So today would be a light day. We had a kids birthday party hosted by our friends Neil & Megha — their twins Rohan & Kareena were celebrating their 2nd birthday this month. They live in Manhattan, so the party was being held down in the West Village. I’m glad we were able to aim this whole vacation around Josh’s two days off from school, my interim unemployed period, and the kids birthday party in Manhattan. Not bad, eh?

What we did have to figure out was how to make it to the party without carrying all of our luggage, make it to the party, then catch a reasonable train out of NY Penn Station. We decided to:

1. Check out of the hotel around 12 noon
2. Leave our bags with bell stand
3. take the subway down to the West Village
4. Have fun at the party unencumbered
5. Go back uptown to get our luggage
6. Head back to NY Penn to catch a train around 3:53pm
7. Get home!

We made to the party easily enough, albeit with more walking from the subway station than I anticipated. By the end of the walk, I’m glad we decided against bringing the luggage in tow. Lily would not walk, so we took turns carrying her. A number of guests were there already, and the children present were doing free play. “Free play” lasted a long while, but the people running the show eventually moved on to some singing. We spoke to a few people while the children ran amuck.

Soon, it was time for the kids to eat pizza, blowing out the cake candles, etc. We departed the party a little after 2pm, made our way to the Lex & 53rd St station. Num’s & the kids opted to wait for me to run up and out, get the luggage, and bring it all back to the station. We hustled, and caught the 3:53pm train out of NY Penn. I’m not sure how we caught it, but a little hustle will never serve you wrong.

Now for the monkey wrenches!

The train was packed. Why? Based on all the people carrying beer cans and wearing Jets jerseys, I guess there was a game today over at MetLife Stadium. Rats. Still, it should empty out after Secaucus. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the only problem. Somewhere before Princeton Junction, the train crew informed us that there was a disabled train ahead. Oh no.

In order to get passed, the train would sit for a while, the eventually bypass and go straight to Trenton. We would have to get out, and wait at Trenton for another northbound station to take us back up north to Hamilton. Argh. We were tired, but we made the best of the situation and got home an hour later than expected. Oh well, that’s life.

So that was the big trip. It was a lot of fun, and I’m glad (in hindsight) to have listened to my wife about not filling up the itinerary. I wanted to visit the observation deck at 30 Rock, hit the Children’s Museum, and see downtown. However, trying to shoehorn all of these places in would have stressed and tired everyone out, and been ultimately counter productive. This was a good model — a vacation with only a few things to do, with a healthy amount of downtime. I don’t know where we’ll be going next year, but a few low-key weekend trips like this would be nice.

Now I get ready for my fresh start tomorrow.

Central Park

Halfway through our trip, and Saturday was our last full day. After some discussion (there are so many places to go see in NYC), we chilled out in the hotel for a bit in the morning, I gave the kids showers, hit a cafe for lunch, then rode up to Columbus Circle. On the agenda for Saturday was walk through Central Park, Central Park Zoo, then dinner out somewhere. Maybe even Dos Caminos again. How sadly I was mistaken, but that was okay. You’ll soon find out why.

I can understand why New Yorkers come to Central Park. Even in Autumn, it is very pleasant and relaxing to walk around, and the temperature was comfortable. I didn’t have a real plan besides hanging out, but it worked out. We found this area with lots of large rock formations where the kids could play, and a fantastically unique playground. It was built in such a way that three of us pretended it was Tolkien’s Helm’s Deep fortress. We eventually walked around the southern end of the park, then made our way to Central Park Zoo around 3:30pm.

Climbing rocks

Unfortunately, there was a long line at admissions, so that was an unpleasant surprise, especially with only 90 mins before the zoo closed. The line itself looked like it would take about 30 mins to get to the ticket window. Another unpleasant surprise — I was told there was only a “nominal” admission fee, but it would be about $40 for us to get in to see the animals for an hour. The kids were tired and hungry, more than we wanted to spend, and a short window of time to see it. Ultimately, it made more sense to us to do the zoo another day.

We walked out along the southeast corner of the park towards the nearest Au Bon Pain, where we could leverage a gift card that my mother gave us earlier this year. We walked back to the hotel, stopping at a Barnes & Noble on 3rd Ave to read some books, and a popular women’s clothing store so my wife could browse the wares.

