This trip was full of fun and friends! We started out early Monday morning and made it to our pre-planned destination of Streetsboro, OH. All is uneventful, in a good way so far.
Tuesday we made decent time getting to NY, but then we hit traffic. When I say traffic, I don't mean traffic that slows you down for a couple minutes. I mean traffic that forces 8 lanes down to 2 to cross the Lincoln tunnel in NYC during rush hour going 2.5 miles in 3 hours with 2 children who need to go to the bathroom. Yeah, I know you envy that section of the journey!
We arrived at our hotel in Long Island City, NY only to find out that there is limited parking. And again, by limited parking I am referring to 16 parking spaces for 2 buildings that are each 10 floors high. Hmmm...and did I mention I have a large SUV? In down town NYC? Our vehicle was almost unscathed. The concierge working at the hotel told me there was one spot left to park in the parking garage. I entered. Well, let me take that back. I attempted to round the corner into the garage and it was so tight that I could not make it. It scraped the rear fender. Booo for the fresh concrete scrape on my Enclave. OK, so I was in the parking garage and I get to "the one spot" and it is not even close to being wide enough for my vehicle and I can not turn around to get out of the garage. This got ridiculous. I had to back out. I am not happy. Not only is the spot unusable, I now have been driving since 7:30 am with the kids, they just sat through the 3 hours of moving slower than a snail and now there is no where to park. Grr. I stopped and said a prayer of desperation. "God, please help me to find a place to park. I am so frustrated."
I drove around the block. I saw a spot on the street to park. But, it made me so nervous (this was not the best area to hang out in) that after a few more frustrated pleas to God, I left that spot and circled back to the hotel with the anticipation that God would find me a spot (one of 16 for the 2 hotel buildings...a minor miracle!). Well, I entered the surface lot and there was one free spot! And, I could actually fit my vehicle in the spot. Thanking God, I took the spot. It was so tight I let the kids out before I pulled in, then crawled out the hatch. But, we made it! So we gather our stuff that we need for the night and we head to the elevator to go up to our room and who do we see, but my fabulous friend Alyssa, her mom and her son who we were meeting in NYC! It was such perfect timing! Bless her heart, I was so frustrated I could hardly talk but she was so gracious in taking care of us to get us settled and calmed down.
OK, next day. Alyssa and I had not seen each other for 10 years and we planned to have the day together to hang out and catch up. It was such a treat to see her, I don't think it really mattered what we did. However, we were able to take in some fun sights. One of our favorite was the Statue of Liberty.
We were also able to take in some obligatory hot dogs from a street vendor. They were actually pretty good. :)
Then after lots of walking we (mostly Alyssa) navigated the subway system and found our way to Central Park. Zack and Owen enjoyed playing with Noah, their new friend.
Then it was about time to call it a day. We headed back to the hotel and ordered delivery. It was the best delivery I have ever had!
The next morning we continued our journey to Watch Hill, RI. Along the way we needed to pull off for potty breaks. We saw this car when we stopped.
We continued on and made it to Watch Hill. It was a great afternoon of waves and sand.
The last thing we were able to do in RI was ride the world's oldest carousel. The kids loved it! (even though Owen's face does not look like he was enjoying himself, he talked about it for days!)
On the road again...
Next we made it to Taunton, MA to see another great friend, Katie and her family. Katie, thanks for the pic! (I like that Apollo snuck in there too!) Zack and Owen enjoyed seeing some more kids on the trip. They liked that they knew who they were before we got there too.
After a night in Taunton with such a gracious host, we headed up to our final destination of Campton, NH to see my parents. We enjoyed almost a week with them. During our stay I got to see some of my best middle school friends! We reminisced on the playground that we used to play on but this time it was our kids playing. How fun!
Tracy and Penny, it had been way too long! Can't wait til the next rendezvous!
I also got to see another dear friend, Melanie whom I grew up with. I again wish I had taken a pic of us too for memory sake.
I was able to visit with my grandma in Littleton as well. These moments are treasured but bittersweet. I LOVE seeing her, but she has the terrible disease of Dementia and no longer remembers who I am. I still have such fond memories of my sweet grandma and am so thankful for the many years I had growing up so close to her and the impact she had on me.
During our free time in NH we enjoyed hours at the pool. Everyone went in the water...even my mom! (Although not pictured here, Dad was in the pool too.)
We had such a fabulous trip of seeing friends and family. We even were blessed to see a gorgeous New Hampshire sunset one of the last days there.
Our trip home was not quite as fabulous as the whole adventure. We left early Thursday morning in hopes to get a good start on the 20 hour drive home. All was good until Thursday night. We found a hotel in Elyria, Ohio and were just getting settled in and Owen was sick. Poor guy. It seemed to come out of no where. I figured that was it and he was doing better. Nope. Friday morning we packed up and ate breakfast. We just got in the car to head home and before I had even closed my door Owen was sick again. It was not a fun time. I found the housekeeper and got some towels and disinfectant spray and cleaned as best I could with what I had (and did I mention it was raining out?) but the smell was awful and Owen was feeling miserable. After we got on the road again he was sick several more times. I never have enjoyed Chicago traffic but it is even worse when there is a sick child. He did perfect aiming in a bag, at least. Poor guy.
It was a glorious moment pulling into our garage and getting out of the car for all of us when we returned home. And, our poor car dealership down the road did a fantastic job detailing our car. Thanks Symdon. :)
So there you have it. The adventures of roadtripping with me. I think Dan may have been wise to stay home with the dog, but I had fun.
