Uhhhh, not the biggest update.

We stuffed the cars this morning to limits deemed impossible by natural physics, and left around 10:45am.  We made it all the way to Exit 4 on the NJ Turnpike before the kids got too antsy (as well as our stomachs), and we made one pit stop at a rest area for a late 3pm lunch.  We got home around 4:30pm on another bright sunny day.

I have to go to work tomorrow, don’t I? Sigh.

I will have to make some time this week to post all the photos.

After a few days of rainy weather, we finally hit the beach!  The weather cleared up, which has been a nice surprise.

Yesterday, we hit Ocean City, Maryland.  We had intended to take the ferry from Lewes to Cape May, NJ, but the ferry ride itself is 1:20 hours each way, and we didn’t think the kids would enjoy that much time on the boat.  Instead, we all took a drive to the Talbot St. Pier for a boat ride on the Assateague Adventure.  [Side note: it's so immature how much I like to say Assateague out loud.]

The excursion is about an 1:15 round trip through the harbor to this little island where kids get look around and even collect stuff with supplied nets.  It was ok, overall.  After we returned, the rest of our family group left, leaving us Ipes to adventure in Ocean City on our own.  Since the weather had turned from overcast to gorgeous, we found some great parking, we spent 2 hours on the Ocean City Boardwalk.  Much funnel cake, gyros, and corn dogs was enjoyed by us.  The kids got to play on the beach, and we kept my daughter from eating too much of the sand.

Today, we all (except my in-laws) hit Bethany Beach for two hours to relax in the sun, and play time in the water.  Unfortunately, the water was friggin’ ice cold. So, we just hung out on the beach.

I brought my PlayStation with me on this trip.  I beat my Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune game, and I’ve played other games as well, just for relaxing without guilt.  Pretty fun.

Tomorrow, we head home.  Sigh.

I may feel a little guilty, but I like relaxing on vacation.

On Tuesday morning, it took us a much longer to pack for 2 adults and 2 kids for a week away than I thought it would.  We had meant to leave by 10am, but we didn’t leave until sometime after noon. We took two cars: Nums and Josh in our car, and myself driving Lily and my father-in-law in his car.  We made one pit stop for lunch in Delaware at a chez McDonald’s somewhere on Rt 1 past the bridge.  Otherwise, we kept going and going.  Kids don’t like sitting around in a car that long, and may daughter has no threshold for boredom.  Our strategy was drive fast, and don’t look back.

After a lot of driving in the rain, we arrived here at the house in Bethany Beach, Delaware.  The luxury townhome looks just as good as it does in the pictures.  It is clean, spacious, and very comfortable.  So far, I’m loving the TVs in every room, the way comfortable reclining leather couches, the well-stocked kitchen, and no work.

We’ve been to one of the pools in the community twice now, as the beach area itself has been pretty foggy.  Tomorrow, we’re hitting Ocean City, Maryland.

We had a pretty good Memorial Day weekend, a good start to the weekend. Great sun, great weather.  Couldn’t have asked for more.  We spent most of the weekend prepping for our super family vacation this week. We bought new additional summer clothes, new sneakers, new sandals, and other supplies.

Starting Tuesday, we’re driving down to southern Delaware to vacation with my wife’s side of the family for an entire week. Hitting the beach, the pool, , BBQ’ing, and all-around relaxing.  I’m looking forward to it.

What’s up with the crazy weather this year?  It’s hot. It’s cold.  It’s beautifu.  It’s rainy and cold.  This year has been odd. It doesn’t help that the weekends go by so fast these days. We’re trying to enjoy our weekends more, and be less stressed out.  Stressed out? Yes, by trying to keep commitments to attend 101 events over 48 hours between Fridays and Mondays.

On Saturday afternoon, my sister and her husband held their annual “Spring Swing” BBQ party at their place.   We didn’t actually make it to the softball game, as most of the family took afternoon naps. By the time we made it there, it was close to 6pm.  Of course, we made it in time for the food, which is all that mattered to me.  By the time we finished cleaning up afterwards and got home, it was after midnight.  Always the sign of a good party.

On Sunday afternoon, we were supposed to picnic with friends over at Liberty State Park, but the weather didn’t cooperate.  Who wants to sit in the park on a windy day in 50 degree weather?  We moved the “picnic” to our friend Reeba’s nearby apartment. 

Last note on the weather – Memorial Day weekend is coming up, and the weather is slowly trending to good weather.  I hope the weather cooperates.  Saturday is the start of my week-long vacation, and I’m really looking forward to it!

One day, we’re going to take a vacation to Bora Bora, and stay at the Four Seasons Resort Bora Bora.  One day, my friends.  One day.  I don’t know what the kids are doing that week, but if they need us, my wife and I will be in our over-the-water bungalow.

