January/February recap

So here's a quick recap of the happenings of January & February.  So after New Year's, I continued through January with a few Mommy & Son dates...

A few family outings...

WW: 2013 is off to a good start

My cousin received news from her doctor today that she is now cancer free!!!! This makes me cry every time. She has been through a helluva lot these past couple of years and I am so thankful to go that he bought her and her 3 beautiful young children through this storm. My God is an awesome God- if you don't know you better ask somebody!

My other cousin and his fiance (who also happens to be one of my closest friends) welcome a baby girl this morning. This is their second (they have a 4 year old son) and I am so happy for them! I can't wait until their wedding day!! :)

Weekend Wrap-Up: Part 2

Okay, so now to what actually happened.

This was an extended weekend of sorts. We had a lot we wanted to accomplish so we had to get an early start. This year the reunion was in Illinois. My parents have very close friends there so we used this as an opportunity to spend some time with them. On Tuesday afternoon we loaded up the rental car and headed out. Funny thing is our neighbors thought we purchased a new family vehicle:

While the mini-van was a pretty comfy vehicle for our trip- I'm still not convinced that I will ever be a mini-van driving mom.

So we started our seemingly 12 hour journey, however we had something up our sleeves. My mom, husband, brother, and I had preplanned to stop at the Pro Football Hall of Fame and surprise my dad as an early birthday gift. After driving about 7 hours we told my dad that we were going to get a hotel room overnight because if we kept going we would get to our friends house in the middle of the night and we didn't want to disturb them at that hour. We also used the excuse that we thought it would take a lot longer because I expected to make way more bathroom stops. So we got a hotel (that just so happened to be a mile from the gas station we stopped at), checked in and had dinner at a nearby Outback Steakhouse. The TV's at dinner was showing info for that weekend's upcoming HOF induction. It was perfect! My dad said he would like to go there one day but he never thought to plan a trip there because he felt there was nothing to do besides go to the HOF then go home. In actuality there are a ton of things to do in and around Ohio including the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame and the Canton Classic Car museum. So, the next morning we had breakfast (included in the hotel room rate), checked out, and hit the road. When we pulled into the HOF parking lot and my dad realized where we were going- it was priceless. My parents aren't excitable people but his reaction said it all... he was excited!

I know he really enjoyed the museum tour. It is self guided and no time limit. I really wish I could show you the pictures we took but I am sure that would bore you. My husband enjoyed it as well. Although he's been before it's been about 7 years so he got to see a few more classes added to the hall. And now they have plans to expand the museum and the expected completion is 2013. I think there is going to be people who expect to go back in about two years.
After the HOF we hit the road again and we still had one more surprise (for my dad) up our sleeves. We also gave my dad and Ipad 2 which he has been talking about for months now. At one point I thought he might kill over and die if he didn't go out and get one. The only thing stopping him from purchasing himself one is that the company he works for and their union was in contract negotiations and he didn't want to spend unnecessary money in case they went on strike. His new man toy kept him occupied for the rest of our journey.

My brother and I are huge Micheal Jackson fans. Have been since we were little and always will be. So my husband (who was the brains behind all of our surprises) suggested we stopped at MJ's birthplace since we had to drive through Indiana anyway. It turns out that his childhood home is only about 3 miles from the highway road so it wouldn't be too much of a deviation. My brother figured out where we were going when we took the exit that said 'Gary, Indiana... that way' but he was excited too nonetheless. I tried desperately to distract him so wouldn't see the exit sign but it didn't work... at all.

It's no secret that Gary, IN isn't the richest town in the world but I definitely expected more. When we pulled up even my brother said "So where is it?"

Yep, that's it. This tiny 300 square foot corner property home housed some of the greatest musical legends of all time. I thought for sure someone would use this as an opportunity to capitalize off of MJ's fame. There was guy sitting across the street playing MJ music and selling paraphernalia but he was the only person. There were some neighbors casually sitting on their porches enjoying the weather, cars driving by and then us. We didn't know if we should get out and take pictures or just keep it moving. Luckily another vehicle pulled up behind us and they all started to get out, no longer making us look crazy.

