New Jersey

Nutley, NJ was where we went to visit Matt's Grandma. While there we planned on doing her and the Donohue's family history, but we also discovered that Nutley had a lot of family history for the both of us. Matt's grandparents raised their family in Nutley and just around the corner from their house is where my Grandad went to high school and grew up! We had a lot of fun hearing stories about the family from Grandma Helen, and we definitely were testing her memory about people and places. It was really fun for me stepping in to her house for the first time because it reminded me so much of my Grammie's house, from the freezer stocked with ice cream, cardinals decorating the walls, right down to same comforting aromas as well. She had us well fed with delights from her garden, I couldn't get enough of her basil plant and fresh tomatoes! She lives really close to this great park that we were able to ride our bikes around in and also discover a WWII memorial that had my Grandad's name on it, as well as a Booth street near by too. We also visited Matt's Aunt & Uncle at their beautiful home in Lebanon and we finally were able to escape the NJ heat by going for a swim in their pool. Besides the sweltering heat we thoroughly enjoyed our visit there with all the family. 

Matt ordered Pizza of course when Grandma Helen treated us to dinner, but he didn't bank on getting that much, it was a huge pizza!

The plaque above with my Grandad and Great Uncle's name on it. Still trying to figure out if the other Booths are connected to us. And then we found this street sign which was right by the memorial and the high school where my Grandad went to school is right in the background.

We went to Mass with Grandma Helen, they had really beautiful music performances, like David Archuleta style kind of good.

We went to the 9/11 memorial on the NJ side, where you can see the NYC skyline in the distance.

We also went to Lebanon, NJ where Aunt Linda & Uncle Guerimo live. The little town nearby that they showed us reminded of a place where the Gilmore Girls would live.

Matt with Aunt Lynda and his cousin Rebbecca

The whole gang including sweet Christie Dog.