The Gerda Family: The Big Apple!

We kicked off our summer with a wonderful visit to NYC, Long Island and NJ! Grandma & Grandpa Swanee met us there to visit and hang out with Jensen!!

We arrived on Wednesday and had dinner on Long Island with Ben Parker, his wife Margaret and daughter, Chloe. I hadn't seen Ben in about 10 years...It was so much fun to see him and meet his family! They hosted us to a great afternoon of snacks and playtime with the kids and an amazing dinner of grilled fish, steamed clams and a delicious salad! What a treat!

From there we headed out to the North Fork of Long Island to visit Erin, a very good friend from grad school. We had such a great visit with Erin, her husband Jason, daughter, Emma and Erin's parents! We went to a small harbor town called Greenport for lunch, hung out at the beach and had a delicious cookout of grilled fish, shrimp and asparagus! Yummy!

After a wondeful 2 day visit, we left for Weehawken, NJ where we stayed just across the river from NYC...We had the best view! We were there for Sam (Joe's HS friend) & Jacki's wedding so it was great to visit with all of Joe's HS buddies! On Sat night, we had an amazing time on a boat ride through the NY harbor. The wedding was Sunday and it was a blast! The food was out of this world and so much of it! We ate like kings and queens during our entire trip! And having G&G Swanee there to babysit was a lifesaver!

We've tried to get back to reality this week. I'm working in the office 2 days/week and Joe's got football worksouts 3 mornings/week. He's able to hang out with Jensen on one of the days when I'm at work which will be fun for them to have some father-son time this summer! Jensen is as active as can be...He's into everything, communicating much more and using his baby sign for "more", "please", "finished" and "thank you!" We're looking forward to a fun summer with days at the pool, trips to the zoo, visits and playdates with friends and a roadtrip to Denver! Are we brave or what???