I hope you guys all have fantastic plans for the holiday weekend! Over on our end, Chris’s mom arrived in last night from Australia, and we couldn’t be happier to be hosting her. This is her first summer in the city (although her third visit in total), let alone her first July 4th. As such, Chris and I felt it was only proper to give her a real America weekend, complete with family, friends, and tons of fun, of course. Here’s our list of activities.

Friday: We’ll be renting a car so we can take a leisurely drive along the Jersey Shore (we’ll be starting with Sandy Hook and making our way down Ocean Avenue to get closer to my parents house).

Saturday: There is an undisclosed activity being planned by my step-mom (hi, Judy!), and hopefully some time to just chillax at the house and hang out in the great outdoors.

Sunday: We’ll take that sweet little rental car and head to upstate New York to link up with my mom and step-dad for some winery visits (you know how we love them!). Depending on how much time we have we’ll try to hit two or three, but we’ll definitely start our trek with Brotherhood, America’s oldest winery. Then we’ll head over to the Gilded Otter Brewing Company in New Paltz for dinner, then home for a little outdoor s’mores action.

Monday: On the actual holiday, we’ll be hanging out at my mom’s and step-dad’s, cooking up some delicious barbecue with the fam. Hopefully at some point we’ll be able to find some fireworks somewhere as well. The city fireworks start at 9:20 p.m., but I don’t think we’ll be back in enough time to find a good spot to camp out.

Anyway, that’s us! Plenty ‘o pictures and deets to come. Bis bald, and hope ya’ll have a great one!