Lesh & the kids

We chilled out and got freshened up for a family dinner, until I was surprised to hear a knock and find our friend Lesh knocking on our hotel room door. Surprise! My wife had made plans a couple of week ago for Lesh to meet us and watch the kids, while Nums & I could then go out for a celebratory dinner (vacation, new job, etc.) without worrying about the kids. Where were we going to dinner? Smith & Wollensky – NYC‘s for the first time, then meeting up for drinks with friends Kanishk and Sofi, and now possibly meeting up with Reeba, Sandhya, and others at some club down near 34th St. Neat, and I was very surprised. The kids and Lesh would be staying in to hang out and I would pick up some dinner for the three of them from Dos Caminos.

Dinner @ Smith & Wollensky

Dinner was pretty decent, though Nums didn’t like her steak very much. I was going to behave and stick to a small cut, but this Cajun-flavored rib steak caught my eye. The waiter played coy on the size of the steak, and it was huge when it arrived. Turned out that it was a ginormous 32 oz. steak. I ate only two spoons of each of our sides, as I worked hard to not waste the steak. I think I still prefer Ruth’s Chris overall.

After dinner, we walked over to 2nd Ave to meet K & S at Traffic Bar & Restaurant for drinks. Very fun time, and I’m very happy that all four of us got together finally, as Nums is always so busy with work for all of us to make it ever.

Drinks with Kanishk & Sofi

We eventually said our farewells, and took a lengthy, slow ride down to 33rd St to see the other folks at this club, which turned out to be an Indian party. Now, when I was single, I liked Indian parties, because I wanted to meet attractive Indian women. Unfortunately, they’re always crowded, the women are unfriendly, and the drinks are always expensive. Oh, and there are always way too many guys there in relation to women. Well, things apparently haven’t changed, because it was hot, crowded, and way too many Indian guys dancing around with each other when they weren’t shoving you out of their way when they wanted to get by. I think we stayed about 30 mins, said goodbye to Sandhya, then bid a hasty retreat. I’m glad I haven’t missed anything to be found at the club scene.

Of course, the subways were even slower on the way back, but we eventually made it back. Lesh hung out for a while more, then caught a cab back to her place in Queens. What a long, adventurous, surprising day.

Our visit to the AMNH

After a quick picture, we were surprised to find such a long line to purchase admission tickets. Yowza! What gives? Then I was reminded today is Veteran’s Day and kids have off. Doh! Talking to one of the fellows selling annual memberships and hearing about the perks, including a speedy trip through another ticket desk, we purchased a Family membership, good for 12 months. Josh and I both love the AMNH, so we don’t mind coming back repeatedly.

For a year, $125 gets us:

• Unlimited complimentary general admission and special exhibition tickets for one or two adults and up to four children under the age of 18
• Four adult and 8 child complimentary seasonal live-animal exhibits or IMAX films
• Unlimited member discounts on Space Shows, additional IMAX films or live animal for two adults and four children
• A one-year subscription to Rotunda, our Member’s magazine
• 10% discount on Museum Shop purchases
• 15% discount on Museum restaurant purchases
• Discounts on selected Museum educational programs
• Invitations to special exhibition previews for your family
• $125 of this membership is tax deductible

We also got a nice (and free) children’s book on dinosaurs for Joshua. Pretty good deal overall, I think.

Once we got in, we moved on up to the 3rd floor to see our first included movie, the IMAX documentary “Tornado Alley.” Pretty interesting. Afterwards we hit the 4th floor prehistoric animals exhibits — seriously, could I deny Joshua his favorite period of history?

We had lunch in the cafeteria, then bought additional tickets to see Journey to the Stars, a 30-min film narrated by Whoopi Goldberg about stars. Josh and I saw this film last year, but it’s pretty enjoyable, and Nums apparently likes these kind of films. Color surprised, because I had no idea after all these years. I should record more space-themed documentaries on television.

The kids were getting tired, and we decided to call it a day after only a few hours. It was already 4pm, and there was no point in exhausting the munchkins. Besides, we can come back any time we want in the next 12 months. We took the subway back to the hotel to relax for a bit, freshened up, then met up with our friends Doug & Kathy downstairs in the hotel lobby.

On the menu tonight? Japanese! After some consultation, I made reservations at Tenzan nearby on 2nd Ave. I ate here with some friends earlier this year, and the food was excellent. Since then, I’ve been wanting to take my wife here as she also appreciates good Japanese cuisine. Dinner was very nice, no issues, and we stopped at a nearby cafe for a late night dessert before parting ways. Great day, I think.

