Family Invasion

There are more people per square inch in my apartment than there ever has been, and I'm loving it!

My sister Jenn, her husband Anthony and my niece and nephew Anna & Colin arrived on

Wednesday afternoon. The kids were so excited to be here, they almost bounced off the walls. I had just finished a busy day at work, (and didn't feel like cooking) so we walked up to an Italian restaurant in Tribeca.

After a delicious dinner, Anna asked about dessert, and mentioned that when they went on vacation to Italy last year, they had gelato every night for dessert. That reminded me of a nice little gelateria in the World Financial Center, so we walked down there to see the palm trees inside the building and watch the sunset over the Hudson River.

Last night when I got home, Jenn made dinner! Our first course was this beautiful insalata caprese with tomatoes and basil

from their garden. It was absolutely delicious, as was the risotto.

Jenn's sleeping with me in my king-sized bed. The kids are on the inflatable mattress in the living room, and Anthony's got the couch. It gets really bright in my apartment really early, and on Thursday morning the kids woke up WAY too early for any of us, even though I had to get up and go to work. So I told them they need to cover their eyes when they wake up and go back to sleep. I gave Colin my eye mask and showed him how to use it. (He decided it looked like a bra and tried it on that way, too!)

But it worked! The kids both slept in this morning until 9 a.m. Anna said she put the eye mask on first but Colin took it off her and put it on himself, so she just ducked under the covers.