I expected there to be a tour guide, a parking lot where you had to pay $10 for 30 minutes and slew of other things. There wasn't. In fact I'm not sure if you can actually go into the home. The lawn is very well maintained and there was lots of mementos and things- it was all very sort of ... peaceful.

My brother and I signed one of the boards that must have had a million signatures with messages to MJ and then we were off again. We arrived at our friend's house that evening and had dinner with them. We stayed until Friday afternoon which was the official start of the family reunion weekend.

This year's theme was Denim & Diamonds. Friday evening welcome reception was so much fun. This year the hosts planned activities where you earn 'diamond dollars'. So after each event you completed you earned a certain amount of dollars for that event. At the end of the weekend all the dollars earned were pooled together and names were randomly chosen to win a first, second, and third place prize. The first event for Friday was a puzzle. The hosts had cut up various boxes of food products and we had to put it back together. This was a really inexpensive way (provided you eat those foods) to get everyone working together as a team.

They also had a line dance instructor come out and teach some line dances. Not country line dances but the more urban popular ones. I must admit this was fun- especially when I went up there to participate with a 8 month belly and no one thought I could do it. This pic is pretty blurry (sorry) but the instructor gave the girls the belly dancing skirts (I don't know why) and mine barely fit around the baby. When I tried to put it around my actual hips (what's left of them) it kept falling off. But I did it. The DJ made fun of me, everyone swore I was going to go into labor, and when we were done I was exhausted but I did it.

The funniest part of the whole thing is that I don't remember any of the dances even though we did it several more times that weekend! So for Friday night I earned a total of about 7 diamond dollars. My mom, brother, husband, and dad earned about 2 for that puzzle.

Saturday is the family outing day. We had lunch at the Golden Corral and way too much fun at Brunswick Zone. I've never actually eaten at Golden Corral before and I had a pretty positive first experience. I think the staff was a little overwhelmed (but wouldn't you be if you have 100 hungry people staring at you). It was at the Golden Corral that I learned some of the real relationships that I had with my cousins. I was trying to explain how I was related to someone to my husband and in the process completed confused myself. This prompted a google search and the returns prompted a lot of useful information that I think we are going to use at our next family reunion. Essentially, I learned the meaning (and how to properly use it)of first cousin once removed and the true meaning of 2nd cousins (it's definitely not what I thought it was). The Brunswick Zone location we went to was a bowling alley that also had an attached bar/lounge (for the of age evening crowd), laser tag, bumper cars, pool tables, and arcade games. About 20 of my cousins played guys versus girls laser tag. I wanted to play so bad but my brother refused for fear that somebody might bump me (I can't blame him- it's dark in there) or I might get accidentally run over. We were able to watch but you can't really get that good of a view from where they let you watch. So I left them be and went and played trivia games with my dad. The guys whooped the girls by almost 20,000 points (glad I sat that one out) and my dad murdered me in trivia and skeeball (but who's counting).

The only way you could earn diamond dollars at Brunswick Zone was to bowl- but I didn't do that (I am REALLY bad at bowling) so no dollars for me that day. We had so much fun though. The bumper cars were out of control. I thought I was going to pee myself at one point from laughing too hard. Of course I didn't get on but laughing at them from the sidelines might have been funnier than getting whip lash.

I can't believe I didn't get a picture of our t-shirt. When I unpack I am going to have to take a picture of it and post it. My shirt was an XL and it fit! When we first send in our registration I was barely showing and I had no idea how much weight I would gain so I was a little nervous about the size. I had a back up outfit in case it didn't fit but I would have been extremely disappointed if it didn't.

