"I wanna go to New Jersey"

This is what I heard over and over again for days and weeks leading up to our trip to New Jersey, "I wanna go to New Jersey" and "We goin to New Jersey?".  We were going to visit family and friends and I wanted to get the girls excited about it.  We decided we were going to drive and with that meaning a minimum 14 hour car ride, that was a BIG deal and I wanted to start the girls off on the right foot.  Driving 14+ hours with two children under two . . . crazy, you say??  Yes, maybe.  But, airfare for four would break the bank and we hadn't been back to NJ since we moved almost a year ago.  So, a road trip was in our future one way or the other.

In no uncertain terms, the trip was awesome.  We successfully drove back and forth along the East Coast without losing a child or losing our minds.  The girls got to experience lots of new things, got to see lots of close family members, Nik and I got a couple of nights out, we got to visit a bunch of friends and we all had a nice vacation.  I was exhausted when I got home, but I guess I can still call it a vacation since we were away from home and didn't go into work (although I did have to put in a decent amount of hours in via my work laptop).

From driveway back to driveway, we spent 8 days away from home.  To give a detailed description of our entire trip would be way to tedious and probably boring for all of you following along.  So, I'll try to highlight some points of interest.

-Both girls got sick at some point.  This made it difficult (if not impossible) to visit all of the new babies that have been born recently.  We really wanted to see all of our friends, but in some cases it just didn't work out.  We couldn't risk getting the newborns sick.

-We took the girls to Six Flags and the Safari.  They loved it!!  Gwen really enjoyed watching all of the animals and went on a bunch of rides.

-Gwen stood up on her own for the first time, put her hands in the air and screamed in excitement!  Then when everyone went crazy getting all excited, she did it over and over again.  Unfortunately Mommy and Daddy were not around to witness it :-(

-I had my first trip to Belmar, NJ (totally over-due).  We went to Bar-A which is a really cool place.

-Thought we might go to A.C., but nope.  Next time though.

-My Step Dad who had just come home from the hospital after surgery was in great spirits.  He was able to participate in almost all of the fun filled activities during our visit and I don't think having my girls stay in the same house as him distracted him too much from getting his rest.  We were all really impressed with how well his recovery has been going.

-Went to the beach and boardwalk. Christina tolerates the sand now but still won't go anywhere near the ocean. Gwen loved everything and spent at least an hour playing in the sand.

-Auntie Rachel painted Christina's toenails with "sprinkles". She had been looking forward to having her toe nails painted again and loves to show off her "sprinkles".

-I lost one of my contacts. An hour later, Gwen hands me something and wouldn't you know, it was my contact! She wasn't even in the room with me when I lost it.


-We got to go to Danah's (best friend fron high school) surprise 30th birthday! We had to leave early, but still had a great time.

-We got to visit CC's old daycare, her old teachers and her old friends . . . CC didn't remember a thing! Even though her picture is still up on the wall of the infant room, Christina said she didn't remember anything about the place. Her teacher of two years was very sad that CC didn't remember her. Ms. Shamo really loved her and was very very excited when we walked in the door. Christina was a little scared that some "stranger" wanted to hold and cuddle her. I wish Christina could remember, but either way, it was cool to visit.

-Christina became more attached to Auntie Mackenzie (13 yrs old) and Uncle Alex (10 yrs old). It was cute. She kept asking where they were when they weren't with us.

-We almost got to see one of Auntie Mackenzie's soft ball games. Too bad the other team didn't show up.


-We figured out that Christina is officially scared of everything:  the ocean (screaming, shaking, desperately reasoning with us to take her away from the unbearably awful ocean), buffalo (the first animal she saw at the Safari  . . . she screamed and literally JUMPED into the backseat of the car), "scary" rides at Six Flags (this consisted of the tea cups and basically anything that was not the train or merry go round).  These new additions can be added to her other fears such as:  tunnels (like when we drive under an over pass), parking garages, people dressed in elaborate costumes (like a mascot, mickey mouse, etc), plastic animal shaped floatation devices, and the vacume (only when someone else is using it).  She is no longer afraid of falling in the potty though, so that is good.

-Some of CC's catch phrases for the trip: 
  -"Let's talk about the animals, I want to talk about the animals"
  -After going to the bathroom "I did a two piece!"
  -"I'm drinking my beer" as she held a baby wipe up to her mouth
  -She came running over to me with her arms in the air and announced, "I put yogurt on my arms!" (Daddy's deodorant)
  -"I'm shaking my booty." Christina even got up from the table at Jenks, just so that she could dance to the band while everyone else ate.
  -Grabbed my Mom's face and said "Do you hear me??" LOL  I guess I do that to her and that is where she got it from.
  -"I'm mad at you!" and when we ask why . . "because you spilled my beer!"

Let's see, what else did we do . . .  .
Family BBQ's, trips to Dads and Niks parents, stayed at Moms, visited old office and saw coworkers, had lunch with a great friend who I use to have lunch with all of the time during the work week, Bayonne bar hopping with long time friends .  . .

Ok, ok, I'm done for now.  Pictures to follow at some point .  . .