Tomorrow morning, shortly after Jackson has breakfast, the Thompson clan will be heading west to Pittsburgh to visit family.

We’ll be in western PA for most of the week, but fear not — blogging silence won’t be necessary. In fact, there will be plenty of New York wine coming with us and we also have some blog-worthy meals planned already.

Nena and I are cooking for the family Monday night at home. Then Tuesday, we’re meeting up with one of my fraternity brothers and his wife for dinner at Willow. Wednesday we’re heading to the northern part of the state to see my grandma and maybe over to Johnny’s Lunch, a childhood favorite and home of the Johnny’s Hot (dog). I used to eat them by the dozen. No, I’m not joking. I used to have that kind of metabolism.

Then Thursday, Nena and I are leaving the little guy with his grandparents so we can drive to Cleveland to have dinner at Michael Symon’s Lola.

It’s going to be a busy week, but a fun one I’m sure. The long car trip with the little guy is the only stressful part, but we’ve loaded up on healthy snacks for him so we should be fine.