I'm back! Excited? I am! I got to meet some of my very best friends (I would link to the fourth friend, but she has no blog and I've been waiting freaking years for her website. LC? Are you listening?). I had a wonderful time and LO keeps talking about how much fun she had on vacation. I think the boys are just happy to be home though. Poor guys. Just a few little stories about our trip.

1. The last day in NJ, I fed the boys breakfast in their portable(ish) booster seats that buckle to dining room chairs. I pulled the bib and tray off of T1, turned around to set them on the counter, turned back around to unbuckle him and he leaned forward. At that moment, the buckle holding the booster seat to the chair failed and T1(still strapped to the booster seat) fell forward and landed on my friend's beautiful, yet hard, tiled floor. I picked him up and blood was gushing. I mean GUSHING. This is the most blood I've seen coming from one of my kids. I knew I would be visiting the ER and seeing a lot of blood with these guys, but I wasn't quite ready for it. BUT! But, I didn't panic. Multiple paper towels and a failed attempt at ice was how we got the blood to stop. I even got him to laugh. His forehead, nose and chin were bruised and he had bloody boogers for a day, but he's fine.


2. Later that day, we went to a local park. It was a beautiful day and we had all my friends (except Jules-that was a different park) and their kids. The girls all played together and enjoyed the swings, slides and fake-tire swing. When we approached the park, I saw a man taking pictures of a company picnic that was at the park. He had a very expensive camera/lens, so I assumed him to be a professional. It wasn't until I saw that he was taking pictures of kids playing at the playground that I got suspicious. I read this book and one of the scary things to look out for is a stranger taking pictures at child events. I watched this guy a little, but I had three kids and they insisted on my attention. A little while later, this photographer approached me. Speaking in a heavy Cambodian accent (Impressed? Don't be. He told me he was from Cambodia), he told me he was a photographer for the New York Times and showed me his numerous press credentials. He really liked the pictures he took of the kids, LC and myself and wanted to email them to me. He said that he would be submitting them to the newspaper, "but you never know what they are going to publish." Anyway, I was still leery, but my email address is OK to give out. That night I checked my email and there they were, 3 pictures. He didn't even solicit anything from me. So here is one of the pics. Notice the twins in one swing - super cute (thanks, LC)!

So that is L.O. in the swing, "way up high!" And that is B pushing the boys in swing. He didn't send me the best shots and I am going to assume because he was submitting them to be published, but I did get to see them on his camera. Anyway, it was kind of cool!

1. The Tappen Zee Bridge is how we crossed the river to get to our final destination of Massachusetts. We left NJ around 5:15pm. At 7:30pm, this fatal accident occurred. I estimate that we crossed the bridge about 6:45pm. That bridge was closed for 9 hours. I would have hated to have left NJ any later than we did.

Nothing much dramatic happened the rest of the trip. L.O. experienced her first real fireworks show and she got to play with some sparklers, "Look Momma! I'm a fairy!" I met Jules and her two little girls. They are so precious and Julie is a hottie (just ask my husband). We played in the park and Julie packed a picnic lunch for everyone. And when I say everyone, I mean the entire park could have eaten and she still would have had leftovers! It was fabulous though! She is such a sweetie and I wish we would have just had some time for us girls instead of taking care of our kids. Maybe next time Julie?

We drove home down I-95 to end up in Asheville, NC. I hated the drive. Although a major thoroughfare, there were numerous back ups that made our drive about 2.5 hours longer than it should have. Which sucked because we left 2 hours later than planned. Oh well. We made it! And Asheville, NC is lovely. Just lovely.