Memorable

I have been without internet for several days and I have no idea when I'll get it back. In the meantime I'll write so I don't forget.

On our walk past the pond Friday Nyla kept saying "ack, ack, ack, ack". It took me a while to figure out she was trying to say quack quack. She saw the geese in the pond. There are ducks in the pond as well but I didn't see any at first glance. Later I asked her to say more animal sounds. She tried "f" for woof. She says meow while signing cat. Moo sounds like "mmm". Nyla LOVES animals.

Buddy has his quarterly get together this week for work. The offices are spread around so this is the week they have a whole bunch of meetings in person and stuff. We briefly attended the one in Gettysburg. We skipped the one in Portsmouth, VA. This one is in NJ just across the Lincoln Tunnel from Manhattan.

Buddy took a separate vehicle with coworkers yesterday so Bohdin, Nyla, and I drove up ourselves. It's a 3.5 hour drive and I knew that was too long for Nyla in the car without a break. I planned a hike and then another stop or detour in Philadelphia for that yummy gelato. Nyla fell asleep immediately in the car but woke up soon after our hiking destination. I decided to just stop in Philly. The gelato was so good. Bohdin declared that he likes gelato more than ice cream. He had chocolate, tangerine, and blood orange. I had caramel, papaya, and my new favorite flavor: basil. Buddy thought it sounded gross because he was imagining pesto but it's actually just sweet, basily, terrificness. There was a group of two women at the counter with us also. After sampling the basil she also got it.

Nyla fell back asleep in the car which is highly unusual for her. We headed north and I had to stop for gas. After starting the car again, the GPS wouldn't turn on. That wasn't fun. The trip ended up being a bit longer because I didn't go the quickest route. We made it though. Buddy had a meeting soon after we arrived. By 5:30 we were able to leave the hotel for dinner. The wind was a bit blustery and I wanted to drive somewhere instead of walking to the bus stop and then walking in NYC. Bohdin really wanted to go to NYC and we did end up doing that. Traffic was backed up in the tunnel and it took longer than Nyla had patience for. Eventually everybody just got off the bus prior to the station. It was much faster to walk. We had a pleasant walk and ate dinner in a Szechuan restaurant. The people that worked there were impressed that the kids would eat such spicy food. It was a bit spicy but not overwhelming. I ordered the pork belly with chili sauce. Once I told Buddy that pork belly was bacon he felt a lot better about eating it. I probably would have felt the same way. The mind must approve regardless of what the tastes buds say.

Since I had no internet I was unable to find the bus data for the trip back. We assumed the bus that took us there would also take us back. That didn't prove true. We eventually got off the bus and walked through a pretty sketchy neighborhood. We passed a young lady with a very bloody nose walking quickly and saying something we couldn't understand. It didn't look like the kind of neighborhood one would want to be in at night. It took a while for us to get any sort of bearing. We were north of the Lincoln Tunnel entrance and we needed to be south. Buddy suggested that the kids and I stay in a grocery store we passed while he got the car. It was an excellent suggestion. Bohdin was cold because he didn't find a bathroom quick enough earlier. His pants were very wet. The grocery store was much nicer than I expected. In fact the grocery store was nicer than the ones in our area. We picked up some breakfast stuff. Buddy ran the mile back to the hotel and picked us up.

It was so late by the time we made it back. The kids were both exhausted. Bohdin thought it was a good day. I bought him and Nyla a matchbox vehicle at the grocery store. Nyla woke up, pooped, and threw up at 5:30 in the morning. It's already 11am and I don't know what we'll do yet today.