As early as last month, there was much discussion within the family as to who would host Thanksgiving this year. Ultimately, my sister Julie and her husband Robbie agreed to host the holiday dinner, while my wife would bring the desserts, and my parents bringing some appetizer. They were also inviting many of Rob’s cousins.

We brought two pies (farmer’s market), and my wife made flan, cheesecake brownies, a fancy bread pudding (?), and I momentarily forget the last one. My sister roasted the turkey and cooked the sides, and they were all pretty good. My parents hung out with their grandchildren, Rob’s cousins had fun with each other, and it was all nice. I was also glad that we didn’t have to clean up all of the mess! Though I did hep out with the dishes.

One note: we hosting “Friendsgiving” this Saturday, which includes roasting a turkey. My sister gave us some tips on brining a turkey as a good way to keep the turkey moist after all the time in the oven. We also borrowed a few of their items, including the roasting pan and rack. Keeping our fingers crossed for Saturday.

Abby's baptism - Joseph family photo

Last Sunday morning, we up early for my niece Abigail’s baptism. I gave the kids baths/showers, we got them (and ourselves gussied up), and we were out the door a little before 9am. It was pouring rain, so we were hoping the weather would not cause too many delays on the southbound NJ Turnpike. You know how even a little bit of rain or snow or meteor shower will cause drivers to slow down to a crawl, even here in the Northeast. Luckily, I was able to maneuver around the slower-moving vehicles, and we arrived at my sisters’ church around 10am, and before the morning service was to start.

At the present, I don’t remember the name of the church or the town, but it was a very nice Methodist church. Lots of kids and good usage of multimedia, demonstrating this was a young and vibrant church. Josh was amazed during the sermon when, to illustrate a point in the message, the AV folks in the back queued up a clip from the 1971 Gene Wilder classic Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory. Personally, I wouldn’t say it was the most relevant movie clip to accompany the sermon, but it certainly keeps the congregation (and the children) interested and paying attention.

Eventually, we reached the portion of the service for the baptisms — Abby’s and another child from this church. I may have failed to mention this earlier, but Namita and I are officially Abby’s godparents, so this baptism was extra special for us. We stood up there, did the whole hands-on-the-baby thing, and I guess we’re officially vested in Abby’s welfare and upbringing. New and exciting!

Afterwards, it was time for family pictures, then driving to the lunch at the Italian Affair restaurant in Glassboro. I tried to stay close to my daily calorie goal, but it is tough when a plate of Chicken Parmigiana is staring you in the face.

We skipped the after lunch hanging-out at my sister’s, as my wife had to get to work. Got home around 4pm.

It was such an eventful weekend, let me break it down by day.

Friday, July 1st

What a beautiful day. We had an early dismissal from work around 2pm, and for once, I didn’t need to hang around a few more hours to get some time-sensitive task completed before I could go. I. Just. Left. I got gas, visited a friend briefly, and got home to clean up before my sister Julie & family came over for dinner. Instead of cooking, we ordered out some BBQ ribs and sides from this new Pom Pom Barbeque place that opened up in the neighborhood. It was decent food, but it’s no Famous Dave’s. Still, I think it’s good in a pinch and when you’re in a hurry. I got to see my niece Abigail, who is crawling and starting to cruise. I haven’t seen her in a long while, so I experienced a little guilt over being an absentee uncle.

Saturday, July 2nd

Saturday entailed a little hanging around, followed by some cleaning up, and a trip to Home Depot to get gardening supplies (mulch, flowers, etc.) We were all starving, so we drove nearby for a quick (and late) pizza/Indian lunch out with the family (we had Indian, and Josh had some pizza from next door.) Sometimes, it’s the little events in life that are fun and memorable.

We got home, then the ladies got ready for a one of my relative’s baby shower. My sister Julie came by, and the three of them went off, leaving me and Josh home alone. The two of us then did a whole mess of cleaning up the front yard, washing the front of the house, and some more tidying up in the backyard, in preparation for Sunday’s big gardening extravaganza.

Side note — our backyard gate broke off the top hinge earlier this week, and it’s been rather annoying. I picked up new large wood screws to try to rehang the gate, so this would have to be a job for Sunday.

Around 8pm, Josh and I did as much as we could, then went back inside to freshen up and get ready. Town fireworks would start a little past 9pm, my brother-in-law Robbie and niece Abby would be coming around this time, as would the ladies. I also had to pull together some leftovers for a quick dinner before we walked over. Around 9pm, everyone showed up, and we made our way to our usual fireworks-watching spot. Afterwards, the Josephs hung out for a few hours with us.

Sunday, July 3rd

Sunday didn’t work out exactly as planned. We were supposed to attend church services, then garden in time for guests coming over for dinner later that evening. Instead, it began to rain in the morning while we were at church, and it continued to rain off and on the rest of the day. So, instead of having a beautiful backyard, we postponed the beautification process until Monday. Also, I couldn’t fix the gate in the rain, so I found a way to prop it up under the shed roof. Instead, we focused on tidying up the interior, and making dinner sides. I went out later back to Pom Pom Barbeque to pick up BBQ chicken to go with our sides, as well as some dinner wine.

