A mayor, an assemblyman and a rabbi walk into a courthouse...

Holy jamoly - where have I moved to!

My title above was the beginning of an editorial cartoon in my paper today. It's being said by a middle-aged man reading a newspaper. His friend asks "Is this a joke?" to which he replies "No. It's New Jersey."

A two-year FBI investigation in NJ covering both bribery and money laundering resulted in 44 people being arrested yesterday and charged with various offenses. Those arrested included five rabbis, 15 appointed public officials and six elected officials, including the new mayor of Hoboken who had only been on the job 23 days and has declared a zero-tolerance policy on corruption (isn't that always how it goes!). As one columnist pointed out, it is a surreal tribute to the diversity of New Jersey. Virtually every age group, skin color, religion and level of education available seems to be snagged - the defendants are white, black and Latino; men and women; range in age from 28 to 87.

So while I left an area with a Good Ol' Boy political history, I seem to have entered a state with a worse pedigree. Wow.

More beach pics

Here's a few more from Cousin Camp...


At least a few of us made it to the Texas State Aquarium in Corpus Christi. Have to get a picture on the whale sculpture out front.


And always have to look at the otters there. Luckily this year they were in a very playful mood when we came by.


I gave each of the cousins with us a penny to toss in the fountain before we left. Since everyone only had one we tried to coordinate the throw going in. This is right before the toss.


This is right AFTER the toss. I had to include it because you can see what form my son has when throwing his penny into a fountain.


Thanks to Aunt Kathy we were able to make our annual Cousin Camp tie dye items.


And when our kids weren't out on the beach or in the pool, they could usually be found like this.


Or like this.


Everyone loved helping out with tiny little Eva. This was probably Grace's first time to feed a baby, and she did a great job (though after a couple of minutes she was ready to hand Eva off to the next set of cousin hands).


And as always, we end the week with a cousin picture in the mouth of the shark. The light wasn't in that great of a location for our shot - I haven't looked yet to see if anyone else in the family had better luck.

Summer vacation fun

I'll break these pictures up into a few different posts to not overload everyone at once.


This is my little boy's hand in mine on his first ever flight. He was a little nervous, but did great (as did Grace, who hadn't flown anywhere since she was 2).


Very nice that the place we've been staying in the past couple summers also has a decent pool. Here's Grace showing off her newest trick.


This picture I love because of the little cousin hand on the shoulder. Couple of buddies (most of the time!).


Here's the boys from the front so you can see some faces.


And these two soon-to-be-second-grader cousins had a great time together this year.


Love this happy beach picture. That's our "compound" of two awnings you see in the distance.

Back from vacation

Finally arrived back in New Jersey after three weeks in Texas. I've weeded through some of the photos and will start posting tomorrow. It was a very fun trip, and we saw lots of friends (though not as many as I'd like), but now it is time to return to reality and officially start the summer!