Trip to New Jersey

We had a fun-filled five-day trip to New Jersey! The main event of the trip was my nephew's third birthday, which was a huge success, but we'll get to that.

First of all, before I left I realized I had a mild case of hand-foot-mouth disease, which is a childhood illness similar to chicken pox in that a virus infects you, you get spots (but only on your hands, feet, and mouth, hence the name), and there isn't much you can do about it. Luckily, I got a mild case, as I've heard it can be pretty terrible. I had very few spots and the most discomfort I felt was a loss of appetite. I didn't even get a fever. Our guess is that baby Z had it before me, though her case was pretty mild too and her spots were mostly around her diaper, oddly enough. Anyway, all this prelude to say that in order to lessen the chances of contaminating my nephews and the rest of the family, we decided to spend the biggest chunks of our days outside of the house.

Spots on my hands

On the drive down, there was a major downpour! At certain points during the drive, we could barely see the cars in front of us. At another time, we were listening to the radio and there was an emergency broadcast to say that a tornado warning was in effect in our area! Scary! We had to pull over and wait it out a few times, but we made it slowly but surely. Z was pretty good in the car, she slept most of the way, and when she started getting cranky, we'd stop. It made the drive that much slower with all the stops, but it beats having a crying baby in the car!

The next day we decided to take the train to NYC! It was Baby Z's first time in the big city and I think she loved looking at all of the different people! We walked from Penn station to Central Park and then went to the zoo. She absolutely loved the animals, it was fun to see her get excited! We then went to F.A.O. Schwartz (a big toy store) and I was surprised that at 10 and a half months old, she already wanted all of the toys that she saw! She would cry when I walked away from a toy, but then she would get happy a second later because she saw more toys, it was kind of funny and kind of annoying too! We walked back down 5th avenue towards Penn station and got home in time for a delicious dinner. Baby Z's abuela and tia had arrived from Mexico at this point and we had a great evening catching up. They say NYC is the city that never sleeps, but it sure tired out little Z, she slept like a log that night!

Our next day trip was to the Jersey shore. We went to Point Pleasant. I had never seen a beach like this before; it was just like in the movies with the boardwalk, the arcade games, the rides, the snacks and everything! We had a lot of fun watching Z find seashells in the sand. She didn't like it when the waves touched her feet, as the water was cold and I think it surprised her each time. We walked up and down the boardwalk and Z enjoyed people watching once again. She saw so many new things on this trip! We accidentally missed our exit on the way back, so the one and a half hour drive turned into two and a half hours... it was good to come home to family and a delicious dinner once again.

First time in the ocean!

As I said before, my nephew's birthday was a huge success! He turned three and to celebrate, my sister in law and her husband had organized a party at a farm. We got there and got to enjoy meeting his friends and the picturesque scenery (exactly what you'd imagine a beautiful farm to look like). Then we ate (pizza, fruits and veggies) and had cupcakes. Then we all got on a tractor ride up to see the animals. The children each had a bucket full of carrots to feed the animals, it was the cutest thing! There were pigs, rabbits, chicken, goats, poneys, sheep, and maybe more that I'm forgetting. Baby Z especially liked the rabbits. There was also a playhouse, a huge sandbox, a water play area, and a play tractor area! Basically, it was a kid's dreamland! Z loved the sandbox. We then got a train ride, which was super cute as my nephew absolutely loves trains! We headed home afterwards and hung out and watched a world cup soccer game.

Having a blast in the sandbox

The drive back was pretty uneventful. It was hot and our air conditioning broke, so we let the windows down and had the wind blowing through our hair pretty much the whole way back. It was an amazing trip but I was sad I didn't get to play with my nephews more because of the virus... oh well, hopefully they'll come up for Baby Z's one year birthday party and we'll make up for it then!