Dustin's Visit

One of the few good things about a husband who travels all the time is that he certainly wracks up the frequent flyer miles. As a result we have been offering to fly in relatives for a visit for quite a while now, and finally they have started to take us up on the offer! Ryan's sister Missy has tickets to come out for Christmas, and about two weeks ago Dustin called and asked if we still had those frequent flyer miles. He has been staying with us for the last week and sadly leaves tomorrow morning.

It has been a really wonderful visit. Than was super excited before he got here, which we thought was pretty funny as the only time Than had ever seen Dustin was when he was 8 months old. Turns out one of the kids at preschool has a favorite Uncle who is one of his primary care givers, so he talks about his Uncle all the time. Therefore Than had grasped the concept that Uncles were awesome and he wanted one! Thankfully Uncle Dustin lived up to the hype. They have had a blast together. Though I do feel a little sorry for Dustin as he has had no peace since his arrival as Than will not leave him alone. The first thing he hears in the morning is "Uncle Dustin, Uncle Dustin! Wanna play toys?" and that is repeated all day. As usual this is great for us as Than leaves us alone to get other things done because we are nowhere near as fun as the newly imported relative.

The week is slightly a blurr but we were trying to find a balance between relaxing family time and actually going out to do a few fun or touristy things. We were determined not to overschedule the week so that it actually felt like a vacation for Dustin.

He arrived Friday night. On Saturday we mostly took it easy except for a brief excursion to the local farmer's market and grocery store.On Sunday our little family was scheduled to get our family photos done. We had been rained out more times than I can count so we were thrilled to finally get it done. We met the photographer at a local sugarhouse/ pumpkin patch/ corn maze. So we had an excuse to take Dustin to drive through the fall colors and get a bit of a taste of New England. It was a beautiful and surprisingly warm day that felt more like summer than fall.
I was also happy that I would be able to get her to take a few pictures of Dustin and I together and some of him with Than. We should get the photos soon and that will be a seperate post. Than was a little uncooperative so it will be interesting to see the pictures and how they turned out.

On Monday we went to Newport and did the Cliff walk. We all really enjoyed it and Dustin loved seeing the water, cliffs, and mansions. Than enjoyed the fact that except for when he was climbing the rocks I don't think he walked more than 10 steps total. He managed to sucker Dad and Dustin into carry him the whole time.

Second only to the sight of him playing with Than, this is how we most frequently saw Dustin. On the phone talking to his girlfriend. At least he had the chance to do it somewhere with a pretty view...

My incredibly tall brother, slouching.

After we finished up with the walk we went down to the main drag in Newport for a nice lunch. Which included a bonus of a parade going past where we were eating that we had no idea would be happening. Than was thrilled.

Tuesday night I had an appointment in the evening and Dustin went with me so we could go out to dinner afterwards. It was great. We went for sushi, had yummy food and continued to catch up.

On Thursday we went to the Aquarium. As always Than wanted to show off his buddy Juno the whale. Which actually led to one of the funniest things I have ever seen. God I wish I had it on video. Juno was in rare form. He is usually fun because unlike the other whales he seems to be fascinated by and genuinely interested in interacting with people. But he seems to have learned a new trick. On the day we went he was hanging out right by the glass and making silly slightly aggressive faces at people (children in particular) like this:

Juno saying "Boo!"

Now Than watched Juno do this several times, like to this little girl and then he swam away. So Than went up to the glass to watch Juno swim back around. I'm not sure exactly what happened next but I think he looked back toward Dustin and I. When he turned to look back in the tank Juno was right up against the glass next to Than, making that "Boo!" face at him. Than screamed and flipped out running towards me until he was hiding behind my legs. Now I know Than was intentionally hamming it up like we do when we pretend scare each other at home, but it was still hysterically funny. Everyone there started laughing.













Dustin and Than in the "Alvin"


After that we took Dustin to the shops at Mystic Village for him to find a gift for his girlfriend. We also had to make a stop at the duck pond, Than insisted. Also hysterical, watching Than try to sneak up on a duck.






Than was very easily distracted by ducks so I was demonstrating, and then planned to back away. Dustin thought this was funnier.

On Friday we just stayed at home on a very rainy day and enjoyed the last day of his visit. Dustin spent much of it on the floor playing with Than's cars and construction equipment all of which now turn into Devastator since Than saw part of the Transformers movie. I think Dustin will be very happy to not hear about Devastator for a long time.

So in summary, it was a wonderful visit and we won't let it be as long before his next visit. It was so nice to be able to just sit and talk for hours, something we haven't been able to do in years.