For Cerissa...

...And anyone else who cares to look at month old vacation pictures. I got really sidetracked with the move right after we got back, then I didn't have internet service, then Blogger was having issues. I can finally upload pictures again, but for some reason it absolutely will not upload pictures that have been rotated on my computer. I had to pick through and find the ones that were taken horizontally. So finally here they are. Enjoy.

The boys started the trip all bundled in blankets and jammies and sorta sleepy (cuz we were on the road at 5:30am).

And it was cold and rainy - sometimes snowy - all the way there. Not the most fun, but at least we were trapped in the car and it didn't ruin our sightseeing plans.

 David went mini golfing for the very first time on our trip and he wanted to pose by the zebras for a picture:

 We saw the Liberty Bell in Philly:

 I sat down and took a break outside Independence Hall while Daddy and Papa ran around in the park area with David and Max:

 Outside Independence Hall waiting for our tour to start (ignore my grumpy looking father-in-law...he hates both pictures and waiting so this was not a good moment for him).

 Cool flag at Independence Hall:

 When our tour was over we found a street corner vendor and a windowsill to enjoy our lunch break...and enjoy I did! My first ever Philly Cheesesteak was delish!

 Max was all tuckered out and took a nap after lunch. So sweet, right?

 Miss Freedom - our ferry ride over to Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty:

 A family picture from the very chilly ride over to Ellis Island:

 Our departing dock in Liberty State Park in New Jersey:

 Ellis Island:

Which Max cared nothing about:

 Miss Liberty herself:

 A better picture of her that isn't really better because Blogger will not let me rotate it:

 Posing by the statue's original torch:

 If you just tip your head a little this picture is really good:

 Climbing over 150 stairs really wears a kid out:

 Getting free stuff at The Crayola Factory:

 They had these cool stations with melted Crayola wax and giant Q-Tips so you could make a picture:

 And molding clay stations:

 And fun walls to take pictures of your kids by:

 And craft stations where you can make paper disco balls (and in the background you can see the clear walls that you can color on with Crayola markers):

 They ran, they cut, they glued, they colored....then they napped:

 Thanks to their well timed naps we got a very quiet and peaceful drive through the game preserve. See this crazy road? It runs through the river. You actually have to drive through flowing water to get to the animals:

 But the scary drive through the river was worth it because of this guy. This is not a zoomed in picture. He really was that close:

 Chillin' after a long, fun vacation:

 With Grandma and Grandpa:



Day four

April 25, 2011:




I woke up about 20 minutes before my alarm this morning. It gave me a chance to gather myself before the boys and Dave woke up. We had to hit the ground running this morning. It’s the only morning all week that we actually have a schedule to keep. We have a ferry to catch at 11am in Liberty State Park in New Jersey. We are touring Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty today. I am beyond excited. When we started planning this vacation, I told everyone that Lady Liberty was the one thing I wanted to see. Today we are going to make that happen. David is very excited about this too. It’s the only landmark he knew anything about before coming here. He’s been looking at pictures of the statue for weeks and talking about the pointy star (crown) on her head. I can’t wait to see his face when he sees her in person.

We are leaving the house at 8am to make our 11am ferry in Liberty State Park (Jersey City, New Jersey). The boys and I will be ready in plenty of time, but I worry about the hubs. He’s been a bit sluggish and slow in the morning this week. We need to kick it into gear this morning!

We got to the ferry in plenty of time for a bathroom break, security and picture taking. We actually got to jump on the 10:30am ferry and start our day a bit early. So far, so good. We didn’t wait in line anywhere. We’ve just walked through. Parking was even a breeze. I think the weather had something to do with that. The forecast said high of 79 degrees and sunny, but it’s a cold, windy and hazy 68. It wasn’t great sightseeing weather and being right on the water, the ferry ride was brutal.

We got our freezing tushes off the ferry and into Ellis Island as fast as we could. Just inside the door, David had a major meltdown that threatened to ruin our morning. He didn’t want to be in the stroller, but he didn’t want to hold our hand while walking (on the flip side, Max slept through every minute of Ellis Island). We finally got him calmed a bit and went on our way. He wasn’t happy by any means, but he wasn’t screaming and causing a scene anymore. Life with children…oh so fun. We spent an hour touring the main building (exciting to me, boring to everyone else) before grabbing lunch in the Ellis Island Café.