So who was coming over today? My wife’s friend/coworker Mara, and her parents visiting from out-of-town. It was a very nice evening, punctuated by her parents needing advice on setting up a home theater. My heart was aflutter as I went over a diagram of their room. I do live for these opportunities.

Monday, July 4th

What a hot day. I had hoped to both hit the gym and go cycling this weekend, but neither quite worked out. Oh well, what can you do sometimes? Sometimes, you just can’t get everything you want to do. I still have next weekend, and I will hit the gym Tuesday and Thursday this week. We spent the majority of the day gardening and fixing the backyard gate. I was able to fix the backyard gate, so now it swings and closes properly. Once completed, I moved onto working with my wife to dig holes, plant new flowers, trimming bushes, and lots of mulching. Four bags of mulch, to be precise.

After 7pm, we called it a successful day. We freshened up, and went out for dinner at a local diner. Neither of us had the energy for another drive to see more fireworks, so dinner out was enough for us. After dinner, we hit CVS quickly, then came home to watch a little Kung Fu Panda before sending the kids off to bed. Of course, we the parents had to stay up longer to take care of laundry and things, but that comes with the job.

It was a very long weekend, very eventful, and very fruitful. Now, if we could just have Tuesday off as well, in order to recuperate!

Christmas Excellence continues to reign supreme. In hallowed tradition, my wife cooks up a nice lunch/dinner for us, and my sister and her husband Robbie come over to partake and exchange gifts. I don’t remember the exact name for it, but this year she made some sort of braised pork loin filled with ham and gruyere cheese, covered with an awesome mushroom/carrot/onion gravy. The sides were roasted asparagus and mashed potatoes. My sister made some delicious flan for dessert.

Christmas Excellence Dinner

Late Sunday afternoon, we drove down to my sister’s place to have the kids trick or treat. In our own neighborhood, we don’t see too many kids. Meanwhile, in south Jersey, it’s like the 50′s in America. Everyone sits outside with tables and chairs, hand out candy, drink beer. The sidewalks are full of kids trick or treating. It’s all very odd to me. It’s nice, but still odd. Ah well, as my mother would say, “When in Rome, trick or treat with everyone else.”

The kids looked great. This year, Josh was dressed as Luke Skywalker (with a purple lightsaber), and Lily was Wonder Woman (one of her favorites.) Namita and I hadn’t dressed up for Halloween in many years, but this year ew borrowed someone’s Double Dare costumes. After we got to the house, all was well until Lily saw Kitty’s scary Mummy costume, started screaming, and jumped into our arms. She wouldn’t relax until Kitty took off the makeup later in the evening. In the meantime, we kept them apart in different trick or treating groups.

Robbie and I took the kids out for trick or treating, while Julie and Namita stayed back at the house to watch the baby and hand out candy. It was a cold night! More folks came over, and ended up staying for dinner there. By the time we got home, it was almost midnight, and on a Sunday night! It was rough getting up the next day for work/school for everyone.

Josh as Luke Skywalker	Nums & Wonder Woman
Emily, Lily, Joshua	Family photo, Halloween 2010

Robbie, Julie, and Abigail

Late Tuesday night, my sister gave birth to Abigail Philomena Joseph. She is their first daughter, born at a little more than 6 lbs. Baby and mother (and my brother-in-law Robbie) are all doing well. They don’t have a private room, so Rob has been sleeping in the waiting area. Tonight, my wife and I left work a little earlier than usual so we could pick up the kids, and drive down to visit them at the hospital before visiting hours were over. We saw Rob’s sister and father there as well, and we spent a little under an hour with them. It seems like they’re doing well. On the way home, we hit a nearby Whole Foods supermarket for a late dinner at their cafe before getting back on the NJ Turnpike.

I’m happy for my sister and BIL. They’ve always been a big help to us, and now they’re starting their own family. It’s nice. I’m sure they will be great parents.

Baby Abby

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Julie’s 30th birthday cake

Saturday night, we drove to Philadelphia for my sister’s surprise 30th birthday party. First we dropped off the kids to my sister-in-laws’ for the evening, then we went to pick up the delicious (and lactose-free) cake, and then drove to Philly. The plan was for everyone to meet up at The Mexican Post restaurant at 6:30pm, decorate and get ready. Robbie would bring Julie to meet with Nums and myself for a birthday/anniversary dinner. Julie kinda knew something was going on, but I think she was still surprised when 35 family and friends jumped out screaming at her.

It was a nice venue, and good dinner too. Robbie and his sister Kitty organized a trivia game around Julie’s favorite shows, movies, book series, candy bars, and there were prizes for each winning team. Each prize was related to one my sister’s favorites like Wawa coffee and stuff. My sister and I both like Star TrekGeneration, so I grabbed a tiny replica of the NCC-1701 Enterprise (refit of course!). The Enterprise is currently adorning my cubicle with my Capt. James Kirk figure.

