(from 3/8/07) The rest of our trip to NJ & PA

My last blog was just about the one adventure during our trip. Our trip came about because we were invited to a wedding in NJ on that Saturday night. We figured that since we were halfway to Brother Bill & Company's house, we would go spend some time down there with them.

Well this installment is about the day of the wedding and the rest of our trip to Pennsylvania.
Saturday morning after a fantastic Customer Service experience came to a close (subject for the next blog ), we loaded the kids in the family truckster and cruised down to Piermont, NY to the apartment of friends of ours. They agreed (crazily!) to watch all four kids (Ian, Leah and their 2 cousins, Paige & Shane) while we went to a wedding with my Brother and Sister-In-Law.
These friends have a great apartment right on the Hudson, by the way. Cool place with an amazing view of the river. So we met there and got settled in, which means that Mr. Pack Mule here lugged all our crap up to the 3rd floor walk-up.

There wasn't a whole lot of time to get ready for the ceremony, so just my brother and I went while the wives stayed at the apartment with the rugrats and friends. After the ceremony we went back to get our own lovely brides and headed to the reception.

Right before we left OTHER friends showed up with THIER 2 kids (plus one on the way). It's a small place, so I'm sure we set a record for the number of kneebiters ever in that apartment at any given time, but apparently while we were gone, a fun time was had by all. Well, mostly.
I forgot to add that Ian didn't sleep at all on the ride down that day. So lets see, that translates into the fact that he was going into this over-stimulating environment (new place, new toys, new people) without being well rested. Remember that normally he's not well-rested to begin with, as he's generally a crappy sleeper. Oh yeah, THIS will end well!

You may not know this, but each of our kids are close in age with the others, i.e. Ian is 4 months older than Paige (they both turn 3 this year), and Shane is about 3.5 months older than Leah.(Shane is 6 months old, Leah is 2+ months). So 2 age groups are represented by the kids: Sassy Toddler & Needy Baby.

Needless to say, when we got back from the reception toys were all over the place, and all the kids were sleeping. Out of all the kids only the elder Needy Baby (Shane) was in the right sleeping location. Needy Baby #2 was asleep in Lisa's arms, Sassy Dora was asleep in Brian & Lisa's bed while Sassy Wiggle was sprawled out on blankets, conked out, on the living room floor.

Apparently there were issues getting Sassy 1 and Sassy 2 to sleep so (wisely) they chose the path of least resistance. I'm not sure how Paige finally went to sleep, but they just turned on "Finding Nemo" (one of Ian's favorites) and let him watch it until his brain finally finally shut down on him.

I tell ya, huge props to Brian & Lisa (and Brian's mom!!) for taking on such a monumental task! We thank you tremendously and greatly, greatly appreciate it!! Have you ever known an evening to drag on for so long???

Ian had such a fun time with them…especially since Brian let Ian play his guitars and sing into his REAL microphone…not the cheap crap that we got him! Not only that, but Brian taught him a few things too. First was rather than picking his nose, to squeeze it to 'evict' the boogers and set them free.

Another thing was something that we didn't know until the day after we got home from the trip...all of a sudden Ian holds onto the coffee table and starts hopping on one leg. We were both taken aback, because we've never seen him do that before. We asked where he learned that and after thinking for a moment he proudly exclaims "Brian!".

Here it is a week after we got home and Ian STILL talks about how much fun he had with Brian and Lisa, no joke. Just yesterday he said that he wanted to go back there!
Sunday we left Brian & Lisa's and headed down to Brother Bill's in PA. We ended up just relaxing and letting the kids run about the house when we got there..

Monday morning Erin took us to one of her favorite Story-Hour Libraries where we made it just in time for the last 10 minutes of it…For some reason Ian wasn't into the group thing (which was odd, because it was music time...his favorite), so he and I went and poked around the kids area until everyone else filtered out. We actually ended up playing there for quite awhile.

Paige and Ian started off playing separately for awhile, but then got together for a fun activity. They decided to run top-speed (you know, 1.3mph) to one wall, make a 90degree turn and then to another wall. It was one of those things that you think would get boring after two or three times. Unbelievably, this kept them busy for a good 10-15 minutes. It was apparent that they were having the time of their lives, because before long another girl joined in on the reindeer games.

We knew the kids were tiring when they stopped running and were walking their little course…and not even the speed-walking/arms pumping maneuver. It was more along the lines of leisure-strolling/dead arms dangling. So we took their cues and headed home for lunch and nap.
Paige is so cute, she downright BEGS to get into her jammies and ASKS to go to sleep. Ian, of course is polar opposite. Allison tried for at least 45min to put him down and then I tried for maybe 10min before I realized it was absolutely futile. So here it was, a 2nd day out of 3 that Ian refused to nap. Hold on, side prayer here: Hey Big J.C. I don't ask you for much….but please, please, PLEASE. I am not ready for Ian to enter into the no-nap phase of his life…If we did this now, one of us isn't going to make it out of it alive. And I'm bigger than Ian, so I'm pretty sure I know which way the oddsmakers are leaning. Or if we DO do it, let's bite the bullet and do it right now and get it over with quickly before Allison goes back to work. Okay, thanks Savior…and say hi to your dad and Jerry Garcia for me…thanks.

So we decided to park Ian in front of the TV and let him watch shows for awhile to give everyone a break. After Paige woke up from her 2.5hr nap (sigh) we decided to go and try to get the kids' picture taken. And THATS where the Pennsyltucky blog takes over.

Before I wrap it up, I need to comment on Paige being "sassy". She has always been the perfect kid. She was always a great sleeper, mild-mannered, self soothing and content on anything you throw her way...so it's actually a relief to see her throw Bill & Erin this cute little curveball.
In true Paige form, she's not even really "sassy". Like all toddler's she says NO alot, but she does one of the funniest things I've ever seen. If she's in a mood and you crack even the slightest smile she'll wag her finger at you and yell "NO LAUGH!". I only heard "Daddy NO LAUGH!" or "Mommy NO LAUGH!" but it still was one of the cutest things...of course you can't help but laughing harder and she gets even more upset. She really is one of the cutest kids ever!!!