Dinner @ Tenzan. See if you can pick out the sourpuss.

Waiting for the train

A few weeks ago, with the break between jobs in mind, we began planning out an extended weekend vacation trip. I had hoped to have a entire week off, but the background check took longer than I expected. In the end, I only have a four day break (Thurs-Sun) before I start my new life at Prudential. I would have liked more days, but it seems they want me to start right away. No matter. I suppose four days is good enough. Between NY Life and Citi, I only a weekend to enjoy any time off.

We looked at a few cities, e.g. Baltimore, Philadelphia, but ultimately on New York. Nums and I spent a romantic weekend in New York back in 2006, and that was a lot of fun. I took Josh to the Museum of Natural History last year via the train, and he had a blast. Sounded like a plan.

Lunch at Dos Caminos

So here we are after our first day. We packed most of clothes and things last night, with a few more items this morning, and caught a late morning train to NYC. Why did we opt for the train when we have two cars and a bus that hits our complex? Eh, the kids like the train.

We got to NY around noon, and we were able to check into the Marriott Courtyard New York Manhattan Midtown East on 3rd Ave early. We were supposed to meet up with our friend Kathy for lunch, but it was getting late for her at this point. Oh well, maybe next time.

Instead, we walked down 3rd Ave and ate lunch at our favorite NYC Mexican restaurant — Dos Caminos. Lunch was pretty good, even though Lily was fooling around on her side of the table, bumped her face against the table somehow, and is now sporting a well-developing black eye. I swear she didn’t walk into a doorknob.

Toys "R" Us Times Square

Everyone was a little tired, so we walked back to the hotel to chill out. In the evening, we strolled down to Grand Central Terminal to show the kids, then had lunch down in the lower level dining concourse. Afterwards, we took the Times Square Shuttle to 42nd St. We showed them Times Square at night, visited the big Toys “R” Us in Times Square, and even rode the ferris wheel. Best of all? We resisted their requests, and didn’t have to buy them any unnecessary toys!

We hung out in the store until it closed at 10pm, walked further north to check out the rest of Times Square, then walked the long walk back to 53rd and 3rd Ave. It wasn’t an action-packed first day, but it was relaxing.

My wonderful wife

Last night while I rested, Nums took care of packing up our stuff. I appreciated this, because I wasn’t in much shape to do much. This morning, we were up early to wrap it up, get the kids ready, and get the car loaded. When my sister and her husband came over yesterday, they brought a cooler for us to store the leftover food we had. No reason to waste, you know?

We had to check out by 10am, and no issues, we were on the road by 10:10 to drop off the keys and activity pass badges. A quick stop to get gas and a donut for Lily, and we were off! First stop? Lunch at the Dover, DE, Waffle House. We let Josh decide, and he was in the mood for a waffle. Me too, actually. I tried a bite of Lily’s waffle earlier this week, and it was way better than a frozen Eggo waffle. A fresh waffle is delicious!

Lunch @ Waffle House

Nums took care of driving on the way to Dover, and I drove from Dover to home. We beat the traffic, and got home in the afternoon. I got the perishables in the fridge, and everyone wanted to rest/nap. In the evening, I decided to play it safe, and I went to the Brunswick Urgent Care. Took about 90 mins of waiting, but I eventually saw an ER doc. Prognosis? I’m just banged and bruised up, and I’m lucky that’s all it is. Treatment? Higher strength naproxen (“Alleve”), so that’s it. I’m going to take it easy for a while.

That’s basically it for the big part of the vacation. It was good, despite the car accident yesterday. We’ve got church and Labor Day, and then I’m back to work on Tuesday.

So, I had this mental plan to go cycling while we were vacationing this week. It’s a week off, so why not take this as an opportunity to go riding in Delaware and Maryland. Riding along the shore, flat roads, experiencing the sights. As the actual vacation approached, my goals got loftier — “Oh, I have all this free time. Maybe I’ll go riding every day.” Yeah, right. It’s been six days, and I haven’t ridden my bike once. I also went through the hassle of bringing Joshua’s bicycle so we could go riding around the neighborhood together, but that hasn’t happened either. Frankly, we haven’t had the free time. Frustration setting in, I decided Friday (today) was going to be it. Today was the last day, as we’re going home to NJ tomorrow. I began researching bicycle routes throughout Delaware, but I had difficulty settling on the best one — there were so many to choose from. Since the bicycle lanes are well-marked, I figured what the hell, let me just get on the road to Ocean City, ride along the shore, and see where the road takes me. I was at 340 miles for the year so far, and riding 60 miles today would get me to the 400-mile mark.

