Trip!

We had a great trip down to NJ. Whew! I was questioning the wisdom of the after-school trip down when we were stuck in traffic in MA at 6 pm, but it was all good. That bit of traffic on 495 was pretty much all we hit, and then the kids fell asleep and we drove 4 hours without stopping! It was like a miracle. We got to Betsy's place in NJ just after 10 pm, the kids played for a bit (we woke Elias up with all our air mattress pumping mayhem), and we were all conked out by 11:30 or midnight.

Of course, we woke up promptly at 6 am for more mayhem, and the kids played pretty much nonstop until we left. We hit a playground about a mile from Betsy's house and stayed until we were too frozen to play any more.

We had some really fantastic NJ pizza for lunch, and then headed over to Howard Beach. The girls fell asleep in the car again on the way, and we had another peaceful, traffic-free trip. Knock on wood, but the driving so far has been a dream. We visited with great-grandma and great-grandpa until 6, then checked in to the hotel. Showers and dinner followed, and now we're watching TV in bed and snacking.

Tomorrow the plan is to head into Manhattan first thing, then meet up with the family at grandma and grandpas. Should be a busy, exhausting day!

Oh, I forgot! We were trying to get Maggie and Nina to speak a little German for great-grandma and great-grandpa. They weren't too keen on it, but we just wanted a few words.

"Maggie, what's German for cup?" great-grandma asked.

"Burp," said Maggie. She didn't belch, she actually said the word.

"Maggie," I admonished. "Don't be rude."

"I can tell you the German word for plate," Maggie volunteered, peacemaking. "It's fart."

I gave up. It only goes downhill from there, you know, and I didn't want great-grandma and great-grandpa finding out about her extensive fluency in expletives.

 Sigh.