New Jersey, New Jersey...

the greatest in the land, the best of sun and sand! Well not really, but that was a song we sang in middle school and whenever I hear NJ twice in a row I cannot help but complete it with that verse :)

I am way late writing about this trip as we returned almost 2 weeks ago. We spent almost a week in NJ visiting family. We tried to keep this visit as low key as possible so it would feel like a vacation. I think it worked, and the kids had a blast. It was a bit more challenging this time since all of James' siblings were in town too, so we had to balance between more people. About halfway through I honestly felt like I was never in the right place always feeling like I should be with the other family. I think (or maybe I hope) that was something in my head only and I think we did a good job of balancing time. So in no particular order, here are some of the things we did on our trip.

Doted on Adelia :) Keely was so excited to feed her and change her diaper (though I don't think she did that). She fed her this first bottle in New Jersey...Adelia was so hungry that she didn't care who was feeding her.

Played with Adelia. She is at such a fun age, crawling around and squealing with laughter. She loved being with all her cousins again...she probably didn't remember them from January but hopefully she will the next time we see her.

Killed 30 birds with one stone :) Not to offend anyone who was there, but there is a lot of family on my side of the family that want to see us so Karen was kind enough to host a BBQ at her house so all those people could spend a few hours with us. (Thanks Karen and Steve!) We had a blast and it was nice to see everyone.
And another benefit of having it at Karen's was the pool. Even I jumped in because the weather was sweltering humid. The kids swam in Karen's pool quite a bit over the trip.
Played with Cassidy and Aedan, and their new hamster Elizabeth. In case you can't see, the hamster is in the green ball.
Attended the annual block party on Becket Road, complete with ices, waterslide and tye dying. Played with Cassidy and Aedan on their scooters and skateboards.

This face is priceless. It's always a bit tiring with all the activity in NJ :)
Went to Red Bank and walked around, leaving just in time to avoid the afternoon thunderstorm. I love Aedan's face in this picture :)
Ate Oreos with Grandpa :)
We also went to the beach and had a fantastic day at the Atlantic Ocean. No pictures though! So that was our trip to NJ. We had so much fun, especially Keely who misses everyone so much. She loved spending time with her cousins old and young. We all did and it was a very fun trip :)