Take Me Home

Wow... I can not believe it but we are FINALLY home! and I finally have internet! WOOHOO... I can't believe how addicted I am to this computer! We were only gone 2 weeks, but it feels like a lifetime since I've updated this blog!

Our trip was so nice. We got to see so many of our family and friends and introduce them to Rachel. We were sorry to miss many others. We tried to fit it all in, but that's never possible. We basically saw everyone who we got to make arrangements with in advance. Some others either we never heard back from or we just ran out of time! Hopefully, we will be able to work something out next time!

Ok, So here we go.... I'm going to try to sum up the rest of our trip... We already covered thru Christmas, so we'll pick up from Cape Cod.

I already mentioned that we were going to Shanghai Tokyo... well it was as awesome as ever! It was a great time. The wait staff also adored her and were even nice enough to babysit a while so we could eat!
Sunday was wonderful. All the kids were there, and Kea & Kalea even put on a show for us! It was terrific! and they are just too cute. We had a terrific time with everyone! Rachel really loved playing with all her new toys and the kitty cats! She actually learned how to say "Hi Kitty" while we were there! How cool is THAT!
As usual, Rachel ate everything under the sun... she had her first tastes of a standing rib roast and roast duck... loved them both!

Monday night we watched some old family movies... REALLY old... reel to reels... it was really great. we also looked at some old slides... that was my favorite part because there were slides of my grandmother and Aunt Bella... Marla is going to make copies of some of them for me.
After movies and slides, we decided to have a few drinks and play pictionary... let's just say that was FAR more fun than I remember! LOL... Tommy & I won the game too! (ok, so they gave us a break since we came in when they had already been half way around the board!) We laughed so hard, it hurt!

It was really hard to say goodbye, but we had to leave there Tuesday morning to head up to north NJ. We stopped along the way to pick up some deli (one of the many items on our food to-do list for the trip) and brought it up with us to have with Brian & Debbie for dinner. it was VERY yummy (not the Carnegie, but it certainly was delicious all the same!)

New Years Eve was spent at Zulema's house! It was terrific seeing her parents too. We had a terrific time with all of them. The only problem was when it was time to leave! The dirt road leading to Z's house had frozen over and we were stuck... so everyone came out from the party to push the van half way up the hill to get us out! It was an adventure, but fun anyway... for US... not for everyone PUSHING!! LOL..

The day after was lazy day... I don't think I even got out of my pajamas all day! But we were all hurting pretty bad (no hangovers... just old pains... ) so we opted to relax.
The day after that we stopped to see one of Tommy's oldest friends Ed and his family.... that was terrific. They have 4 kids, 3 of which were home when we were there, and they were so sweet...
we also went to see Tommy's Aunt & Uncle, and to see his Mom again before heading home.

Rachel gets her first piano lesson! She sure did take to Jesse Lee & Kate! I may be wrong, but I REALLY think she was flirting with Jesse!

Wait till she realizes she doesn't go on her first date for another 30 years! :-)














Rachel gets her first taste of SNOW! We were at Brian & Debbie's place in northern NJ and New Years Eve day brought a beautiful snowfall. Rachel even made a snow angel with her daddy! I hope to post a video of some of her playtime, but that will come later...

Rachel got to play with Aunt Z's puppy dogs! She loved all the good food Aunt Z made too!

One of the best parts of the whole trip was when we were on our way home. We got to stop to visit with Rachel's cribmate Alexis! The girls got to play together for a little while before we had to hit the road again to head for home.