Road Trip

On June 26th, we dropped off the dogs and packed up the family for a cross country driving trip from Orlando to Boston via Sesame Place in PA. We rented ourselves a mini van to avoid putting miles on our own van. We left Saturday morning for our first destination -- Fayetteville, NC. We picked Fayetteville because it was about 1/2 way between Orlando and Langhorne, PA.

We were on the road by 9am after stopping at Delish for some bagels and cookies. Stefanie's mom Barbara ("Mimi") came along with us to help us out and to see her family in Boston. We all had our assigned seats in the van. Brian drove the whole time. Mimi sat in the front seat and managed the trash collection, snacks, and DVDs. Stefanie sat in the middle row with Asher and she was in charge of feeding Asher, putting the DVDs in the player for Logan, and general children entertainment. Logan sat in the last row which he had all to himself.

The trip through Florida and Georgia was fast. We packed some food and only stopped once for a gas/bathroom break. Things changed once we hit South Carolina. Logan started asking to get down from his car seat and pulling on the straps and saying "off". A couple minutes later, he vomited. We pulled off at the first available exit and stopped at a Walmart. Mimi and Stefanie brought the kids inside to change them and pick up a numbers puzzle, some books, and a 3 pack Barney DVD (we took Logan's Barney DVD case, but left the actual disc in our car at home) while Brian filled up the car with gas.


We were back in the car and on our way to the highway when Logan threw up again. We pulled off at a gas station to change him again. We had already used the only accessible clothing so we decided to just keep Logan in his diaper. We pulled onto the highway finally and he threw up again. He threw up the entire way to Fayetteville. I think we had counted about 8 times. We arrived in Fayetteville just before dinner when Asher threw up once. We think it was because he started teathing. We bathed both boys and since it had been a couple of hours since he last vomited, we decided to try to go out to eat. Unfortunately, we were forced to leave the restaurant before the food came because Logan vomited all over Stefanie. We went back to the hotel and Logan slept until about 3am and he threw up again.


When we woke up in the morning, Logan had a slight fever so we decided to find an urgent care center. Logan never threw up again. Not sure if it was the medicine he got at the urgent care or the fact that it was just a 24 hour bug. The drive to Langhorne was rather uneventful which was good. We were in Langhorne to visit Sesame Place. Sesame Place was smaller than we expected. Logan didn't even need a stroller. You definitely need to bring a bathing suit since more than 50% of the park was water-based.


Logan started off watching the Elmo's World Live show which seemed to amaze him. From there, he played at Big Bird's nest for a while until he was ready to go on some rides. We went on Big Bird's Balloon Race, Grover's World Twirl, Elmo's Flyin Fish, and the Sunny Day Carousel. During the day, we also tried pictures with the characters (Elmo, Big Bird, and Abby). We took a break for some lunch and then watched the parade. After the parade, he seemed to do much better with the characters. We saw Bert and Ernie in the street and took several good pictures.


The afternoon was dedicated to water activities. We bought Logan a Sesame Street bathing suit. He actually got the one featured on Jon and Kate Plus 8. He also picked out a pair of Elmo water shoes which he calls "Elmo Agua Shoes". He was all ready for the Big Bird's Rambling River ride including a little mini splash area. From the lazy river, we hit the Count's Splash Castle. We were able to catch one more show -- Big Bird's Beach Party.


We stayed that night in Langhorne and left in the morning for Boston. We were going to Boston for Cousin Andy's wedding. We kept Logan entertained the whole time. On Tuesday night, we went shopping and had dinner at China Town with Debbie. On Wednesday, we went on a Duck Tour, went to the Children's Museum, drove through Sharon, and stopped by to see Audra, Rob, Hailey, and Aaron. That night we had pizza with Debbie's parents and Logan couldn't get over Bob.


On Thursday, we went to Patriot's Place and took the kids to the rehearsal dinner. We woke up Friday to go out to breakfast to find the window in our van was smashed in. We had accidentally left the GPS in the car. They stole that, Logan's plug for the DVD, and Brian's glasses. Brian swapped out the rental car at Logan airport while Logan got to see some of Stefanie's relatives and friends. Mimi and Debbie watched Logan and Asher while Stefanie and Brian went to Andy and Lani's wedding and had a blast. We stopped by Debbie's in-laws for breakfast and to borrow a GPS and DVD player for the drive home. It took us two days to get home, stopping in Richmond, but we made it home without any further adventures.

For more pictures of Boston, click here.

Logan turns 2!

It wasn't easy picking a place for Logan's birthday this year. Every place we tried was sold out for the summer. We're glad that we ended up at Monkey Joe's. It was actually perfect. Monkey Joe's is an indoor inflatable play center (slides and bounce houses). They took care of everything and everyone had a good time. We were originally worried since Logan didn't really do anything during his first visit to Monkey Joe's several months ago. This visit started out similar to his last trip. He would walk up to the opening of a ride and then walk back without going in. He would even cry if someone tried to take him on a ride.


It got much better as the day moved on. Logan loved the inflatable chair at the head of the table. He also loved the pizza. He had actually been asking for pizza a week before his birthday and we kept telling him that he would have pizza at his party. We think he ate around two pieces. As he was finishing his second piece, Monkey Joe came in to say hello and give Logan a shirt. Logan couldn't wait to pull off his shirt and try on the new shirt. He also loved Monkey Joe.


Logan was pleasantly surprised by his Barney Birthday Cake which was made and decorated by hand by Delish, a NY bakery. If cake wasn't enough, the kids also got ice cream. After a couple juice boxes, a piece of cake, and a bowl of ice cream, Logan was ready to hit the inflatable rides. He probably spent over an hour on the same ride. It happened to be one of the least scariest rides, but we were still happy that he loved it. Some of his friends bounced along with him.


We were at Monkey Joe's from 10:30am until around 1:30pm. When we got home, Logan took a nap while we put together some of the toys we had bought him and arranged all the rest of the toys. Todd, Monica, Jared, Grandma Elise, and Grandpa Howie joined Grandpa Sumner (Poppi) and Grandma Barbara (Mimi) to open gifts at our house and spend some time in the swimming pool. Logan loved each gift better than the next and wanted to open everything.

Logan has made a lot of progress during his second year of life. He really seems to comprehend everything. He is also a great communicator. He repeats everything and has an incredible memory. He learns a new word usually after hearing or seeing it one time. He knows all of his letters, most of his numbers, all of his primary colors, most of his Disney characters, and most animals (land and sea). He is also doing really well in the pool. He can float on his back, do the crab walk along the pool wall from the deep end to the stairs, play ring around the rosie, jump into the pool, kick, and blow bubbles. He is very helpful in school and at home. In fact, he just started at a new school and did incredibly well in the transition. We started potty training again, but he seems to prefer making in his swim diaper. We think Logan likes music. He loves playing the guitar, piano, and drums. He even knows what a violin and saxophone are. He also likes playing basketball. His favorite characters are still Elmo and Barney, but he seems to know everyone -- Dora, Boots, Diego, Lightning McQueen, Luigi, Mater, Ramon, Nemo, Buzz, Woody, Handy Manny, Elmo, Big Bird, Telly, Burt, Ernie, Count, Cookie Monster, Bee Bop, DJ, and more.

For pictures of Logan's party, click here.