The day after Christmas, we drove way down to south Jersey (by Philly) to have dinner with my dad's brother and his family. Here's my dad with his brother Bruce and Bruce's girlfriend Elyse.
See those two guys carrying the raft in the background? They kept climbing into the raft together, paddling out a few feet into the water, then getting absolutely hammered by giant waves. They'd wash up on the shore, coughing and sputtering, laugh like fucking loons, then paddle back out and do it again. Beavis and Butthead are alive and well in Jersey, baby. If only my batteries hadn't died.
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.
Look! It's the other Battjers! Chris, Bruce and Steve. After getting suited up and noshing for a bit (ok, and having a few warm up drinks) it was time to head over to the country club where the wedding ceremony was being held.
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.
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