After lunch we hopped back on the ferry (much warmer and more enjoyable this time) and headed for the Statue. Mom and Dad stayed on a lower level with the boys and the stroller while David and I went to the top deck to get good pictures. And what pictures they turned out to be! What a view!

After we got to the base of the Statue, we decided Dad would stay down with Max and the stroller (he’s been multiple times before and didn’t mind sitting it out) so we didn’t have to store it in a locker. David, David, Mom and I got through security in about 5-10 minutes and headed to the pedestal. We stopped just inside the door to see the original torch on display then toured the museum before heading up. Little David climbed every one of the 156 stairs between the museum and the top of the pedestal by himself. What a stud. We took our time looking around the top of the pedestal then made our way down taking pictures all the way. This is so cool. Definitely my favorite day so far. Once we left the secured area we found Dad and Max again and looked at the Liberty Bike and went to the gift shop. By the time we got there, David had fallen asleep in the stroller. 156 stairs is a lot for a little guy! We got our souvenirs then got back on the ferry to go back to New Jersey. We made the 1 ½ hour trek back to the house.

David’s Aunt Jen had lasagna going in the oven when we got there. We had about 40 minutes until dinner so the men played with the little boys while Mom and I went to Wal-Mart. The next day’s forecast is looking HOT and sunny so we wanted shorts for ourselves (everyone else had bought some at the outlets on Saturday) and some sunscreen. Today ended up pretty warm and even through the clouds we got burnt. We don’t want to take any chances tomorrow.

Dinner and chatting with Aunt Jen was fabulous, but we couldn’t wait to get the boys in bed and collapse ourselves. We are getting pretty tired at the end of every day now. Vacation is exhausting!

Day three

April 24, 2011:




Happy Easter! It’s Easter Sunday today. We don’t have plans to go to church with Dave’s Grandpa and Grandma today (they are Catholic and we aren’t comfortable attending that service). I bought an Easter book just for David so we’ll read the Easter story together then go out sightseeing. Today’s agenda is Philadelphia. I can’t wait. I want to see the Rocky steps and the Liberty Bell and eat a real Philly cheese steak. I’ve never had one so this will be a real treat!

Today is getting off to a much better start than yesterday. It’s now 7am and the only ones up are my MIL and me. I just peeked at my sleeping babies. They look like little angels. I’m now sitting here in bed, typing away on my laptop, listening to the hubs snore and the birds chirp out my open bedroom window, eating Pepper Ridge Farms cookies for breakfast. THIS is vacation!!! The boys didn’t wake at all last night so we are going on 9-10 hours of solid sleep for them. I really hope they wake in better moods than yesterday!

Oh what a difference a little sleep can make! Our whole family woke in better moods than yesterday. We are settling into vacation very nicely now and we are really enjoying ourselves. We leisurely wandered the house getting ourselves ready this morning. Just before leaving we packed some sandwiches in a cooler for a snack later. Then we piled in the van and made the hour and 15 minute trek to Philly. Great memories were made on that toll road (You guys remember that really confusing toll where we got out of paying $3.25?). Getting to Philly was a breeze. Getting into Philly proved to be a challenge. The roads are very narrow and close together because it’s such an old city and our GPS often got confused thinking we were on a different road than we were. We finally did get ourselves straightened out and headed in the right direction.

Our first stop in the city was the visitor center to pick up tickets for touring Independence Hall. We had about a half hour before security check-in so we saw the Liberty Bell first (or as David calls it “the Bliberty Bell”). So very cool. We weren’t able to read any of the history about it because of impatient little boys, but it was still cool nonetheless. It’s fun to make history real. We were able to tour Independence Hall after that. It’s still the original building from the 1700s, but nearly all the furniture inside is replicas. Just a few original pieces remain.

