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New Jersey Family Visit

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We left super early Thursday 10/10. Our flight was at 7 am and we were struggling to get out of house. We had to drive because construction going on in our alley means moving the car a lot, so we didn’t want to leave it here all weekend. 

We got to O’Hare with 30 min before boarding! I was worried our bags wouldn’t make it (they did). We got to the gate with about 20 minutes to spare. There were no places to get food in the United terminal besides a McDonald’s that had about 50 people waiting. United terminal is the worst! We got pre-made sandwiches but no coffee! I needed coffee!

We got on the plane and soon after the pilot told us we were delayed 30 minutes due to mechanics working on the engine. That delay turned into 1.5 hours but at least the plane was fixed, and the flight went well. I got some coffee on the flight.  

We got a Kia Soul to drive and we headed to Don’s mom’s house. We had lunch and hung out. Then we went to watch Raiden and Rayne’s martial arts class. After the class we went to Jonathan’s and the kids played. We ordered Indian and the kids had lasagna. We talked a lot and then went to our hotel around 8:30. We stayed at the Hampton Inn in Paramus. It’s nice.

On Friday morning we had breakfast at the hotel and it was pretty good. Then we made our way to Liberty Park. Lucas has really wanted to see the Statue of Liberty, so we thought, why not? We have never seen the statue from the Jersey side. It was way less crowded—highly recommend! The $25 ferry included Ellis Island and Liberty Island. We skipped Ellis Island this time.  

Lucas was so excited and it was really cute. We looked in the museum which had the old torch. I don’t remember this museum. Lucas was able to answer questions and become a junior park ranger. 

We took a lot of pictures. It was a beautiful day. Lucas said “liberty, liberty, liberty, liberty”. We had lunch at Liberty Cafe. It wasn’t bad, pretty decent. Lucas talked to an impersonator; a man dressed up as one of the architects of the statue. Lucas asked him so many questions and talked to him. The best question was “are you open on Christmas?” the answer was “no but we are open the day before” 

Lucas picked out a little statue and he loves it. After Liberty Island we went to the Liberty Science Museum. Jonathan let us use his members pass so we got in for free. All Lucas wanted to do was dig in the giant sand area for dinosaur bones. I would love to go back to and see more of the museum.

After that we went to Lola’s for a bit before going to meet Khris and Jess out for dinner. We met Khris and Jess near their house. It was a pizza place called Gentle Giant Brewing, and it was pretty good.

On Sunday we went to Chit Chat Diner with Lola. It was good. Then we went over to Jonathan’s. Lucas, Raiden and Rayne played. 

Next, we all went to a pumpkin patch called Abma’s. Some of Raiden’s friends also came. We took a hayride and picked pumpkins. We bought some apples, strawberries, and cookies at the store and then we went to the petting zoo.  

On the way back we picked up a cake to celebrate Lola’s and Lucas’s October birthdays. Wighanda also has an October birthday. Everyone came over to Jonathan’s. The kids ran around. Some of them were not so nice to Lucas at times. But overall, they were all playing.

Lucas was so surprised we got a cake for him and sang. Jonathan made some delicious chicken and food. We did a few fireworks, and we watched The Nightmare Before Christmas.

It was another nice visit with family.  

Bloggings, Family, Travel

Heading Home

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I woke up around 6 even though I tried to sleep until 6:45. We got packed up and had breakfast. The breakfast here at the DoubleTree Hilton in Queensferry was pretty good. We left for the airport around 8:45 and got gas. We dropped my parents off at the aiport with most of the bags and Adeline then we took the cars back to Arnold Clark. It was a very nice and easy return at Arnold Clark.

We made it back to the airport and met back up with my parents. Checking in at Edinburgh airport was pleasant. The woman who helped us check our bags was very nice and even filled out a boarding pass for Lucas. It was super cute. The security was a bit weird and kind of annoying but quick.

The airport was pretty small. We tried a few times to get our seats switched but we were unsuccessful. For lunch we got some sandwiches. Our flight to Newark was a bit delayed but not by much. Lucas asked Don, “Dia, are you excited to see Lola?” He thought since we were going to New Jersey that we would see his Lola. I sat with Lucas on the flight. The woman next to me would not switch so Don could sit by us, but it was ok. Lucas slept a lot, and he even ate the ravioli pasta! There was an incident where he was frustrated with a slide puzzle of Oscar the Grouch that he couldn’t do. One of the United flight attendants gave him a goodie bag and a slide puzzle was one of the toys. My least favorite type of puzzle! Thanks, United!

