back from the east coast...

I was in New Jersey last week with my family and I'm finally back so I wanted to share some pictures of the trip. We stayed in north Jersey, but we went to New York City and Delaware...

I love the NYC skyline, it's amazing how big the city is. I think SF's skyline of skyscrapers would only take up a quarter of this skyline.
We only went to the city for a day, but we met up with my aunt, uncle and cousin from NJ and went to this great Italian family style restaurant called Carmine's (if you go to NYC with a big group I suggest you go here, it's great!). Afterwards, we saw Hair. Great show! I love the theater district in NYC, the amount of theaters and people going to all different kinds of shows amazes me.

This is the house where my maternal grandfather grew up in Forest Hills Gardens in Queens, NYC. The neighborhood is absolutely beautiful. It's called a "garden city" and is very similar to the St. Francis Wood neighborhood in SF.

The boardwalk at the Jersey Shore! We went to Point Pleasant for dinner one night with my uncle and then walked along the boardwalk for a little bit. My mom said it looked almost exactly the same as it did when she was a teenager in the 60s.
This is my beautiful niece Julianna. She and my brother drove up for the day from Delaware to go to the memorial service for my grandpa in NJ (the reason we went to NJ).

My brother Neil and my Dad, father and son (I think they're starting to look alike) except for the fact that my brother is 6'6" and my dad is only 6'.

...and Julianna again with my sister Catherine.
Mmmmm. Ice milk. My favorite. I seriously don't know why they don't sell ice milk on the west coast, it's low fat but it tastes so creamy. This is my favorite ice cream parlor, btw. It's been open since 1934 on Cedar Lane in Teaneck, NJ. My grandma went there when she was little, and my mom went there too. When we used to visit my grandparents house when I was younger my sisters and I would walk there too.This is the house where my mom grew up in Teaneck, NJ. Looks exactly the same. My grandpa planted all those plants in the front yard (the backyard too, it was always such a beautiful yard). My grandpa had quite the green thumb, something I did not inherit. He had a vegetable garden in the back yard and when I was little I used to help him pick tomatoes and green beans. We also used the pick the mint and put it in our iced tea that my grandma would make.

We drove down to Delaware one day to visit my half-brother (from my dad's previous marriage), his wife and my nieces and nephews. All six of them! Above is the youngest Jacob (almost 1 years old!) with his toy phone that he says "hello" to.

Kids like to use my brother as a human horse/car/plane/whatever. I know, because my sisters and I used to do the same thing when we were little.

Jonah and Jacob. So cute!
Here are the crazies, Joshua and Jonah, 4 and a half and 6.
Joshua and Jonah with my mom. They insisted on drinking their soda in the picture, there is a long sequence of these soda drinkers that I didn't post.
Here's all of my nieces and nephews except Jacob. Oldest to youngest is Jessica, Joel, Julianna, Jonah, Joshua and Jacob.