When that tour was over we were starving so we hit up a street corner cheesesteak stand for my first ever cheesesteak. There wasn’t much of a place to sit so we perched ourselves on a window sill behind the stand and ate our lunch. Lunch was so delicious. Like for real.

It was a blazing hot 87 degrees and very sunny in Philly so we tried to find indoor stuff to do after lunch. We toured the Ben Franklin museum and saw the remains of his house. We saw Betsy Ross’s house and walked around in the courtyard, but didn’t go inside. And we got some Frappichinos from a local Starbucks. Yum.

The very best thing for Dave and I in Philly was just walking around and enjoy the vibe and atmosphere of the city. It’s got an older and more historic vibe than other big cities, but it’s still very exciting. It’s not nearly as artsy fartsy or modern as other large cities. It was just great. The cobblestone streets are just about too much. I mean how adorable are cobblestone streets and brick buildings?? The Rocky steps are a bit too far away for us to want to walk to with the boys and we don’t want to pack sleepy boys up in the car just to get them out in 10 minutes so we have to skip that. Oh well. I got everything else I wanted to see.

After 4 hours in the hot Philly sun, the boys were ready for air conditioning and a nap. On our way back to the visitor center and gift shop Max fell asleep. We quickly bought ourselves some souvenirs and smashed pennies and got back to the underground parking ramp. Max’s nap only ended up being an hour, but it was enough to keep him happy the rest of the day.

We got a pleasant surprise when we got back to Grandma and Grandpa’s house. Dave’s aunt and her family were there to visit with us for a while. Dave’s 3 teenage cousins loved David and Max and David and Max loved the attention. They ran around showing off the rest of the night. David never did get a nap so we called in a night early and did the bath and bed routine. They were asleep almost instantly. David and I went back down stairs to chat with Grandma and Mom for a while. A few hours later we got ourselves upstairs for showers and bed.

Day five

April 26th, 2011:






The plan for the day is Atlantic City, New Jersey. It’s a 2 ½ hour drive from Grandma and Grandpa’s house so we had to get an early start. It was a good thing we did. We ran into some stand still traffic on the way and we got stuck for a while. We all needed a bathroom break by the time we got moving again.

We got to Atlantic City just after noon and were very surprised to find that it was a super cold, hazy and generally yucky day. I don’t think the high made it past 65 the whole time we were there. And it was forecasted at 79 degrees! There were still plenty of people on the boardwalk, but it certainly wasn’t prime tourist time.

We ate lunch right away then wandered for a bit before David drug me into Trump Taj Mahal watch him play the penny and quarter slots. He lost everything he went in with right down to his last 15 cents then he placed one last bet. It ended up winning every cent back for him plus 30 cents! Twenty minutes of fun and he walked out 30 cents richer! Even though the casino is marked as no smoking it was full of people lighting up everywhere. That 20 minutes almost did me in. I was feeling soooo sick by the time we got out. We walked a little bit down the boardwalk looking at some store fronts before “it” happened. And “it” was not pretty.

David got fed up with my attitude and sulking about not liking Atlantic City. He let me know I was making him miserable by acting like I hated the things he liked most. He had a little “attack Lauren” moment then I let him have it. I was tired from getting up before everyone else with the kids at 5:30, cold, wet from the ocean spray, had a headache and struggling not to vomit. I had been feeling sick since the car ride there, but I didn’t want to complain and ruin their day so I kept it to myself. Apparently, my horrendous headache and near vomit face is not one I can easily hide. Everyone thought I was in a bad mood or pouting or something and it was making them miserable. Yay for misunderstandings and fights in crowded places on vacation!! Gotta love it. We needed a stand out memory from today right?

David immediately felt bad and went to get me a snack to calm my stomach. It only sort of helped. We got David’s souvenir salt water taffy and a hermit crab and crabitat for David and Max then headed for the car. My stomach felt quite a bit better when we got home, but I was still struggling with my headache. Aunt Jen and her family were there when we got back to Grandma and Grandpa’s house. She had brought grilled chicken for dinner for us. The boys were happily playing outside so I took dinner out to them and we ate in the grass.

