Planes, Trains, and Tow Trucks: Logan goes to New York City (Part 1: Travel Day)

My best friend (and Kappa big sister) was getting married on Long Island, so Logan and I decided we would have a short adventure, because there was no way I was going to miss this wedding! My mom and Randy came from Buffalo to join in the fun too! We had quite an adventure and it was certainly full of various transportation methods, which Logan loved!

We started out taking a thankfully direct flight from SFO to JFK and then hopped on the airtrain AND shuttle bus to get our car and head to the hotel. Logan was actually pretty good. He had some cranky moments and we have to work on not kicking the seat in front of us, but he was a great traveler for a 2.5 year old, especially one that hasn't flown all that often and was sporting a bright red cast that earned us a swab at the security line.  The lady sitting behind us even complimented his good behavior.

We got in fairly late, local time, but we were hungry since it was our dinner time, AND tired from the traveling, so we stopped by the hotel to snag Grammie and Randy and went out for some evening frozen yogurt for dinner/snack/whatever weird jet-lagged meal it was supposed to be.













Back in California, RJ and Daddy were busy building with giant legos and fighting ninjas (For real! Ninja attacks are fairly commonplace in San Francisco).



















Stay tuned to the blog for more.  I'm splitting these posts up by the day because there's a lot to share!

DeLancey's go to Folsom and Old Sacramento

Since Kasie's wedding was in Folsom (2 hours from our house), we decided to stay at the hotel for the evening and do stuff in Folsom and Sacramento on Sunday before heading home.  We drove through the historic downtown before getting some breakfast at Mel's Diner and then went to the Old Folsom Powerhouse, which is apparently a hot spot for local family portraits as there were at least 4 photographers, Christmas props, and a steady stream of families filing in and out of the park!  So, I played photographer with our kids!

We also met up with the Dorsey's while we were there and met a praying mantis friend on the sign as well as getting a tour of the old powerhouse, which was one of the first hydroelectric plants.

After that we headed to the California State Railroad Museum (where, for $2 extra, we are members for a year and can go back for free anytime!).  RJ loved going on the displayed trains and both kids enjoyed the huge Thomas Train play area!

We also rode the "Spooktacular" train up and down a few miles of the Sacramento River, which the boys loved.  The train was all decorated for Halloween, but not scary, which was perfect for our little ones!

After our train ride, we decided to explore Old Sacramento for a little while before eating dinner at Joe's Crab Shack.  As you can see - RJ loved his crabby bib/cape!

More pictures from Folsom & Sacramento are here.

DeLancey Family Spring Travels Volume VII: Buffalo, NY

Accommodations: Mom's House

Sunday April 17:
We drove from Pittsburgh to Buffalo and settled in for the evening.

Monday April 18:
My grandfather was in the hospital, so Grammie watched the kiddos while I went to visit with him. It's hard seeing someone you love sick, but at least I was in town and could hand deliver the Get Well drawings RJ and Logan (with Grammie's help) made for him. A few days after we returned to California, he was released, and then ended up back in the hospital with a bleeding ulcer, and last I heard, he was transferred to a nursing facility to rehabilitate after his illness and the cauterization of the ulcer. So he is thankfully on the mend!
We also took Gramma Ho! Ho! out to Red Lobster that night for what turned out to be RJ's third lobster of the trip. There is certainly no denying that he is my child - his insistence on getting that lobster was incredible. Then there was the disappointment that I "only" got him a lobster tail instead of the whole damned thing.

Tuesday April 19:
I am seriously under the impression that Tuesday is positively the WORST day to be in Buffalo with children. I had been wanting to take the kids to the Explore and More museum in East Aurora. It is only open Wednesday through Sunday and we were only in town Monday and Tuesday. Then Mom and I thought that the Herschell Carousel Factory museum would be cool for the kids. Guess what? During the Spring, they are also closed on Mondays and Tuesdays. We thought about driving to Rochester to take the kids to the Strong National Museum of Play again, which is tons of fun, but the kids were already worn out from all the driving and traveling. I really didn't want to mess with them any more than I had to since I was going to have a full 12 hours of travelling with them solo on Wednesday. So we ended up hitting the Niagara Factory Outlet Mall and they got to ride the coin-operated mall rides and eat frozen yogurt.

