[6.1] East Coast Update

Hey, all. Apologies for the delay and lack of posts for the last two weeks, but East Coast things were afoot. We've got lots to catch up on including our weekend in NJ, my trip to Myrtle Beach, and my parents visit to Seattle so we'll take this in manageable chunks. We flew into Newark on Friday and after dropping off our things at my parents house, we headed into Hoboken for dinner with the gang. Some highlights of the dinner:

• Watching the bug-filled Yankees/Cleveland game while waiting for our table
• Finally meeting Jack's new girlfriend, the lovely Monica
• Preparing Monica for her introductory meeting with Jack's parents that Wednesday
• Getting our Hoboken updates
• Sharing stories of Earle and Kelli's visit to Seattle
• Hearing about Tommy's escapades of that day (his "luncheon" for work caused him to show up late for our 8:30PM dinner reservation as there was some Patron involved)
• The always excellent fare at City Bistro

And what trip back to Hoboken would be complete without an after dinner drink or two at Ted n' Jo's?

The next day was Auntie's surprise party, which was the premise for our trip to NJ. She was mostly shocked, but she was a bit tipped off to at least part of the surprise. Earlier in the morning, we were telling my eight-year-old niece, Hope, what to say when she called to wish Auntie a Happy Birthday. After all, Auntie did not know that the family was coming up from Virginia. We ran through several dry runs and reinforced to Hope that if Auntie asked where she was to tell her that she was at home. Well, apparently Hope drove that point home on the call, telling Auntie several times during the call that the whole family was at home in Virginia. Auntie was a bit suspicious. But even if she had some inkling that Brian, Jen, Hope, and Justi were coming from Virginia, she had no idea that Lisa and I were making the trip from Seattle.

The whole day was a blast, particularly having the time to spend with our two year-old nieces, Justi and Hailey. After the birthday lunch at Bella Notte we headed back to the parents' house for some more family time. Just look below to see how comfortable Lisa looks with Justi.