HEADED HOME

The Peanut and I are flying home from New Jersey today. Or at least we HOPE to be flying home. When I woke up this morning, this was the view outside my dad's window:

this is just a little snow

compared to what the east coast has seen lately

Fingers crossed our flights leave Newark today. On time. We don't leave for the airport until noon and our flight is not until 3 pm so hopefully there is plenty of time for it to clear outta here.

So far though, our trip has been great. The Peanut has been experiencing all the wonderful things east coasters get to do in the winter. One of her favorites?

eating ice cream in the car

We took the Peanut to Cliff's Ice Cream which is legendary in this part of New Jersey. It is an old fashioned outdoor ice cream shop. In the summer the line is miles long and you generally get your ice cream and then find a picnic table to sit and enjoy it. In the winter, you get your ice cream and immediately head back to your car to eat it.

On Saturday I drove to my college roommate Jersey Jess's house. Jersey Jess and I were freshmen year roommates (there were four of us total in a tiny tiny room). I went to college in Connecticut but oddly was placed with a girl who lived only a few towns over from me. The other two roommates were nice and interesting people. Jersey Jess and I became good friends and later that year met New York Amanda and quite a few others who hailed from Connecticut and Massachusetts. For my junior and senior year in college I had 6 other roommates and all of us brought our own individual accents. It was awesome. On Saturday three out of my six other roommates made the drive from New York and Massachusetts to Jersey Jess's house with all their kids in tow. It was mayhem but awesome. The Peanut was a little quiet and shy at first. I think she was still recovering from her mini-nap in the car.

yes. tiger came too.

She was the first kid there and the others slowly trickled in. There were so many toys that most of the kids were pretty occupied whether they were playing together or not.

toy madness!

Once all my roommates arrived though, things started getting crazy. Most of my roommates have never met the Peanut and I have not met their kids. Needless to say, there was a lot of "oh you're so cute!" going on. And hugs.

New York Amanda and the Peanut

The Peanut was fairly chill the entire time. She was not Miss Social like she has been on most of our trip but then again, being introduced to NINE OTHER kids at once, could be a bit intimidating. She chose to sit back and take things in.

her first capri sun

amazing what kids will eat/drink in the presence of other kids

While the Peanut was enjoying her "juice" Jersey Jess and New York Amanda and I tried to take a few self portraits. We were not having much luck. The Peanut if you remember, was a great photographer last weekend, so I tried to get her to take our photo . . .

um, not quite

She had a little bit of trouble figuring out the camera. No worries, I was able to take a semi-good shot that did not make us look like we all had 4 chins each.

New York Amanda, Jersey Jess and moi

We stayed for quite a while at Jersey Jess's house completely destroying the place and probably tormenting her dogs with all the kids. It was so much fun.

all the kids, minus 1 who had left which makes 10 total!

The Peanut had a blast and I was so incredibly excited to see most of my roommates. It is amazing how we can get together after all these years and it is like time has never passed . . . well, except for the 10 crazy kids running around.

Sunday was a day spent visiting my neighbors and local friends. I grew up in a very close knit neighborhood. I was the only girl on a street with 10 boys! Most of the mothers on my street always looked out for me although I was always able to hold my own when it came to games like baseball and football etc. However most of the boys acted like my bigger brothers, especially as we got older, so it was nice. I had to bring the Peanut over to my neighbor's house so they could all see how much she has grown.

Then it was a big family dinner with almost the entire family minus Vans and my step-brother's girlfriend. One of these days we will get us all in the same house for a photo. The Peanut has been wonderful this whole trip. I have had to eliminate her naps however in order to make bedtime happen which has been interesting. Except for the occasional tantrum or stubbornness at about 6 pm, she has been great and she has been totally spoiled.

Last night when we came home after dinner the Peanut wanted to chill with her newest obsession "white chips."

don't mess with me mom, having a snack here

She definitely has the "Jersey attitude" down and I can hear my accent slowly coming back. Maybe it is a good thing we're flying home to California today! Vans is definitely in for a big surprise!