Every evening everyone hangs out until the wee hours of the morning. I just could not this year- I was way too exhausted. One night (actually every night) they decided to go to one of the clubs in downtown Chicago. It was there that they "partied" with Nas ( a famous rapper who is nearly irrelevant right now- for those of you who have no idea who I am talking about). My brother got really good pics of him and I decided to share that bit of info.

On Sunday we went back to my parents friends house this time to take to my Aunt who didn't travel with us on the first leg of the trip. We had lunch there and then headed back to the hotel for the banquet. Now as I told you before- I missed one year of dressing up in our theme and I will never do it again. From the moment we got the family reunion package I scoured the stores trying to find a denim maternity dress. I found one for $60 bucks and waited til the absolute last minute to buy it because you all know how I feel about spending a boat load of money on maternity clothes. In this case procrastination paid of because I found a dress in the motherhood maternity outlet for $30 bucks. It wasn't my ideal price range (I would rather spend $20) but it saved me 50%. I had a ton of rhinestone jewelry from my proms, sweet 16's, and high school days so the diamonds part was not a problem. I took a picture of my final outfit on my brother's camera so I can't post it right now- but I think I looked pretty good.

For the diamond dollars drawing my cousin, her husband, and her dad wone first, second, and third place- which everyone couldn't believe. The third and second place prizes were cash and first first place prize was a free night's stay at the hotel which was used to comp his stay (he didn't have to come back to redeem it) so he paid for 2 night's instead of 3...sweet!

Monday's farewell is never easy. We have so much fun during the weekend that no one wants to leave. I think the best part of the reunion this year was

- showing up pregnant and everyone's surprise when they saw me

- spending time with family we only get to see once a year

- learning how to do the wobble and then forgetting it hours later. BTW that's not my family in the link but it was the best video I could find.

- seeing my dad and brother's reaction when we pulled up to their suprises.

- being away on vacation

-and the million other memories that was made this year.

I could go on forever about the weekend's festivities as this post doesn't even scratch the surface. Hopefully in the coming days while it is fresh on my mind, I am going to make a picture book with all the pictures we took that recounts the week/weekend so baby will know what his or her first family reunion was like.

If you are still reading this- bless you...

Weekend Wrap-up: Part 1

So the highly anticipated family reunion weekend is over L I wait for this event every year and it always goes by too fast. Prior to getting married this was often the only vacation my immediate family had taken so it was a big deal in more ways than one.

 I remember when I was a little girl my brother and I got new sneakers, we got a few new outfits (maybe), and I oftentimes got a new dress for our annual family banquet. And the family reunion usually started Thursday evening when we left. You see every year my extended NJ family would charter a bus (I think once we had 2) and drive as a group to wherever we were going. This required lots of snacks, comfy clothes, and stuff to keep everybody occupied during the drive. I have an Aunt who brings a crockpot on every reunion I think one year she even bought a rice cooker and a griddle- yea she is off the hook but my uncle is very picky about his food so she makes sure he has something to eat and if anybody wanted something to eat they knew where to go get it. She would pack up all that stuff along with her luggage, hair, and grandchildren and it would be on! Things like this make the reunions even more memorable.

Here’s how it goes: There is a four year rotation, every year a host state from one of the most family populated states plans and coordinates the reunion. So every four years you end up back in the same sate. They take care of the weekends’ events starting with a Friday night welcome/registration. Then on Saturday we may have a family bbq along with some sightseeing/ activities. On Sunday morning we may or may not have a worship service and then that evening we have our annual banquet. Monday morning we have family breakfast and a wrap-up meeting followed by lots of “I’ll miss you’s”, sometimes crying, and bids of safe travels.

While the planned events are fun I believe that sometimes the most memories are made when you least expect it. For some reason my family congregates in the hotel lobby. I sometimes think the hotel staff and other guests are a bit overwhelmed because they see a whole bunch of people in the lobby all wearing the same shirt and cutting up something crazy. We normally have a hospitality suite for the whole weekend but no matter what we always end up in the lobby. I think it’s because it’s easier to see whose coming and going and you kind of ‘keep up’ with everybody in the family that way. For instance if someone is making a run to McDonald's- you can just ask the whole lobby who wants something and when you get back you don’t have to search for people to give them their food. I think this is also the older folks way of keeping tabs on the teenagers and somewhat knowing where they are and what they are doing.

