Despite not having a nap yesterday and going to bed a little late, Lucas was still up at 6 am this morning. During the morning we packed because we are leaving today. Lucas pretended he was doing work in the “basement”, which was the closet in the hotel room. He kept running in and out of the closet. We tried to get breakfast at the hotel but it was too slow, so we went to a Dunkin Donuts near Newark Airport. On the way to the airport Lucas repeated everything the GPS (Karen) said. That was pretty funny. When we got on the flight Lucas asked for the “heart pretzels”, which are the in flight pretzels. He fell asleep before take off and it was a good flight. Overall, Lucas did amazing traveling on this trip and we are ready to go somewhere else!
Tag Archives: new jersey
Family party!
Lucas woke up again around 7 and he was especially crazy. He didn’t want to listen to anything. I got him to calm down and we were downstairs watching Cars while Don showered. I got a phone call from Don, which I thought was weird since we were in the same house, and he said Khris had called to tell him he tested positive for covid. Khris and Jess had just gotten back from Aruba, so they probably picked it up there.
After a few minutes of a little freaking out and trying to figure out what to do because were having a get together at Jonathan’s house today we calmed down and texted Jonathan the situation. We hadn’t been around Khris and Jess much so hopefully we would not get it. We took a covid test to see what our status was. We were both negative and Jonathan and Wiganda were ok with us coming to the party.
We were very sad that Khris and Jess could not come to the party, but still happy we could see some people. We also decided we would get a hotel near Newark Airport, so we could limit our exposure and allow Khris and Jess to move about freely in their home.
Then we packed up and got some Starbucks and headed to Jonathan’s. Don and I left Lucas with Jonathan, Wiganda, and his cousins while we went to pick up the Filipino food we had pre-ordered. We kind of snuck out and when Lucas realized we were gone he was not happy and would not stop crying.
The party was successful. Lots of people were able to show up—Jimmy, Leanne, Glen, Leslie, Anthony, Seba, Miguel, Tracy, Micheal, Teresa, Ari, & Kallan. The food was awesome, but we had so much. The kids got in the pool, jungle gym, and trampoline. The jungle gym had a pole on it that Lucas kept wanting to go down like he was firefighter. We would help him do it, but one time I was across the yard and saw him start to do it himself. I ran over to him but he ended up falling part of the way down. It was so scary but he was ok.
Lucas wasn’t able to nap at all during the day. Every time we tried something would distract him. I felt so bad for him because he was so tired.
After everyone left, Wiganda got the scooters and bikes out. Lucas got a second wind and wanted to scooter. Estelle’s friends stopped by and we went on a scooter walk. I was tired and I could tell Lucas was so tired. We decided around 6 that we needed to leave to go to our hotel. Lucas fell asleep immediately in the car and he was so grouchy when we had to bring him up to the room. He laid on the bed and ate snacks and then we got him in his tent.
Bergen county zoo
We woke up around 7. Lucas had drunk a bunch of chocolate milk before bed, and he ended up puking on his blankets so the first thing I had to do was wash them.
Lucas went outside to play with his Paw Patrol bubble gun. Then he watched Cars while Khris made us some breakfast. We had eggs, sausage, bacon, bread, and fruit. It was delicious. Lucas was upset because the bubble machine had run out of bubbles so we told him we would buy more bubbles later.
We left the house around 9:30 to meet Jonathan, Raiden, and Rayne at the Bergen County Zoo. The kids had so much fun at the zoo. They ran around like crazy. We had a little picnic lunch. Then we finished the zoo by riding the carousel and the train. Then the kids had some popsicles. It was pretty hot and getting time for nap but we decided to check out the playground. The playground had a splash pad and that’s where the kids played most. Luckily, we had extra clothes for Lucas in the car.
We got him all cleaned up and got in the car. We decided to drive around a bit so we could let Lucas sleep. We got some Starbucks and just kept driving. We drove up to Harriman State Park in NY and then we just turned around and went back to Jonathan’s. It allowed Lucas to sleep for about an hour and the drive was nice.
The kids played outside on the trampoline a lot and Don went to the store to get things for the BBQ tomorrow. When Don got back we ate dinner and the kids tried to play some video games. At one point Lucas said, “turn it off I’m going to bed.” So, we decided it was time to drive back to Khris’s so he could sleep.
We stopped at Wegman’s for a pee break and on the way back Lucas ate some cheese and pretzels.
We woke up today around 7:15. Lucas did a great job sleeping in his tent! So glad we found this idea online. We laid around until 8 and then we packed and got ready to check out. We went to the buffet breakfast in the hotel. It was pretty good but felt very crowded, especially just coming off a pandemic. We had to go to Starbucks for coffee. Then we were on our way to Staten Island to visit Ethan and Pia.
We stopped at Faber Park because we were set to meet up around noon for lunch. Faber Park is right on the water so we could see big shipping cargos on the river. There were a couple of playgrounds but they were right in the sun. Just by chance there was a pool here we asked about it and decided to go in.
The pool had a lot of rules. We could only bring in towels and water bottles, everything else had to stay in your locker. We swam around for a bit then we headed over to Ethan and Pias.
It was really good to catch up with them. We ordered some Mexican food and played with Transformers. Around 2 pm we got back in the car to head to Pearl River NY, where Khris and Jess live. Lucas slept the whole way. On the way we stopped at lookout on the Palisades but we didn’t get out. We saw a deer super close to the parking lot though!
We are staying at Khris’s for the rest of the trip. They have a big bedroom where we can set up Lucas’s tent. We went out to dinner at Murty’s Publick House. It was a nice little Irish place. Don wanted to try Uncle Tom’s Tavern next door but I accidentally went in the wrong restaurant. We saw Khris and Jess for a bit before bed because they were on their way home from Aruba.
family vacation ORD-EWR!
Today we woke up and a little breakfast and got ready for our departure to New Jersey. We gave Lucas his new cars from the movie Cars. He was excited. We went to Ohare around 9:45 and the first parking lot we tried to go to was full! We parked in parking lot G and took a shuttle to the airport tram. Lucas was excited to sit near the bus driver. He was doing so good so far. Getting through security was pretty fast so we decided to get some lunch at McDonald’s. Lucas got his first happy meal—chicken nuggets, apple slices, fries, and milk. He ate all of the fries and apple slices but wasn’t a very big fan of the chicken nuggets. He got a little bobble head of Fred from Scooby Doo for the toy. He doesn’t seem to care for it much.
After lunch we sat and looked at plane for awhile. He said “let’s take to the sky!” just like Skye does from Paw Patrol. It was so cute. Lucas was asleep on the plane before we even took off and he slept the whole way.
Everything went smoothly when we arrived at Newark and got our car then we headed to Jonathan and Wighanda’s House so Lucas could meet everyone. It was really fun seeing Lucas interact with his cousins for the first time. He ate a really good dinner of spaghetti, rice, and corn. We also had some chicken adobo that Don’s mom made. The kids played musical chairs, slime, and danced.
After dinner we headed to our hotel. We stayed at Homewood Suites. The room was really nice and we had enough room to set up Lucas’s tent. In the process of moving a coffee table though I somehow dragged it over my big toe. It was so painful!! Lucas was in his tent around 9:50 pm, very late for him but it was a pretty good day for all of the traveling we did.