We hit the road after the first half of SU's Sweet 16 game (unfortunately, by that time the game was already over) and arrived at the Courtyard (by Marriot) at 12:15 am. We find this to be a tremendous time to show up because the room is discounted by $50 if we show up that late in the evening without a reservation. Austin slept most of the way and went down fairly easy when we arrived at the hotel as well.
Austin awoke at 8:00 ready for the day ahead...which, of course, meant that Keith and Christine were up for the day as well (thankful not to have been woken up at 6 am). We took showers, let Austin roam around the hotel for a short while and fed him breakfast. Then we went to the bagel store in Park Ridge and Dunkin Donuts for breakfast (Dunkin Donuts may have the better coffee, but their bagels are definitely sub-par). While eating "on the go" we went to Tice's Corner for a quick shopping excursion and went to visit the Hammerle's for the late morning and afternoon.
It was incredibly cool to see the entire family: Dave, Lauren, Andrea, David, Ashley, and Peter. The kids are growing up so quickly, especially Peter...but they probably say the same thing about Austin (there is such a difference when you don't get to see the kids for a few months when they are younger like Austin and Peter are). The kids all had a great time together, and they were so very nice to Austin as well.
After lunch and a lot of playing with the kids, it was time for us to go to the "Duck Pond" in Ridgewood. Initially, we were going to go directly from the Hammerle house to the Holzli house, but we changed plans when we discovered that Aunt Stephanie would be unable to join the family the next day for dinner...so...we took Austin to the dog park and then the playground. We were soon joined by Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Stephanie and DJ. Austin had fun looking at the dogs (as he sat in his stroller on the other side of the fence) but had a blast once he got out of the stroller a few minutes later to play on the playground with Mommy, Stephanie and Grandpa. He was laughing it up and running up and down the ramps on the playground equipment, sliding (down the slides, of course) and swinging too! He is so happy outdoors, it is a shame that we have to be indoors at all. After about 45 minutes at the park, it was time to say "See you later" to the Shewciw family, and head over to the Holzli home for dinner...and eventually bed.
We were thrilled to arrive to the Holzli home only to find that Bret, Nicole, Mikey, Logan (who we had yet to meet), Sang, Ed, Aunt Katie, and Glen were there to join Dave, Joelle, David and Danny in welcoming us back and eating dinner and dessert (it was Katie's birthday the next day). Mikey and Danny got along so well together...it was awesome. Austin was also in his glory, and even got an opportunity to play with the latest addition to the Holzli family: Hogan. Hogan is big boy (95 pound coonhound mix), but Austin held his own with the big puppy...at one point, Hogan came over to give Austin a lick, and Austin countered with his arm extended and his knee up (shielding himself from the K9's tongue). Daddy was proud, because this was Austin's first replication of the Heisman pose...it was very cool.
After fun was had with everyone, the young boys began to get tired so the guests all went to their own homes (or local watering holes) and the Waldron and Holzli families went to sleep. When we all woke up in the morning, Dave went out to get breakfast, Joelle made a berry-fruit salad and scrambled eggs; we all had a very nice breakfast. After breakfast Danny and Austin played downstairs while Keith visited with Dave and Joelle (while playing with Hogan) and Christine took a shower. Once Austin went down for a nap, Keith and Christine parted ways: Keith went to Achieve for his fantasy baseball draft and Austin and Christine went to Queens with Grandma and Grandpa to visit Uncle Ed and Aunt Angela.
Seeing as no one cares how Keith did in his draft (well, by the way), we will instead share with you how awesome Austin was and how he had such a wondeful time. Unfortunately, your author was not there and can't say too much about it, but Christine said that everyone had a great time. Austin was having so much fun, he stayed up (happily) 60-90 minutes past his usual bedtime! Christine was especially happy to have some leftovers from dinner to bring back with her to CNY.
Later that night, we all slept at the Courtyard again...although, this time there was NO discount. Oh well...can't win every time we suppose. Anyway, we woke up the next morning to give Austin a bath and go to the Ridge Diner for some quality breakfast. Admittedly, aside from friends, Keith misses very little from NJ...however, quality diners definitely is at the top of the list of things missed, for sure.
After breakfast, we went to Achieve for about an hour to visit with Carla and (maybe) the kids. It turned out that Tommy and Richie weren't there, but Austin did get a chance to visit with Carla and got to spend some more quality time with Joelle and Sang too.
At lunch time, we went to the Paramus Park Mall to meet Kristin, Liz and Emily for lunch. We picked up a hotdog for Austin (a "once in a while" treat), but he wasn't hungry, so we saved it for later. What Austin did enjoy, however, was the Merry-Go-Round at the mall. Daddy kept trying to get a good picture of Austin on the horse, but he didn't smile too much and was too enamored with Emily to look at Daddy with the camera. So...how do we know he liked it so much if he didn't smile? Mostly because he continued to lean toward the Merry-Go-Round and signed "more" repetitively when he was finished.
Homeless, with a tired boy who was 120 minutes past his naptime, we drove back to the comfort of 168 Franklin Turnpike to put Austin to nap in a backroom at Achieve, Keith had his favorite sandwich/wrap from Natale's and we visited some more with Joelle, Sang, Katie, Bret, Dorothy and Rich. It was nice to sit around and talk to everyone for an afternoon...it just stunk not to get paid to do it like we used to (wink, wink).
Austin slept solidly for 90 minutes, but we needed to wake him to take him to our next destination: Van Saun Park. Julie and Brenna were waiting for us to join them on the playground. Brenna was so cute (not to mention incredibly bright), and both kids seemed to really enjoy themselves. Austin was having fun just walking in and out of the playground area (there was a 6-inch step he needed to negotiate, and he loves obstacles) and also enjoyed the swinging bridge in the playground as well. Brenna often seemed content to simply watch Austin but really liked being on the swing too. This was nice for Christine and Julie, because Keith could follow Austin around the playground and distract him while the girls hung out at the swings to catch up a little bit. Despite the unseasonably cool breeze, it was very nice to let Austin go out and play while providing us an opportunity to see Julie and Brenna at the same time.
Of course, this entire weekend was awesome for Christine because she had an opportunity to see so many friends...and we were almost done, but not quite. After the park, we ordered some food to join Diane at her house (thanks to her and Janice for letting us come over instead of sticking our tired and under-napped boy in a high-chair in a restaurant) and invited Aunt Stephanie to come over and visit some more as well. It was only fitting that Christine order from Blue Moon...after all, Keith had eaten his favorite sandwich earlier in the day, so now it was her turn for her favorite burrito. Austin finally got an opportunity to eat that hot dog from earlier in the day, and once again he charmed the room. Unfortunately our time was drawing to a close and we needed to "hit the road" so that Daddy could get the family home in time for him to get some sleep before waking up to go to work at 7:45 the next morning.
All in all, we had a wonderful time. Thank you to everyone who made it so special. Thanks to Lauren and Dave for inviting us over for the day. Thanks to Joelle and David for their incredibly generous hospitality. Thanks to Aunt Angela and Uncle Ed for a great food and wonderful company. And thanks to everyone for understanding how busy we are, that we try our best to see as many people as we can and for being so flexible in accommodating us. Your understanding is what makes these trips so rewarding for us and allows us to see as many of you as we do. We love you all!
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