Road Trip! South of the Border

This was our first attempt at a long distance road trip with the kids. Philadelphia to Orlando. Just over 1,000 miles. One thing's for sure, the DVD player helped A LOT. We left the Philly area around 11pm on Election Night, and drove through the night, into the early morning hours making it all the way to Rocky Mount, NC, (about 400 miles,) where we stopped for the night, well, morning really. The kids slept most of the way.

 I managed to sneak in a few hours sleep myself in a warm bed, but then it was back on the road around noon, stopping a few hours later at South of the Border in Dillon, SC. You start seeing the signs hours earlier in North Carolina, beginning the mileage countdown all the way there. The one thing they had this time that I hadn't noticed before, was a giant game room. This was great, especially the Bounce House. There was hardly anyone there, and the kids were able to blow off steam in the bounce house for as long as they wanted. We also played Skee Ball, Basketball, and Foosball.

Evan and Eliana loved the giant gumball machine. We had to keep the whole trip a secret because we were driving down to surprise my Mom for her Birthday!

Eliana and Mommy playing some Basketball.

Then we visited the "Hats Around the World" Store, and we had fun trying on all sorts of different hats. Here's Evan posing with a Sombrero wearing Velociraptor.

Guess which one is the dinosaur?

Señor Evan.

Cowgirl Eliana.

Finally, we meet Pedro!

Evan and Triceratops.

One of the coolest parts of South of the Border was the new "Reptile Lagoon." Not quite a zoo, but rivals most zoos reptile pavilions in size. There were dozens of different types of Alligators, Crocodiles, and Snakes. Needless to say, Mommy and Eliana stayed in the car, just the boys went. Evan and I had a blast. There was one baby Croc who was not to happy about me taking his picture and came flying at me with his mouth open ready to attack. Luckily, it was in a tank, and only about 3 feet long, but all Croc in spirit. After that, it was time to hit the road again. Next stop: Disney World.

No photographs please. Now back away from my tank.

New Daddy Diaries Proofreader.

I have nominated my wife, Genevieve as the officially designated proofreader of the Daddy Diaries, and want to let her know that I do appreciate her help greatly. I sometimes (most of the time) write these entries late at night, and sometimes my spelling, punctuation, and grammar can be a bit off. Even if I proofread it myself after writing it, I'm unlikely to catch any errors, especially if I'm tired. So Thank You Genevieve.

Happy Halloween!!

Eliana as Tinkerbell

Evan was "Sully" from "Monsters, Inc."

 

Eliana of course, was "Tinkerbell."

C'mon Tinkerball, keep up!

Eliana and Evan had a blast trick or treating tonight. And they had an even better time handing out candy to all the kids who came to the door!

Pumpkin Carving

Evan excited to finally be carving pumpkins.  

(Most of my photos are turning out blurry, I think my camera needs to be cleaned.)

Eliana deciding on which side of the pumpkin is the best.

The kids are so proud of their pumpkins.  Eliana's is Foofa, PopPop's traditional jack o lantern, Evan's Mike Wazowski from Monsters Inc and Nana's screaming jack o lantern.

Hurricane Sandy - Camped Out

9:15PM - Winds really starting to pick up. Eye went right over us. Heavy winds on the back end of the eye headed this way.

Well, it's just about here, it's been raining on and off all day and the winds are really picking up. I went to BJ's on my way over to see the kids and it was open! Practically had the place to myself! Looks like I may be riding out the storm at the Lambert's house.

We set up tents tonight in the living room at the Lambert's. It's been quiet for the last couple of hours, but the winds seem to be picking up now that Hurricane Sandy has made landfall. We still have power, but if we lose it, we have plenty of flashlights and some toys that light up, so we'll have fun camping out!

Calm Before the Storm

8AM Monday: Wind and rain starting to pick up a bit.

1:30AM Monday
Some heavy rain earlier, but mostly dry now. Wind picking up a bit. Did some last minute shopping a few hours ago, mostly snacks.

4:30PM Sandy now one of the largest cyclones ever to form in the Atlantic. Rain has started here near Philadelphia.

1:30PM
All is calm here Sunday morning as we await Hurricane Sandy. All models seem to have the Hurricane making landfall at the South Jersey Shore, meaning we will likely see some hurricane force winds in our area. Hopefully it fizzles out or takes some other track that takes it out to sea, but that seems unlikely now. Hoping for the best, but preparing for the worst.

Remembering Uncle Steve

Evan's cousin Riley checks out the trains as they go by Uncle Steve and Aunt Diane's house on the day of his funeral. Uncle Steve was a one of a kind train enthusiast. Riley is his grandson.

Mommy gives Evan a boost to check out the passing freight trains.

Cousin Ava, Evan, and Eliana had fun playing in the sandbox.

Uncle Steve's trains went on a memorial ride.

Evan and Eliana having fun on the Boat/Sandbox. When you put the lid on the sandbox, the kids can pretend they're on a boat!

Eliana spent the afternoon dancing around the yard with his cousin stephanie!

All the cousins trying to look over the fence. Looks like Eliana needs a boost.

Look at how big Eliana is! So beautiful!