Whew! It has been quite the busy weekend—complete with a trip to Brooklyn and back. The day after our semi-annual visit with Nanny and Gramps, we try our best to rest. Inspired in part by our journey yesterday (and the booty we bring back), we enjoy a terrific meal of meatballs and Italian bread.

We went up to New York to visit Nanny and Gramps yesterday. We try to make it up there at least twice a year. This was our spring visit. We really enjoy our visits with them—and we have them down to a science (we think).

We make a day trip, which is somewhat difficult given the distance between Baltimore and Brooklyn. But spending a night or two would put them out too much (they are in their late eighties after all). We leave at 5 in the morning and stop at a Cracker Barrel so that Robin can wow the family with her skills at the triangle golf game. We also have breakfast.

We arrive around 10. After spending some time catching up, we have a little lunch. Yesterday, there would be no pizza because Nanny was tired of pizza, having had it three days in row. Lucky for us, we had to “settle” for cold cuts on Caputo’s bread.

After lunch, we played some more—inside and out. For some reason the kids find the back yard the absolute perfect place for playing heads-or-tails—they flips coins! Then we head up to Carroll Park to play on the playground for a bit. Afterwards, we get cookies and pastries, then head back for some more time with Nanny and Gramps.

We spend five or six hours visiting, which is enough time to allow the great-grandparents to enjoy their great-grand-children, but not enough time (hopefully) to wear them out too much.

The drive there and back has gotten much easier in recent years thanks to the DVD player in the mini-van and the EZ Pass for the tolls. The kids watched “Aloha, Scooby Doo” (recorded by Myth the night before) five times.

The baby would have done fantastic on the drive back if our son had not gotten terribly excited about a Target along the turnpike. The baby was soundly asleep until that point. She screamed for the next ten minutes. Darn Target and their quality merchandise at low, low prices. Happily, that was the high stress point of the entire trip.

After we got home, and the kids were in bed, Robin and Chris had Edo Sushi. After a trip to and from Brooklyn, Edo Sushi is perfect. Trust us.

To begin today right, we went to the farmers’ market. As fortune would have it, the grills were finally there. The kids were terribly excited about getting their first hot dogs of the season. Almost as excited as Chris was about the sausage sandwich.

In the afternoon, our daughter had lacrosse. She played mid-field and attack and had a great time. In the afternoon the kids played dress up and made play-doh volcanos, complete with vinegar, baking soda, and food coloring. It was a terrible mess, but they enjoyed themselves so much. And after all that, we had a wonderful dinner.

Our daughter read “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs” to her class on Friday. We thought it only fitting to have meatballs tonight. The Italian bread from Caputo’s was also a factor in the decision for meatballs. We had thought to serve the meatballs on the bread as meatball subs, but decided serving them over the pasta would work better for the kids. And it did.

Luke went to bed telling Robin that he likes green (spinach) “every day”. Robin left the room raising her fists in the air triumphantly.

And well she should.

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