So we all packed up our swimsuits, fresh off of the mothballs ;o) and somehow managed to traipse from our penthouse in the sky down to south Jersey while carrying a minimum of baby products...which is still a lot of stuff.
We all took the train down to Red Bank because well, we don't have a car and that's how we get around :o)
F. loves every type of transportation, or at least all those she's been in so far.
Stroller? Check.
Automobile? Check.
PATH train? Check.
Subway? Check.
NJ Transit train? Check.
Now we just have to get her on a taxi, trolley, boat and plane and she'll have the whole set :o)
I have realized though, that making a train is not quite as easy as it once was. If F. is with us and therefore her stroller too, that means knowing where the elevators are, or if there are any elevators at all. And getting on these same elevators takes a bit of extra time so we've got to add that on to our commute and not expect to rush and make a train. Except...
Well, we rushed, and didn't know where the elevator was, and got separated from Papa-in-training without my cell phone, and somehow were still 10 minutes early for the train. Hurrah for us!
The trip went off without a hitch and Unkie M. was in Red Bank waiting for us. We then had a lovely, leisurely ride through 'horse country' (who even knew there was such a thing so close by?) and arrived at M.'s bachelor pad around noonish.
We rested a bit and fed baby F. and M. went to inquire about the pool. And then tragedy struck. For the pool was closed and would remain so for the last two days of the season. The apartment complex in which Unkie M. lives had hired a lifeguard for the duration of the summer. And said lifeguard had decided to quit with 3 days left in the season.
Shock. Tears. Anguish.
OK, not really. Some disappointment, but after all we came to see M. not the fantabulous pool, so we all got over it. And instead we feasted on local food (although I still dream of returning for some kosher Chinese) and played a bit with the baby.
And then the real fun began. First we had a go at BuyWord, a game where one buys letters and then tries to sell words at a profit to the bank. A mixture of monopoly and scrabble...sort of.
M. pretty much clobbered us, as was to be expected as we'd never played before. I mean, really, really clobbered us. 100 point difference type of clobberation ;o)
And now cue angels singing.
Enter 'The Settlers of Catan', the bestest board game since Cranium! We loved playing it and F. was nice enough to be pretty accommodating during the games, either napping or happily sitting and watching us as her Mama and Papa tried (unsuccessfully) to dethrone Unkie M.
So much fun though! And anyone can play, no large vocabulary or trivia knowledge necessary (though I dearly love anything involving those) :o)
After that, Papa-in-training showed off his now non-existent Guitar Hero skills - oh, what taking care of a 7 month old will do to one's video game chops ;o)
We then finally exhausted Unkie M.'s hospitality and came home.
All in all, a great day.
P.S. Wholly unrelated, I finally finished a project I'd been working on since before baby F. was born. I asked our family and friends to send her a postcard of either where they lived or of something they liked. And to say something about themselves in the card.
I received quite a few and ended up laminating them so the baby will be able play with them without destroying them. And then I set them up here:
I'll eventually have a mobile for the baby hanging from the ceiling, but meanwhile she can look at this and know how excited everyone was for her to be born and how much she's loved :o)
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