Here’s how it started (sort of- the abridged version): Two brothers and a sister married two sisters and a brother. (Although it goes way further back (and around) than that I always start from there ‘cause it makes everyone’s eyebrows furrow… you can relax your eyebrows now!) One set of those pair had 17 kids (they had no TV, internet, or extracurricular activities back then) and that’s where my lineage picks up- my grandma was one of the 17 children. She and my grandfather had 3 children one of which is my dad and now I’m bringing one into this family-palooza! When my husband and I began the serious and exclusive part of our relationship I had to make him a guide with names, pictures, and who belonged to whom- okay I’m kidding but we did joke about how he would need it when I began to introduce my NJ family to him. So in short we have double cousins, a lot of people, and lots of love.

So back to NJ- we would charter a bus because it makes traveling a lot easier and cost effective. For example in today’s economy to fly from NJ to Atlanta cost over $200 per plane ticket which amounts to $800 for a family of four. If we have a 55 passenger bus at $5,000 that amounts to $90 per seat and $360 for a family of four. Many people would prefer the $400 savings. We would leave at a time that would coincide with check in time at the hotel accounting for restroom/stretching breaks (which were really smoke breaks cause we had a bathroom on the bus) and we always stopped for breakfast at a “local” restaurant. I say local because there are places like Shoney’s that wasn’t necessarily in our final destination state but we don’t have it in NJ and one of my aunts loved this restaurant so we ate there. So if we were going to Atlanta we would leave about 6 pm on Thursday evening. Thursday during the day was spent preparing for our excursions. Our moms/aunts/grandmas would cook fried chicken. Apparently fried chicken travels very well and you can eat it at any temperature- hot, cold, warm, whatever. We also had pound cake- this travels very well too. Coolers were filled with water, soda, and juice- and there was always a snack bag. When we got to be teenagers CD’s were very popular and we were banned to the back of the bus because some cousin always had a portable CD player and they parents/aunts/uncles/grandparents/older cousins did not want to hear our music. We carried blankets and pillows because you were going to fall asleep during that ride. Playing cards were a must although I will never ever know how they managed to play cards using a cooler in the middle of the aisle and sitting side-by-side. Whoever was the last one awake during the ride always took pictures of everyone else with their mouths open and snoring so be prepared- cause it’s going to happen no matter how mad you get when you see the picture after the fact. Oftentimes the host state would count on our bus for travel during the weekend as well. Whenever we went off site from the hotel we had our own mode of transportation so that always made it better for them.

While the older folk hung out in the lobby the younger folk like to hang out at the pool. The older cousins would incessantly and mercilessly dunk the younger ones and they always went back for more. The girls had to use a lot of caution though because we could not mess up our freshly done hair before the banquet or else you would be in some very serious trouble- for real. In recent years it’s also become important (probably just for me) that we have internet in the rooms (preferably free). While you don’t really have the time or desire to be online- I feel the need to check in on my facebook games (and now my blog!) just for good measure. At least once per year someone’s room gets hotel security called on them. This is actually a very embarrassing fact- but guaranteed it’s the room with the rowdy teenagers/young adults in it. Their parents are usually in the lobby or if it’s a young adult it’s someone who is old enough to have their own room but too young (or just don’t care) to make everyone act right. I remember one year we stayed at a hotel airport where pilots and crew were staying as well. It wasn’t necessarily the fact that we were doing something ‘wrong’ it was more of the airline crew wanted to be rested enough to operate an aircraft the next day.

