And We're Back!

Hope that everyone had a relaxing Labor Day weekend; ours was nice. We spent Saturday and Sunday in visiting JD's family in order to celebrate JD's great aunt's 90th birthday. As JD has been having some issues with his immediate family, we elected to stay at a nearby motel rather than on one of the (broken and excruciatingly uncomfortable) pullout couches at JD's aunt's house with the rest of the family. Many thanks to JD's aunt for making us reservations at a new motel; next time, we'll pick a motel not located between a state housing project and the state prison.

We had a lovely dinner at a JD's family-favorite restaurant on Saturday night. Because we were seated outside with another large family, JD's nephews were able to run around a little and use some outside voices. That made the dinner much less stressful than usual. Plus, the food was delicious. If you are in the Staten Island, NY area, we highly recommend Portobello.

On Sunday, we spent the majority of the day at JD's aunt's house. JD was in the basement most of the day with his nephews who forced him to play Nintendo for hours on end (they being too young to play it themselves). I spent the day chatting with relatives and taking a nap by the pool. We had a nice lunch and later, a wonderful kaffeeklatsch with JD's relatives.

I hope to be as healthy and look as good at 90 as does JD's great aunt. This venerable matriarch swims laps every day and is a devoted follower of 2 major league baseball teams. She literally stopped the party so that she could go in and watch her games. (I must say, however, that if watching baseball or rooting for the Yankees is the key to longevity, I am not long for this world.)

In one of the smartest moves ever, JD and I drove home on Sunday night. No sitting in loads of Labor Day traffic for us! Plus, I got uninterrupted time with my audiobook (The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova) because JD was sleeping most of the drive home. Yay!

Yesterday, I was able to unpack both suitcases, do some laundry, made our menu plan, went grocery shopping, exercised, cooked dinner and put together lunches for us to take today to work. Yay me!