We were on the road once again last week, which will come as no surprise to regular readers of this blog as we are often many times on getaways, short or long. This was a family visit trip.
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| Siblings, Dorothy & Tony |
Last week's road trip was to our home state of NJ for a two-fold celebration. My brother, Tony, had marked a birthday earlier in the week. We celebrated with him at a birthday lunch on an unseasonably warm day as you can see from our jacket-less attire. Although we ate dined indoors, the outdoor temperatures were in the 80s last Thursday in NJ.
Back to the NJ road trip and more family photos.
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| Great nieces, Autumn and Savannah |
The only youngster at this year's Easter get together was our great niece Autumn Rose. There was a traditional egg hunt in the front yard, arranged by her grandmother (my brother's wife). Her cousin, Savannah, celebrated in FL with her mom, my brother's younger daughter. These 3-1/2 year olds were born 2 weeks apart and will reunite this coming summer when Jamie and family visit NJ.
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| Tony & Patrick, Autumn & parents (Julie & Michael), and Us |
No holiday get together would be complete without a bit of fun which my brother's wife (Anita) always provides at the dinner table. My brother donned bunny ears, Grenville wore the new shirt he bought in NJ during our getaway. Autumn and parents and ourselves with bunny glasses.
If you're from New Jersey, pork roll, also called Taylor ham, is a breakfast staple. This processed pork product consists of spices, salt, sugar cure, and preservatives and is smoked before packaging. According to the manufacturer, Taylor Provisions of Trenton, NJ, the official product name is John Taylor's Taylor Pork Roll, which at first only came in a tube-like casing. It still does, but now also comes sliced in boxes. A few years ago, my brother sent us several of these as a holiday gift which Grenville said was the best choice!
Other companies produce similar products, but Taylor Provisions is the originator. According to Grenville, and others, those others are impostors. While found in most NJ supermarkets, into Pennsylvania and parts of Maryland, it's not easily found here in Nashua, NH, aside from one local deli.
We hope that your—Easter or Passover—was celebrated with family, friends or both. In NJ, holiday dinner ended with this sweet dessert 🐰.
Yes, it was very delicious 😋. There's no such thing as calorie-counting on a holiday which is a very good thing as we are back again on the South Beach diet plan. It's been called a life style, which is more in keeping with my future eating plans. We started before the holiday (of course, not the best time, but then is there ever one?) We returned home without any gains, maintaining our pre-trip weights.
Blog reading and commenting, which was on hold during our travels, will resume this week in between laundry, grocery shopping, cleaning. Going away is always fun, but catching up at home takes a while—until the next getaway in May for our 1st date anniversary.
26 comments:
Welcome home...which is always a good feeling for me at least. Love trips too. Glad you got to see all your relatives (on photos or live)! Good to have family fun shared.
from all the years of seeing your grandchildren born or from their early early years and how much they have grown and spouted up so quickly. what a fast 3 and 1/2 years for the grand nieces. wow.. every one looks happy and having a fun time... now for the fun part of traveling, getting it all back to normal
Wonderful family trip. Welcome home! Have fun catching up. :)
Happy belated Easter. I’m so glad you got to get away and spend time with family.
Looks like a grand trip for the holiday.
Lovely Easter gathering there. Really sweet family photos.
Lovely fun photos
A trip to see family is a holiday all on its own.
This looks like a fun time for all of you. I am never around children and I miss that, it looks like you have plenty of young ones to enjoy. The cake looks fantastic!
Hi Beatrice, It looks like you had a great Easter family visit! The bunny glasses are cool but I love the bunny ears on your brother and his Taylor ham shirt! I'll have to check out those hams... We probably won't see our son and his family until late May/early June. We wish they lived closer... Take Care, Big Daddy Dave
I love the get-togethers for holidays, even if its by photos and calls.
Its great you got some memory photos too.
Love the cake and your bunny glasses, but especially your hunny's t-shirt. I guess the pork roll never made it out West where we live. Sounds so good.
Sue
I'm not going to say that the grandkids are growing up so fast. I'm not.
I'm glad you had a joyous Easter with your loved ones - - and the weather was favorable, too. Winter (hopefully!) is finally over.
I like the bunny glasses - - and the cake looks delicious!
A great photo of you and your brother. In fact, it is always great to see you and Pat with family on your travels. Love the bunny glasses! Interesting to learn of the pork roll and that cake is so pretty! Calorie counting is not allowed on any holiday around here.
I'm glad you had a great Easter trip and saw your family. Your grandchildren are beautiful. Happy Spring!
A wonderful visit with family, it can't get much better. You all look so happy in each other's company. I have a tailors ham in my sewing basket, it is a tightly filled cushion of sorts to press curved and other tricky to access seams. It looks just like your Taylor ham! Only with a black and red check fabric cover and no pork roll inside. This and your bunny ears made me smile.
It looks like you had lots of fun and love with your friends and family on your Easter road trip. I love the bunny glasses and that cake does look yummy. My husband picked up a small cake and although it tasted good, it was definitely lacking flavor. Probably a good thing as we ate less of it-smile. And I haven't heard of the Jersey pork roll. I like how areas have their own local eats; that really does make it interesting. I bet before this country became so consumer box stored, it would have been interesting to see many more differences in different areas. Sometimes now when I travel, at least store wise, you see a lot of the same stores are everywhere. Good or bad, I guess it depends on your viewpoint. hugs-Erika
You had a lot of great family fun. The cake was wonderful. Grand kids are growing up. Have a great week at home again.
Such a lovely family and wonderful Easter get-together!
Thanks for the photos and the narratives. The beautiful grandkids, the bunny glasses and the delicious cake added a lot of charm and fun to your post.
What a lovely Easter you had! And the kids are especially cute with those glasses and all! I'm so glad you could all celebrate together!
Looks like you had a great time with your brother and family! I love the bunny ears and glasses, and that sweet little Autumn Rose with her Easter basket. I'm so glad you are able to take these little trips and enjoy your loved ones and friends like you do. You are blessed to be able to travel like that. I'm glad the weather was also cooperative, albeit, warm! I enjoyed hearing about your trip. Glad you are back home safe and sound!!
What a wonderful trip! I love your family photos.
Thanks for the information about Taylor ham and the rules regarding displaying US currency.
I'm (almost) back on my diet after the holiday eating binge. Just a few pieces of chocolate left...
You folk sure do seem to have a splendid time.
Love the photos.
Everyone looks so happy!
Hugs and blessings, Dorothy.
i am so happy you were able to visit your family on Easter specially brother and his family and the others as well :)))
loved the first photo ,reunion is always heartfelt no doubt .family images give excellent idea how fun you had and enjoyed time with loved ones ,i am grateful for such special days when family gathering feels so fulfilling .
it make me smile instantly when i look at your grandchildren who are growing fast by the grace of God! age difference is factor may that elder kids favor money over treats :)both look happy so do you guys :)
cake is Splendid wow!!!!!!!!!!!!
best of luck for the upcoming Anniversary :)
hugs
Looks like you had fun.
A fun getaway for sure Dorothy~ Have to laugh about the camera shy 16 yr old; our granddaughter has a 2 yr old a 4 yr old and two teenagers. But you might not know about the older two if you just looked at her current pictures ;>) How they change!!
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