Once we got into Newark Lucas was excited to see a small replica of the Statue of Liberty. He had to have his picture with it. We got some Shake Shack for dinner and then we boarded our flight to O’Hare. Once we boarded a United flight attendant was passing out goodie bags to all the kids and guess what was in it? Yep, another Oscar the Grouch slide puzzle! When we landed Lucas said, “Mama, are you excited to drive on the right side?”

It was sad to part ways with everyone at the airport, but we were also glad to be back in the states and heading home. Despite its difficulties our first family trip out of the country went pretty well! Scotland was beautiful!

Bloggings, Family, Travel

Flight Canceled!

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We woke up today at 6 am to leave for our flight. Unfortunately, right when I woke up I received a notification from United that our flight had been canceled. This was sort of expected due to the news we found out yesterday about all the flight cancelations and chaos caused by the Microsoft/Crowdstrike incident.

The next couple of hours were spent trying to figure out flights, where to stay, and the car situation. The flights were re-booked for tomorrow. Unfortunately, it is not a direct flight. The flight leaves from Edinburgh tomorrow at 1:50 pm and lands in Newark, New Jersey for a connecting flight to Chicago. We won’t get into Chicago until after 9 pm, so Kelsey, Jared, and Adeline will have to stay another night in a hotel in Chicago. I also couldn’t book seats next to each on these flights tomorrow. Luckily, for each flight there are 2 seats next to each other so someone will be able to sit next to Lucas. In the process of trying to get seats United Airlines charged me $400. I don’t think their app is working appropriately but all of the refunds will have to be dealt with later.

It was easy to book our cars for one more day with Arnold Clark. I’m so glad we reserved cars with them. Their customer service has been outstanding.

Finding a place to stay for all of us tonight was the most challenging thing. Unfortunately, the Holiday Inn we are at right now has no rooms for tonight. Don called around to several places and finally was able to book 3 rooms at a Hilton in Queensferry.

During all this time being spent on our phones and laptops luckily my parents took Lucas and Adeline to breakfast. Once things settled and we were ready to check out Don found what he thought was a farm with a restaurant. It turned out to really just be a restaurant with a shop. The restaurant called Saline Shaw was in a beautiful area in the country with rolling hills. The food here was very good. Lucas had a hot chocolate that had little cows as a design in the foam. He really liked it. He also had a breakdown about not being able to get a blue tractor at the shop. He has been so good on this trip so far I think everyone is just ready to be home.

After the restaurant we tried to go to a sheep farm, but it was really just someone’s house. It was beautiful but not a place we could stop. Then we tried to go to an animal farm, but it was closed until next week.

Nothing we were finding online was panning out, so we decided to go to an Abbey called Culross Abbey. The drive was very pretty but the parking here was crazy! It was a one lane road that people were parked on and also driving either direction. The Abbey was very beautiful. We took a lot of pictures here. We also saw the end of a Scottish Wedding. After the Abbey we stopped at a garden. We had some desserts and Lucas got to play fetch with a dog named Connie.

After the garden we decided to walk down to the town of Culross to look around. Jared and Don took the cars to park in a parking lot. We walked around the town for a bit. Lucas played at a playground. We walked out on the pier. It was starting to get rainy and gloomy so around 4 we decided to go check in to our hotel. Lucas had another tantrum about ice cream on the walk to the car.

Our new hotel was much nicer and more spacious than our place last night. It also has some very nice views of the bridges in Queensferry. We had dinner with my dad at the hotel restaurant. Lucas had calamari, which he loved, and more fish and chips. After dinner Lucas and Don went back to the room and Kelsey came down. We had a beer with my dad.

We ended up using Lucas’s travel cot here that I had brought in case he didn’t have a bed. Everywhere we stayed on the trip had a bed for him except here. He liked sleeping on the floor next to the ceiling to floor window. He said, “it felt like he was camping indoors”. As we were all getting ready for bed Lucas came over to us and whispered, “I want a baby”. It gave us a good laugh. I’m really hoping tomorrow goes well with our travels. Even though today we were supposed to go home, we still had a pretty good bonus day in Scotland.

Bloggings, Family, Travel

Inverness and Heading to Dunfermline

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We woke up early again, it’s so hard to sleep when the sun comes up so early. We had to check out of the house today so we cleaned up the place and ate as much leftovers as we could. Once we were packed up we headed for Inverness.

