On the morning of the big day, everyone let me sleep in while they went out for breakfast. Meredith took this photo of my parents coming in to wake me up! Haha.
Time to check in and see how everyone's feeling after Ming Dynasty Buffet! My mom was totally full but my dad was fine. (He is the kind of person responsible for the restaurant's need to alter the MAXIMUM BUFFET TIME hours. Haha)
After dinner, my parents came downtown to our place so they could say hi to the dogs. Maddy is a face licker with a long reach so you have to be careful or she'll French you before you know what hit you.
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.
Mom and dad getting ready to empty their stockings. Christmas is the one time of the year when my mom explicitly buys my dad candy - the rest of the year she gives him a hard time every single time he wants to have a treat. Look how excited he is to get his candy on. Awesome.
It's like a photo of Peter Griffin going skiing! (PS - Remember when Fatty and I borrowed all my parents old ski gear to go skiing and it ended up looking like we were going to an 80s party in Williamsburg?)
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.
Check out the my mom and dad in 1975! (Grant, check out my dad wearing BIG BLUE! Big Blue is a ski jacket that I found in my dad's closet and fell in love with and wore it for like 10 years in a row and always caught flack for. Hahah. God, I love that jacket.)
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 Saturday night my parents came into town for the day! After walking around and having lunch in our neighborhood, we went back to our apartment so my parents could try out our new Wii! My mom actually played a video game and liked it!
The next morning, we got up bright and early and drove down to my parent's little shore house in Beach Haven West. After dropping off our bags, we grabbed some towels and headed to the beach on Long Beach Island.
...my mom and dad. My mom kept hiding her face because it was really early in the morning and she didn't have any make up on and she told me that she "didn't want the Internets to see her this way." Hahaha.
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.
My parents recently bought a new house down in Florida that's right on a golf course and since then my dad's pulling out all the stops trying to get my mom more involved in golf.
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.
And who's this handsome disco couple? (Seriously, you haven't lived until you've seen my dad do his disco hand shuffle on the dance floor. It's what happiness is made of).
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).
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!"
Thursday afternoon, I hopped in the car with my parents (minus little brother Brett, who lives out in Indiana and went to his girlfriend's parent's house in Ohio for Thanksgiving) and headed to my Aunt Elaine and Uncle Wayne's house in Clark, NJ.
On the day before my birthday, my mom and dad came into New York City (from Jersey) and took Grant, Tara and myself out for a birthday dinner at Epicurie in the LES.
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.
After visiting with Ann and Walt - we hopped in the car and headed north for the Battjer's Annual Trip to Church™ (Christmas Eve services at midnight, baby).
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