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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.  

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Let vacation begin

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Lucas woke up at 5 am so excited to go on vacation. He watched the Curious George movie and ate breakfast. We pulled the car around 10:15 to leave for ORD. The car was acting weird, stalled a little bit hopefully it’s ok. We packed up and left around 10:30 but we should have left earlier. There was a little bit of traffic and all lots at O’Hare were full or almost full. We finally got a spot in lot B but it’s going to be $42 a day! 

We rushed to the terminal and got thru security only to find out our flight was delayed a half hour. It was delayed due to waiting for the co-pilot.  

Once we got in thru security we went to McDonalds and got a seat by some windows. Lucas ate pretty well. As the time of the flight approached he was getting more and more tired. When we were boarding it was funny when the worker was announcing stuff about boarding he said “and no we don’t do first boarding for families… We’re going to Orlando everyone has kids”. Lucas was asleep before the plane took off.

Lucas slept a little over an hour on the flight then he watched some stuff on my tablet. There was so much turbulence they didn’t serve snacks. 

Once we got to Orlando it was pretty easy getting to baggage and then to hertz. It was one of the easier airports we have been to as far as renting a car. We got a Jeep Renegade and I’m not really sure how I feel about it.

We drove to Port Canaveral and got to a restaurant called Rising Tide around 7 pm. It was pretty good. Don had roasted chicken, I had shrimp tacos, and Lucas had cheese pizza. We started with calamari. 

We are staying at Homewood Suites. It’s 10 pm and Lucas hasn’t fallen asleep.

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France last day: heading back to paris

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Today we woke up early to pack and get ready to leave. Damien had hooked us up with a shuttle to pick us around noon. The shuttle was going to take us to our connecting train in Lisieux, this avoided us having to get the train in Deauville and would be faster. Even better though when the driver got to us he asked if we wanted him to just take us straight to Paris for the same price! He had to go to Paris anyway so it wouldn’t be out of the way. This was so awesome!

Found this weird candy bar at a rest stop. It was good!

We made it to Paris around 3 pm and got on the train to head out to the airport. It was pouring rain. There was a weird incident on the train where it seemed we were almost mugged. A guy apparently tried to put his hand on Don’s bag and Laura said something to him. He had guys around him that were obviously with him but unfortunately he got caught. After they had some words they left us alone.

We got to the Hilton near the airport and checked in. I was super hungry and had a headache. It was still early and our last night in Paris so we decided to take the train back to the city. This did not seem super fun considering all of the travel we had been doing and I was tired but when in Rome….? Just Don and I went and we found a restaurant called Flams. Basically Flams makes a pizza that has no sauce; it’s like a flatbread with cheese and other toppings. You can pick a package and just keep ordering different pizzas. They are like crackers so two people could easily finish 3 or 4.

We walked across the river to get a view of the Eiffel tower. It was a long walk but fun. We watched some kids skateboarding and we saw a group of people doing some weird juggling.

After finding a good spot to view the Eiffel Tower we got some waters and sat down. When the sun sets the tower does a light show and it was very cool.

On the way back we walked through a museum of modern art and saw people dancing. We took an Uber back to the train station so we could go back out to the airport Hilton. We got back around midnight. Tomorrow we leave Paris around 11 am. It has been a good trip.

Not much happened on our departure day. The breakfast buffet at the Hilton was pretty good. It was so hot in the Paris airport and not a lot of restaurants where we were. One thing to note, you need your passport to make purchases like food! I left my passport with Don and waited in line at a convenient store and couldn’t buy food!! So weird!!

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France day 10: Monet’s house

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We had to wake up pretty early today because the bus was picking us up at 9. We went to the town of Giverny where the famous artist Claude Monet lived out his last years. Greg had gotten us tickets earlier to see his house and gardens. Everything was very beautiful and it was a nice day.  

When we got to the line somehow Don and I became separated from the rest of the group. We also had group tickets which allowed us to go to a shorter line. We only had a little under 2 hours so we decided to look around a bit then leave to get food. The gardens in front of his house were very beautiful.

We stopped at a cafeteria style restaurant. Don had roasted veal and ratatouille. I had a sausage and fries. It was pretty good! We sat outside and some chickens came over to us. They almost got into a fight under my feet, but they were so cute!!

We decided to go back in and try to go through Monet’s house. We had time to spare and last time we were in there the lines were just so long. We also found where the pond was and everything was very beautiful. The house was cool too. It was crowded though.

We stopped for an ice cream cone on our way out. There were a lot of Porshes in the parking lot because they were all heading to Deauville for the convention.

Next we stopped in the town of Rouen. There was a very beautiful church and many markets.

We mailed our postcards from this town, which was kind of an ordeal but the postal worker was very nice and helpful. We saw where Joan of Arc was burned at the stake. There was a church there for her and that was very pretty, with beautiful stained glass.

We made our way back to the hotel where we were supposed to meet up and had a croissant. When we got back to the house we relaxed and took a walk to the beach. It would have been cool to swim but it was too cold. It was warm in the sun though. There were Porsches everywhere because they were having a Porsche convention thing in Deauville. This made Jim very happy because he loves the car. We walked around and looked at the cars a bit, very cool.

We came back and had some sandwiches and salads. Then Don and I went out again to eat at the pizza place we went to a few nights ago. I really was craving pizza.

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france day 9: cheese & Cider

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This morning we got on the bus around 10 and made our way to a cheese factory in Normandy. We were able to see the process of cheese being made and it was super smelly. All of the cheese was unpasteurized so I did not partake; however, it smelled like death so I didn’t care! The tour was fun.

After the cheese factory we stopped in a small town for a Normandy picnic. A Normandy picnic consists of bread that is buttered, jams, cider, or apple juice in my circumstance. We had also brought some meat to add to the bread but I didn’t risk eating the meat because it was pretty warm even though I thought it was in a cooler? The picnic was nice; it did seem though that it was Damien’s idea and it was infringing on Greg’s schedule. So it felt a bit rushed but we did get to look around the little town a bit. It was very quiet.

After lunch we went to a family owned cidery. We got a tour to see how the cider was made and then we got to try some ciders. I will admit, I had a few sips.

When we got back it was around 4:30 and we went for a walk before dinner. I wanted food, mostly pizza, so bad. Lunch hadn’t been very big and I was hungry! Unfortunately, most places close for the afternoon so it was a struggle to find anything serving food. It started to rain and got colder and I got hungrier and grumpier. We stopped in Trouville for some espresso and we ordered a ham and egg gallette. It was pretty good.

We walked around some more then we met at the El Central for dinner. I had steak and mashed potatoes, a tomato mozzarella salad, and chocolate mousse for dessert. Don had escargot and a crazy seafood plate!

The walk home was fun, with a good view.