On the way to the airport, we stopped off at a restaurant on the harbor to have lunch with June. June was the woman my grandfather dated after his wife Connie died. She was like second grandma to me for a couple years when I was a kid. My grandfather died in 1988 when I was eleven and we kind of lost touch with her after that. I hadn't seen her twenty years and it was fantastic to catch up with her and her husband.
Also found a bunch of fantastic old photo albums. I snapped a couple of pics of my favorite pics. Here me with my parents and brother. I think this was from my 5th birthday - which would make it August 1981.
On Saturday afternoon, Meredith and I took the train out to my parents house in NJ so that we could spend Christmas with my fam! I brought along the Wii so that the whole family could play (which we ended up doing for hours on end). Here's my mom and brother getting ready to square off in tennis. But before they played, we decided that we all needed to...
On Thursday night my parents came in to town and I took them out to dinner. I look like my mother almost as much as my dad looks like Peter Griffin (The Family Guy). Hahah.
On Tuesday I met up with my brother, who was temporarily living in NYC for a few months while on a consulting gig, and our parents to go see The Producers on Broadway. It was AWESOME! (Thanks, Mom & Dad!).
On Sunday I took the train down to south Jersey to hang out with my family down at my parent's little shore house in Mannasqaun. Here's my brother and his lady Amy and my parents about to get their lunch on.
Something was wrong the can opener and my dad ended up having an epic battle against this can of cranberry sauce. Check my brother pointing at the mangled-ass shape the can was in when Pappi finally managed to get it open.
On Sunday Meredith and I took the train out to my Aunt and Uncle's house in Jersey to celebrate Easter with my fam. Here's Gram and my dad getting the bird ready. (Sure, I know what you're thinking...it's a steep transition to go from my balls next to some poor drunk girl's face right to Grandma carving up some delicious turkey to celebrate the resurrection of Christ, but that's just how I roll.)
I got up to help him out and was told that he didn't need any help "figuring out his own camera, Goddamnit!" So I took some photos of everyone waiting. Hahah.
On Monday (the day after my birthday) I went down to meet up with my parents and their little shorehouse near Long Beach Island in southern NJ. Here's my mom, brother, dad and Uncle Bruce chilling on the beach at LBI.
For Mother's Day I hopped the Linden EnJay Transit train to meet up with my parents at G-ma and G-pa's house. Happy Mother's Day! (PS - Sarah was so right on the money when she pointed out that my dad looks like Peter Griffin from the Family guy).
Dad, Brett and Bruce. Right after this picture was taken, Bruce turned to me and said "Hey, you're not working right now are you?" Me, "Nope, I'm still looking for an interesting job. Why, you know of something?" Bruce: "Nope, but I just realized that I have to go on a business trip and I'm not going to be able to make it to Aruba to use my timeshare there and it's too late to cancel. Do you want a free week at a nice resort in Aruba?" Me: "Ummm, yeah." Bruce: "Cool, if you can find cheap tickets on short notice, it's all yours." And that's how I ended up in Aruba during the last ten days of January 2004.
For Christmas day, my grandparents and one of my mom's sister's family (The Carricks) came to our house. Christmas dinner in the house y'all. When I say "Hey," you say "Ho!" Now when I say "Je" you say "sus!"
On Christmas Day it was snowing like crazy! We piled in the car and risked life and limb (literally!) to drive 45 minutes to Clark, NJ to eat Xmas dinner with my Grandparents and one of my mom's sisters and her family.
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