A wonderful vacation, NJ and NYC

Despite the hiccup in my last blog, the rest of the weekend went wonderful. The mechanic managed to get the van fixed by mid afternoon so there were no problems getting to the dinner and rehearsal. Aunt Sharon picked a wonderful restaurant to hold the rehearsal dinner and spending time in a Catholic Church sure brought back some memories and the good old fashioned Catholic guilt. Aunt Kim knows what I mean. We had a great laugh about it.

Saturday dawned beautiful and after a lunch at the hotel, Cameron and I had to rush and dress in 25 minutes to leave with the groom, but, we made it with moments to spare.

Cam getting ready for wedding.


A quick trip to the bakery to pick up the forgotten cake topper, and off to the wedding.


Keith checking with the bride about the topper. Remember to always check with the wife first!

Words cannot express how beautiful Fabi looked in her gown. Fabi is a beautiful woman on a regular day but add the bridal accouterments and you have a stunningly beautiful woman. I had forgotten how long a Catholic Mass could be, but, since I had never witnessed a Catholic wedding, it was quite a joy to see.


Bryan, Cam & Keith


Cam walking to front of church in processional


Mr. and Mrs. Keith Patton

The reception was 6 hours of loud music and fun. The only request Fabi had was for a Mariachi Band. At 11, when the DJ stopped for the night, Fabi's parents surprised her with an hour of a Mariachi band. Kelly did not feel well and had skipped the reception, but had returned to chauffer us back to hotel so we only stayed for 2 songs.


Keith and Fabi with Mariachi band

After a long day of wedding, we had to be up at 6:30 a.m. to leave the hotel at 8 for NYC with the whole family. 11 total in our party. Uncle Fritz, Aunt Kim, Aunt Sharon, Uncle Ernie, Glenn's parents, his niece Keara, and my family.

Our PATH train delivered us to Ground Zero. Pictures cannot express the devastation and vastness of the destruction the terrorist wreaked on the site. I never realized that there is actually a FDNY station directly across the street from the site. On the side of the station is a memorial to the firefighters who lost their lives that day.

Ground Zero and the family looking at Ground Zero


FD Memorial

We wandered around Lower Manhattan then walked down to Battery Park to see the Statue of Liberty. She is a beautiful sight.

Kelly in Battery Park in front of Statue of Liberty

The kids had charcoal cartoon drawings made of themselves for $2 each. What a deal.


Cameron having his drawing done

Subway up to the Brooklyn Bridge. The kids and I decided to forego walking across the bridge. Everyone else walked 1/2 way. The kids and I grabbed drinks and headed back to the park in front of the Transportation building. Cameron stood up to look around right in front of our benches and a homeless guy walked over and tried to steal Cam's bottle of water. Fortunately, I was paying attention.

Brooklyn Bridge

Subway up to Chinatown. When I saw Chinatown it was how I really envisioned NYC. Crowded with open shopes lining the street. We then headed into Little Italy. Glenn and I thought we'd have great pizza in NYC, but, we still say the pizza from Bella Notte in Pgh's strip district is better than what we had.

Ernie in Chinatown

We then jumped on the subway again and headed to the Empire State Building to meet Keith and Fabi.

Cameron in the lobby of the Empire State Building

We intended to head to the top but it costs $20 per person to go up now, so we skipped it and headed to Grand Central Station.

The vastness of the station and huge dining food court underneath really lives up to its name. Keith and Fabi had their first date at GCS eating cheesecake so we stopped down and many had a piece. I don't eat it so it was a great time to rest my piggies.



Me in Grand Central Station

Aunt Kim wanted to see the American Girl Store so we headed there. It's a cute store for every little girl. I understand from Jon & Kate Plus 8 that there is a dining room upstairs. You know, from back in the day when I still watched that trainwreck.

What could possibly follow the American Girl store? FAO Schwarz of course. It was decided that we would walk 10 blocks up 5th to the store. Glenn, Kel and I got behind a little because they each stopped for souvenirs so we hopped a cab and that was quite an experience.

FAO Schwarz is a great toy store with exclusive toys. Cam opted for a stuffed seal as his souvenir. We made sure to stop upstairs and see the infamous floor piano shown in "Big."


Cameron at FAO Schwarz

Then we walked across the southern end of Central Park. No visit to the park would be complete without stumbling across a homeless man.


