Love, Learn, Play: New York, New York!

Just a warning- a vacation directly after a vacation may not be the brightest of ideas. Apparently Jon and I used up all of our brain power planning for our first family reunion vacation because we literally had zero brain power left when we left for New York three days after returning home from up north! But despite the fact that we closely resembled two bumbling morons for the duration of our travels, we were able to spend some wonderful time with our New York family and of course it was all worth it in the end.

At 4:00am Wednesday morning, we loaded two sleeping boys into the car and headed east. When traveling with two three year olds, its always nice to get a few hours of driving under your belt before they even wake up. Luckily our boys are just about the best travelers we could ever ask for, so even once they were awake it was a pretty smooth trip. We took the southern route through the state of New York because it took us through the tip of the Alleghany Mountains, which happens to be the boys all time favorite mountain range (because most three year olds have a favorite mountain range- right?). They have a special connection to the Alleghany's because they are the mountains that necessitated the creation of their favorite train- the 1601 Alleghany Express that is on permanent display at Henry Ford Museum. So we we're driving through the mountains and we happen to see a sign for the Salamanca Rail Museum so we cut across traffic to exit and check it out. Here is where I can tell you two things for certain. 1- The gentleman working at the Salamanca Rail Museum was the same gentleman who worked there in some capacity or another back when it was a fully functioning train station. And 2- He was very happy to see us as we were the only people who were going to be there for the duration of the day and possibly the entire week. But the boys were fascinated with the place and after having a rather educated discussion with the old man about the wheel configuration and history of the Alleghany Express engine and purchasing three dollars worth of post cards and old train magazines circa 1960, they were ready to hit the road again to finish our trip. The train magazines gave Jon and I an entire hour of peaceful driving and before long we arrived in Homer, New York at Auntie Jen's house.

Not only were Auntie Jen and Uncle Morgan there- but Grammy and Grampy from Michigan, Great Grandma and Great Grandpa Brownie from Florida, our Florida cousins and cousin Abby from Pennsylvania, and our New York cousins from Auburn. We spent a wonderful afternoon watching all the kids play- the boys had all the kiddos from big to small creating Duplo masterpieces (though I must say that the little ones petered out after awhile and it was just the big "kids" left playing Duplos!), they joined in a rousing game of bocce ball, and spent the afternoon on the swing set. We all walked into town for a concert in the park after dinner and then spent some time at the playground where it became quite apparent to everyone else in the family that I am raising a set of triplets and one just happens to be much taller and with more facial hair than the other two :)

Because Auntie Jen's house was full (so full that she and Uncle Morgan were staying at a friend's house!), we were going to sleep at our cousin's house an hour away in Auburn. By the time we got there, got situated, let the boys play with their cousins Emma and Finn and then got them to bed, it was 11:00pm. While it was a wonderful day, it was the beginning of the end of our meticulously kept schedule and thus the beginning of the end of what little semblance of sanity we have managed to maintain! The next morning we returned to Homer to spend time with the whole family but the boys struggled a bit. The day before, the big cousins were excited to engage the boys in some active play but today everyone was tired and the boys just couldn't understand that. Jon and I got easily frustrated with their inability to calm themselves down or be calmed down and we ended up having to take a break or two to drive around and attempt to settle us all down. Some of the differences we have come to know and love in our boys just felt so very apparent and while we tend to nurture these little quirks in our own home, it all of a sudden felt like the boys were quite different in what seemed to be an out of control way and it was just difficult for Jon and I to make sense of what was simply the boys' "quirkiness", what was due to their lack of sleep and regular meals, and what was truly bad behavior. Nonetheless, we survived the day and got to spend more time with our family. The boys developed a bit of a crush on their cousins Sophie and Abby and cousin Tyler introduced them to the Beetles and it was love at first sight (sound?!). Although we had another late night so our sleep schedule careened even farther off track!

