ROAD TRIP!

how do I get this apple dumpling into my mouth without making a huge mess?

Ben took me to the first family reunion he’s attended in 10 years (they hold it every 5ish years). It was my first trip to the Berkshires (during the summer) and it was gorgeous there, but I left my camera in the car. Oh well.

On our way there we made a stop to pick up a fruity contribution (tiny, golfball sized plums) for the reunion and split a HUGE apple dumpling for brunch. It was a lovely road trip and we listened to Dame Judi Dench’s  book, And Furthermore on the way there and 1/2 the way home.

The reunion was lovely and I got to meet lots of Ben’s cousins who are our age, though I’m not sure I made any new friends, we were definitely the quiet ones at this gathering! The lake house a true testament to the 70s. The basement is a plush burgundy mancave with an electric organ, pool table, and pingpong table that all coordinate and upstairs has a blue and a yellow bathroom (the kitchen is all wood and carved dowels). Ben’s great uncle made sure to have kosher deli catering so that Ben and his parents could gorge on huge sandwiches (nitrates give me a headache, I stuck to gloppy salads and dessert).

As lovely as the drive up was. the drive home the following day STUNK. We stopped in central New Jersey on the way home, to visit Ben’s grandpa and report to him about the reunion. Grandpa Bob was kind of… droopy until his aunt came and reminded him to eat lunch (then ordered him a new, hot meal with extra meat loaf) and made sure that he ate at least 1/2 of it and drank his coffee. Apparently coffee was the missing element and droopy grandpa finally woke up! Since he had been sick earlier in the week we weren’t expecting much, but I accidentally threw him a softball by wearing the same tshirt as I did in the framed engagement photo he has on the windowsill and then he started babbling about dancing with me at our wedding and everyone was quite pleased about how alert he was. It was a much less emotionally challenging visit than we’d expected.

Hmm, I can’t find a copy of our engagement photos anywhere on my computer. Weird. NOTE: Yes, I know Ben’s name is wrong on our photographer’s blog, he was just B on the paperwork and they guessed wrong.

The drive home from NJ sucked. It was 100% traffic all the way home. Oh well, I hope you enjoyed the farm photos!