And We're Back...

...finally! I must say, we had THE WORST luck on this trip than any other trip we've ever taken, together or separately. And both ways! I won't bore you with too many details but I will say that the next trip we take to New Jersey will be by car and NOT by plane where too many things can go wrong that are completely out of your control! Needless to say, despite hating to say goodbye to our family, we were happy just to be home after wasting the equivalent of what felt like two full days in the Newark airport. Here we are at the start of our journey: my mom was flying back home to Syracuse that same evening (she made it home on time!) and we ended up not flying out of Charlotte but drove to Greensboro with hopes of flying out the next [early] morning.

Once in Greensboro things went pretty smoothly and we were in New Jersey by 7:30 Saturday morning. Coming back things were delayed again, this time due to weather in the north east, and after 7 hours of waiting, our flight back to Greensboro was flat out cancelled. We were rebooked on a flight the next morning, which was also delayed. We waited an hour and a half on the plane, on the runway before we hit the friendly skies and finally landed in Greensboro around 12:30. An hour or so drive back to Charlotte later, and we were home...24 hours later than expected, but home nonetheless. Luckily Colin was a trooper or it could have been a lot worse.

But we did have a great time despite our travel snafus: Aunt Mo had a alumni soccer game Saturday afternoon at Monmouth University. Coincidentally, the musical Annie was filmed at the giant mansion in the background: it belongs to Daddy Warbucks. Cool, huh?

That afternoon was fabulous: sunny and warm- a great day to watch a soccer game (well, at least the last 20 minutes of a soccer game, which was what we actually saw! Sorry, Mo!)

That evening we had the great pleasure of having our friends Dave and Laura Jean join us from NYC for dinner. The Moores ventured to NY from Portland this past August so Laura Jean can pursue creative writing at Columbia. The last time we saw them was in Portland last year over Easter and Colin was still living in my belly. It was great to catch up, enjoy dinner together and for them to finally meet our guy. Thanks again, guys, for making the [short] trip! We look forward to [hopefully] seeing you in July!

And now for the MAIN reason we made the trip up north! Meg and Dan's baby shower! Sunday afternoon about 40 or so people gathered together to honor the little one on the way (and Meg and Dan too!). It was fun to be on the giving side and I enjoyed watching Meg delight in all the wonderful gifts. One of the coolest gifts she opened was a terry cloth, coverall type bib complete with ankle straps to help keep every inch of the baby body covered during mealtime.
Grandma Liz did a great job keeping people entertained with table games and pages of riddles and great food and drink. Everyone had a super time, including the mom-to-be!