What an amazing time we had in NY and NJ last week! 12 days of travel to see lots of family and friends - kept us quite busy - but we managed to take some time out just for us and our babymoon (yes some baby bump pics included)! We took a ton of pics which can be found on Snapfish:
http://www1.snapfish.com/snapfish/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=3063581015/a=5210131_5210131/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/ - but I also posted many throughout this blog post.
Day 1 & 2 - Brewster
Steve and I had a great time with Mom for our first 2 days. We had a delicious Italian dinner @ Aversanos -
http://www.aversanosrestaurant.com and just took some time to be together and catch up. Mom and Aunt Dana had recently redecorated the condo and it really looks like a new place! It has a new sense of peace and calm and was really relaxing to visit. We also visited Aunt Dana in rehab (no not that kind) after her hip replacement surgery and she was already up and about within a week. She really looked great and it was wonderful to see her pain free after three years of a lot of pain.
Mom and I also checked out this great baby consignment shop in Danbury -
http://www.onceuponachilddanbury.com. Mom finally got to pick out some really cute baby clothes - a cute orange CK vest and brown cords for when the babe gets a little older and a new pacifier that will be quite amusing when the baby is ready - Whine Connoisseur is printed across the front.
Day 3 - Danbury, CT, Mamaroneck and Huntington, NY
 |
| Nicholas and Brittany with their Grandma |
Aunt B hosted us and showered us with lots of love and gifts for our new little life. My cousin's Chris & Maria brought their two little ones and brought us such a lovely bath set for Baby D! Aunt B hooked us up with a great relaxing candle set and this huge piece of fabric that we could use as a beach blanket or even in the backyard for Baby D. It will all come in so handy!
 |
| Brittany (purple outfit/blue hair), Jenna (pink dress with flowers), Christian (gray shirt), Nicholas (brown shirt) & Raquel (green hair) |
My cousin Jessica and her hubby Michael brought their three kids - Christian, Raquel and Jenna. Aunt B had purchased some great new hair for them which they loved!
Steve and I really had a great visit with everyone for a few hours and we received some great advice from our cousins: All you really need is patience! I'll definitely need to work on that one!
 |
| Poolside with Baby D! |
Later that afternoon we headed to Cassie & Sean's who hosted a yummy lunch for us. Jess, Pete and Daina-Dane joined us and we sat poolside (so refreshing!) for a bit. Thanks Halloran's - we wished we could have stayed longer! We love all our new baby gifts - the the ultra soft blankets, toys, cute PJs and Froggie Robe for Baby D were just perfect!
 |
| Ol' Blue Eye's - Timmy |
 |
| The Balancing Baron Act |
That evening we headed out to Long Island to see the Baron family. Amazingly there was very little traffic on the way to LI on a Frday night! Katie and Timmy are getting so big and Matt and Lauren just get happier and more at ease with their family life.
 |
Yes that's Uncle Steve painting Katie's nails -
he had a lot of Dad practice on this trip! |
Lauren sent us home with an additional suitcase full of baby clothes and these were just for 0-6 months! Her two little ones must have been the best dressed kids on Long Island - everything is so tiny and cute! We even received the most adorable Halloween costume - a PENGUIN! Although it will be way too big for our baby this year - our nephew Charlie is going to borrow it this year because his nickname is the Penguino!
 |
| PC Crew |
 |
| Pleasantly Pregnant - Dana & Becky |
Day 4 - Da' Bronx - Yankees vs Tampa Bay - Although the Yankee's lost (10-5 ugh!) - we had a great day catching up with old friends (we honestly watched maybe 2 innings of the whole game!). The new stadium is great -plenty of shade to hide although the sun was blazing at close to 96 degrees!
Brian, Becky (8 mos prego), Charlanne, Roy, Tricia, Eric, Cassie, Sean, Heidi and Brendan joined us for the game. We were sad that Tracie, Grey and Tara couldn't make it!
That eve we headed to New Jersey to stay with Dad, Wendy, Port and Helena for the night. On
Day 5 - Hillsdale, NJ - they hosted a wonderful BBQ for us.
 |
| The Xavier/Guimaraes Brother's |
It was great to see a lot of our family and really take the time to sit, talk and of course eat and drink with everyone.
Sometimes I am really happy we live in Atlanta as we eat like a king and queen every time we come up North! Thanks to Wendy and Dad for bringing everyone together!
 |
| Steve & Port |
Day 6 - 11 - Jersey Shore Baby!
 |
| The bump catching a few rays! |
No we didn't see Snooki or run into the Situation but we snuck in 2 days by ourselves for a Babymoon!
 |
| Palmer Crew |
We then spent some quality time with the Palmer crew! Chillaxing on the beach was everyone's top priority along with eating as much seafood as we possibly could before departing! We had such a fantastic time with everyone at the Shore! We will be sure to bring Baby D to the ocean as soon as possible so he can become a fish like our nephews Danny and Anthony.
 |
| The Big Black Bass |
A huge THANK YOU goes out to Deb and Ant for letting us stay at their gorgeous beach house in Shipbottom (Long Beach Island). If you've never been to LBI - GO there! It has so much to do for all ages.
