Last of New Jersey Trip--More Family Fun

My Mom's cute house and colorful mums in front

My niece Kristinn and her two adorable kids, Sofia and Gabe, came to visit after we returned from NYC.  They live in Virginia and had a three day weekend so we were happy to get to see them.  Kristinn is my sister's oldest child.

Sofia Jane

Kristinn and Gabriel

We had a great dinner at Bill and Patty's one night.  My Aunt Gin joined us. She was married to my Uncle Kirby, my dad's brother, who is no longer with us.  He was our fun uncle and always kept us laughing. Aunt Gin has lots of stories as well and a heart of gold.

Kristinn, Mom and Kathi

Mom and her two daughters

My great nephew Gabriel and my nephew Billy. Funny that they are only a few years apart!

My niece Becca

Bill had added an app called "Funny Movie Maker" and had us all laughing so hard.  It's pretty hilarious. You can choose various pictures (political figures, animals, cartoons), insert your own mouth into the photo and talk.  Kinda like those characters that Conan will sometimes do on late night TV.  I guess you had to be there, but we were all rolling.

Another day, Kathi, Mom and I had lunch at my cousin Ruth Ann's.  It was great to catch up and we were sorry we didn't get to see any of the rest of her family.

Then we had lunch with my Aunt Jeannette, Uncle Tom and cousin Pat. Aunt Jeannette is my mom's sister.  It was fun to hear all their family news, too. 

And we met up with Bill and Patty one night to have dinner with some more cousins. Whew! We have a huge family and only saw a small fraction of them. 

  Mom and Kathi

 My cousin Mary Jane with Bill, Kathi and me

Mary Jane's daughter Suzanne and her daughter Claire

Before we knew it, our visit had come to a close!  Mom had made plans to go on a "Road Scholar" trip to Delaware before I had to change my ticket so she actually left the day before Kathi and I did.  We saw her off and told her we were going to have a wild party at her house, leaving broken beer bottles on the carpet, tearing up a few lampshades, and throwing trash everywhere.  :)  Instead, we did the laundry, straightened up, and went out to dinner with Bill and Patty.  Oh, we are so old and sedate these days. LOL

I took Kathi to the airport at lunch time, came back home and did a few more things, then Patty took me  to Philly to catch my flight that evening.  I had a long flight (6 hours) from Philly to Seattle, but the middle seat was empty so my other seat mate and I could spread out a bit. I actually rented a digiplayer, which I never do, but I didn't think I could read through the whole flight.  I watched "Rock of Ages," which was pure campy silliness set to '80's music, but I really enjoyed it.   I had read several reviews about Tom Cruise doing a great job in the movie, which I pooh-poohed since I am not such a Tom Cruise fan.  However, I have to admit that he rocked it in a weird sort of way.  :)  Then I was able to get onto the internet so that helped me while away the rest of the flight. I overnighted in Seattle where I had a room at the Doubletree near the airport for $70  (yay, priceline) and vegged out.  Had an early morning flight to Anchorage and the plane was SO empty that most of us had all three seats to ourselves.  Wow.  I laid down and slept for a couple of hours. Arrived in ANC at 10:40 AM and was scheduled for a 2 PM flight home.  Sat in the airport on weather hold till 4 PM, then we were officially cancelled due to bad weather in Unalaska. Ugh.  Had to find a hotel and was really tired because of major jet lag and my early morning flight.  Checked in, got some dinner, watched the VP debate (love me some Joe!) and crashed.  Back to the airport at 8 AM on Friday, left at 9 for a supposed "non stop flight" that got diverted to Cold Bay because of more bad weather. Sat in Cold Bay till maybe 4 PM, one flight got sent back to ANC and we were sure we were doing the same, but after a little while longer, the pilot said we were loading up and going to "try" to get to Unalaska. That made my stomach churn because I hate those difficult approaches, circling, circling, and then trying to land.  However, once we got below the clouds, it didn't seem windy at all and we had no problem.  Yay!  Home!