Laura,
Our thoughts and prayers will be with you and your son. Hope all goes well.
One of Karen's and my favorite places to visit in Connecticut is the village of Mystic. Love Old Mystic Seaport, with its' 19th century buildings, the whaleship Charles W. Morgan and other tall ships, and of course, Mystic Seaport Lighthouse!
http://www.mysticseaport.org/
There is also a very good aquarium
http://www.mysticaquarium.org/
as well as the Olde Mistick Village,
http://www.oldmysticvillage.com/
a really nice shopping area that you can walk through where all of the shops are contained in little cottages. Mystic also has a nice downtown/waterfront district that you can stroll through and do some shopping. And oh, yeah, there's always Mystic Pizza!
http://www.mysticpizza.com/restaurants.aspx
Doesn't look like the one in the movie, but there are all kinds of photos and other stuff from the movie. Food is also real good! If you like steaks, the Steak Loft Restaurant is outstanding (if you can even get near the place). We always stay at The Hyatt Place. It's right off I-95 and you can walk to the Olde Mistick Village Shops and the aquarium on a nice day. Great rooms, and we can usually get a great price at Priceline or one of the other similar sites.
http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-...onnecticut.html
They also have shuttles that take you to the Foxwoods Casino. Even if you don't gamble, Foxwoods is a great place to visit.
http://www.foxwoods.com/
Mystic is also just down the road from Route 1 which is pretty much the seacoast route that follows the entire state.