MOVING TO NEW BLOG ADDRESS

We are transferring our blog to a new web address. This blog will still be open, but new posts will no longer be put on this blog. Please visit our new blog at www.thegroveadventures.blogspot.com The new blog also has all our old posts from here, but the address will be more accurate going forward (since we are no longer in St Maarten). Thanks for keeping up with us and we hope you continue to follow our adventures in London and beyond!

Winter in Connecticut

Well this is our last post from the States. We leave for England on January 8. It's been a great few months back with family and friends. Here's what our Christmas season looked like. First was Christmas in the Valley at our church. I was asked to coordinate the volunteers for the event. This is a 3 night event with 400+ guests each night. I've been working the behind the scenes in the kitchen since I was 12, so it was great to have such a prominent role. It was a lot of fun and everything went really well.

After our trip to Michigan, we drove through the night to get back to Connecticut for Christmas tree hunting. My brother, his girlfriend, and our best friends (Evan & Michelle Brunetti) all went out to a Christmas tree farm and cut down trees for our houses. We used to do this ever year with the Brunettis, so it was a lot of fun to have the chance to do this again. The decorating was also up to us. My brother and his girlfriend did the lights on the tree, we did the garland, and put up all our ornaments. It's always fun to go through the ornaments and memories.

Some other highlights from Christmas, include seeing the Bright Lights show in Springfield, MA. It was a huge drive through light show.  Lots of baking (80+ sugar cookies, red velvet cake, coconut-lime cupcakes, etc). Christmas eve with the Brunettis. A white Christmas morning! We also saw A Christmas Carol at the Hartford Stage and the Trans-Siberian Orchestra, what a great show! Owen hiked Mount Washington in New Hampshire with a friend (will post pictures when we get some). And Owen's little sisters (Tore & Virginia Dowling...now you're famous ;) ) visited for a few days just after Christmas. He took his youngest sister on an overnight backpacking trip in the snow and we all went to Boston one day.

It's been a great time back in the states for these few months. Thanks to everyone who hosted us, made time to visit, and provided a great time for us. We will miss everyone but are looking forward to the next chapter and all that London has to offer. Stay tuned for the London adventures!

For more pictures, visit our Picasa album Stateside

First Snow

Christmas in the Valley

Christmas trees with family & friends

My best friend

My brother and his girlfriend

The finished product

Bright Lights Springfield, MA

The Griswold House (video on the picasa link)

Christmas eve and nurf guns

White Christmas!

Trans Siberian Orchestra

Huge tree in Boston

For Tore Dowling....hope this makes you famous ;)

Heading out for backpacking (

Canada & Michigan

T-Rex at the ROM

November was a crazy month. Owen took his Step 1 exam at the beginning of November. After that, we finally had some free time. We took 2 weeks and headed to Canada and Michigan. Owen's good friend/best man in our wedding lives just outside of Toronto. We hadn't seen Chris in a while or spent any time with his fiance. We were fortunate that they had the weekend free and we were able to stay with them. On Saturday, we headed into Toronto for a day of exploring. There was a dinosaur exhibit at Royal Ontario Museum, so of course the boys couldn't pass that up. It was actually pretty cool, I especially like the lighting on the dinosaurs, made for some cool pictures.  Aside from that, we went for a hike, cooked a lot, and had a relaxing weekend catching up with them.

After Canada, we headed to Michigan for Thanksgiving and catching up with Owen's family. We had 2 very nice Thanksgivings, one with Owen's dad and stepmom and one with his mom and sisters. We saw several of his extended family members for dessert that night. It was a little strange not to host Thanksgiving after doing so on the island the last 2 years, but I did get to do some cooking. Aside from Thanksgiving, we went rollerblading at an indoor place, went to a kid's science museum, watched a bunch of movies, Owen did some mountain biking with his dad, lots of shopping, and a lot of hanging out with family. We also made it out to his Grandparents' house on the western edge of Michigan, near the lake, which was really nice to spend a little time "in the country." We also had the chance to meet up with some friends from the island who are doing clinicals in the Detroit area. It was really nice to see them, one of whom did rotations in England, so we got some good insight from him. Looks like clinicals will be a lot better!

By the time we got back from our trip, November was over. We drove straight through the night back to CT and went out with my brother, his girlfriend, and our good friends to cut down Christmas trees. Pictures of that and the holidays in CT to follow in the next post. Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving and are having a great Christmas season so far. Thanks again to everyone in Michigan for hosting us and to Chris and Andrea in Canada.

Giganotosaurus at the ROM

Us, Chris & Andrea, Madeline & Andrew

CN Tower at sunset

Sugar Spiced Pecans, an old recipe from church dinners

Testing out homemade cranberry sauce

The Spread

Owen's little sister inside a bubble

At Impression 5 in Lansing

Owen's Grandparents

Birdwatching at his Grandparents' house

Some nice sunsets

Traffic on the highway in PA was stopped while a helicopter rigged up some guys to do work on the power lines.

Fall in the States

Well we are a little overdue for an update so here's what we've been up to on the first part of our break from medical school. This will just be a quick post of the highlights from September/October. A more detailed post, with school updates, and more recent happenings/pictures will follow soon.

Highlights

• Spending time at my family's lake house - waterskiing, bonfires, movies on the lawn
• Camping, hiking, backpacking
• I went to NYC for a day with some friends
• 5K at my college homecoming with a good friend
• Pumpkin carving party at our friends' place
• Planted lots of mums
• Went to the Keene pumpkin festival
• Tried Maine lobster for the first time
• Owen cut down a bunch of trees in the backyard
• Lots of relaxing and spending time with family and friends

Jumping the wake

My bro trying waterskiing

Owen's Sweet Wipeout

Waterfalls on our hikes

NYC

Roof top sculpture at the Met

Times Square

Alison and me at the Gordon College Homecoming 5K

In front of our Freshmen Year Dorm

So many mums!

Pirates of the Caribbean ;)

I love New England Fall

View from the Lake House in the fall

Drew from Property Brothers! Filming Pumpkin Wars special

Maine Lobster (we thought the caribbean was actually better)

Fall hike at Pinnacle

The result of the trees Owen and my bro cut down with chainsaws