NYC meets NC

The day after we returned from the Dominican we had a very exciting visit from the Bass (now Blumenthal) cousins and my Aunt Doris.

My dad and his brother (my uncle) were 12 years apart so when my had me my cousins were almost already teenagers! Growing up I spent a lot of time with my cousin Robin who is older than me. She would fly to Texas from New City NY when I was a baby and spend the summer playing with me. We used to have a great time...or at least that is what they tell me!

Fast Forward to now: my cousin got married the weekend before Philip and I - 2 years ago. Almost one year ago she give birth to one of the cutest little boys I have ever seen, Spencer Reid Blumenthal. I know I am biased but I am serious. HE SHOULD MODEL. On top of his cuteness he is really really well behaved.

Robin, Seth (her husband), Spencer (my new cousin) and my Aunt Doris all flew in from NYC to visit for 4 days. All of them stayed with Philip and I which was a treat. This was the first time that I was hosting family in my OWN HOUSE! My parents house is for rent so when we were planning we were not sure if they would still be in the house so we decided it would be fun to have our first family house guests! We had a great time. Dinner at my parents one night, lunch at M5 (which by the way is soooo good, especially on the patio), Brooklyn Pizza, a Cook Out at our house, Brunch at Pewter Rose and Philip's homemade Belgium Waffles and more. We even made it to the gym so that they could check out the amazing facilities at Shalom Park and the Jewish Community center here in Charlotte.

My Aunt is very interested in moving away from NYC after living in NY for 30+ years and making Charlotte her home. My parents showed her around and they checked out many different places that she might be interested in. I think they decided that they really liked Charlotte and if only they could convince Seth to move away from the city they would make Charlotte their home!

Some funny notes from the weekend:

I am cheap... I use single roll toliet paper and whatever is on sale for paper towels. My cousin and Aunt swear by Downy paper towels and Charmin Double Roll Toliet Paper. My cousin went through more paper towels when she was here then I go through in a month (She has an excuse... the baby!) However...she doesnt like to use hand towels, dish towels etc. GO GREEN....!

They thought it was so funny that when they got home they called the toliet paper company and had them send me an extender for my toliet paper holder so I can buy double rolls. I am still laughing about this.

The guys ate more hot dogs than they probably ate all year in one weekend. Wachovia Cup totalled 6 consumed hot dogs, cook out - 6 hot dogs and left overs for lunch 4 hot dogs. WOW. Enough already!

Seth and Philip really had a great time. My office gave me two free tickets to the Wachovia Cup and they both went on Friday. They saw some of the most amazing homes on the course at Quail Hollow and went on and on about them. We actually got to see what they were talking about on TV. WOW. The guys enjoyed time on the patio smoking cigars Seth brought and throwing back a few beers.

We could have not asked for better weather. We will miss them and we hope to make this a yearly family visit now that we are all grown up. It was great to spend time with my family since they live far away and we don't see each other that often. I am going to miss Spencer so much. I only wish that my child one day is as golden as him.