Our Mother's Day weekend was definitely as I love to say, "action packed!" Mother's Day can be tough for so many, I wanted to make sure as many of my friends as possible were smiling. We had our share of adventures, mixed in with some danger! My best news was getting Awesome Girlfriend Megan for most of the weekend. While Meg's 3 Awesome Daughters may not be my own, their love certainly warms my heart and make me smile. Friday night, Meg and I saw a couple of our bros, Jasen and JG at our favorite Campus bar in Vernon. We then did our version of Campus bar hopping, by then swinging by our besty Carrie's place on Campus. Perfect balance of fun with our friends at the bar, then chill night with our friends at her place. Delicious wine with best friends, you just can't beat that, right? We had many laughs with Carrie, Jamie, and her son Jax who's making his debut in our Weekend In Pictures.
Saturday morning I woke up early to help my buddy Gary pick up his car from the shop in Andover, and we saw a couple of state parks that were new to us, like Kittatinny Valley State Park. Then, our weekend started to become epic. Even though the weather was bringing us some cold rain again, Meg and I were not going to let that stop us from seeing Buttermilk Falls. I have taken my parents, Madre, Padre, and sister Suzanne to Buttermilk Falls, while Meg has been watching her Awesome Daughters. Just over a month ago, I tried taking Meg to Buttermilk Falls but it was closed still from the winter. We have always wanted to go back so Meg can finally see one of my very favorite things in Jersey. My parents recently came up with the idea of me taking her there for Mother's Day Weekend, and I said perfect! Despite the cold rain, we trekked out to Buttermilk Falls. When we were 1.9 miles away from it, so close, there was a downed power line across the only road to it! We were devastated. As much as I want to show off the falls, if we drive over a live power line there's a serious risk of death. We then looked closer and noticed if you drive off the road, there was barely enough room for my Jeep to fit between the downed power line and the fence. We looked at each other and said "LET'S GO!" WE DID IT! I was able to drive my Jeep just missing the downed power line and the opposing side fence. The pot holes were larger than ever before, we didn't care. Deer were running around the road, they weren't going to stop us either. We finally pulled up, and I'll never forget the smile on Awesome Girlfriend Megan's face when she saw our gorgeous Buttermilk Falls for her first time. We took amazing pictures/videos, then climbed all the way to the top. This ended badly for me. I have a major fear of heights, so it made me ill and feel like almost fainting. UGH. All weekend I was just praying that my fear of heights did ruin Meg's time. SUCCESS!
Saturday night, time to have fun with some of our besties. We met Doug, Sally and Mark out for drinks in Warwick, and it turned into an impromptu Warwick pub crawl. We hit a little italian, a billiard spot, a mexican venue, and many more. The comedy gold was when we were walking from bar to bar and Meg with her not so subtle approach of passing every jewelry store eyeing their engagement rings announcing "Hey Steve look at that nice ring hint hint!" Someday soon I hope, someday soon. Saturday night we just let loose and laughed with our besties all night long. Talk about therapeutic. Our friends are so caring, and also HILARIOUS. One of those long overdue fun nights where all you remember is laughing and drinking. SUCCESS!
Sunday, Meg had to go pick up her youngest Awesome Daughter. I drove from Vernon to Hackettstown so we could enjoy lunch together, where we did wings at our favorite dive bar and then enjoyed a delicious craft beer flight at a nearby brewery. We went to these two places last year on Mother's Day with major success. iHeartTradition! One of our bartender buddies Dave has left the place, but our new bartender buddy Chad was terrific. He even gave Meg a rose for Mother's Day! Meg then went to see her Awesome Mommy, Rita in Pa. I went back to Vernon trying to make more of our wonderful friends smile. The past couple of Mother's Days, I randomly swing by and see two of our hard working single Mom Besties - Tyann and Carrie. Not to brag, but I am reallllly good at picking out beautiful flowers. Meg, Ty, and Carrie all ended up with sweet little bouquets. Then Sunday night, had a great chill bro night with my besty Jasen. This was his first Mother's Day without his Mommy, so there was zero chance of me letting him be alone. Delicious wine, pizza, plus a round of airport nip bottles of Bailey's to honor his late rock star Mommy. One of the benefits is hanging out with my nephew, his american bulldog Spot. He was hugging us all night, until he went out to pee in the rain. Much like his Daddy, Spot hates the rain. He peed, then was in such a rush to get back inside out of the rain, Spot didn't even say goodbye to me! Sigh. Toddlers. LOL.
Overall, an epic weekend is complete and I hope your weekend was wonderful too.