We eventually coaxed them back into the house with the promise of toys and cousins. They absolutely loved Aunt Jen’s kids (though they are all near 20 and not really kids). I was very happy to have the break so I could sit and relax.

Two doses of Tylenol and several hours later I had finally bid ado to my headache, but by now it was time to go to bed. No fun. There were good moments, but given the choice I don’t think I would want to do today over again. Bring on tomorrow!

Day two

April 23, 2011:




Today is not starting the best. We didn’t sleep great last night due to Max waking once during the night then the boys waking for the day at 6am. They woke up grumpy and fussy because they are a little freaked out being in a new place. Dave and I didn’t wake in much better moods ourselves. Soon the whole house was up and Mom set to work making eggs, bacon and toast for everyone. She’s kind of amazing like that. Day two of vacation, waking early, grumpy grandkids and all and that lady still got in the kitchen for us. Bless her extra today, Lord.

Once breakfast was cleaned up and the adults were through the shower we attempted to leave for the nearby outlet malls (It’s raining today so there’s not much else we can do). We didn’t get far. Max had just fallen asleep. We tried to calm a very stir-crazy David down long enough to watch a movie, but that just wasn’t happening. He just roamed the house and grumped at us until Max woke up. Thankfully, he didn’t take a long nap and we were soon on our way. We reached Vanity Fair Outlet Mall by 10:30am. Mom and I were pumped and ready to shop! The very first store in the very first building had kids’ clothes. I perused the racks not expecting much because I’ve never found that the deals have been all that great in the outlets around MI. I was pleasantly shocked. I found shorts for both boys marked down from $12 to $1.50 each. I found jammies for David that were originally $18, now marked down to just $3! I nearly skipped out of that store I was so happy! After seeing their prices, Dave decided he would do some looking too. He needed a new pair of athletic pants, some shorts for the summer and a new hoodie or two. He found all that and more. We stopped long enough to eat some Mona Lisa pizza in the food court and change a diaper then it was back to shopping. After 4 hours in the outlets, the boys stopped being patient in the stroller and we quickly decided to end our trip. We had seen just about every store there and had bought everything we wanted to. We were ok wrapping it up.

The drive home was no fun. The boys were making us crazy with their worn out, overtired fussing. They both passed out before we got home (and we had no desire to wake the sleeping beasts) so Dave stayed with them until in the car until they woke up. Everyone was tired and ready for a snooze so we grabbed our favorite napping spots and chilled while the house was calm. It didn’t take long for the boys to wake, but immediately after they got in the house we saw that they wanted more sleep. They each laid down and passed out again, Max upstairs in bed and David on the couch in the middle of the adults talking. They each slept for nearly 3 hours this afternoon. Knowing our every minute would be consumed with them when they woke up, we grabbed dinner while they were still out. We had to finally wake them both at 6pm. We were afraid they’d never sleep that night so we took them out to burn some energy and play mini golf (it finally stopped raining!). So fun! David had a great time and I think it may be his favorite part of the trip so far.

After mini golf, we made a quick pit stop at Wal-Mart to grab some quick breakfast foods. We got the boys home and bathed and quickly in bed after that. Dave and I chatted for a while then turned in around 11:30. Today was a bit stressful for us as the boys have lost all routine or sense of time. Kids don’t just go with the flow very well. They’ve been very whiney and fussy, but have hung in there when they needed to.

Day one

Since I dont really have time to write blog posts as I go and I don't want to take a bajillion hours to catch up once I get back home, I'm just going to upload my travel journal from my laptop. You're going to get allll the details now. :) It's long reading, but sort of fun, right?



April 22, 2011:

Dave and I woke up at 4am and finally crawled out of our cozy bed around 4:30. After sipping some coffee Dave headed outside to attach the car top luggage carrier. It wasn’t the easiest job this morning because it’s 35 degrees and raining. He got it all set and loaded quickly though. Dave’s parents (who are riding with us) got to our house at 5:30 and we loaded the coolers and their things into the van. When we were all set to go, we woke the boys up and stuffed them in the car. We were on the road by 6am. We were all hungry and Max needed a diaper change so we hit McDonald’s in Tekonsha, MI at 7am. We ate as quickly as we could and got ourselves back on the road.