Cameron in Central Park

We made it all the way across CP and hopped subway in Columbus Circle to the Dakota where John Lennon was shot.


The Dakota, John & Yoko's apartment building

Let me warn everyone, if you need a bathroom up there, you better stop into the McDonalds as there is nothing else around. Everyone but me and Cam went into Central Park to see Strawberry Fields.

John Lennon memorial in Central Park

The night was complete with a few hours in Times Square. You must see it to believe it. It's wild there. Kelly really wanted the Hard Rock Cafe so we waited out front for her and another homeless man was standing there begging for not money, but, beer.



It took us several hours to get home. We sat in the subway waiting for our train for a good 30-60 minutes before Glenn read the notices and found out that not trains ran directly to WTC right now. When we got to the airport for the shuttle to the hotel, Kelly was nice enough to bolt to where we dropped off to get the shuttle to wait. We walked all the way there and found out that our pick up spot was on the other side of the airport. We left at 8 a.m. and got back just after 2. Needless to say we were all tired.

This morning, we got up and headed to Hoboken to see Carlos' Bakery featured on Cake Boss on TLC. We hoped to see Buddy, the star, but Frankie, a baker popped out instead.


Frankie and Cameron

We got a few donuts, some pics and then headed home. We arrived just after 7. I've never been so happy to see Bridgeville in my life.


Even Ziggy the bear was tired of the trip and passed out.

9 long miles

We have embarked on a long needed family vacation. We cannot even remember the last time we had a full family vacation. That's astounding to us because we are a well traveled family. Not in the sense of traveling to far and exotic locations, but to nearby trips often. Cameron had his first road trip at 3 weeks when we took him to Disney World. We were not about to give up fun on our annual passes you see.

I was so impatient to leave that we picked up Kel at 10 last night and headed towards Hershey. We stayed in Carlisle in an awful hotel. I got the 1/2 of the bed that made me literally fear for falling out/off. This morning we got up and headed to The Hershey Story Museum. Glenn and I experienced the full factory tour years ago. Unfortunately, the factory is no longer open for public tours but the new site was interesting. We signed the kids up for the Chocolate Lab where they could learn about making chocolate, make their own candy bar and help their group make a chocolate drink. While there, the kids did a Junior Apprentice tour book and received a commemorative coin for their trouble. A fun activity for the kids was the opportunity to have a front page of a paper made with their name and picture. See the following links for their personalized front pages http://www.hersheystory.org/exhibits/your-hershey-story/Default.aspx?milton=2009741339218397545&kitty=Cameron and http://www.hersheystory.org/exhibits/your-hershey-story/Default.aspx?milton=20097413942660664707&kitty=Kelly%20mari

The kids in Chocolate Lab *look like cafeteria workers in training to me*

Then onto the Chocolate World store for souvenirs. Only my children would go to a store containing more chocolate than I've ever seen buy Jolly Ranchers and no chocolate. I don't mind because it means no melted candy for me. Glenn, on the other hand, bought and ate, while still in the store, a 1/4 pound piece of Hershey's Almond fudge. I had absolutely no sympathy when he started to complain about his stomach hurting.

Glenn and I in Chocolate World

On to New Jersey the real destination of our trip. The ride was smooth and despite the contrary comments about New Jersey, they have great roads. We made it to 9 miles from the hotel and the fuel pump (to our best guess) went out on the van. Of course we were on an interstate with no shoulder. We pulled into a median between the on-ramp and the flowing traffic and called AAA. AAA came for the van and recommended we call a taxi for me and the kids. $30 I did not plan to give away thank you very much! AAA towed our van to an abandoned restaurant's parking lot about 1/4 mile away so we were able to grab a luggage cart and make a few trips to get our things up to our room.

The room is absolutely awesome. We opted to spend the extra $7 per night and get a one bedroom suite instead of studio. We are glad we did as it will allow us some privacy at night while we try to sleep and the kids play on the computer and game system.

We anticipate problems getting to the rehearsal and dinner tomorrow. Hopefully, the wedding will be a bit easier. I was quite nervous about getting to NYC on Sunday with only one car. The hotel gave us an option that will cost about $3.50 or less per person each way and does not require us to get in our car at all. Hopefully, the garage recommended by AAA can fix the fuel pump quickly and we will not be required to spend an extra night or two here in NJ.

