Toms River, New Jersey Vacation 2014

This is part two of our two week east coast vacation!

Go read about our trip to New York first!

Otherwise lets pick up where I left off yesterday. In New York we rented a vehicle and I drove us the 300 mile (five hour drive) to Toms River, NJ!

We were there to see my father and other assorted relatives.

We had a wonderful time there as well and I was SO happy that Hubbin's had the chance to really get to know the family I have out there. When he met them on our wedding day there wasn't exactly bonding time.

Here are some photos from that trip!

Point pleasant beach, NJ (THE BOARDWALK! My favorite)

Gotta luv the jelliesssss. When will I get my own tank full? lol

While standing in line to see the liberty bell in Philadelphia,PA I swear the clouds on the east coast are fluffier.

Seaside,NJ (The Jersey Shore boardwalk.. aka that SHOW)

If you want to see more of our adventures in New Jersey make sure and watch this video I made on my youtube channel. Footage! New Pictures! LOTSO'FUN!

Thank you SO much for following along

Corning New York Vacation 2014

We're back!

So, we were gifted a vacation to the east coast (if you aren't aware... we live in Washington state on the west coast of the U.S.) for two weeks.

The first week we'd spend in Corning, NY with Hubbins' family and the second week we'd spend in New Jersey with my family there.

This post is purely about the week in New York. I'll write a separate blog on the week in New Jersey.

We arrived at the airport July 15th and our plan was supposed to take off at 2:45pm PST.

One of the batteries had gone dead in a light that indicated the door was closed so our plan was delayed for 50 minutes.

This was HORRIBLE because our layover in Chicago was only 50 minutes... We were sure we'd miss our connecting flight to Elmira, NY.

Gerry's aunt was keeping tabs on our flight and the airport was trying to be helpful as well. They assumed we'd miss the flight and both rebooked us for the next available flight which was an entire day later.

Well.....our connecting flight was ALSO delayed (for unknown reasons) by around an hour and a half.. we ran from gate C.. to F in O'hare airport.. it was a 20 minute run. When we got to the gate our plane hadn't even arrived! We waited around huffing and puffing.

That flight was uneventful and we landed in Elmira, NY late but whole at around 12:30am EST.

Waiting at baggage.... and waiting..and waiting. YUP. You guessed it. Our baggage had been kept behind and would be put on the flight that didn't leave until the next day.

What a miserable first day in my "comfortable airplane clothes" without toiletries or lipstick...

So, of course I met almost everyone I was scheduled to meet on THAT first day. I'm sure I smelled like an old garbage can left out in 90 degree weather after it took two plane rides next to OTHER old garbage cans.

Otherwise we had a thrilling vacation there. Here are some memories...

 From Centerway Bridge over the Chemung river in Corning, NY

A monument to the Seneca Indians in Painted Post, NY

Moi... taking a baby grand piano selfie.. still in awe.

There was a flood in Corning in 1972. This is the flood level inside the house. This is REALLY high. Inside the house is it about 5ft off the floor but the house has steps up to inside at this level. I'm not sure how high it was but... too high I'm sure.

My favorite piece inside the Corning Museum of Glass...

These are TINY pieces all molded together... earliest form of pixel art?

I was enchanted with all the two story homes in Corning since I can only think of ONE two story home that I've seen where I live... one.

Watch this video on my YouTube channel for footage and more photos!

Stay tuned for the New Jersey week blog/video

A Day in the Life...

The beginning of this week was epic and I thought I would share its secrets with you.

This is just a short overview and not every gory detail. Just the extra juicy parts.

Monday: My mother-in-law Paula and her friend Jesse were overdue for a visit. They were due to arrive in the evening after I got off work but they thought better of it and came around noon.

Noon comes and goes I grew worried. Turns out they drove to my mothers house!

Now this is funny because my mother only lives a couple blocks away so the directions from her house to our house was only the difference of a couple of minutes.

They arrived and we had a great visit.

(Here is a picture of our dogs loving on Paula when she first arrived. That is my hubbins [her son] next to her.)

While I was at work (here is a link to a post about where I work) all the babies were picked up before 5pm so with an hour to kill I relieved a different teacher in the 4 year old room. One of the kids (a favorite of mine) was running a temperature of 103°! We'll call her "Braid."

Braid: "Can you pick me up? I don't feel good."

Me: Yes, I can pick you up.

(I picked her up and was holding her on my hip while talking to another teacher)

Braid: *sniffs* "Mmmm yum. You smell like broccoli."

Me: "Well.. that's not good. I haven't HAD any broccoli."

O_o you never want a child to think you smell like broccoli. Not a good feeling.

Anyway we had left umpteen messages on several different phone numbers for them and they didn't show up to get her until the normal time. Kind of frustrating. Afterward I drove home.

I really wanted to take Paula and Jesse to one of my favorite little local places.

Mac n' more. Gourmet macaroni and cheese. OMG. Its amazing. Chalkboard tables and delicious inexpensive macaroni cheese? Heaven.

(Here is my food. Loaded Potato Mac n' Cheese)

(Here is a drawing Paula drew on the table while we were waiting for our food. Isn't it pretty?)

When they dropped us off at home to go back to their hotel I realized that I had left my PURSE at the restaurant. Yeah. The WHOLE bleedin' thing was sitting on the floor behind my chair. ARGH. I'm such a dunderhead. I blame school, work, and small table space.

Luckily the waiter found it right after we left and saved it. Thank goodness. I adore this purse! Here is my review on it!

Tuesday: Ugh. So, I got up and checked my classes to see what I would have to do for the rest of the week. I like to sit down and write everything down for each day so I know exactly what I have to do at a glance. When I finish an item or task I just mark it off with pink highlighter.

(The outside of my wonderful Downton Abbey planner given to me for Xmas.)

(The inside has full sheet photos across two pages and a large picture with each set of 7 days)

My English teacher assigned another 5 page paper (I turned the last one in the Monday morning) without teaching us anything in-between. Literally the day after the last one was due he assigned another and instead of two weeks to do the last I had FOUR days to do this one. It is due (if you are reading this the day I publish it Friday the 31st of January 2014) today. Read a 10 page paper and chose the five main points of it and write a FIVE page paper on it. That is a bunch of hooey goulash.

So, after a little mini freak out session I made my way to work.

Where.. I found out that there has been 2 confirmed cases of Mouth, Hand, and Foot Disease. Where you ask? THE BABY ROOM. My room. I went in... with trepidation. What was this "DISEASE"? Could I catch it? I knew very little. The poor little babies. :( Smiley (read this post about my work to find out who Smiley is) is one of the babies to have been confirmed. That poor thing can't catch a break.

I didn't find out that if adults get it it is usually very mild (even so much so that it goes unnoticed) until I got home. I felt bad though. I felt like I hadn't sanitized ENOUGH every day. I mean.. I did what I was supposed to (and told to) every day. I still went a little BLEACHCRAYCRAY though. I hope that my efforts can halt the spread at least.

Thankfully, the end of my week was less hectic and unusual.
Thank you so much for following along!