October in New Jersey--yes, I am way behind!

It's not a trip to Jersey without a jaunt down the shore, no matter what time of year.  Rich and I took a quick trip one day just for fun.  I believe we may have lost a little bit of money in one of the casinos after wandering the boardwalk and having a cheese steak.

 It's a little deserted in October!

 And a little chilly!

 We had lunch at my cousin Ruth Ann's one day.  Here's Rick and daughter Katie

 Mom and Ruth Ann

 "Enough with the photos!"

 Ruth Ann and Rick's oldest son Richard with his daughter Natalieanne.

Drove past my Grandmom and Grandpop's house, which always makes me sad.  Every time I see it, it is in worse and worse shape.  They were always so proud of it and kept it pretty with flower boxes and hanging flowers on the porch, along with a couple of green rocking chairs that we loved.  The yard was always fixed up and the house clean and painted.  We have a lot of history in that house.  Now the people who live there don't even know who my grandparents were.  Time marches on, I suppose.

 Mom's cute house decked out for fall.  Love the colors!

 On our last day we walked down to the deli in town and had some lunch with Patty and the kids before heading to the airport in Philly.

Becca and Billy

Billy's getting a little cold and hanging out in Alex's sweatshirt.  :)

Another nice visit comes to a close.  I always love going back to my Jersey roots.  :)

Living Life v. Blogging about it

As you can see, I have not documented anything in a long time.  I used to be pretty anal about wanting to get something up on the blog as soon as it happened.  Not that I have a ton of anxious readers awaiting my next post (thanks, Suzasippi, my one constant reader--I think even my family members have quit checking in!) but it's been a great way to remember our experiences over time.  I've been using Blog2Print to create blog books since the beginning and have a nice little collection of the past several years' stories and photos that we can glance through and reminisce about. So, I guess what I am saying is that it has become more for us than for anyone else, though I am always happy to have you come along.  :)  At one time, I thought I would be writing profound thoughts and ideas and tackling the problems of the day but I think I've ended up taking the easy road just highlighting what's happening in our lives.

So, although I am sitting in a hotel room in Jamaica during a rainstorm, I am going to finish up the New Jersey trip first and then try to catch things up.  What's been happening?  Lots of life and little of blogging!

After New York City and the Hudson Valley, we returned to my mom's house for a few more days.  As I've said before, New Jersey is the place that most feels like home to me, though I have only lived there for a few years on a couple of different occasions.  Perhaps because both my parents were from there and we had a large extended family, I feel some sense of rootedness even though I was a nomadic Air Force kid.

Only one of my siblings still lives in Jersey, my youngest brother Bill and his family.  Although we have vastly differing political and religious beliefs, he's always been my buddy and I think we both try to put aside our differences and just enjoy each other's company when we are together.  (We reserve our biggest arguments for Facebook. haha)  His wife Patty is always a big help to my mom and to one of our elderly aunts, and has a heart of gold when it comes to taking care of people.  Their kids are a blast, smart, fun, and funny.  So when we all got together to have some dinner and play a mean game of "Mexican Train," all kinds of hilarity ensued.  I have to admit, I thought "Mexican Train" sounded racist and was calling it "Train," but my mom sent Rich and me our own set and the official title emblazoned on the box reads "Mexican Train." So then I had to descend into the rabbit hole of research about the silly game and could not find a satisfactory answer about why it is called "Mexican Train."  Indeed, it is also just called "Train."  It apparently is derived from a Chinese game called Pai Gaw and has nothing to do with Mexico. Go figure.  I'd never played before but it was hilarious fun.

 Patty, Abby, Alex, Becca

 Abby, Alex, Becca

 Alex, Becca and my mom

 Rich, who seems to win every game we play, no matter what it is.

Something's funny!

 Boom!

 Billy

Bill and his kiddos

The females of the clan

Off to New Jersey!

We're down in New Jersey for a couple of weeks, visiting my mom and the rest of the NJ family.  No matter how far I roam, and no matter that I lived here for only a short percentage of my life, I will always be a Jersey girl at heart.  Both my parents grew up in NJ and although we were military and traveled quite a bit, we always called NJ our home base.  My maternal grandparents' home was the place we felt comfortable and secure even though we never had a long term home of our own.  My NJ aunts, uncles and cousins were somewhat of a mystery to me because we didn't grow up with them and were unaccustomed to their ways and traditions, but they were family and I always felt like this was where I belonged.  I spent two years at McGuire AFB, attending freshman and sophomore years of high school--a mixed memory of good times and teen angst.  :)  Even after living in Texas for many years, raising my girls there and making some of the best friends ever, I never considered myself a Texan and never felt that same sense of "home" that I have in "Jersey."

After the long flights from Unalaska to Anchorage to Seattle to Philadelphia (anyone who's been reading this blog for long knows THAT drill by now!), we were picked up by Mom and my niece Becca.  It was great to see them and to catch up with news on the way home.  Of course, we had to pick up hoagies for supper--that's what we do just about every time we come in!  My sister in law Patty and nephew Billy also came by to visit that night.

Rich and I took a walk around Laurel Springs one evening--the weather has been perfect, sunny and warm and you know I love that!  Mom grew up in Laurel Springs, my grandparents lived here until they died, I lived here with two of my daughters while going to grad school, so it's definitely the one place that has provided a lot of continuity in my life.  Here are a few photos from our walk.

Welcome to Laurel Springs!

I love all the big old houses here. They have so much character and each one is unique.

Skipping down my Mom's street!  Yes, I am happy to be here!

Lots of vibrant flowers still blooming...and another nice house

Laurel Lake, where the poet Walt Whitman enjoyed his mud baths back in the day

House, tree, owl, moon

Mom belongs to a "Red Hats" ladies group and October was her month to host the rest of the gang.  Rich cooked a fabulous lunch for them and I had a great time helping serve the guests and chatting with  them about Alaska.  A fun time was had by all!

 My Aunt Jeannette, my Aunt Mary, my Mom's cousin Louise and lots of Mom's fun friends

Aunt Mary and Mom

 My Uncle Tom came by to say hi

 My cousin Timmy and his lovely wife Brandi

My Aunt Mary and me

Another night, my brother Bill, his wife Patty and Mom joined us at Jose Garces' restaurant Amada in Philadelphia.  Rich and I ate at one of Garces' restaurants in Chicago and just LOVED it so we wanted to try this one as well.  We had a great selection of small plates that we shared amongst all of us and everything was fabulous.  Jose Garces is my favorite celebrity chef these days. I am a huge fan!  :)  If you ever have a chance to eat at any of his places, don't miss out!

More to come....

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!