We were in and out of Indiana by 8:15 (spending 80 cents in tolls). We took a break for a rest stop at 9:15. So far the boys are being very good and enjoying the ride. Max has taken a little 20 minute cat nap and David has been talking non-stop. We are all settling into the car now and looking forward to the ride. It’s still raining, grey and gloomy, but we are in good spirits and having a good time anyway. I have taken my Dramamine and I’m not car sick so all is well!

The boys started getting a little antsy around 10am so we dug some books and toys out for them. It bought us a good quiet hour before they got bored again. They wouldn’t be satisfied with just toys anymore so we put in a movie for them. They are now engrossed in Cars and oblivious to the passing miles. Thank you, Circuit City and Amazon.com for making this moment possible.

We took a break for a rest stop and gas fill up at 11:30. Before crawling back in, we dug our sandwiches out of the cooler we brought. The boys are eating well and still watching their movie. A very good trip so far, I’d say. We are just now leaving Ohio (spending $13.50 in tolls) and crossing the Pennsylvania state line (12:15pm). I’m told this is the half way point in the trip. I think we may make it out of this one alive!

I woke up from my 45 minute nap at 1:30pm just in time to see Puxsatawny, PA. Hi, Puxsatawny Phil! We have approx. 225 miles to go. That’s puts our arrival time at about 5pm tonight. The boys are still holding up well. Max woke up from an hour and a half nap about 5 minutes before David fell asleep. He slept for just an hour, but that’s an hour more than he usually does at home. Traveling is exhausting. We came across an interesting sign at about 2pm today. We are now at the highest elevation point east of the Mississippi river – 2,250 feet. When we first entered the state I wasn’t all that impressed it looked much like Michigan, Indiana and Ohio. Now though, we are getting into the mountains and we’ve finally got something pretty to look at. I’m enjoying this scenery much more.

3pm brought a rest stop, poopy diaper, Handy Manny DVD and a fussy Max. The boys are now losing patience with us. They just want out to run. It’s taking some effort on our part to keep them entertained. We got a little taste of Michigan here in Pennsylvania. We ran into snow. Snow?! What the junk is snow doing in April? I’m tired of this yuckiness. Bring on spring!!

We are getting close now but the boys are quite through with riding in the car. We took a break at a sweet McD’s from 4:30 – 5pm to get a snack. Aunt Jen will have dinner ready for us at Grandma and Grandpa’s house, but the boys aren’t going to make it that much longer. They need a snack and a place to release their wiggles. Good thing this McDonald’s has a play place!

Soon after hitting the Pennsylvania Turnpike at 5:30, we had to stop for another poopy diaper. Max was pretty insistent about having it changed and after smelling it I couldn’t blame him. By 6pm we were exiting the turnpike (having spent $2.90 in tolls) and headed to Grandma and Grandpa’s neighborhood. David loved the tunnel that we went through just off the turnpike. He was pretty excited about getting to drive in the mountain. It’s not everyday you find yourself under mountains, you know.

After a tiring 12 and a half hours in the car we were very happy to pull into Grandma and Grandpa’s driveway tonight. The boys wanted nothing more than to play in the yard so David’s dad took them outside to run while the rest of us ate dinner. Once we were finished we got a tour of the house and set to work unloading the van. That was a job! Yeesh. It took the next 2 hours to get the boys settled down and in bed. They just couldn’t seem to sit still long enough to realize they were tired.

We are now chatting with Grandma, Grandpa and Aunt Jen and checking the weather to make plans for tomorrow. It looks like rain so we’re not sure what we’ll end up doing. Our entire trip out here was rainy, gloomy and cold. We are ready for some nice springy vacation weather! We want to get out and do some sightseeing while we are here.

VACATION!

We are leaving tomorrow morning at 5:30 for vacation. Yay! After this past semester we are really looking forward to relaxing! I'm planning on updating as we go so you all know what we're up to, but I'm not sure what the internet situation will be out there. We'll see what I'm able to do. See you in a week!