Backblogged 2.0 (lots of family photos)

I've been backblogged before, but never quite like this. It's been tough to write myself out it... on top of having thousands of photos and dozens of stories from the Big Trip, I've been gathering up more just from being home, plus I have been doing lots of other writing. Now I'm going to pick up the pace and bring it all up to where I am in reality. It'll be a bit like what the television station Nine did in Australia: the country was five years behind in the soap opera Days of Our Lives, so they ran a special that summarized four years of the show in one hour. I won't be that brief.

OK, here we go:
basketballwithdadchriscjandmike¹
goingtothebeachandplayingstackeratpatandjens²
dinnerwithmybrothersandsistersinlawthenbacktothebeach³

1. We got in a game of HORSE before the surprise party that even Mike & CJ knew about but managed to keep from me!
2. The weather wasn't ideal, but we had a good day at the beach in Jersey. That night the adults kept themselves entertained with games like Stacker. Loads of laughs.
3. Eight of us - Chris, Jan, Pete, Jane, Pat, Jen, Dana & me - went out for a night in Red Bank. The next day the entire clan - add on Mom, Dad, Mike, CJ, Katie, Julianna, Valerie, Danny & Ciara - went to Long Branch for fun in the sun and surf.