It was a great trip and we’re both really tired; not so much from jet lag, but just from nonstop excitement and general lack of sleep.

The purpose of our trip to The Homeland was to attend my cousin Robert’s wedding. That, of course, was just an excuse to get our last world trip in before the third trimester deadline. But since it’s been over two years since I last stepped foot in the state of New York (the longest I have ever gone in my life!), I didn’t really need an excuse.

The wedding itself was wonderful and nothing like I had expected. Robert met his bride Desrie at church. He “found” religion a few years ago and has never been happier. This being my first Born Again wedding, I was caught completely off-guard by the lack of alcohol and dancing and the joyous excess of hymn, Jesus, and soul. The ceremony was lovely, lead by a sweet preacher who we later found out had never conducted a wedding in his life (this was his first). The songs, vows, and miniature ring bearer and flower girl predictably brought the inevitable tear to my eye. Just one, though. After the ceremony, we all headed over to Bubby’s Brooklyn just under the Manhattan and Brooklyn Bridges in DUMBO where we stuffed ourselves silly on crab cakes and birthday cake (and much, much more). We tried to take some photos of the wedding party outside in front of the amazing Manhattan backdrop but the impending rain and arctic wind made sure we didn’t stray far from the dining room. I’ll try and throw together a photo album of the event and upload it to Flickr sometime in the next few days.

The best part of the whole trip wasn’t the things we did, but the people with whom we spent our time. My Binghamton buddy Steve was kind enough to put us up for the entire week we were in town – he’s the best! So Edgewater, New Jersey was our base camp while we made frequent journeys into The City. My Aunt Amy flew all the way from California when she heard that my sisters and I would be in town. Both the Woltz and the Edelstein clans voyaged southward to meet us for drinkipoos and lunch. Of course we saw my dad and his side of the family at the wedding (though he mysteriously disappeared when it was over). Jovan even traveled down to meet us on two separate occasions – the trip wouldn’t have been complete without him.

And did these people keep us busy? Did they ever! Over the course of our five day trip we:

• attended a Born Again wedding at the Brooklyn Tabernacle Chapel
• saw two Broadway shows
• got caught in a hail storm
• watched the UEFA Championship match with over 100 Barca fans (and 100 Arsenal fans!)
• ate too much chicken cutlet parmesan
• saw a $10,000 baby carriage
• didn’t ruin Steve’s Banana Republic suede jacket in a mighty rainstorm when he didn’t even know that I had borrowed it (don’t worry Steve)
• met family I didn’t know I had
• ate entirely too many gummy fruit slices (thanks, Rebecca!)
• envisioned my unborn daughter with puppy dog ears (thanks, Rebecca!)
• failed to break into an apartment building (not for lack of effort)
• found time to fix someone’s computer
• wore a human diaper
• helped my team win at Taboo (barely)
• toured Princeton University
• dressed up as a giant chicken

*whew*