February visit to NJ-Almost forgot how cold it is on windy days in the winter.

I am not sure I would like to go back to NJ in the winter. It was not really that cold, but when it was windy out-man ALIVE was it miserable. I went to college in the snow belt up in the Great Lake region so I know what cold feels like and I chose to never live like that again. NJ is not half as bad as it was up on the lake, but when I am used to chilly air with sunshine, a day with a high of 30 with clouds is pretty cold and yucky. We never saw snow because the day we were forcasted to get it the high was 45 and it was rainy instead. Devin was pretty bummed out we could not ice skate on the lake. He really was looking forward to it and it was the first thing he asked my mom when we walked in her door at midnight the night we arrived. "Grammy where are my new ice skates?" Sigh, maybe next time.

 

baby Ethan



Maria and I

Thursday the kids and I hung out at the house all day since everyone had to work and I did not have a car. My cousin Lyneal and her 10 mo old baby Ethan stopped by for a visit. Friday I went over to Kelly's to pick up Dana (who arrived Thurs night) and have a bite with my dad. Kelly, Cookie and Frank worked Friday as well. My best friend from college Maria lives in Cleveland and she just happened to be in NYC visiting with her boyfriend over the weekend. Her boyfriend had to work Friday day so she drove down for a few hours to hang out! What a great last minute treat that was. I love her and was so happy to have gotten to see if (only if for a few hours). We were both Biology majors and she is now a ER doctor in her 3rd year of residency. Friday night we went over to Lyneal's for some pizza and beers and a bunch of my cousins and their kids now came over to play. 

Sat am Frank, myself and the kids went to take a family portrait with the whole Skinner family. There were 16 people total in the picture including 7 kids ranging from 10 years to 4 months. We were placed on a fake beach scene with real sand and that was a disaster with my two. Devin was actually pretty good with smiling, but he kept getting distracted by wanting to talk to his cousins. Riley on the other hand wanted nothing with being held or sitting alone. She wanted to play with the sand. Not even 2 minutes into attempting to take this big picture did Riley dump a handful of sand in her hair. UGH. The whole group was singing nursery rhymes with the two photogs to try and get all the kids to look forward and smile. I hope some pictures turned out ok. We then went to Jenn and Dan's house for a brunch. The kids played for three hours hard core with their cousins. They have Dance Party on Wii and the kids were having a ball having a dance party in the basement. It was super nice to get to hang out with all the sisters and brothers again.

Saturday night Frank and I went to his cocktail party at the Borgota in Atlantic City. Food was delicious and there was a 10 piece band on the stage. Music was an odd mix, but good nonetheless. I had a great time hanging out with our friends that he works with. Always nice to see them again and get to kick back and have a good time while Frank talks business stuff with his bosses/coworkers.

Sunday morning I met old friends and their two kids at this place called Kid Zone. It is an indoor adventure place with a huge tube climber and 5 themed playrooms (pizza parlor, vets office, grocery store, USPS and gym in addition to a theatre stage with dress up stuff. They LOVED it so much we went back Tuesday.  

Monday night I visited with a few friends Sunday at a Superbowl party and Monday night I went down to my Aunt Dawn and Uncle Lou's for dinner. My Grandmom and Grand dad came over too to see the kids. It was awesome for my two to get to play with my 4 little cousins who are not so little anymore. Louis is going to be 14 this April, Alexis is already 12 and the twins will be 10 next week! Amazing they are so big when I used to nanny for them from when Louis was 2 to when the twins were 6 months. CRAZY! We came back Wednesday am and landed in LAS around 3 pm PST.

The total travel time for the day was 10 hours and 15 minutes. I will definitely NOT be doing that again anytime soon. The kids were great and I am thankful that they are seasoned travelers. Riley slept for 3 hours on the floor on the airplane and Devin never took a nap, but he quietly watched movies and colored with markers for the majority of the plane ride. Riley had to sit on my lap again since the flight was full and the lady in the aisle seat was trying to sleep the whole way. I felt so bad when I had to ask her to get up so Devin could go potty (he went 5 times during the 6 hr flight). Even though Riley slept for the first 3 hours, she then had 4 water poops, yes, 4 times within an hour so the poor lady had to keep getting up. I finally asked her if she would like to move to the window for the last hour and a half of the flight. She said yes and I was relieved. 

We are home, kids are trying to get back to PST and I am exhausted. I finished all the laundry yesterday, but I still have to clean up the house and be a wife again. I just want one day to sleep it off. :) This is the shortened version and I know I missed a bit....but I am way tired and I know it would all bore you to tears to know everything.