Each year the host state chooses a theme and a color scheme. We get T-shirts made that bears that information to wear on Saturday. I used to have every t-shirt from every reunion that I’ve attended but I am sure during my “move-out” to college some got thrown away. I do, however, have several cousins that has all of their t-shirts and wears them during the family reunion weekend. I have another cousin who had hers made into a quilt with each t-shirt having its own square. I actually like that. Next year since we are the host state- I am going to take the t-shirt design and have it put on an onesie for the baby (if the baby is still wearing onesies although I doubt it).  This year I got my t-shirt in an XL and will likely not be able to wear it again except to sleep in. I have become a stickler for sticking to the theme at the banquet. 2 years ago the banquet theme was a 70’s dance party and I didn’t dress up in 70’s gear. When I saw how nice it was for everyone who participated I vowed to NEVER deviate from the theme again. One year the theme for Friday was a pajama jam. This was more of a cost saving measure than anything. The food packages provided by the hotels can get expensive so we decided to do breakfast foods which is a little less expensive and to make it now seems too weird to eat breakfast at 7pm we made it a pajama party with prizes for best slippers, best pajamas, and some other category I can’t remember. NJ is the next host state so I can’t spill the beans for what we are doing next year- but it’s going to be fun. Majority of people wear the weekends’ colors for during the banquet. As soon as I get home I am going into my archive to show you how nice this looks. We have had to recycle colors because there are but so many in the spectrum but we get creative with color combinations and things to do- you’ll see. The family reunion along with my wedding sparks my creativity and I LOVE helping to plan these events. I’ve even considered becoming a professional event planner but I despise headaches and I know there will be a client who wants a New Year’s Eve wedding- and working on holidays is one of the reasons I quit working in the medical field in the first place. I’ve also set my sights on hospitality and restaurant management. I think know I could build a resort complex that caters to the needs of family reunions and corporations, schools, whatever could also use it as a conference/retreat site too. Once I successfully managed the first one in northern NJ, I would slowly start my expansion projects at several NJ locations then branch out to major metropolitan areas then reel it back in to not so major cities to provide a variety of settings. Problem is I feel like I am at the point in my life where my focus is building my family and not working 24/7 to make the Trump Empire look like the game of ‘LIFE’.

Since I’ve used this entire post to explain about my families’ yearly reunion - I’ll save what actually happened this year for tomorrow.

Birthday Wishes

I want to wish my wonderful younger brother a Happy Birthday!!!!

He is one of thee most talented people I know (I can prove it- check him out!) and I am positive there is a lot in store for him :) He also happens to be graduating from college in T-minus 53 days!!! (That sounds better when you say 7 weeks... ) So I'll take this time to give him his birthday gift

I got you a snowfall!!!

Can't wait to celebrate with you tonight and we WILL make it to Atlantic City for your 'being the 3rd and turning 23 on the 3rd month of the year with a b'day of 3/23 bruhaha! I <3 u!!

Telling the 'Rents (part 2)

Well we most certainly cannot share the good news with my parents without telling the hubby's family!

I believe my hubby first called his mom to make sure she was home. Once she answered we made up a bogus story about how we were coming back from an outet shopping mall and since we were near her highway exit we wanted to stop by. To make it even more believable we told her that we something we knew she would love and we wanted to drop it off! She bought it :)

While we were at Target picking up the "baby gifts" for my parents, we got a picture frame that holds two pictures and had the word "grandkids" imprinted on it. This was perfect because my mother-in-law has a grandson from her older daughter. The plan was to put a picture of her grandson at the top and a sign that says "coming in 2011" at the bottom. Of course when I got home I could not find a single picture of our nephew. I know we have one but we had just moved a month ago and not everything was easy to find. We had a picture of him hanging on the dining roon wall- however it was too big for the 5x7 picture slot on the frame. So we forfeited the nephew pic and just wrote the words in the bottom picture slot.

When we arrived at her home, we of course started talking about family members and current events. I have no idea how I did not just blurt it out. So eventually she asked us how our trip to the mall was. "O! that's right! we got this for you" was our response. When she opened it, she got it right away :) She was thrilled! We were all hugs and kisses. I think, mission accomplished...again!

