Tuesday, November 29, 2016

Thanksgiving Road Trip 2016

From Thursday to Sunday, Mike and I visited 52 relatives and friends (we counted them on the way home) in three states, driving over 600 miles (we lost count). We left the house at 9 a.m. on Thanksgiving Day and pointed the car towards our first stop in New Jersey.
Mike behind the wheel of the PugMobile!
Overall, our trip down on Thursday was uneventful. We rocked out to seventies music on Sirius radio. Traffic was fairly moderate. We hit some slow spots in Connecticut and towards the Tappan Zee Bridge into New York. A few rain drops fell as we approached the bridge, but mostly the weather was clear and not too cold.


We used the GPS and the WAZE app, but both kept trying to take us to the George Washington Bridge. Fortunately, we knew to avoid that! It was pretty smooth sailing after we made our way over the bridge.
By 2:30 p.m., we made it to Scotch Plains, NJ, to enjoy a delicious Dim Sum lunch with my brother Gary, his wife Susie, and our friend Phil. This is one of our new favorite Thanksgiving traditions. You know, the warm-up dinner before the big dinner.
The waiter took a lovely photo of us and it looks even better after I cropped out the dirty dishes on the table!
Our tummies full, we hopped back in the car and made it to Lafayette Hills, PA, by 6:30 p.m., in time to eat some more food with Mike's Mom's side of the family, at their annual Thanksgiving dinner hosted by Mike's cousin Robin. Robin's husband, David, is a musician. While Mike went upstairs to check out David's three new guitars in his music studio, I fixed Robin's sewing machine.
It is a lovely vintage Kenmore. I re-threaded it and adjusted the presser foot tension. I made a new friend when I used it to repair three-year old cousin Holden's luvvie.
We spent the night at Mike's parents' house in Wilmington, DE. The next morning, we had breakfast with our friends Matt and Mary Kate, who were also home in Delaware visiting their families. Mike and Matt have been friends since high school and Matt was the best man at our wedding. At 6'8", he was taller than our Chuppah (wedding canopy).
I re-homed another quilt with Matt and Mary Kate. Mary Kate is a fellow pink-lover! We also share the same birthday!
Although our ultimate destination was Ocean City, NJ, for the rest of the weekend, we had another detour planned! My blogging friend Mari had just moved to Wilmington, DE, and she was only about 10 miles from Mike's parents, so we had to drop by and see her new house!
PugMomQuilts! and The Academic Quilter
While Mike hung out with Mari's husband Larry (aka LarryMan, so as not to be confused with LarryPug), Mari gave me a tour of her new sewing space. She is very organized! Look at her beautiful fabric collection all neatly wrapped on comic book boards!

Here are some of her beautiful blocks in progress on her design wall.
Mari showed me so many of her lovely quilts but I didn't photograph any. You will have to visit her blog to see them.
I picked up these lovely fabrics on Black Friday without having to hit the mall, during my visit with Mari. Mari is hosting a lovely event that she has named the Gratitude Sale. All proceeds are being donated to charity. She is holding the Gratitude Sale through the end of the year. Please check it out and if you buy anything, please tell her that you read about it on my blog! If you enjoyed my Judy Niemeyer post, Mari has a couple of her patterns listed for sale here (just scroll down towards the bottom). Remember, shopping with Mari is a mitzvah (good deed)!

Our visit with Mari and LarryMan over, we got back in the car and headed towards Ocean City, NJ, site of the annual family reunion with Mike's Dad's side of the family. Every year, they rent an entire floor of the Watson hotel, and we eat Thanksgiving dinner for two more days. The rooms are mini suites with kitchens and living rooms, so I always bring my sewing machine because I have plenty of room to spread out.
Saturday breakfast with Mike's family. From top, nephew Sam, Mike's Mom Bobbie, sister Susan (yes, I have two sister-in-laws with almost the same name, although Gary's Susie is really a Suzanne), my brother-in-law, Paul, Mike's Dad Norman, and Mike. Not seen is nephew Josh who had been dropped off in Poughkeepsie, NY, for a cross country meet the day before (I think Paul was trying to challenge our driving record for the weekend)
I made two fleece blankets on Saturday afternoon while Mike strolled the Boardwalk with his Dad and brother-in-law. Mike was a sweetie and returned to the hotel with fudge!
11-year old cousin Yael, shown with Mom Sarah, loved her new cupcake blanket.
Here is baby Nate with his new monkey fleece blanket.
We certainly managed to cram a lot of visiting in just three short days. We left Ocean City at 6 a.m. on Sunday to try and beat the holiday traffic. Driving on Sunday of Thanksgiving Weekend is the worst day of the year.
Here's another picture of adorable baby cousin Nate held by Mike's sister, Susan. Nate's Mom is Abby (not pictured), but she was very generous about passing Nate around all weekend so we could all enjoy him. He is a very happy, good-natured baby. Nate is the recipient of the Winnie the Pooh quilt.
Here is Mary Kate with her two boys, George (on MK's lap) and Reiko (on the right), enjoying their new quilt. I am so happy to see it being loved and appreciated!
Thanks for visiting! Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday too! I guess it's no surprise that I'm still tired from all the driving and not too anxious to take any more long car trips soon!

Linking up on Wednesday to Freemotion by the River and Sew Fresh Quilts.

Pugs and kisses,
Nancy

4 comments:

  1. I'm exhausted just reading this! Thanks so much for stopping by to see us. It was fun! And you know I call him Larry-man now, right? :)

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  2. Oh. But road trips like this are soooo fun!!! And you even fit some sewing in....now that is impressive!!! Glad your travels we're safe.

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  3. That was a lot of traveling and visiting over a short time. It looks like you had a wonderful time.

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  4. What a fun road trip and all the yummy food!

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