Ilana also toured us around her new work facilities.
We also hung out at Booth Bay Harbor. Where it was a little cold for Al's California blood (mind you it hasn't gone below 50 in San Fran since I've been here).
After spending a weekend in Maine, we headed south to visit my UO roommate in Boston (Nick Garcia for those who remember- who is doing great), then just a bit further south to Scott Marcinkus and Family in Attleboro. Scott and Natalie married 2 years ago and hosted their friends and family in Trinidad and Tobago for a week (please see earlier blogs for that). Scott, my UO law grad peer, was working part time as a contract lawyer (writing briefs/memos for other lawyers) and a full time dad. Natalie is finishing up her residency in pediatric medicine and looking for a FT job to follow. Their baby (Emilia) is 4 months and very cute.
As Natalie worked, Scott followed us down to our Next stop: Salim, Medha, and Nalini in Providence. I taught Nalini (rhymes with Melanie-accent on the first syllable) to "stomp in puddles" Alden style, we hit the park, and I struggled to understand what she wanted. Not because her language skills were sub-par (for a 1 1/2 year old), but because she was being taught English, Lebanese Arabic, Spanish, and some Indian dialect. So I only had a 2/4 chance of understanding the word she was using. Salim is still a freelance videographer, shooting documentaries and corporate videos, and Medha is a lawyer for a community clinic and specializes in linking legal cures for medical issues (such as someone coming into the clinic for lead poisoning due to the paint in their apartment). Nalini and Mia got together swimmingly.
After many, many days of baby stuff, Al and I headed to Connecticut to visit her Aunt Mikki and Uncle Clay, and then headed to NYC to see her brother Greg.
New York City was the usual hustle. We stayed in a "quaint" hotel right in Manhattan, and visited Greg at his work with Freakonomics radio (podcasts available online). He met up with Al's honorary Uncle Bobby who recently broke his arm in a motorcycle accident in Dominican Republic, where we spends most of his time (the joy of being single, retired, no children, and in a rent-controlled apartment). We walked central park, did the MET, and spent the evenings with Greg touring us around Manhattan and Brooklyn (where Greg lives).
After the adrenaline packed city, we made our way west to New Jersey visiting yet another baby; Alex's cousin's. We hung out with the entire family, ate Italian, and watched golf......yippee. Golf is exactly as boring to watch as you think it would be.
On our way out of New Jersey and to Maryland, we stopped off at Alex's Aunt Bobby's place for a brief gnash.
In Maryland, we stayed at an adorable B&B where the only employee was the 80 year old owner, Helen. He owned the ranch and the race horses on the property, and a cadre of under 10-lb dogs that barked incurably whenever we arrived/left. First, was Grandpa's gravestone unveiling, and last stop on our trip was Passover; which was....passover-y to the max (complete with toad/turtle catching as representation of 1 of the 10 plagues).
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