I can not adequately describe how amazingly fun our day was yesterday, but I sure will try.  Todd’s best friend / college roommate, Kevin, is turning 40 soon (although with the amount of time he spends at estate sales, you’d think he was at least 70). Just kidding.  Todd and I were actually talking about how funny it is that he and Kevin have known each other for over half of Kevin’s life.  It seems like such a long time, when you put it that way. We drove down to New Jersey to “surprise” him for lunch.  It was the first time the kids have been in the car for an extended period of time.  We were so worried that it was going to be an epic disaster, but we were so pleasantly surprised with all three of them!  We got a dual screen dvd player for the car, which I think made all the difference in the world.  Between the Minions and Frozen, the kids were set.  They were eerily quiet on the way there, except for when we got over the Tapanzee Bridge and Jacks started saying “I want to go home now. I want to get out.”  He got over it quickly and was fine the rest of the ride.

We had lunch with Kevin, Mary, and Meghan and it was just so good to see them.  It definitely makes you think about how you really wish you lived closer to your good friends!  Lunch was fun.  The kids filled up on mostly french fries and appetizers and little of their actual meal, but I wasn’t about to complain after how well they were behaving.  It was so cute to see our two redheads, Taylor and Meghan, play together.  They had some cute conversations, and Taylor is definitely missing her today!

After lunch, we went down to the boardwalk.  I had never been there, so it was so incredible to see.  The beaches were sandy and beautiful and the water was so blue.  It was way too cold to enjoy the beach for real, but it sure was beautiful to look at!  We went to an aquarium where the kids got to watch the seals being fed.  Taylor, especially, thought it was fun to see.  It was smaller and laid out differently than our aquarium, so she got to see a lot better and was really intrigued.  Part of the way through the seal feeding, the boys were getting antsy, so we walked around with them.  There was a little tank filled with jellyfish.  As I was showing Joseph how beautiful they were, I realized that his tiny hand was going inside the locked bottom half of the tank.  He had found the power button for the tank and was trying to power it down.  I am glad he didn’t succeed with his mission!  We saw penguins (they were my absolute favorite) and lots of other creatures.

We spent some time afterward at an arcade where the girls played a few games.  Jackson was watching an older boy play a game in which tickets came out as a reward.  He apparently thought it was really cool, because he quickly ripped off a section of the kid’s tickets – right out of the machine.  The kid looked up at me like I had just told him Santa Claus had retired, but he graciously accepted my apology and received his tickets back.  Joseph had the only true meltdown of the day when we went to leave the arcade, but he wasn’t ready.  He screamed loudly (and for a long time) and turned quite a few heads.  We even drew the attention of a few police officers, but no arrests were made.  The girls went on a motorcycle ride, went to a candy shop, and played a fishing game.  Taylor caught two small fish during this game.  She was told that she could either choose two small stuffed fish, or one medium fish as a prize.  She chose the two small prizes and picked a red fish and a blue fish.  She turned around and said “Mom, Can I give these fish to the boys now?  I got two so they could have one each.”  I was so incredibly proud of her thoughtfulness.

Since the boys skipped nap, they fell asleep on the way home.  Taylor talked…the entire way. We stopped at the last rest stop in NJ for some cheap gas ($1.71, full service!!!) and got some coffee and water.  I never knew Starbucks shops existed at rest stops, but I was not complaining!  By this time, the boys woke up screaming their heads off.  They were still tired and uncomfortable from falling asleep with their heads in an awkward position.  We got them out of their seats for a bit, changed diapers, and put on pajamas.  After starting another movie and having a few snacks, they were good to go and made it the rest of the way home without incident. Taylor did tell us she was “really sick of driving around in all these circles to get home,” but she managed fine as well.  It is nice to know that the kids can actually handle a drive like that so that we can do this again.  We really want to go back when it is nice and warm out.

Thankfully, Auntie (Diane) stayed with Ranger for a good portion of the afternoon so I did not have to worry about him being alone all day.  He got lots of love and cuddles and was really excited to see us when we got home!  The kids were so exhausted after a fun filled day.  They went to bed really late since they had a newfound energy when we arrived home, but Todd found the boys passed out, snuggled with each other on the floor in their bedroom, just after midnight.