Road Trip: New Jersey Family Time
Friday June 23rd:
I got to scoot out of work early and I raced home, knowing we had to hit the road as quickly as possible. I had already called and ordered our dinner; my mom had run out and grabbed it as I commuted home. Bobby met us at my house and we jumped into my mom's Rav-4.
The ride down was uneventful: little traffic and only some spotted showers. I slept for almost half the ride (as I always seem to do on long car rides). Bobby was content in the back seat with his mangas and Goldfish crackers.
The drive to my grandma's house typically takes us about five hours and it took us a little less than that this time. We dropped my mom off, said hello to my grandma, made a pit stop, and then Bobby and I headed for my aunt and uncle's house which is about twenty minutes further south.
My little ten year old cousin Ryann had waited up for us.
Saturday:
My cousin had somehow gotten it in her head that she and I were going to make chocolate chip pancakes that specific morning. And as I had predicted, I suddenly was doing all the cooking and the ten year-old was eating her weight in chocolate chips. It gave me the chance to spend some quality time with her which I'm always up for, so no complaints here.
We hung out for a little while in the living room watching TV and catching up. My aunt had mentioned a new coffee shop that had opened around the corner and suggested we go try it. She, however, refused to get out of her pajamas and sent us on a coffee retrieval mission without her.
The shop was small and quaint; it has no inside seating or serving - only the outside window for walk-up ordering, with some small picnic tables and benches. I ordered a large iced coconut iced coffee and it was delicious.
Killian is a very mild-mannered infant so he was a good test subject for Bobby. He was more than content to hang onto Bobby's shoulder and kept pointing at Bobby's Star Wars t-shirt. The two laughed together, and I thought my heart would explode from the adorableness of it all. Bobby and I have agreed we don't want kids, but I'd like to think that if we changed our minds or if we were to babysit my sister's future children, they would be in good hands.
My cousins all had places to go and people to see, so after a few hours we decided to go off on an adventure. Ryann dragged us to a type of indoor amusement park where she habitually frequents, and never fails to leave without a stuffed animal. My mom and grandma were a little bored, but everyone remained good-humored about it and Bobby ended up decimating my uncle at video arcade games. We killed a few hours there and then went out to dinner. Everyone enjoyed our time together and I was so grateful that my family had behaved themselves (LOL).
About half of this side of my family had already met Bobby, and enjoyed getting to know him much more in-depth. The ones who hadn't met Bobby, my aunt and uncle whom we had stayed with specifically, all agreed immediately that he was meant to be a part of our family: like a puzzle piece that fits snugly into place.
Sunday:
We packed up first thing in the morning and went to my paternal grandmother's for breakfast. This grandmother hadn't met Bobby yet and she a million questions for him. My aunt came up from her home in southern Jersey; unfortunately her daughter/my cousin Aimee and her husband couldn't make the trip from Philly but they invited us to visit soon! It was a quick few hours, but we had to hit the road. Unfortunately we hit some major traffic headed home and ended up crawling for most of the trip.
It was a very short trip to NJ and back, but we had a great time and it gave my extended family the opportunity to spend some time with Bobby and get to know him. I'm always grateful for my family, but I am mostly grateful to have one at all. And to have a family who welcomed the love of my life with open arms.
I got to scoot out of work early and I raced home, knowing we had to hit the road as quickly as possible. I had already called and ordered our dinner; my mom had run out and grabbed it as I commuted home. Bobby met us at my house and we jumped into my mom's Rav-4.
The ride down was uneventful: little traffic and only some spotted showers. I slept for almost half the ride (as I always seem to do on long car rides). Bobby was content in the back seat with his mangas and Goldfish crackers.
The drive to my grandma's house typically takes us about five hours and it took us a little less than that this time. We dropped my mom off, said hello to my grandma, made a pit stop, and then Bobby and I headed for my aunt and uncle's house which is about twenty minutes further south.
My little ten year old cousin Ryann had waited up for us.