Wednesday April 20:
While it would've been nice to stay with family a little longer and perhaps stay for Easter, we were so travel weary, I was relieved to be going home. I was done living out of a suitcase and carting the kids around, and they were done with being carted around and not having time to just play like normal. Sure, they got to do some exciting things and see family and friends, but there is a limit to how much of that a 3.75 year old and a 14.5 month old can take! Three weeks of the break neck pace we were on was definitely stretching the limit quite a bit. Luckily, our trip home wasn't too bad, though we all could've done without the delay in Cleveland. It was nice to sleep in our own beds that night!

A few more pictures are here.

DeLancey Family Spring Travels Volume VI: Pittsburgh, PA

Accommodations: Holiday Inn University of Pittsburgh University Center and Aunt Helen's House

Tuesday April 12:
The kids and I took off from Boston to Pittsburgh while Lance flew home to California. The plane ride was mostly uneventful, but once we got to the airport, we had to a wait a little while because my mom and Randy got stuck in the Pittsburgh rush hour traffic through the Fort Pitt Tunnels. This wasn't too bad, but it was entertaining getting two children, two large suitcases (that don't strap together), two carseats, one stroller, one backpack, and RJ's backpack all to the door. Luckily RJ found it fun to pull one of the suitcases and I used his spot in the stroller for one of the carseats. We got picked up, fit all that stuff in the car and headed to the hotel to check in, and then went for a late dinner of ice cream. Yes, ice cream for dinner. The kids had eaten a late lunch and then had some snacks on the plane, but really, ice cream was what everyone wanted. The original plan was Max and Erma's, but apparently the one in Shadyside doesn't exist anymore (WTF?) and it was getting late and we wanted to get the kids to bed. We all crashed when we got back to the hotel.

Wednesday April 13:
This was the first day of the NALS conference. Logan clearly had some separation anxiety since he doesn't get to see Grammie too often. (Grammie needs to get her butt out of Buffalo and move to California!) He did eventually calm down and the boys got to go to Pamela's for breakfast with Grammie and Randy while I conferenced. It was spectacular to have academic discussions again and to visit other preschools (I went to the Cyert Center for Early Education (which I have never actually toured despite living above the center in Morewood my Freshman year of college) and I skipped out of the end of the tour to visit the Children's School (that's the one I worked at during my undergrad years at CMU - the one in the basement of the Margaret Morrison building for you other CMU alums out there). I gained so many great ideas for my center if I can ever get money to start it!

I met back up with my boys at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, where they spent the afternoon learning about dinosaurs and RJ acquired a ridiculously heavy museum quality Brachiosaurus (who he quickly named Ned after the one on Dinosaur Train), and a big T-rex, since he was still sad that he didn't have one of his bigger T-rexes with him (and Stripey was smaller). Thanks Grammie and Randy for giving us even more stuff to fly back with! [In all fairness, RJ does play with Ned practically every day and he has visited the park, the sand table, and most recently, RJ's forehead when Logan clocked him with it.]

We had some dinner at Primanti Bros.

(Randy was previously a Primanti Bros. virgin, so it was definitely on the Pittsburgh to-do list!) and walked around Oakland and into Schenley park where I stopped in at the University Reception and Poster Session for the conference at the Frick Fine Arts Building.

Thursday April 14:

More conferencing for me when Mom and Randy took RJ and Logan to visit with their Great Grandparents and Aunt Helen. The highlight of my day was the keynote address by Hedda Sharapan from the Fred Rogers Company. She worked closely with Fred Rogers and was an absolutely delightful speaker who shared lots of clips from Mister Rogers' Neighborhood as well as clips of Fred from awards banquets, hearings, etc. She also provided the entire conference with copies of "You are Special", which I have wanted to read for a while now!
After the conference, Mom, Randy, the boys, and I ate at LuLu's (yum!) and then I took the boys to the CMU Spring Carnival midway, which I don't think I ever went to since I was usually avoiding the last minute work on Booth, preparing for the buggy races, and/or at the KDR Buggy A-team dinner (carb-loading my pushers!) This was quite a different experience seeking out kiddie rides and being able to see straight because I was sober. RJ thought it was pretty cool as I reminisced, seeing all the fraternity men and sorority women frantically trying to put the finishing touches on their booths.