We made it to Inverness around 10 am and we stopped in at Leakey’s Bookstore. This was a place Jared found and wanted to check out. It was a pretty cool bookstore. Afterwards we walked around the river area and took some pictures. The town of Inverness looked very cool. We went to the oldest house in Inverness, the Abertarff House. I bought some shortbread cookies here. When I brought out my credit card to pay, the man told me hoped it would work. I asked him why and he said there was some sort of security thing that happened at Microsoft that shut down a lot of credit cards, computer systems, and airlines. My card went through, but I immediately checked the news and learned something had happened. Now I’m thinking about our flight tomorrow. 

Next, we checked out a market. It was pretty cool. It started in an alley and right outside there was this very cool looking dive bar. Don and I decided that we should get a shot there with my dad before leaving. We had lunch at a restaurant called Mustard Seed. This place was actually recommended by the man who helped us at the Arnold Clark Car Rental place when we had a damaged tire. The restaurant was very good. Most people ordered the meatloaf. Lucas had fish and chips.

Don, my dad, and I managed to get that whisky shot at the dive bar before our drive to Dunfermline. We had booked rooms at the Holiday Inn in Dunfermline because it’s only a 20 minute drive to the airport. I drove and it went well. Checking into the Holiday Inn was interesting because their computer systems were down due the Microsoft outage thing. Luckily, we had our reservation email and we had called the day before to confirm one of the rooms had a pack and play for Adeline. Our check in went pretty smooth. The Holiday Inn was nice, but the rooms were very small. It is purely a place to stay to get to the airport easily.

I tried to check in for our flight tomorrow on United’s app but it was not working. I was starting to get worried for our flight tomorrow. We decided to walk to a restaurant called Elizabethan for our last night in Scotland. The restaurant was good. We all ordered a variety of things: fish and chips, steak pies, curry, gyros, and mac and cheese. Before bed I was finally able to check in to our flight, hoping for the best tomorrow.

Bloggings, Family, Travel

Isle of Skye

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We woke up around 7 to go to the Isle of Skye. It was a 2. 5 hour drive to the town of Portree. Don did the driving and he did very well. We made a stop for pictures and gas along the way. We arrived in Portree around noon. Finding parking was a bit stressful but we found a lot and was able to walk to a restaurant. It was a really gloomy, rainy day. I felt bad because my dad had a very bad headache upon arrival. The first part of getting to Isle of Skye did not seem to be going well. It was rainy, everyone was a bit stressed from the drive, and it was hard to find a restaurant.

We got lucky and ate at a place called Cuchillin. It was pretty good. The service was not great. Most people had fish and chips. My mom had pasta.

After lunch we decided to drive to Kilt Rock. Dad rode with us, he was starting to feel better. The drive was about 20 minutes, and the weather had cleared up. We got so lucky with the weather. The rest of the day was sunny and beautiful. We took a lot of pictures here. Lucas got in trouble because he wouldn’t listen to me. It was the first real breakdown by him of the trip. We didn’t know what to do, I was very upset by Lucas’s behavior, and we had close to a 3 hour drive back to the house. I know Don was disappointed with the Skye trip so far and he didn’t want to just drive back. We all agreed to go to the waterfall we had seen on the way there and then decide what to do.

So, we turned around and stopped at Lealt Falls. It was very beautiful and I’m glad we had the opportunity to see it. Lucas was acting better, the weather was perfect, so things were looking up.

After the falls, Kelsey, Jared, and Adeline decided they wanted to go back to the house, so mom and dad got in our car because we were up for more stops. The first place we stopped was the Storr Trail. The views here were amazing. Mom, dad, and I got some coffee and drinks for Lucas and Don. Lucas and Don started hiking up a bit. I wasn’t really in the mood for a hike, but Don texted and said it wasn’t very hard, so we went up. I’m glad we did because the views were amazing. There were easy trails and much more difficult trails you could do. Some people were hiking with camping supplies. We spent a good amount of time here.

The last place we stopped was the Eilean Donan Castle. We took some pictures here. It was a cool looking castle. The drive home was more enjoyable than the way there because it wasn’t raining, and you could see all the scenery so clearly. It was a beautiful drive. Lucas slept some on the way home. I felt bad for him because I knew he was very tired earlier and he kept saying how he wanted to go home to see Lina. We got back to the house around 7:30. I wish we could have had more time to explore the Isle of Skye, but I’m also very happy today went well. We got some very beautiful views, great weather, and good memories. We had leftovers for dinner and then we went in the hot tub. We got swarmed by bugs and Lucas got scared so we went in to get ready for bed. My parents showed Lucas a paper map which he called a “paper Karen” because we call our gps Karen.