Valatie, NY

It is always lovely to be able to spend quality time with your family and that is exactly what we did this past April. We spent a week in Valatie, NY with my family combined with a short visit to see Jay's sister, Lee, attend a wedding, and spend a weekend in NYC for an event I'll write about in the next blog. For this particular trip we did not make it out to the Cape to visit Jay's mom, Allison, because she was coming out to WA the week after our east coast visit. Actually - Allison just flew back east yesterday - we miss her so much already. A blog about her visit will follow!

Jay's friend Geoff married a wonderful woman, Stef, the day after we arrived in New York. We first met Stef at our wedding and have been thrilled to get to know her over these years. She is fantastic and we look forward to many fun visits together - perhaps even out here this summer?! They were married in the Catskill Mountains at a beautiful spot in Phoenicia. 

Liam was really into the cake - and for good reason. This is no ordinary wedding cake.... it was fantastic!

The day after the wedding we took a stroll down Esopus Creek with our friend JR. If you look closely you can see some logs sitting on the top of the bridge - that is evidence of how high this "creek" got during the flooding from Hurricane Irene. Wow.

After the wedding we drove to my parents house in Valatie, NY and were greeted by my parents and my sister's family. Here I am with Henry who just drew me a hug in chalk on the driveway. So cute and sweet.  Awhhhh...

We had fun playing outside on one of the warm spring days. Henry really got into searching for his Lego pieces.

 Jay and Jackson resting after a long game of tag.

 Julie, Jackson, Mom, and Dad

Jay forgot his jacket the night we drive to Springfield, MA to have dinner with Lee. So when we went for a walk in the city after dinner, he squeezed into one of Lee's spare jackets. Pretty entertaining because Lee is much more tiny than Jay. 

My Dad had a cast on his foot to try and fix a problem he was having with his tendons. Henry and Jackson (and the rest of us) all had a blast decorating his cast. Jackson drew a "springy butt" which might have been the most inventive drawing ever on a cast.

 Cute dudes. 

Grandma and Grandpa babysat one night so the siblings could have a date night in Hudson together. Here we all are (Jay, Julie, Christina, and Sara) looking dazzling for our big night out at Da Ba - an incredible restaurant and a great way to spend an evening with my family.

We tried to get a nice photo of the Barber-Just family but Henry and Jackson have so much energy! It is hard to get anything in focus.... so the photos don't turn out well but the attempt sure is entertaining.

Because my Dad and I drink good decaf coffee (no one really needs to see me on caffeine) we receive a lot of good-humored crap from Sara. Here she decided to pose for our new coffee label called "Wimpy Boys Coffee".

 The boyz both wore their geoduck t-shirts!

 The day the Barber-Justs left we spent the afternoon driving around Chatham and Kinderhook - ending at my parent's lake house, The Roost. Here we are soaking up our Vitamin D. Yeah!

On our last night with my parents we headed back to Hudson, NY which is just loaded with tasty restaurants. We went to The Crimson Sparrow which has lots of very inventive tapas and a good wine list. Needless to say, we ate very well this entire week!

More photos are here:
https://plus.google.com/photos/111221596171793333099/albums/5864279191495070881?banner=pwa