Friday April 15:

2am: Logan had been getting up frequently to join me in bed with RJ, but it did afford this adorable picture of them sleeping together, even if I was being pushed off the side of the bed.
I played hooky from the conference because I absolutely HAD to take my boys to see the buggy races.

For those of you who have no idea what I am talking about (or clearly weren't listening to me when I was in college), Buggy is a unique race at Carnegie Mellon. The buggies are small aerodynamic non-motorized vehicles built and powered by CMU students in various organization. I usually describe them as looking like torpedoes on wheels with a giant stick coming out the back. These were the ones I drove:

Palooka - KDR Buggy 1999

Penthus - KDR Buggy - 2000

Penthus - KDR Buggy - 2001

Yes, I am INSIDE the torpedo part. Laying on my stomach a few inches off the ground enjoying every second of it. The course is roughly a loop, where a two person relay pushes you up a hill and then shoves you to free roll (yes there is steering, and brakes in there) downhill and around a sharp curve (the "chute"), after which the buggy is picked up by 3 more people who relay up the hill again to the finish line. The running part is fun (especially if you cheer on your pushers from inside the buggy), but the downhill portion is where the real excitement is for the driver because buggies can go pretty fast (~35 mph at peak speed).

Anyway, in college I drove for Kappa Delta Rho (Lance's fraternity) and I had the time of my life doing it, so I really wanted to share the experience with my kids.

RJ thought it was really cool since he is obsessed with races, and even got to witness a crash (something Mommy NEVER did - I spun once, but never crashed) right in front of him. Seriously. The buggy hit the hay bale right next to the one he was standing on. After this crash (the first of about 5 this year - crazy!), we ran into Doh, 40, Lou, and Dawber (oh, you expected me to use their real adult names - HA!), who were all KDR buggy gurus. For example, 40 Dogg, who was chair, built the buggy that I drove (and got a 5th place trophy with) in 2000. That was 11 years ago. Damn. Yeah, a lot has changed in 11 years - for example, I know 40 as my buggy chair and friend who welcomed me to the KDR buggy team at a party, and who once got covered in American cheese after passing out during Carnival festivities. However, to RJ, "Mike" is "the cool guy who has two boys my age and took me to the potty so Mommy could stay outside with Logan". Thanks "Mike", that was really helpful and in college, I NEVER would've imagined that you'd be taking my kid to pee.

I reluctantly returned to the conference for the afternoon and took the kids back to midway in the evening (where we ran into Shannon, Kirstyn, and beautiful baby Amelia). And then, as the trip had been going more smoothly since getting my new phone, of course, we were due for some drama. I lost my wallet, which I didn't realize until we arrived at Gullifty's for dinner. So my mom and Randy left me and kids there with some money and went to look for it in the parking garage at the hotel (we thought it fell out when packing the stroller in the car). We briefly saw Eileen and her family there, which was cool, but I was so discombobulated that we didn't really talk much. Mom and Randy came back and we stopped at CMU to check if anyone had turned it in. I really had zero faith that I would recover it during Carnival, but Mom's sixth sense was right and CMU police picked it up and it was completely untouched. Thank goodness! The trip was back on track!

Saturday April 16:
After packing up and checking out, I finally got to go to Pamela's with the boys and Mom and Randy! Except it was packed, unlike during the week (duh - should've KNOWN that). After a yummy breakfast, we took the boys to the Pittsburgh Children's Museum for some good quality play and then shopped a little in the Strip District before heading out to Aunt Helen and Uncle Jim's for dinner and a sleepover and visiting! And, as an added bonus, Logan decided that he was ready to walk again! His injury was, for the most part, over.

Sunday April 17:
We visited and then drove up to Buffalo, stopping at Grove City on the way up.

