3000 Miles

Yes that is correct, we drove 3000 miles on our last road trip, which lasted 16 days. This didn't even include all of our time in trains, cabs or other people's cars. Luckily, we have some of the best car travellers, so most of the time in the car was enjoyable. It does help to have a DVD player, 2 Nintendo DSs and an IPad to amuse the girls.

Our first stop was in Baltimore for 1 night with my parents. Then we were back in the car for our drive up to Westport, Connecticut to see Tad, Charlotte and Henry. We had a great time with them going to a great playground, the beach, a pool and just playing around together. The girls didn't love the ocean since there were lots of shells before getting out to the sandbar and there were also a few little crabs that nipped a few times. The pool was great since it was right on the water, so it had an amazing view of lots of boats. Kaitlyn and Charlotte are the best of friends, while Alexa loves Henry to pieces, although he might have thought she was a little too much sometimes. Lauren was a little left out, but we tried to keep her busy and happy, and her personality helps to keep her content. We were so happy to be able to get up to see them in CT, since we missed out after Christmas with the big snowstorm.

On the 3rd day, the 5 of us took the train into NYC. We had a long, hot, fun day in the city going from Toys R Us and their ferris wheel to a street market on Madison Ave, to St. Patrick's Cathedral, to Central Park and, finally, the American Girl store. Central Park was great just walking around, but we saw some great statues, including Balto, who was a rescue dog that Kaitlyn had read about and really wanted to see. The fountains were also great for the girls to cool off in while we relaxed for a little bit. We really had a great time seeing various parts of the city, but I am hoping my next trip allows me to do some of the things I would prefer doing and seeing in such an amazing, vibrant city. After a tiring, but great day, we enjoyed the train ride back to Westport for 1 last night in Tad's house by ourselves, since he was on a plane back to Egypt.

The next day, while driving back to Baltimore, we stopped in Hershey, PA for a visit to their chocolate factory. The girls absolutely loved this, and they are still talking about it with Kaitlyn saying today that she would love to move up to Hershey! We took a little ride to learn about how they make chocolate, and then we all made our own chocolate bars. We were able to pick which chocolate (white, dark or milk), then 3 of 6 fillings (chocolate chips, pretzels, sprinkles, etc) and whether you wanted sprinkles on top or not. Then we watched all of them being made and made the label for each of our candy bars. The girls were all so proud of them and loved eating them. Afterwards, we made the short drive to Baltimore.

We then spent 5 nights at my parents' house, which really feels like home, so it was a somewhat relaxing stay. The girls love the basement with the books, Lego's and a few other toys. My sister, Michelle, and my cousin, Brendan, were staying there as well, so it was a full house, but the girls loved seeing them and having more excitement there. We did enjoy Port Discovery (the children's museum) again. We also drove down to Washington, DC another day, which was fun. We visited the National Zoo for the 1st time, which was lots of fun, but also very hilly and spread out. We then drove downtown to eat at Old Ebbet's Grill, saw the back of the White House and walked over to the Smithsonian. Kaitlyn really wanted to see the 1st Ladies, while Lauren wanted to see the dinosaurs, so we split up. Once again, we were worn out after a long day of walking in the hot sun, but we all enjoyed seeing all different amazing things.

On the last day in Baltimore, I was able to spend some time shopping with my mom and Michelle, so that was very nice. Always nice to get some time away from the girls to recharge my batteries, especially with a week ahead of me without Bill. The next day, my mom drove Bill to the airport while we drove to Buffalo with Michelle.

We had a wonderful time visiting with tons of family while we were there. We can't thank Alicia and Jon enough for letting us stay with them in their new home. Kaitlyn and Lauren were both thrilled to have their own bedrooms, while I shared the other room with Alexa. Jon even babysat the girls one night, so I could go see Harry Potter with Alicia and Erin. They are still talking about how much candy they had that night and how late they stayed up watching their movie. We spent most of our time in Buffalo swimming in various pools, and it has drastically improved Alexa's swimming, but more on that on the next post. The girls loved spending so much time with all of their cousins.

