Wednesday, July 09, 2008

July 4th Weekend

We had a very fun weekend in NJ with Rob's family. Rob's sister Kyle, her husband Taber, and their daughter Lauren picked us up from the airport Friday morning and we all headed out to catch a peak of Kyle and Taber's son Daniel on his last day of Phillies baseball camp. It was great to see him play. All the kids were decked out in full Phillies gear, which was a lot of fun.

While Daniel finished up camp, the rest of us grabbed lunch and then found an ice cream shop with an unlimited toppings bar (which is where we took the ice cream picture below). Needless to say, Lauren loved piling on the different varieties of sugar on her chocolate ice cream.

After the awards ceremony at Daniel's camp, we all headed over to Rob's sister Gena's place for a bbq. We got to meet Gena's fiance Jay for the first time. They're getting married in September. He's a great guy, easy to talk to, kind to the nieces and nephews, and clearly smitten with Gena. Awesome.

We caught glimpses of fireworks going on through the night. We also enjoyed a Guitar Hero showcase from Daniel and Rob. Daniel can play with the guitar behind his back. :)

On Saturday, we hit the mall where Daniel got a crazy cool robot for his birthday from Grandma. Rob and I bought Daniel a USC hat. We also bought a more belated birthday present for Lauren -- a book about sharks and another activity book about ocean creatures. The day before in the car, Lauren had quizzed me for about a half hour on what I'd do if I found myself swimming with sharks.

Then we hit the batting cages and a local arcade where everyone except Lauren took turns hitting. We need to do that more often! Rob's sister Tori and her whole family arrived (by van from Texas!!) later on Saturday. Tori's daughter Lillian is *so* attached to her great-grandma, it's adorable.

On Sunday we all went to Rob's aunt and uncle's Italian restaurant for lunch. Always delicious. Then it was back to the grandma's for some more hang out time before we headed to the airport.

Every time we see Rob's family, I wish we all lived closer. We loved living in Philly and being just a short drive to Kyle or to Grandma and Gena. And back when we were in DC, Tori's family was nearby in Virginia, although now they're in Texas. It's just so much fun to hang out with our nieces and nephews.

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