More pictures on Picasa

DeLancey Family Spring Travels Volume V: Boston, MA

Accommodations: Casa Summers

Thursday April 7:

We drove down from Burlington and got to Josh and Rachel's just before dinner. We got some yummy Chinese food and introduced the kids (again). RJ had met Zach before, but RJ was 10 months and Zach was 2 months old, so they definitely didn't remember it! RJ got things off to a rocky start, roaring (a la T-Rex) to greet Zach, but they got over it and became fast friends. We put the kiddos to sleep and actually got to enjoy some conversation with other adults!

Friday April 8:

We did some laundry and then headed to lunch at Panera before getting to the Boston Children's Museum.

RJ and Logan both enjoyed themselves, although Logan was getting very frustrated with his splint and leg. He wanted to walk on it, but couldn't with the splint because of the way the splint was formed and couldn't without the splint because his leg wasn't quite healed enough yet.

We ended up back in Waltham and decided to go to a little hole in the wall taqueria we used to frequent. Wow has Taqueria Mexico changed. It used to be dead most of the time and have great food. It was certainly not dead, and while the food was still good - the service was ridiculously slow.

Saturday April 9:

We met up with Sully for lunch at Bertucci's where RJ quickly idolized Sully (well, who wouldn't?). Then we picked up some things at the grocery store and headed back to Josh and Rachel's with Lobster da Bopster in tow (Sully bought a lobster, which RJ named and later ate, to hang out at the party as part of his potluck contribution and he hung out on the lawn before meeting his fate and getting eaten after Rachel cooked him in the fire pit).

It still amazes us that we're worthy of a party when we come back to Boston! It was so much fun seeing all the little ones play together and even more, to see our friends again.

It definitely made me want to move back to Boston. While I love California for the weather, Lance's job opportunities, the friends we have made here, and our children's friends, I still feel like we're missing out on so much not being in Boston.

Where else can you play three-man while your kids are happily asleep! A BIG Thank You to Josh and Rachel for hosting.

Additional party photography available at:

Howell A to Z which links to their Picasa site
I am what I eat
JenJordi.org

Sunday April 10:

We met up with Sully, Otte, and Eva for lunch at John Harvard's, some ice cream and then playing in the amazing Cambridge Commons playground. Next up was meeting Heather, Steve, and Jace for some sushi! Nothing better than watching two 3.5 year olds chow down on Seaweed and Sushi! Now if only Logan had behaved for that meal. He was randomly upset - probably because he was tired. By this point in our trip, the boys really didn't have much of a regular schedule - and Logan's nap was always whenever he could get it rather than going down around 1:30 like normal.

Monday April 11:

Our friend Cate is a Baby Boot Camp Owner/Instructor and was looking for a place to hold class when the weather is crappy. From my understanding, she came across For the Love of Cheer, which is empty in the mornings and convinced them/helped organize a free event to convert the place into a toddler play space in the mornings. We happened to be in town for that event and RJ and Logan enjoyed running around with Luke and Josie (and their respective baby siblings Connor & Celia too). Afterward we had some yummy Indian food at Punjab with Jen, Josie, & Celia. Then we randomly drove around for a while before meeting Sharona and Lilia at the Spy Pond Playground. It was a little surreal being there with my own kids, since I had been there a ton with a child I babysat for in grad school!

We then met Jeremy, Sharona, Lilia, Jeremy's Brother Alan, Eva, and Sully for dinner at Jasper White's Summer Shack. RJ met (and ate) Lobster da Bopster II, before we headed out to Josh and Rachel's again to sugar up the kids before bed celebrate Rachel's Birthday with some cannoli and bear claw pastries. We let RJ and Zach stay up and play for a little bit, since the two were clearly going to miss each other as we were leaving the next day and we hadn't been getting back to Josh and Rachel's in time to play a few of the nights we were there.

Tuesday April 12:

Zach got the honor of waking RJ up before going off to Day Care and we got ourselves ready for our photoshoot with our dear friend Sharona, of Sharona Jacobs Photography! The photography was outstanding and we had fun just playing around while Sharona snapped away. RJ was very curious about her equipment and she even told him all about it as she was setting up!

