At the beginning of March, Sanjay had a business trip in New York. Ryan and I decided to tag along for a little fun of our own. Ryan has become quite the flyer and was pretty good on the five and a half hour flight. Of course he decided to fall asleep as we were descending into our destination. We flew into Newark, NJ. Our plan was that Ryan and I would stay with our friends, The Nothsteins, in New Jersey and have some fun while Sanjay worked in the city. We, then, would meet up at the end of the week and all fly home together.
We were so excited to arrive at our friends' home in New Jersey. It had been six months since they moved from CA to NJ. We pulled up to the house and could see our friends peering out the window. Watching the boys (who are only a day apart) see one another again was priceless. It was like they remembered eachother right away. They played fairly well together during the week. We anticipated hearing a lot of "NO's" and "MINE," and we were right. It was like a game to them, one would say mine and the other would say it louder.
We got to do and see so many things on our trip. Since we arrived late the first night (Saturday), we planned to go to New York City the following day. We took the boys to FAO Schwarz, had lunch, met up with some of Sanjay's friends, and then left Sanjay in the city to work and took the train back to NJ with our friends.
The following day was Monday. We decided to take the boys to an aquarium on the Jersey Shore. While there, we were able to play some games at an open, but very quiet arcade. It was amazing to see snow on the boardwalk and not a lot of people around. Clearly the cold weather and the fact that it was a weekday deterred people from walking on the boardwalk. It was nice to enjoy it and let the boys run without worrying that they would get lost in the crowds of people.
On Tuesday Ryan joined Tyler at his music class. After class we played in the snow at the Nothsteins' house. The boys took turns riding Tyler's quad, then just enjoyed walking up and down the street.
Wednesday we decided to take the boys to a hands on science center. This place was huge! There were so many exhibits I don't think we made it through half of it. The best part was a toddler section. We played in there for quite awhile. The boys colored, made music, painted with water, played with rice, ran around, and had a blast! We even had the opportunity to see Sue the largest, most complete, best preserved Tyrannosaurus Rex. She was a sight to see, especially next to our little guys.
On our final day in New Jersey, we went to Tyler's My Gym class. It was a fun class with lots of activities, but Ryan was very rambunctious and had a hard time listening to directions. Needless to say he was a little challenging during the class. When it was circle time, Ryan wanted to run around. This made for a lot of chasing while the other toddlers sat nicely around the circle. However I did capture some moments when he was able to run and do what he wanted.
We had such a great trip to the East coast and hope that we will be able to visit our friends every few years. Thank you Nothsteins for your hospitality! We had a blast!
