Philly and Boston

The week before Charlie left I had a trip planned to visit Essy in Philly and then a trip to Boston with my mom for my great uncle's 90th birthday. My 91 (and a half!) year old grandma flew in from Israel for it. I considered not going for half a second because of the short notice deployment, but realized that Charlie would be working ridiculous hours in preparation for it, and there was no way I would miss my best friend, my grandma, and so much of my family.

I left on Tuesday during the day to see Eden and had a layover, so I didn't get in until passed midnight. "Ma" came and picked me up at the airport, best ma ever! I got to wake Eden up at midnight and snuggle like old times, like we hadn't been apart. Best friends are amazing things. Unfortunately, Eden had to work the next day, so I spent some time sleeping in, hanging out with Davida, I mean Ma, and then meeting up with my friend Megan for lunch and a pedicure. Somehow I got no pictures at all from any of this. When I stopped regularly blogging I started lacking with the pictures. Need to change that.

Loved spending time with the Shermans on Wednesdy and Thursday, and then Friday morning we went to pick up my mom at the airport. The ONLY picture I have of me and Eden is at Reading Terminal and my mom took it. Embarrassing, seriously.

Yes, she chose her shirt to match mine.

No, we don't care. We are awesome.

I love you Essy!!!!!

We did some typical philly touristy stuff including the Jewish Museum which me and my mom loved. That evening we were meeting my very pregnant cousin, Bridget and her husband at Penn (where they are residents) and driving up to Boston with them. Lauren and I had fun walking around some more, and I may or may not have taken a brief nap in the car in order to survive the late night driving I would be doing....

Bridget looked great and it was so nice to see Nick again. It was only the second time I met him, and the first time we didn't really get to talk much, but we had a great time hanging out in the car. My dad is very anti road trip, so it was kind of a big deal that I drove the whole way! Go me.

The next day we went to an Armenian restaurant for my great Uncle's 90th. The food was delicious and my aunt Jackie planned an awesome program. Here she is dancing with her dad:


We got to see my grandma and my cousin from Israel, but I don't have all of the pictures Jackie took, just these three:

Love that pic of me and mom!


From left to right: Aunt Jackie, my great Uncle Schari (that turned 90), my other great Uncle Dolfi who also flew in from Israel, my cousin Anat, my 91.5 year old grandma, my great aunt Marietta, mommy, and me.

And then a really uncoordinated picture of a lot of the family that makes me laugh because I don't know who some of the people are (I think they are friends or something?) and really, nobody is looking except for 5-6 of us.


I don't even know who is looking at what there, but it's the picture Jackie sent me. Toward the right you can see a very pregnant Bridget! EEEEEEEH so exciting!

The next day we want to Jackie's house for Bridget's baby shower, which was sooooo nice. One of her best friends and college roommates actually lives in Vegas and we've met a few times, so it was so nice to see her in the context of being Bridget's friend. All her friends were awesome, really felt like extended family. She is having a baby boy and there was a cute onesie decorating station, as well as a crossword puzzle about Bridget and Nick as babies (which I won!).

My great aunt Marietta was leaving from the shower to go back to Rockville (where she and her husband live) and I got some sweet pictures of her and my grandma saying good bye. So so sweet:


Romanians kiss on the mouth - it always made me uncomfortable as a kid (and still does) but what can I say? That's their way!


These two women are firecrackers. Seriously, it's incredible to see their energy.

And here is Marietta telling Schari he better wear the chef's hat she got him. I love how she is lecturing him!! Look how she is pointing at him, I love it.


And here he is with hand up - "I surrender". So funny!


The next day I NEEDED to get my Legal Seafoods fix in, so my poor cousin Jeffrey had to come with me once again. It did not disappoint. Here are my and Jeffrey at lunch:


After lunch we walked around Coolidge Corner (were we were staying, my favorite place in Brookline) and out of nowhere it started to come down with like, torrential rain. I think? Not something I'm used to being from Vegas, since honestly, I'm usually inside during the rare flash floods we get, and then they go away. Well, luckily, we happened to be right outside of JP Licks ice cream shop....so we had to take refuge from the rain. I had a sweet cream scoop in a white chocolate coated waffle cone. Honestly, I kind of like Cold Stone's sweet cream better.... I guess I'm loyal to what I like. My mom had a cappuccino flavor.


That night we wanted to take grandma out for dinner with Schari and a few others, so Schari's favorite restaurant.....is Texas Roadhouse. So funny! A 90 year old Romanian loves those steak n ribs! It was a bit loud in there to really talk to my grandma, but the ribs were yummy and I'm glad we got to take him to his favorite.




The next morning we were leaving but took my grandma and cousin out to breakfast to see them one last time. My mom snapped a picture on her phone but I don't have it yet. It was so good to see my grandma, and I can't believe she made the trip at her age. I always love going to Boston to see my fam, and can't wait for the next time!