A visit with the folks

The real reason for the big trip east was to celebrate my dad’s 80th birthday. Rik was a delegate at the National Education Association’s annual meeting in Philadelphia. I joined him after the conference ended for a family visit.

Well, my flight in to Philadelphia was delayed by bad weather. We didn’t have enough fuel to continue circling. We were redirected to Pittsburgh, where we refueled and landed about 3 hours late – just in time for Rik and my folks to drive to the airport and pick me up. (US Airways has a terrible on-time flight record.)

We spent a lovely weekend with my folks. I pampered my mom as much as she would let me by cooking dinner a couple of times. We took my folks out to an Italian restaurant for Dad’s birthday dinner.

In New Jersey, at least where my family lives, it’s evidently very expensive for restaurants to get a liquor license, so most places allow people to bring their own bottle of wine and the restaurant pops the cork for you without charging a fee. We brought a nice prosecco. I think sparkling wine makes every occasion more festive!