I'll upload photos from today on Friday and then blog and upload photos throughout the weekend.

Recent Shooting

Update: I guess this wasn't a domestic dispute. This guy hates women. He had not had a date in 17 years and no sex in 19 years. He had been planning a mass killing of women for some time. This type of thing makes me so nervous to have a young, beautiful daughter in the world. http://georgesodini.com/20090804.htm I don't know what to think of his actions or his thoughts. Clearly, he was the result of bullying. Before knowing this information today, Kelly and I were discussing bullying and what it can do to the psyche of a person. She asked what about those who kill and were not bullied. We determined that they were just psychotic.

I bring the bullying up because recently Cameron has been a multiple victim of bullying. This makes me sad because I have not raised him to be a bully. I have taught him that when another child bullys him to tell their parents but do not retaliate. His ODD nature impels him to speak out and discuss retribution quickly. I have to spend a good amount of time talking him down. The most recent act of bullying was younger children throwing rocks at him. When he told the mother she responded that "the kids don't listen to her or their stepdad." What kind of response is that? Cameron knows not to show any form of control or force over younger children. He is incredibly kind and considerate to younger children. The same parents even commented that Cameron was the most well mannered child they knew. So why would they allow their own children to try to bully that kindness out of him? Other kids have tried to force my child to smoke cigarettes and even cornered him demanding that he kiss them for his freedom. I don't want to be the mom to keep my son locked in the house. He needs the fresh air and socialization to be a well-rounded young man. Coddled boys have a hard time later in life. I don't want that for him. I also don't want him fighting or turning his lack of control from bullying out on animals or others in the future as we so often see. He told me yesterday that the younger children apologized and they are friends again. I have decided to let him play with them again as it's what he wants. I know that sometimes kids fight and make up. It's a natural cycle. This seems so off-topic, but if you read the suspect's blog, you will see my concerns about my son being the victim of bullying and my feelings.

Yes, the shooting being mentioned on the news channels occurred .56 miles from our house.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090805/ap_on_re_us/us_health_club_shooting

Just after 8, a slew of police cars from a variety of townships, boroughs and the city and county flew by our house with sirens and lights blazing. Soon to be followed by emergency vehicles and an Allegheny County Command Center. Glenn was taking out the garbage and someone mentioned that there had been a shooting and the gunman was on the loose. We locked our house, but my nebby husband and son kept wandering out to our walled in porch to watch the action out the window.

CBS/KDKA broke into programming to let us know what was going on. They also pre-empted all prime time tv from 9-11 and the local news was 90% coverage of the scene. The families of the 6 souls lost are in our prayers.

The volunteer fire department where the police are meeting with witnesses and families is literally around the corner from my house. There is a train trussel in front of my house that blocks my view or I would be able to see all the "happenings." It sounds like the helicopters have finally gone home for the night.

We are all fine. Kelly reconnected with her ex, Jake last night so she had gone to his house after work today. When he moved back from Nebraska over the weekend, he moved to Bridgeville as his mom had relocated here a few months ago. He lives about 1 mile on the other side of her employer. I called her and made sure she knew to lock up and stay in his house. His parents drove her home, before curfew, so I knew she was safe.

Kelly reconnecting with Jake was not exactly our dream scenario, but he encourages her to complete her schooling and follow our rules. I think now that he's returned, if I can manage to lay low, she'll stay and finish high school.

Cameron is rocking on school so far. He completed one day of Language Arts and all of his "getting started" assignments for each of his classes. He's enjoying his laptop computer. We had him fitted for the tux for Keith's wedding last night when we picked up Glenn's new suit. The recommended a size 14 jacket and large vest. The 12 jacket fit his shoulders, but he's got a bit of a belly that requires a 14. He looked so darling. I forgot the camera or I would have posted some pics. I'll be sure to get some at the wedding. Cameron loved to dress up in the past. I hope he still does. I only saw him in part of the tux, but imagining him in the full tux brought a tear to my eye. Before I know it, he'll be getting fitted for his prom tux, then his wedding. Of course, I don't want either of my kids to rush into weddings. I married at 20 and 28. 20 was waaaaay too young. I keep encouraging Kelly to wait til she's in her mid 20's to marry and late 20's to have kids. Glenn and I would like a few years with no kids before we become grandparents.