We timed our trip with Erin, Sawyer and Isla's trip, so we could finally meet Isla and get the cousins together again, as it has been way too long. Sawyer and Alexa are almost 10 months apart and both head-strong, so I wasn't sure how well they would get along, but they were great together. The 1st night Sawyer warmed up to Kaitlyn's quiet playing, while Lauren and Alexa were romping around outside, but then she warmed up to their craziness. Lauren loves little babies, and Isla was no exception, with her asking to hold her all the time. The next night we went to my cousin, Carreen's, house to play with lots of cousins in her great backyard, and the girls didn't want to leave. We spent one day at Wanakah swimming with Nana and all the cousins. I even got a great picture of my mom in the pool with most of the grandkids, but I won't embarrass her by posting it. The girls loved seeing Luke and Aidan for the 1st time this trip. Luke gets along great with Kaitlyn, while Lauren plays with them when she wants to, while Alexa just wanted to play with Aidan, but all he wanted was his brother. It is amazing to watch and try to analyze the different dynamics of each relationship.

After being so good with sunscreen all summer, I didn't do a very good job that day at Wanakah. It was the first day that we all got a lot of sun, but, luckily, we already had a good base, so it wasn't as bad as it could have been. That night we went to my friend, Katie's, house for more swimming with her, Carreen, Colleen and their kids. There are 10 kids between the ages of 2 and 9, so it was a little crazy, but they all seemed to have a great time. Then there was a night of swimming at my aunt, Jeanne's, house, which was more craziness with some aunts and uncles, most of my cousins and their children. With so many kids running around, it makes it so easy for each of them to find someone to play with at some point. The last day was spent trying to have a picnic at Chestnut Ridge with Nana, Luke and Aidan, but it was way too hot and humid, so we gave up after we ate lunch. The picnic was one of the requests that Kaitlyn had, and since the Ridge was where we went sledding in the winter, we went there, and they were simply amazed that it was the same place. That afternoon we headed to Mark and Jennifer's house to do more swimming with their cousins. They all really had a great time together didn't want to leave. I am not sure if they just never want to go to bed or just get out of the pool, but it was always a chore to leave every night.

Friday, we started our journey home since it had already been 2 weeks, and we were all ready to sleep in our own beds. We were happily surprised to have Kate stop by to say goodbye before we left in the morning. After stopping and getting our last fix of Tim Horton's, we were on our way. After all of our great drives, this was the only bad one, but that was partly my fault, and I won't be making these mistakes again. I should have just taken 1 day, but instead I decided to take 2. The 2nd mistake was taking 75 versus going down thru West Virginia, since I ended up hitting Cincinnati at 5pm on a Friday (horrible mistake). Before that, somewhere around Columbus, we ran into a horrible storm, so we were going around 15 mph for about 20 minutes since it was raining so hard. Then we get into Lexington and stop for some reason, so we stop for dinner. We go to Steak n Shake and have to wait 15 minutes, and I am trying to talk to Bill and get online to figure out where we are sleeping that night. We finally get back on 75 and have to slowly move thru the accident that had totally stopped 75 earlier. We finally start driving again and stop around 9pm to spend the night. The last mistake was not letting the girls go swimming for the 30 minutes before the pool closed. I was thinking that they would be exhausted and go right to sleep, but sadly, that wasn't the case. There was the fighting over beds and taking all the covers, so I was a little worried about our neighbors getting mad, but finally it quieted down, and I think Alexa was the last of the 3 to fall asleep around 11pm.

Saturday, after a quick breakfast at the hotel, we were on our way again. Not too bad on a drive, but a lot longer that I thought we had left. This drive was the longest it has ever been from Buffalo, but we are safely home in our own beds. It did include some unexpected stops, including one where Kaitlyn went to the bathroom on the side of the road, a la me years ago with my dad not willing to stop at a real exit. Hopefully, Kaitlyn has learned her lesson and will be able to hold it next time! Regardless, my daughters are amazing troopers, and we all had a great time with all our family!