A Week to Remember

It began on Friday, when we drove to Michigan to join an impromptu family reunion at Mike's brother's house.  Harry and Sandy live in a log house in the small town of Milford.

The family I married into is very sports oriented.  Most of them love the University of Michigan (they live close to Ann Arbor and several family members graduated from there) but they also root for Michigan State because Mike's niece went there.  Thus, the divided loyalty displayed on the front porch.

It was cloudy and chilly during our drive north from Kentucky to Michigan…

but it was warm and cozy inside the log house.

Harry and Sandy's son and his wife were visiting from Los Angeles.  The brought their three-year old son and eleven week old baby girl.  It was the first time most of us had met the baby.

This is Harry, playing with his three-year old grandson out in the yard.

"Keep Calm, I'm A Big Brother" says his shirt.

Mike's sister was there, along with her daughter and her daughter's boyfriend who live in Austin, Texas.  Various friends and aunts and uncles were there, various generations of parents, grown kids, little kids and grandparents.  It was good to catch up with everyone.  We ate a lot of good food and drank a lot of good wine and watched a lot of baseball playoffs.

Bright and early Saturday morning, we headed off from Michigan to drive to Philadelphia, which is about 600 miles.  We arrived in the early evening and headed over to the house of friends to "break the fast" at the end of Yom Kippur.  We had more good food and more good wine.  We have great good friends there, and they always make us feel like part of the family.

This is the apple cake I couldn't resist.  I lost count of how many pieces I ate… but they were small!  We also had kugel, whitefish, cream cheese, bagels, lox, salami, corned beef and pastrami.  A feast!

We stayed in the Philadelphia area all week.  After break the fast on Friday night, we attended a surprise birthday party for a friend turning sixty, given by her grown kids.  So much food!  So many friends!  So much fun!  It was a great party.

SURPRISE!!!

Family and friends… and so much good food once more!

During the week, we stayed at our new condo.  We are moving into it slowly, driving back and forth from Kentucky to Pennsylvania.  We had a bed delivered last time we were here.  This time we got a new fridge and a loveseat, and ordered two new chairs to be delivered when we visit next month.

We had lunch at a wine bar near the condo one day…

and dinner in Doylestown another night.

We walked past a hookah parlor on our way to dinner.  Who knew there were such things?  I certainly had never seen one before!

We also found a cool light fixture at Ikea while we were there… far out!

Well, that was a lot of activity packed into one week!  A lot of food and friends and fun.  And how did we top it all off?  We went to a wedding!  The son of good friends married the girl of his dreams, and a great time was had by all.

I love it when, at the conclusion of the wedding the grooms smashes the glass and everyone yells "Mazel Tov" and applauds the newly married couple!  It is a glorious, happy moment.

My husband and I are on the right, with some good friends.  What a week it was… so much fun, food and celebrating.  No wonder I put on a few pounds!