My Epic Weekend In Pictures: Fun In The Sun With Friends + Family

We did a little more travelling over Sussex County, New Jersey and beyond. As is often the case during my summer Epic Weekend In Pictures, we will start with Thursday. Thursday was a special night, because Awesome Girlfriend Megan joined us for happy hour at Moonshine Tiki Bar at Minerals Sports Club. Since Meg lives in Hackettstown, a 54 minute drive from my place in Vernon, I try to not have her drive on a school night that often for just one White Claw. That being said, happy hour with your friends can be so much fun, especially with a gorgeous pool sunset backdrop. Awesome Girlfriend Megan had just picked up our basket from Perona Farms for the virtual Atlantic Health System Newton Medical Center's Wine & Roses event. She brought the jalapeno potato chips from the bag to our Happy Hour, and everyone was impressed with how much of a kick they had to them. We then gave the fancy food basket to the kids Cait and Robbie P. They enjoyed it greatly. Everyone was having fun being outdoors on a warm summer night laughing together, the way things should be.

Friday afternoon, I felt like getting spoiled. I saw my friends Carrie and Deb at Granny's Pancake House in Hamburg. I requested for them to give me a little bit more buffalo sauce for an added kick since I'm addicted to spice and just can't help myself. They obliged giving me a wonderful Friday afternoon to go lunch. Friday night, Steve Andrews had me deliver his freshly grown tomatoes to our friend Gary Cee. He lives down the street from me in Vernon, and it was great to catch up with my friend. Granted, my career trajectory may have taken a slight hit since now I'm a tomato delivery man to my friends LOL.

Friday night, I had a great time catching up with Gary. It then started to sprinkle out, so I decided to give Tiki Bar a break for the night. I stayed in with my feet up, watching NFL Network. It was nice to stay in, enjoy the quiet, recharge, and watch highlights from Cam Newton's first press conference with The New England Patriots. Many have asked what I think about the Cam Newton signing, and how he'll fit. Historically, as long as things are going well for Cam, he's been a happy camper. When he's been battling adversity, he sometimes has had incidents of pouting, such as after losing The Super Bowl and refusing to talk to the media after the game, even though it's required. I'm betting that the timing is right for both Cam Newton and my Patriots. Cam is on a hungry prove it deal, and when he said that Bill Belichick sets the tone early on immediately, I'm betting Bill told Cam no pouting allowed. Could be perfect timing for all involved. I like what I've seen from Cam with the media so far, but at the same time everything is going well right now. He's not facing the media scrutiny both locally and nationally after a lost game, etc. I think overall this experiment could work well for the year. Remains to be seen, right? Rant over!

Saturday morning I successfully nailed some errands, and then rewarded myself by going back to the pool at Minerals Sports Club. I was relaxing with my bestie Spooner. We just talked life, football, and old school wrestling nerd stuff. Perfect for a Saturday afternoon. I reapplied sunscreen early and often, determined not to have a repeat of my sunburn situation last week. I kept joking it felt eerily similar to the previous Saturday, just like the movie Groundhog Day and I was very very hopeful to not burn again. I'm happy to report my irish tail did not get burnt this time woohoo!

Saturday afternoon I relaxed at my place for a little bit watching the PGA Championship. It was so much fun watching golfers golf. I know, talk about something that we used to take for granted. I enjoyed my hour or so watching golf.

Saturday night, seeing more friends at Moonshine Tiki Bar. It was great to catch up with besties Brad, Steve, Tori and Kyle, and we made some new friends too.

Sunday I ventured to Hackettstown to see Meg and the kids. We then went to a nice little outdoor family cookout seeing Meg's brother Kevin and sister in law Maureen and their kids. Tough to believe I haven't seen them since last December! Wow. I definitely have been missing Meg's family big time, it was wonderful to see them and catch up. Yummy food, puppies everywhere and just fun with family. We had an absolutely wonderful time. I don't remember what town we were in, but I know it's the town just south of Washington Township. Great time relaxing with everyone in their backyard.

The family liked my Toby Keith t-shirt, and I told them a little about the time just over 10 years ago I was able to get my Dad, "Padre," into a Meet And Greet with Toby Keith. I texted my Wicked Awesome sister Suzanne, and she was able to send me a picture of the picture of me with Toby Keith and Padre. Everyone loved the cool throwback picture. I've had some fun memories throughout my career, that's for sure!

Sunday evening Meg and I took Awesome Daughter Hailey out for a drink. We wanted to hit Czig Meister but they apparently close at 6pm on Sundays. We were able to score a table at Marley's Gotham Grill. I got wings and hot sauce to dip my wings into and they were great. Hailey couldn't believe that they now have 250 flavors of wing sauces. Despite all that variety, I stick to just 3 or 4 of the same sauce options to get my spice kick in. Nice, chill Sunday night in Hackettstown.

Overall we had a wonderful weekend together. Thank you so much for taking the time to read my Epic Weekend In Pictures recap. I hope you had a wonderful weekend too. Time to start planning next weekend, and I'm taking Meg up to Boston!