I have been visiting family in Connecticut for the last 5 days. My kiwi grandfather's sister Betty met the dashing American Jimmy when he was stationed in New Zealand during the war, and she moved to America to start a new life and family. She had three children, Jim, Phyllis and Barbara, and this is the family I went to visit. She has never forgotten or given up her links to New Zealand, and even at 88 is sharp as a tack and full of family history. Much of the 5 days was spent telling stories and looking at family photos and spending time together talking about our lives now.

Jim came to visit from Vermont, and Barbara lives close by in Hartford, but Phyllis was not well enough to leave Boston. They are all good people, and it was nice to have some family time.

We did manage two outings - the first to the new science museum of Hartford, a sprawling modern structure in town, but what we didn't know was it was tailored to children and it was swarming with them. I did find things of interest there, many items were invented or manufactured in this state first, like submarines. There was an interesting display about space equipment and exploration, but it was a little disappointing.

The other thing we did as a group was a daytrip to mystic seaport. Mystic is a beautiful historical village on the coast of Connecticut famous as a historical sea port and as the location for the movie "mystic pizza" with Julia Roberts.

The seaport is now preserved as a historical village with the focus firmly on boats and the sea. There were very interesting displays of village life, rope making factories, ship building, and sea medicine.

We had lunch in the cute town centre, I picked an Italian restaurant and it was a really good choice, authentic food and atmosphere. I treated the family and I think this was a new experience for them which is good, and I was really happy with the food we got.

The days flew by very quickly, then it was time to say goodbye and catch the train back to New York, and start to get organised to return home. I have decided to go back on Sunday, but still have to pack, clean the apartment, have farewell drinks with people, and do the last few things on the list to do. But now that Zara has been born, it seems right to return home, exactly 2 months after I left.