The Enterprise now adorns my lowly cubicle.

Nerds! I’m behind on publishing photos, but I’ll post the pictures in the next few days.

I celebrated my 34th birthday this week. The day itself was nice. Beautiful weather, it was a quiet day in the office, and I even got a free cookie from my local Quizno’s. I had been discussing what to do in the evening. I didn’t want anything big, so I was initially suggesting a family dinner at home or maybe the local diner.

Julie & I

Sometime in the afternoon, I had a change of heart. It was my birthday, and the diner wasn’t feeling very celebratory. On second thought, I changed my mind that a nice dinner at Outback Steakhouse would be a better place. I thought it was my idea, but then I found out my wife had somehow used the Jedi mind trick on me.

While we’re waiting to be seated at Outback, my sister and her husband showed up. Turns out, surprise! My wife had decided on a birthday dinner at Outback days earlier and invited my sister and BIL too. I was very surprised. How did my wife pull the ol’ Jedi mind trick on me?

In regards to dinner, it was nice. Factoid: Thursday marked five years to the day that my wife and I had been to an Outback Steakhouse. The last time she and I had gone was to celebrate my 29th birthday in 2005 a month after Joshua was born [see the April 24 2005 entry.] I remember because our friend Lesh was nice enough to volunteer to watch Joshua for the evening, so that we could go have a nice dinner. Five years later, we celebrate my 34th birthday. Funny, I say. Funny.

Josh as Spiderman

One busy Halloween.  I spent most of the previous night up  uploading photos and trying to get my Adobe Premiere Elements software to recognize my camcorder (“Y’all better recognize!”), which hasn’t worked in a long while.  Still not luck today, even with a fresh install of Windows 7.  What the heck is going on?

I took Josh to another birthday party — the 2nd party this week, and there’s one more coming up Sunday. Since it was Halloween, it was a Halloween-themed party. Josh had a 2nd costume that we broke out for him — Spiderman. Kids these days — two costumes for Halloween?!?

What I liked about today’s birthday was the simplicity.  All of the birthday parties these days feel like large events, like renting a gym.  When I was younger, we just hung out at the basement, and we ate White Castle. This party was at a VFW hall, and the kids played games like musical chairs, Pin the Parts on the Mummy”, Hot Potato (or “Hot Gourd”), etc.  Traditional, and I liked it. Kids don’t always need all that fancy stuff. It felt refreshing.

My BIL is a scarecrow

After a short break at home, we made the trip to see my sister down south.  My BIL and sister were taking the kids trick or treating, and we would…. uh, hang out. Not much to comment on, except folks down there are really into Halloween.  House after house was decorated to the 9′s, and lots of trick or treating kiddies and teenagers. Kinda reminded me of my old neighborhood.

Nothing too fancy.  We watched Young Frankenstein while they went trick or treating.  After they came back, my sister cooked an excellent dinner, as well as baked cookies.  When did she start cooking so well? I think we got out of there after 10:30pm, got home uneventfully, and dropped the kids into bed.

I think we should do something more for Halloween next year. I’ve forgotten how fun it can be.

Don’t you think a balloon festival should have balloons?  Let me explain.

Last Sunday, we met up with my sister and BIL at the 2009 Quickchek Balloon Festival.  Officially, it was the 27th Annual Quick Chek New Jersey Festival of Ballooning, but I shall refer to it as “the balloon festival.” Maybe it was the 11-year-old in me, but I was imagining a big festival with 50 or more hot air balloons, festival attendees gawking, going up on rides, chocolate lamp posts, and rose-colored glasses and fried dough for everyone.  Not quite what I was expecting.

1. It was $25 per ticket for adults, and $10 for kids 4 and over.  That only included admission to the festival grounds at the Thor Solberg airport in Readington, NJ.  All the festival food and activities were at normal price-gouging levels.
2. There were so many people, we ended up parking on a grassy field that was extremely muddy.  Try pushing two strollers through the squishy mud.
3. It was hot.  It was so hot, the sun was beating down like it was the desert.  The sweat was dripping so much into our eyes, it burned.
4. There was no place to sit that wasn’t crowded.
5. Did I mention the price-gouging?
6. There were no balloons!  That’s right, no balloons.  They are only inflated at 6:30am and again at 6:30pm.

I had hoped to see some balloons, so we did what we could to pass the time. We waited on lines for freebies from PNC Bank and QuickChek. We took Josh on some kiddie rides.  Around 5pm, a heavy thunderstorm came into the area.  We’re talking rain, lots of lightning, and high winds.  I got separated from everyone, and then the wind and rain really hit.  Festival organizers recommended to folks to head to the safety of their cars around the same time a tent blew down.

A hot air balloon at the Quick Chek Balloon Festival

Somehow, we made it all back to our car, and the storm finally passed.  However, we were pretty beat, and weren’t waiting around any more hours for the balloons, so we hightailed it out of there.  We met up at a nearby diner for dinner and to decompress.

Would we do it again next year?  I have no clue.