Saturday:
My cousin had somehow gotten it in her head that she and I were going to make chocolate chip pancakes that specific morning. And as I had predicted, I suddenly was doing all the cooking and the ten year-old was eating her weight in chocolate chips. It gave me the chance to spend some quality time with her which I'm always up for, so no complaints here.
We hung out for a little while in the living room watching TV and catching up. My aunt had mentioned a new coffee shop that had opened around the corner and suggested we go try it. She, however, refused to get out of her pajamas and sent us on a coffee retrieval mission without her.
The shop was small and quaint; it has no inside seating or serving - only the outside window for walk-up ordering, with some small picnic tables and benches. I ordered a large iced coconut iced coffee and it was delicious.
We returned to the house to relax in our pajamas, knowing that my grandmother had set a very strict deadline of 12 noon when she would be expecting us. We took our time, played on our phones, chatted and caught up on life, watched the beginning of the live-action Flintstones movie (with a much younger and fitter John Goodman)... We got showered, dressed and then headed out the door.
The thing about New Jersey is that while it's not wildly hot in the summer, like most Eastern coastal states it is exceedingly humid. It's what I imagine what walking into brick wall would feel like: impervious, claustrophobic and overall just unpleasant.
Luckily there was a slight breeze, which made my Grandma's carport more tolerable than being inside her air conditioner-free house. We all pulled up benches and lawn chairs; we grabbed a few beers and ordered a pizza. It was wonderful being surrounded by family and laughter. I should have felt nervous about Bobby meeting them, but he seemed to fit right into my goofy, dramatic family as I predicted.
My sixteen month-old cousin, Killian (whose first birthday party I wrote about here) took a particular interest in Bobby. Bobby has no young cousins and hasn't spent a significant time with babies. Killian is extremely good-humored and is content to be passed around for kisses. When he reached me, all he wanted was to stand on the bench inbetween Bobby and I, as he pointed to my grandmother's red Buick. All things are either "Mom", "Dad" or "car" at his age.
We had been feeding Killian tiny bites of pizza with permission from his father, when suddenly Killian thought he would be generous and share a piece with Bobby - right up Bobby's nose! How generous of him, right??
I could tell Bobby was nervous that he would fall or tumble over or hurt himself. I watched Bobby's shoulders tense up every time Killian leaned in one direction and then attempted to upturn the paper plate of pizza in front of him.
Killian is a very mild-mannered infant so he was a good test subject for Bobby. He was more than content to hang onto Bobby's shoulder and kept pointing at Bobby's Star Wars t-shirt. The two laughed together, and I thought my heart would explode from the adorableness of it all. Bobby and I have agreed we don't want kids, but I'd like to think that if we changed our minds or if we were to babysit my sister's future children, they would be in good hands.
My cousins all had places to go and people to see, so after a few hours we decided to go off on an adventure. Ryann dragged us to a type of indoor amusement park where she habitually frequents, and never fails to leave without a stuffed animal. My mom and grandma were a little bored, but everyone remained good-humored about it and Bobby ended up decimating my uncle at video arcade games. We killed a few hours there and then went out to dinner. Everyone enjoyed our time together and I was so grateful that my family had behaved themselves (LOL).
About half of this side of my family had already met Bobby, and enjoyed getting to know him much more in-depth. The ones who hadn't met Bobby, my aunt and uncle whom we had stayed with specifically, all agreed immediately that he was meant to be a part of our family: like a puzzle piece that fits snugly into place.
Sunday:
We packed up first thing in the morning and went to my paternal grandmother's for breakfast. This grandmother hadn't met Bobby yet and she a million questions for him. My aunt came up from her home in southern Jersey; unfortunately her daughter/my cousin Aimee and her husband couldn't make the trip from Philly but they invited us to visit soon! It was a quick few hours, but we had to hit the road. Unfortunately we hit some major traffic headed home and ended up crawling for most of the trip.
It was a very short trip to NJ and back, but we had a great time and it gave my extended family the opportunity to spend some time with Bobby and get to know him. I'm always grateful for my family, but I am mostly grateful to have one at all. And to have a family who welcomed the love of my life with open arms.
Comments
Post a Comment