We biked a little, played Mini-Golf, ate plenty of soft-shell crabs and took some walks on the beach. Steve and I went fishing for half a day and I lost our best because Steve caught one smallish Black Bass. I think I still owe him a massage! We also spent an afternoon with some of the Xavier cousin's - Heather, Dan Mike Michelle and all of their beautiful girls!
 |
| Emily & Cousin Katelyn |
 |
| Emily & her Mommy Heather |
 |
| Sunkissed and sandy - Brianna |
 |
| Casey - what a character! |
I had a chance to catch my nephew Danny's baseball game! What an amazing catcher he is (it must have rubbed off from his Aunt Dana who was the a catcher in high school). He was throwing kids out at second and tagging players left and right out at home! And boy can he hit - he only pulled a double while we watched but I overheard some parent's from the other team who said "watch this guy who's up - he's an animal!"
 |
| Our hot sister-in-law Debbie |
Jess and Carol joined us on Wednesday night late and Pete came out on Friday so we got to hang with each of them as well - here are some additional great shots from the shore:
 |
| Our studly brother Anthony |
 |
| Our nephew Anthony - the only shot I had with his eyes open! |
 |
| Our gorgeous sister Jess |
 |
| The boogy-boarding king - our nephew Danny |
|
|
|
It's always so hard to leave the beach but by
Day 11 - NYC - we wanted to hit up some of our old haunts in NYC. Although the 103 degree weather kept us away for most of the day - we did make it in later that eve. It was great to catch up with some old friends - Jennie and Melanie at the swanky Thom Bar at the Thompson Hotel -
http://www.thompsonhotels.com/hotels/nyc/60-thompson/drink/thom-bar.
Oh how it made us miss our random NY days. When Steve and I first started dating I lived on Wall St and he lived on 75th and York. We would just meet halfway somewhere and head out by foot to anyplace that beckoned for our attention. We would end up walking for miles, eating our way around the city and just enjoyed each other's company. With a baby on the way - I hope to have more days like that just with one extra thing - a stroller & baby D (I guess that's two things).
Dad and Wendy had joined us for the eve and with our rumbling belly's we couldn't get into Blue Ribbon for an hour and a half - so we decided to find someplace else and boy did we! Piccolo Cucina (
http://www.piccolacucinanyc.com/index_noflash.html)- hit the spot! The fedora wearing owner chef - Philip Guardione (Four Seasons - Milan) amazed our palettes with a delightful caprese salad and sauteed octopus cooked to perfection for appetizers (remember I am half Portuguese!). And then we each ordered a fish dish (except Steve who was a true carnivore - with an all meat masterpiece - veal, chicken, homemade sausage and a seared beef which was all amazing). Lobster with Fusilli for me - to die for! Yes I do miss all of the culinary creations in NY!
After dinner we walked around the block and found a yummy little tapas joint - Boqueria -
boquerianyc.com. They had my favorite dessert of all time - Flan! But funny enough - what drew us in was the quince marmalada that was in the window, which my Vo-Vo (Portuguese for Grandma used to make by hand from her Quince tree in the backyard)! After espresso's with Brandy and agua for me - the midnight hour was slowly approaching and this DD (aka pregnant lady) was exhausted!
We still had one more long day ahead of us and I wanted to be somewhat alive when we saw this next crew as we knew they were bound to keep us on our toes!
 |
| Little Grey |
 |
| Addison |
Day 12 - Port Chester
My old stomping grounds are always fun to see - it's interesting to see how many things have changed but even more incredible how things have remained the same. Carol and Jeff hosted a BBQ with some of the friends we had missed earlier in the trip along with their little ones. Tracie, Grey, Addison, little Grey and baby #3 on the way were in attendance.
It's funny but I do not have many shots of the adults in for the BBQ - mainly the kids. Daina and Tom joined us along with Cassie and Charlanne - with little Carly in tow. What a great bunch of kids. They all got along so well and it made me realize how much we have all grown up! I sometimes don't think of ourselves as grown-ups but with a little one on the way - I think it puts everything into perspective a little bit more! Many thanks to Carol and Jeff for hosting and to everyone else who brought a little something to add to the day to make it yummy!
 |
| No - you are not seeing double! |
 |
| JT says this is my plate! |
We headed back to Brewster later that day to have one more night with Mom and Aunt Dana (who was already home and walking around!). We all enjoyed some yummy Chinese for dinner that eve and an early flight Monday was calling our names at 7:15 so we called it an early night!
We had such a great trip and babymoon! Yes we ran around quite a bit but I still managed to take at least 5-6 naps, see 4 amazing sunsets and felt really relaxed when we returned to ATL. Thanks to all who made it so very wonderful for Steve, Baby D and I. It was great to see all of you and for those we may have missed - our apologies - but next time we'll have a new little life in tow!
Until the next post...our Baby Shower (literally!)
We always seem to have eventful weekends and this past Friday was a tad bittersweet for the Dojnik household.
A lobster salad with mango salsa was the amazing appetizer from Dave and Melissa. Sweet Potato fries with Hot Sauce and Powdered Sugar rounded out the main course from Dan and Alyssa. Then the dinner wrapped with strawberry shortcake - southern style - which means it was served on a light flaky biscuit. Thanks to Michael and Brett for that tasty dessert!