Four Seasons Resort Bora Bora

Today, Josh and I made a father-son trip to the Liberty Science Center in Jersey City, NJ.  This was our first trip to Liberty Science Center, but I’m a big fan of science museums for kids.  I once went to the Franklin Institute Science Museum on a field trip back in 5th grade (I think), which was such a great trip for me.  In June 2007, we took Josh to the Garden State Discovery Museum, and he liked it a lot.  Kids love all those hands-on exhibits, as they get to learn as they play.

Hoberman Sphere in the LSC Atrium

We picked up bagels-as-breakfast-to-go, and ate all the way up the NJ Turnpike.  We arrived on a quiet day at the museum, just 8 busloads of school kids arrived a second ahead of us.  Grr, as we waited in line to get in.  Eventually, we purchased entrance tickets, and strolled in.  We couldn’t hit everything, and it would be a detriment to exhaust him, as he wouldn’t enjoy it anymore.  Remember, I’m trying to grow me a scientist.  What we saw:

• We ooohed and aaahed over the large expanding/contracting Hoberman Sphere (I didn’t know this was the largest on existing Hoberman sphere.)
• Visited the Skyscraper exhibit.
• Spent time in the I Explore area for 2-5 year-olds.
• Checked out the fascinating featured animals in the Eat or Be Eaten exhibit.
• Chilled out and ate lunch in the cafeteria.
• Saw a demonstration on liquid nitrogen.
• Watched Fly Me to the Moon, supposedly the first ever animated movie created for 3D.
• Walked through the Space exhibit (not quite ready for it.)
• Participated in a demonstration of animal phobias (and saw up close toads, spiders, snakes, cockroaches, etc.)
• Chilled out in the late afternoon by sitting and reading the Dr. Seuss classic The Lorax in the reading area.
• Visited the I Explore area again.
• Wrapped in the museum store, and bought some toy dinosaurs.

It was a great day to hang out.  Josh’s favorite area was certainly the I Explore area, where he could run around, play, measure rice, and use these large machines that moved colored balls up through the machinery, down spirals, moving levers, etc.  See the January photos for all the carnage.

This afternoon, we published my audit report.  I’ve got some other tasks to wrap up for the year, but the big bulk of it, the stress of leading an audit, is finally over.  I am relieved and happy.  I got the OK to take this Friday off, so I intend to use this time to unwind, relax, and chill out.

“Vacation, all I ever wanted.
Vacation, had to get away”

I have taken very little vacation this year.  I forfeited nearly a week of 2007 carryover vacation that I didn’t get to use before the March 2008 deadline.  I think it partially explains why I burned out earlier in the year than usual. Living with a newborn infant is, of course, the other reason I burned out so early this year — sleep deprivation for months will do that to anyone.

I have roughly, if you count sick days, 24 days to take before the end of year.  Today, I started submitting time all over the place up until Dec 31st.  I requested next Monday off, a few days around Thanksgiving, and Dec 15 through the rest of the year. Seriously, that will be 3 weeks of straight vacation in December. I’m still going to have carryover, but at least I won’t forfeit more vacation days this year.

Next year, I’m hoping to allocate at least 5 days per quarter, so I can recharge a few times during the year, instead of running to the finish line and praying that I don’t crash short of December 31st.

We’re back from Punta Cana, having celebrated our 5-year wedding anniversary a month early. We dropped off Lily with her grandparents Thursday night, and left Friday morning to catch our flight from JFK.  We spent five days and four nights at the Paradisus Punta Cana, an all-inclusive resort in the Dominican Republic.  This was our first trip to D.R., but our second vacation at an all-inclusive resort (the first being our 2007 trip to Jamaica.)

We didn’t bring Lily as we have learned that taking an infant on a relaxing trip cancels each other out.  Too complicated to bring all their accouterments (e.g. diapers, wipes, portable crib.)  Too young for the tropics (e.g. direct sun, sand, heat.)  Too difficult to manage (e.g. warming milk, feedings during dinners, no sleep.)  It wasn’t an easy decision, but we figured it would be best that she stayed here.  In hindsight, I still think it worked out for the best.  Someone I know stated that we shouldn’t leave the baby behind — we should accept the responsibility since we decided to be parents.  My rebuttal was that this is coming from someone who hasn’t had to raise one or more kids of their own!

It was a fun trip. We spent a lot of time on the beautiful beach, the lagoon-style pool, resting and relaxing.  One night, Joshua stayed at the Kid Zone (awesome supervised play center for children) while we had a wonderfully romantic and adult dinner at Fuego, their latin restaurant.  It had to be my favorite night — it was like we were dating again, young and carefree.

The trip home was unfortunately long and tiresome.  While our trip to D.R. was a direct flight, our return trip involved traveling all day, including a 3-hour layover in Miami, and getting home by 2am.  In the end, it was still worth it.  On a geeky note, I declared it “Tolkien Weekend.”  I read The Silmarillion on the flights, on the beach, and night to unwind.  I used the portable DVD player we purchased back in November 2007 to watch all three Lord of the Ring movies, over the course of five days.  Oh, it was glorious.