the garden state

We had a very lovely weekend. Jonny and I took the toddlers up to New Jersey to visit family. My great-aunt, TeeSee, turned 80 and her daughters threw her a surprise party on Saturday afternoon.

It's so convenient, because both of our families are from New Jersey. Practically the same town, so it is a little funny.

So on Saturday, Jonathan and I got up at 4 am to load the car and wake the babies and get them settled in their car seats. Poor Blue looked so funny, with her hair all over the place and her puffy little face. Her voice was very gruff.

We left by 5 am and the kids were wonderful in the car! By 10:30 am we arrived in Bound Brook, at his aunt and uncle's house. I felt so bad because his Aunt Lizzy had made about 100 pounds of bacon and I had been munching on egg mcmuffins and cookies and combos in the car so I wasn't very hungry!

We had such a wonderful, wonderful time because first of all, his family is awesome, but also because his cousin, Jill, has a daughter who is the same age as Blue. Literally. They were born 7 days apart. They haven't been together since Grace's christening when the girls were 3 months old, so it was really cool to watch them playing. Uncle John kept calling them Pete and Repeat.


And none of his extended family had met the Lion yet! So, needless to say, they were quite taken with him. What can I say, he's a charmer!

Uncle John with the Lion

Aunt Lizzy and Uncle John have a swing in their back yard tied to a tree, and it is tied so high up the tree that you swing very far back and forth. Blue and Lion loved it. So, of course, Aunt Lizzy bought us the same swing and it is now hanging from a tree in our woods. It is so peaceful; I could swing all day--Jonny has a wooden swing for adults that we swap out on the same ropes.

Lion and my mother's cousin, Bill

We went to my great-aunt's party, which was lovely. It was so nice to see the family again, and to watch Blue play with her little cousin, Cooper, on my side of the family as well as with Gracie. And we spent the rest of the weekend at John and Lizzy's house.

I love New Jersey. I love that in Bound Brook, you can walk to everything. I love the bakeries. Jonathan had 6 bagels for breakfast on Sunday! God, you should have seen this one horrible thing he made himself--a bacon and butter sandwich on a salt bagel. I thought he'd have a heart attack right there on the spot.

I cannot get over how well-behaved the children were. The Lion did scream for about 2 hours on the ride home, which sucked, but we all survived. And it's not a long drive, really, so we hope to make it up there again!