I was on the road a little past 8am, first riding east towards the beach, then riding south on Rt 1 into Ocean City. Initially, it was very nice, good road and nice weather, but it got more stop-and-go as I went further south past Feniwick Island and into Ocean City proper. Constant stop-and-go with each traffic light, and I was happy to eventually turn off the island, cross a bridge, and be off onto the mainland.

Smooth sailing, less cars and lights, just flat open road, and lots of farmland. I had a 11am conference call that I should miss, so I stopped on the side of the road, and stood around listening, participating when it was my turn to provide status. After 42 mins of standing around, and two cyclists asking if i was okay, I got back to vacationing. I judiciously drank my water, unfortunately smelled a lot of chicken farms, and saw many small rural towns. I occasionally had to stop to use Google Maps to adjust my route, with the goal of hitting 60 miles around the same time I would reach the condo.

At around 6 miles away from the condo, and 12 miles short of my milestone, I opted to go the opposite direction for a bit, then turn back again. Probably a fateful decision, but oh well. In any case, who knows what would have happened if i was 10 seconds faster or slower today, but I digress.

Now just 30 mins away, I call my wife to let her know i’ll be home soon, and i begin my straight shot back to the condo, and “the incident.” I was very tired at this point, and my legs were aching. Mmmmm, more like burning. Out of water, I stopped at a pizza shop and chugged down a bottle of Powerade. So close, got to get home.

Now to the highlight of the day. 4.5 miles away from the condo, an intersection approached in the distance, and a line of cars were waiting to get past the light. As I passed a black SUV, a gap in the car instantaneously formed in front of it, and a green SUV came through, right next to me on my left, to my horror. I quickly turned right, hoping to avoid the oncoming vehicle but it was too late. I put my left hand on the hood of the car, and felt the impact on my left side, and I went flying. FLYING.

I remember very little between impact and hitting the gravel driveway of whatever store I was in front of. I do remember the shock and the pain of impact of hitting the ground, and everything hurt. I distinctly remember clawing the gravel with my right hand, trying to bear down. People were around me to check on me, and someone called 911. Someone got me a sweatshirt to rest my head. In my head, I was asking why me, and why did this happen. I was so close to home, how bad was it, and many other thoughts.

Delaware State Police and EMS eventually showed up, and the EMS worker advised me to not get up, and she checked me out. She offered to take me to the hospital to get fully checked out, but that would involve boarding and collaring me. At this point, the pain was receding, leaving only a dull aching in my lower pelvic area. I didn’t want to go to a hospital in a stretcher as if I’d been in a diving accident, especially if I was going to be okay. I asked if I could get up, and see how I feel, and EMS said she couldn’t stop me. I got up, and nothing seemed to be broken. Just the aching pain throughout, but mostly in the butt.

I gave statements to the police, signed a “declined transport” release with EMs, and tried to console the SUV driver, who seemed to be a very nice 62-year-old who was ALSO in the wrong place at the wrong time today. Oddly enough, I spoke to the state trooper and he wasn’t sure if they were ticketing the driver or me today. I was indignant, to say the least, but I won’t go into the details, for those of you with dainty ears.

One of the people at the scene helping me was a part-time firefighter named Michael, who had just taken his wife and daughters to lunch, and was heading back to his office in Bethany Beach. He gave me a ride home, and threw my bike into the back of his SUV. I got home sometime after 1:15 or 1:30, and my wife had no idea what happened to me.

They eventually went to the beach to enjoy the last beach day, and she advised/forced me to stay home and rest. I took another work call, and waited for my sister and her family to show up for their visit this evening for our last dinner. At least that part was nice — having my sister and family come over to hang out for a few hours.

So that was basically my day. It started off well enough, got punctuates by two work calls and being in an accident. And I hope none of this is pain isn’t too serious. Nums wants me to get checked out immediately, but unless my condition gets worse, I’ll wait until I get back to NJ. For now, I’m on a lot of Motrin.

