nyc mini vacay

Doug & I have been promising his brother, Zach, and his wife, Michele, that we'd come visit them since we got married. This summer we celebrated our 3-year anniversary, and we still hadn't been to see them. They moved from Brooklyn to NJ recently and our friends Travis & Kristen had also recently moved to NJ (& also had a baby!), so we decided a visit was in order.

We flew into Newark...

and spent Friday in the city.

We had lunch at Harry's Italian Pizza with Craig!! It was so much fun to catch up & hear about his life in the city (and all the crazy stories about his friends who have been in biking accidents - be careful, Craig!!)

Later in the afternoon, we stopped at one of my favorite places for a snack: Pret!

My little friend Megan & I used to go here almost everyday when we were studying in Oxford. Oh Pretskis, how I've missed you & your lunch time goodness.

On the [6 miles, but 2.5 hour drive!] way home that evening, there was a sweet sunset & the moon looked awesome above the city.

By the time we got to Zach & Michele's, it was dark.

Saturday morning we took the train to Trenton to see Travis & Kristen and baby Karena.

We played with Karena, had delicious soup, walked to a dog park (Kristen & I strolled the baby around a nature walk while the boys watched "Amos" interact with the other dogs), played Euchre...

Sunday morning, we went to Grace OPC, the church where Travis is a pastor. We listened to a great sermon, had lunch together & took the train back to NYC.

That evening we went with Zach, Michele & her sister, Sam, to Manhattan - we toured the salon where Michele works - Frederic Fekkai. Such a cool place! We were then going to head to Dylan's Candy... but Zach & Michele's car had died! So, Doug & I walked to one of the Redeemer Presbyterian sites to see Tim Keller preach while the others waited for AAA. We had been tipped off by a Redeemer volunteer that Keller would be preaching at Hunter College, but unfortunately, our informant was wrong. So Doug & I trekked back and met Zach, Michele & Sam at Dylan's Candy. Which is pretty much a dream come true. There is CANDY. EVERYWHERE. Even in the stairs.

After Dylan's, we went out for dinner at a little Mexican place with the best guacamole I have ever had. We went back to their apartment in NJ & crashed for the night. Sadly, we didn't even get a picture of the 4 of us, but I did get a really cute pic of Michele & Sam.

We left this morning & there was an awesome sunrise. Here's the view from Zach & Michele's apartment.

Such a fun, random weekend getaway!