After our shoot, it was time for us to pack up and meet Michele for lunch at Anna's Taqueria. Unfortunately the lunch was WAY too short, but we had planes to catch. RJ, Logan, and I were heading down to Pittsburgh and Lance flew home shortly after.

Thank you, thank you, thank you to Josh, Rachel, and Zach for being such wonderful hosts!  We loved staying with you guys and think you have a gorgeous home!  We really appreciate your hospitality!

Click here for the rest of our Boston pictures.

DeLancey Family Spring Travels Volume IV: Burlington, VT and the road to Boston

Accomodations: The Lang House (Trip Advisor Reviews)

Wednesday April 6:

We arrived at the Lang House after a very long car ride, which was mostly full of a screaming Logan. He was pretty much sick of riding in the car at this point. And he was very clearly letting us know that even though it was most certainly nap time, since he had taken a short rest on the way to the Sugar Shack, that he was in no way, shape, or form going to fall asleep again and that he was not happy with his car seat any longer. We were so happy to get him and RJ out of the car. They played in the room for a little bit before we put them in the stroller to walk around Downtown Burlington before dinner. We were HOPING to find a little toy store that carried dinosaurs, since the ONLY thing that we had heard (over the screaming baby) for the entire ride was how RJ was sad because he didn't bring any T-Rexes with him on the trip and that he was sad because we didn't have time to stop at the Dinosaur Store on our way out of Quebec City, but alas, there was no cute little independent toy store in Downtown Burlington.

Note: I *thought* we had 4 T-Rexes when we packed, but Hummus
ended up being under our Entertainment Center and thus did not make it back to
the bag, Annie and Dolores Tyrannasaurus were Dinosaur Train T-rexes and
apparently did NOT count, and I am a dumbass and didn't realize that the other
one was ACTUALLY a Dilophosaurus. Even though I am the genius who decided
to teach RJ all about dinosaurs, apparently Dinosaur Train did a better job.

We walked around for a little and then ended up having some pizza on Church Street before heading back to Lang House for the night. RJ decided that although he had a super comfortable bed of his own to sleep in, that he would rather camp on the floor. He slept all night there, so he must've been comfortable enough! Logan crashed with Lance and I in what was the most comfortable hotel bed of the trip. We then packed up and headed down to breakfast. We had delicious pancakes for breakfast, talked with a nice older couple who didn't seem to mind our children, and then packed up again. It would've been nice to have more than one night there, but we wanted to get our butts to Boston to see our friends too!

After packing up, we went back to Downtown Burlington because Lance found a toy store on his phone, but it was no longer in business. This led to more whining about dinosaurs in the car, but our good friends Ben & Jerry helped out a bit by sugaring the kids (and adults) up for lunch!

Lance and I visited the Ben and Jerry's factory for our first anniversary back in August of 2004, and not a whole lot has changed at the factory, although who got to pose as Ben & Jerry did.

Then:

Now:

After "lunch", we spent the rest of the afternoon driving down to Boston and (FINALLY!) getting me a new phone. We added an additional line to do it, but I had a Droid again and was happy. Also, as fate would have it, the Verizon store was across the plaza from (wait for it...) a Toys R Us. RJ was patient waiting for me to get my phone, so he (FINALLY!) got his T-rex, who he named "Stripey", but then informed us that his real name was "Buddy", but his nickname was "Stripey".

We then arrived at Josh and Rachel's and had some yummy chinese food before putting the kids to bed and getting to catch up a bit.

DeLancey Family Spring Travels Volume III: Quebec City, QC

Quebec City Accomodations: Auberge du Littoral (Trip Advisor Reviews)

Monday April 4:

A good portion of Monday was packing up and driving up to Quebec City. We also stopped for a lunch of cheese and pepperoni and toast, which we had bought in Montreal. After settling in at Auberge du Littoral, we drove into Quebec (we stayed just outside the city) and stumbled upon a row of restaurants on Grande Allee, where a Hostess (who had to be freezing cold outside) ushered us into Restaurant Louis-Hebert for some excellent French dining despite our small children in tow. We adults each had a three-course meal (I had trout buerre blanc and Lance had Lamb) while RJ and Logan shared very fancy chicken strips! We also discovered that Logan enjoys Duck Liver Pate. I let him taste it and he clearly wanted more. I'd say the kid has expensive taste, but he seriously eats EVERYTHING, so that's not the case here. It was a little stressful having two small children in a fancy restaurant, but it was relatively empty (completely empty at first) being around 6 on a Monday and they were reasonably well behaved. RJ even got to take a peek into the kitchen when he asked who made the food! The staff was definitely accommodating to children, which is more than I expected for a fine French restaurant!