In my last post I failed to mention how we also told my brother when we told my parents. My brother is quite a character and usually elicits some type of awesome response. Problem was, Target had nothing...absolutely nothing... that said Uncle on it :( so we ended up putting a target baby gift card in a gift bag along with hubby's #1 Uncle magnet from his nephew. He was in shock and happy for us- but he had such a rough day and it was late at night, that he held his happy dance until some other time.

Hubby's sister is a very emotional person, not unlike myself. We couldn't tell her in person and did not want her to be left out of the good news. So I called her on speaker phone to tell her she needed a new name. "What?!" was her response. I told her I think Aunty would be better suited. She immediately started crying. Actually for a second I thought we lost her on the phone somehow. But she and her tears of joy was still on the phone.

We are so excited that our families were able to share in our excitement with us. No matter our joys or sorrows we know that these 5 people will always be there for us and we can count on them for support. Now that THEY know it's time to put a lid on it... these are going to be a long two months of secret keeping :)

Telling the 'Rents (Part 1)

Keeping secrets is not really my strong suit. Apart from a surprise party, if you do not want anyone else to know- do NOT tell me. I never intentionally spill the beans, it always comes out... accidentally. I can't hold a secret, even if it had handles -so it's best to just leave me out of it. This is how we arrive at telling my parents.

I see my parents pretty often- usually about two to three times a week. They have been anxiously awaiting news of their pending grandchild since my hubby and I returned from our honeymoon and any chance they get they will make a reference to "when they have grandchildren". I must admit in recent months it was becoming a little annoying since we were trying and not getting a BFP every cycle. My dad even had the nerve to say "everyone can get a grandchild except me" as if all we had to do was run to the nearest mall and pick up our little bundle of joy. He will never admit it and will always disguise it as "I was just joking" but he was dead serious! I was a couple of weeks away from sitting the two of them down and letting them have it- nicely of course :)

I figured I would need my mom during this time. She will be quick to tell you that her mom was not the one to unload piles of wisdomly advice- which my grandma wasn't that type. I think my mom wishes she did have someone to do that and will try her best to do that with me. She'd want to call me to see how I was feeling and trade pregnancy symptoms. I also think my mom lives a little vicariously through me. Whenever I hit a major milestone to celebrate she always says 'they didn't have this when I was growing up!". Just the other day while pregnancy book shopping she said "they didn't have all these when I was pregnant", I had to remind her that I am sure they did- you nor your mom bothered to drive to the bookstore to seek it out; there is no way pregnancy books were invented in the '90's or 00's; even if it's a larger and diverse selection today- it's not new. Either way, after I found out that my doctor’s appointment wasn't going to be until I reached 8 weeks, I convinced my hubby that I needed to tell them sooner rather than later.

We stay in a house that my mom owns. We had recently been undergoing some renovations so my parents were over pretty often. With the most recent issue being a leaky roof it was very easy to get them to come over. It had rained the night before so I called my mom and told her it was bad....hehehehe. In actuality the roof didn't leak at all but I thought it was a good way to get them over. And in true parental fashion they showed up after work!
Of course we had to distract them for a little bit once they arrived. My dad was cool, but my mom was all over it. I had to start an argument with her in order from her not going into the room where the supposed leak had occurred. My hubby had cooked so I invited them to eat and as we sat down to dinner I revealed that it was all a trick. They were a little confused but when we explained that we actually invited them over to "Thank" them for all of their hard work in helping with the renovations they slowly began to get over it. We had "stopped and got them thank you gifts" as our token of our appreciation but they had to open their gifts together or they wouldn't understand. This was to prevent one of them seeing the gift before the other.

They simultaneously pulled out of their bags bibs that read "I love Grandma" and "I love Grandpa". My mom screamed! My dad’s jaw dropped. You could see the excitement in their eyes. Mission accomplished!