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Bloggings, Family, Reviews - Travel, Travel

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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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!

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Family time

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Today Lucas woke up around 7:30, which is still 6:30 our usual time. He played transformers while we got ready for breakfast. Breakfast was ok. There were a lot of different sandwiches, cereal, and yogurt. After breakfast we went to Lola’s house. Lucas played transformers again, worked on writing and watched tv. After lunch we went to the pool at Lola’s apartment. It was fun but chilly. The water was nice but the wind was cold. Lucas has fun swimming around though. 

Then we came back to the hotel to nap. A woman was still cleaning our room so that was a bit weird. I tried to converse a little in Spanish to tell her the pillow and sheets were dirty. I think she understood, Duolingo for the win!

After nap we headed over to Jonathan and Wighanda’s. On the way there we were trying to figure out the child lock on our car and I accidentally closed the latch so the door wouldn’t close. A quick fix for this is using the outside door handle. It was so crazy. We drove 20 minutes with Don just holding the door shut because we didn’t figure out this easy fix until we were already at Jonathan’s.

We were a little hesitant and worried to go see Lucas’s cousins because one of them had been sick and hopefully she was getting over it. It’s hard not to see them because we don’t get to visit often. It was fun to see them together. Fingers crossed Lucas stays well. 

They played mostly outside on the trampoline, with cars, swing set, and Lucas did his first sparkler here. 

We got home late. Lucas played with transformers. It’s almost 11 pm and he’s still not asleep. 

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travel day

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We woke up, had breakfast and finished packing. We left the house at 9:15. I thought our flight was at 1:10 but that was the boarding time! The real flight time was 1:45, so we were pretty early. We wanted extra time for parking because last time all lots were full.  

So we made it with plenty of time. We decided to leave the stroller behind since we didn’t need it for anything other than the airport. So far Lucas is doing great walking. 

We had lunch at burrito beach then we went to our gate. Lucas practiced drawing his letters for a long time. Then I showed him the surprise transformers book we got him. It has little figurines. 

We learned our flight was delayed due to waiting for the captain, who was coming from another flight. 

The flight was over an hour delayed. Lucas fell asleep before we took off. I don’t know how he slept because a family who sat across from us had 2 screaming kids. One was maybe a little younger than Lucas and he was just plain loud. The other was probably 4-5 months and he would just let out these loud screams. Lucas woke up with about 20 minutes left of the flight. 

Then the baby really started screaming, screamed the whole descent. Thank God this was only a 2 hour flight. 

We could see NYC as we landed. It looked cool. Lucas looked slightly distressed during the landing but he was worried about his movie Cars which had stopped, not the actual landing.  

Lucas did great walking thru the airport to our rental car. We have a Ford Escape, which I believe is what we had last time we flew into Newark. Spacious car, but I don’t love things about it. However, we were able to connect our phones to the screen and use the GPS this time so maybe this car isn’t so bad!

Then we went to Don’s mom’s apartment. We had dinner and hung out for a bit. Lucas found a box of old binoculars and Lola gave them to him. That is funny because on the drive over he said “oh no, I think I forgot something. My binoculars!” 

We got to the hotel Home2 around 9 pm and Lucas did not want to go to bed. After bath and bribery he finally fell asleep around 10:30. He started coughing about 20 minutes into sleep. The coughing was pretty bad and at one point around 12:15 he puked. Luckily, he only got the pillow and a small portion of the sheet. I felt so bad for him and I really hope his cough gets better soon. 

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Last day in NJ

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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!