Tuesday April 5:

This was (unfortunately) our only full day in Quebec, so of course, it was pouring down rain. We stopped by Montmorency Falls to see if we could still see the falls even in the rain, which we could, but it was too miserable out to get any closer.

Then we drove out to the suburbs, in pursuit of Mega Parc (which is the second largest indoor amusement park). However, we got hungry before getting there and stopped at Eggsquis for some lunch. By then the rain subsided a little, so we headed to Vieux Quebec, which is where we really wanted to go for the day. Since we knew that taking the stroller was going to be a hassle with the stairs and going into and out of shops, many of which have a stair or two to go into, we strapped Logan into the Ergo and hoped that RJ would walk without too much trouble. He did okay, but claimed to be tired a lot, but he was also out of sorts because we wouldn't let him get an overpriced souvenir airplane at the first store we stopped at and the crying fit that followed pretty much set the tone for much of the day. This led to him also not getting the really cool elasmosaurus (it's a dinosaur that looks like an apatosaurus, but with fins for swimming instead) that we saw at a nature store later on. I thought about buying it without him knowing to give to him later, but in retrospect, I'm glad I didn't since the message was more powerful this way. You can't get toys when you act greedy and throw fits when mommy and daddy say no. He STILL talks about that elasmosaurus. We went in and out of many shops selling wares from fur to well, dinosaurs. We rode the funiculaire down into Lower Quebec and there we visited Place Royale where we got to play dress up in La Maison, which is a replica of a home circa 1800. I wish we had gotten there earlier so we would've had more time to play before they closed (we got there about 20 minutes before closing - DOH!). Then we walked around some more, seeing the canons and the waterfront before heading back up to Upper Town to eat at Aux Anciens Canadiens. We had pea soup and French Onion soup, Pheasant and Meat Pie, and the all-important Maple Pie. Excellent food again. By this point, I felt like I gained at least 10 lbs on this trip! After dinner we tried to swing by the Dinosaur Store since RJ had redeemed himself during dinner, but alas, it was closed, which led to some tears, but also another important lesson about listening all the time, so that he doesn't miss out.

Wednesday April 6:

We unfortunately had to pack up again, saw Montmorency Falls in the sunshine,

and stopped at a sugar shack on our way to Burlington, VT. The sugar shack (we went to L'Erable Rouge) was quite the experience. The food was fantastic, authentic sugar shack fare: pea soup (Logan LOVES pea soup by the way - he was screeching for it repeatedly every time I got distracted and tried to feed myself!), baked beans, maple doused ham, homemade pickles, crispy pancake fritter things for dipping in syrup, maple pie (again!), and maple taffy! We needed the folk dancing that RJ got us to do just to fit out the door! For added amusement, it appeared to be Senior Day at the sugar shack, so it was us, and a full house of Seniors! This was by far the most francophone experience we had in Quebec, where our French Language skills were CLEARLY not up to snuff. We (obviously) managed to get through the experience unscathed, but we didn't understand most of what people were saying, even with context. Thankfully, one of the waitresses helped by speaking a little English when she saw that we were trying, but struggling with the French!

After the sugar shack, we were back to the car, where Logan serenaded us with screams for what seemed like the whole ride to Burlington. That part sucked.

We are bummed we didn't get to do more in Quebec City as we absolutely loved our time there. I would've loved to see more of Place Royale and the Citadel and of course eat more. Maybe if we get up there again, we will do it in the summer so we can also see Canyon Ste. Anne or in the winter so we can see the Hotel de Glace. Someday...