Sea Rocket ride around Ocean City

We parked the car, bought tickets for this speedboat ride (“Sea Rocket“) around Ocean City, and then went to stroll on the boardwalk for lunch and the sights. We stopped at one place for hot dogs and italian heros, corn on the cob, and gigantic lemonade. We strolled some more, then made our way back for the Sea Rocket ride. It was pretty good. You ride out to a spot maybe 25 mins out, sit out for a bit, then ride back. Along the way, they point various points of interest along the shore, and we even saw a pod of three dolphins feeding near us as we all sat and watched them. That was a nice, unexpected treat. The kids were pretty tired by the end of the ride.

Mini golfing in Ocean City

We went back to the boardwalk briefly for drinks/snacks, then made our way back to the car around 5pm. Next order of business? Mini golf! Josh had been dying to do some mini golf, as he apparently had a fun time mini golfing during summer camp this year. We went for this dinosaur-themed course on the main strip, and Nums and I played pretty well — when we were helping the kids!

We went home, changed our clothes, and went out for a nice dinner at Bethany Blues. I was in the mood for calamari and steak, while Nums and Josh had ribs on the brain. Good dinner, good day.

Dinner @ Bethany Blues

Beach day

Beach day!

We stocked the cooler with sandwiches & drinks, filled up the beach bag with snacks and blankets, and we took the local (and free) shuttle bus down to the beach. I had to take a status call from the boardwalk, but eventually joined up with the family down by the water. The beach was certainly in better shape than it was back in 2009. Everyone had a good time relaxing in the sun and playing in the water.

In other news, we forgot to pack boardgames with us, so my wife and I (mostly my wife) have been teaching Josh how to play chess on the chessboard that is here. I’m happy that he’s learning, but I’m a little frightened of a 6-year-old who can play chess. Nothing good can come of this.

I can’t believe tomorrow is September 1st.

An exhausting but fun day

In the afternoon, I made us all lunch (sandwiches), then I took Lily on a small run to the nearest sports store. You see, I apparently snore. I’ve been using this mouth guard plastic thing to keep my air passages open when I sleep, which isn’t the most comfortable way to sleep, but it helps keep the peace in the bedroom. Of course, I forgot it Monday. The good news is that I found a sports store in Dagsboro that carries them, so I took Lily along on my outing. Mission accomplished, so we all hit the pool. The water was a little good, but let’s call it “refreshing.”

We just came back from briefly checking out the situation at Bethany Beach, and the good news is that the beach is in good shape. Tonight, the evening promises to bring old episodes of Tiny Toons and Ducktales after dinner.

Checking out Bethany Beach

Lily & Nums @ Waffle House

We’re finally here! We finished packing this morning, loaded up the car and the bicycles, bid farewell to the cats, and were finally on the road by 10:45am. It was a bright sunny day, and a nice drive down to Delaware with no traffic. As per tradition, we stopped at a Waffle House for lunch somewhere close to Dover. We made to the vacation condo around 3pm after picking up the keys and activity pass badges.

The condo looks great. Two bedrooms, and the kids get to enjoy separate beds and a television (and DVD player) in their room. We’ve got a nicely appointed master bedroom, and our own separate bathroom. The living room and kitchen are large and comfortable, with a decent-sized Samsung LCD HDTV in the living room. There’s also a screened-in porch in the back.

They like their room

Everyone is relaxing at the moment. In the evening, we are heading to the local Super Giant supermarket to purchase food supplies for the week. The plan is similar to our 2009 Delaware vacation — we cook the entire week, which reduces meal expenses. My wife is currently compiling a grocery list and meal schedule as only she can do. We’ll probably budget one day out towards the end of the week (Thursday / Friday) to eat lunch out on the boardwalk and have a family dinner at a nice local restaurant. I’ve been fancying myself a good steak for a while now. This might be the week.

Relaxing in the condo

My wife and I are looking forward to the inventive cooking. Many years ago, she and I rented a place out on the island of Vieques, Puerto Rico. This was before the kids came around. The island had no restaurants, so we purchased groceries and cooked up inventive dishes based on whatever ingredients we had. It was a fun trip, and we still talk fondly about that experience.

What does the rest of the week hold for us? We’re planning to:

• spend time at Bethany Beach
• spend time at the pool here at Bear Trap Dunes
• hit up the Ocean City boardwalk, and also a boat ride
• more beach and pool time
• I’m going riding so I can mark Delaware and Maryland off the places I’ve bicycled
• playing board games and watching movies

Sounds good already!