Pleasurably Princeton

Gosh, how great can one place be?
If you've never happened upon Princeton, New Jersey, I totally recommend this wonderfully charming, niche-filled place. What a heart-warming weekend we had there!!

It was back to the land of orange and black; back to beautiful "north"east fall colors; back to stunning campus architecture (the new buildings are SO cool!); back to runs along the canal by Lake Carnegie; back to Thomas Sweets, the local ice creamery that makes the *best* fat-free oreo yogurt; back to wonderful Father Thom Mullely, the PU Catholic Chaplain, who made Baby J's baptism such a personal and inclusive event; back to dear spaces, dear friends, and dear memories. 

The van ride with Mimi and Papa was full of laughter and great companionship. Mimi, Baby J, and I were "the backseat peanut gallery drivers", who were high maintenance, but full of life! I just love how Mimi is not only my mother-in-law, but also a good friend. We have such fun together... M, T, and J did awesome the whole trip and seemed to have a blast visiting our alma mater. GG and I even had the chance to go out for a date night on Friday after we arrived. GG lived out old memories with a quick visit to a Princeton Sprint Football game. They were losing pretty badly (also a not-so-fond memory! ;), but GG and I still thought it was pretty cool to see the stadium lit up under the autumn sky.

We had a great time taking in campus on Saturday with a morning run, lunchtime walk, and afternoon football game. We later met up with J's godparents and good friends and let the kids run around playing tackle football! Too funny! The day finished with awesome alumni camaraderie as we joined Mary Alice and her family for dinner. To celebrate the 12 children among us was life-giving and joyful for us... Good times.

A Princeton brother frolic

Princeton v. Brown

Me with godson, Gus

The final capstone was Baby J's baptism on Sunday, which was just beyond blessed. As I mentioned above, Father Thom did such a beautiful job and all of us reveled in the great fellowship together. We welcomed so many dear friends and family. My parents and grandparents made it even though my grandfather, Mickey, underwent his second-to-last chemo treatment Friday. He was such a trooper and still came--as you can imagine, the tears were flowing aplenty! My family is good at crying for all reasons. :)

The time was to be cherished... and cherish, we did.

Thanks for tracking with us on a beautiful autumn Monday.  God bless you! :)