could speak English very well) and the business. She is dating the #2 wedding dress/jewelry designer in Finland and told me of how they'll kiss in public and it's all over the news. If you know me at all, you know that I was in awe of all of that! Anyways, back to our trip. Sunday, my sister, brother-in-law, niece, brother, Josh, and I took a ferry over to Conneticut and drove to Newport, Rhode Island. That is the incredibly beautiful town where my parents met. We ate incredible New England clam chowder, shopped, and did some sight-seeing. After that, we headed to my aunt and uncle's house on the Cape. This was my favorite place to go growing up, so I was sooo excited to be back there and show it all to Josh. The Cape is a fun place to go to either use as a base to travel around to places like Martha's Vineyard, Nantucket, etc., or to just stay and do fun things like go out on the river behind their house, walk to the beach, etc. Josh got initiated into our family the second night we were there by eating raw clams! Everyone in our family has to do that, but the funny thing was that they didn't realize that I had never done it before. I kind of snuck by! I decided, though, when I was there to come clean, and I tried it with him. It was not too bad (I drowned it with cocktail sauce), but the texture really got to me. We had fresh lobster twice and delicious ice cream every night. The Cape has a place called Sundae School with incredible ice cream and a neat atmosphere. I had withdrawals last night when we got back! It's a good thing that we don't have it here, though! We only made one outing, since it was a short visit, to Chatham, one of my favorite places to go for shopping up there. As much as I love it up there, I was very happy to come home to our part of the country and get back to normal life! I will post pictures later from the trip.