Friday was our last full day in New York and since our Florida family and Pennsylvania family had returned home early in the morning we were able to spend most of the day with our New York cousins. The boys had a wonderful tea party with Emma Jane and Finn (complete with real iced tea which the boys found to be quite novel!) and then despite the heat- or maybe because of it- we headed to Buttermilk Falls for a dip in the water. Of course we left without having lunch for the boys even though it was far past lunch time and we managed to arrive with only one swim suit and no sunscreen. It was a bit of a debacle- but cousin Aubrey had some sunscreen, we swam in our shorts, and stopped at a whole foods store to get some healthy lunch in all of us- and it turned out to be a wonderful afternoon in spite of our complete and utter inability to plan or prepare for any of it! Jon and I are never, ever unprepared- we were so out of our element that we almost couldn't right ourselves! Luckily we were able to pull it together and grab some healthy dinner before we all melted down again and we made it back to Homer to spend the evening with Great Grandma and Great Grandpa Brownie. Having the boys sit down with them at the dining room table for nearly an hour was so incredibly special. The boys drew pictures of trains while Grandpa Brownie talked about his summer job on the railroad while he was in college- a conversation that the boys were fully engaged in! We finished the night with some ice cream in town and then headed back to Auburn for bed. Except that we were headed straight into the most terrifying storm cloud I have ever, ever seen in my entire life! The torrential downpours and the unfamiliar and winding roads made it nearly impossible to drive- but there were no clear skies in sight, it was already 9:30pm, and all of our bedtime stuff was an hour away in Auburn, so we had no choice but to caulk the wagon and forge the river. I only had a minorly severe panic attack while Jon somehow managed to get us back safely. But of course not before we had another episode of ridiculousness. To keep the boys busy so Jon could focus on driving and I could focus on not dying, we put an old episode of Sesame Street on the iPad for the boys to watch. It is the one where Snuffalupagus wants to be a cloud so he uses balloons to lift himself in to the sky, but then realizes he is lonely up there and wants to come down. Matthew gets sad when Snuffy starts to feel lonely, though we are able to convince him that he knows the outcome and it all turns out okay. But sure enough, Snuffy lands safely on the ground and poor Matthew bursts into hysterical tears. I finally managed to get him to tell us what was wrong and between sobs he managed to say, "Mama... I'm so... HAPPY!". The darn kid had an empathetic meltdown of nuclear proportions because he was so happy that Snuffy was happy.

Oh wait- its not over yet! We finally arrived in Auburn in time to catch the end of Horton Hears a Who that Emma and Finn were watching while waiting up for us. I desperately wanted it to be okay. I wanted to relax a little and let our boys watch something we normally wouldn't because I wanted them to be normal with their normal cousins who were watching a normal kids movie. I should have known that we were all to exhausted to try to be normal. What followed was such an unbelievable display of extreme emotion that Jon and I could do nothing but laugh. We just laughed. I was too tired to be embarrassed. Too tired to explain. To tired to be fearful of what this meant for our future. When Horton was trying to cross the bridge, the boys burst into tears. They were worried for Horton. They felt bad that he was too big for the bridge. When he crossed safely, they burst into tears of joy. Then Horton lost the flower with the speck on it and we burst into tears again. Then he found it and we cried for joy. But when no one believed Horton we sobbed once more. Then the Who's couldn't make enough noise so we continued to cry. Then they did make enough noise and we cried out in happiness. Then Horton couldn't find his way home to the jungle and we cried some more. Then he did, and we cried one last joyful cry. It was a textbook example of the emotional rollercoaster, this time a rollercoaster of empathy, that is sure to be one of many, many rollercoaster rides as these extreme emotions are so painfully common with kids like ours. Oh the joys. It was nearly 11:30pm and we all crashed out of pure exhaustion!

We contemplated hitting the road at 4:00am on Saturday, but we just weren't ready to leave yet. So we let the boys sleep in and spend one last morning with their cousins before we packed up and rolled out at 10:00am. What should have been an 8 hour drive home turned into a 12 hour drive home. A word of advice- don't ever, ever make a "quick stop" by Niagara falls at 1:00pm on the Saturday after the 4th of July. Just trust me and don't ever do it. After that we drove around Cleveland looking for two mysteriously difficult to find Panera's, finally found the second one and had dinner, then finally arrived home with only minor difficulties just before 10:00pm.

Despite all of the craziness- the mixed up sleep schedule, the lack of normal meals and normal food, and the emotional rollercoasters we rode- it was an amazing trip. We will always remember the time we got to spend with our cousins, aunts and uncles- and most importantly, the evening we spent drawing trains with Great Grandma and Great Grandpa Brownie. It feels great to be home and attempting to regain some normalcy again, but we already miss our family so much and can't wait to see them all again!!!

Cousins at the park