Tales From the Minivan

Today was our check-out day from the Villas at Fairway. I don’t think we’ll be returning to this resort again. After a week of being sick, I know we didn’t make the best of the amenities, but I just don’t think we’d return to the Poconos again. One positive of his resort that many have taken advantage of, is it’s close proximity to New York City, only an hour and a half drive. Mackenzie has been asking to go to NYC for a few years now, ever since she first saw the movie Eloise at the Plaza. I know that this past week wasn’t a lot of fun for her, so even though I was a little apprehensive about going into the city with the younger boys, I knew it would make her trip. Andrew was on board, actually I think he may have been the one to suggest it!

I had read that the best way to get into the city from where we were in Pennsylvania was to drive to Staten Island and take the Ferry over to Manhattan. My one stipulation if we were going to NYC was to not have to drive in the city. By going to Staten Island you can park a few minutes walk from the ferry terminal in a municipal lot for $4 for the entire day and ride the Ferry for free! We got to Staten Island just after noon and managed to just catch one of the ferries. I wore Finn in the Pouch Sling and Andrew wore Ciaran on his back in the BabyHawk. Ciaran is just too much of a runner and will not hold hands, so we felt this was the best place for him. We also packed his little doggie backpack style harness to have with us for the day. The ferry ride was uneventful, although I thought it was pretty funny that in the ladies restroom, they have a separate vanity area that was filled with women all applying make-up and doing their hair in a mad rush before they hit the City. Another plus of taking the Ferry into the city is that it passes by the Statue of Liberty, something that Mackenzie really wanted to see!

Once we got off the Ferry we picked up day passes for the Subway and rode as far as Penn Station. Finn was fussing a little so I nursed him on the Subway, a definite first for me! The kids were in awe when we got up to the street level. We walked for a while along 7^th Avenue then soon hit Times Square. Liam immediately spotted the ToysRUs!

We went in and were all amazed by the size of the store. It’s 3 complete floors and on the bottom floor there is actually a Ferris Wheel! We went up to the second level and spotted the Pokemon Store! They actually have dedicated departments for some of the more popular items. It was sad to see him pass right by the Thomas setup and run for the Pokemon. We ended up buying the kids each a t-shirt, with the boys choosing Pokemon and Mackenzie a NYC Hello Kitty one.

Of course hunger was setting in, and Ciaran immediately spotted the Times Square McDonald’s, so lunch was spent there. I will be the first to admit that I do enjoy McDonald’s food, but not the US McDonald’s! I despise it, I find the food tasteless and just plain gross, but I couldn’t talk them out of it! We continued along 7^th Ave until we reached Central Park. I knew that there was a huge play area for kids (saw it on Law and Order…lol), it was much bigger (and better) than I remembered.

The kids had a lot of fun playing in the water area, it was just surreal being there. Here’s this huge park right in the middle of this Urban Jungle. Another I couldn’t help but notice was all of the highend strollers. Urban Mountain Buggies, Bugaboo Frogs…they were everywhere! The only way to get Liam and Ciaran out of the park was to bribe them with Sponge Bob Icecreams. Yes, bribery gets you everywhere! We stopped for a few minutes on one of the park benches and this butterfly would not leave Liam alone! It would fly around, but kept coming back and landing on him. It was really funny!

After leaving Central Park we walked down to Broadway to see the Ed Sullivan Theater home of Dave Letterman’s Late Show. Then we spotted a sign for the Nintendo World Store, near Rockerfeller Center. We’re huge Nintendo Fans, so we just had to check out the store while there. Along the walk there we saw Radio City Music Hall too. The kids (including Andrew) really enjoyed the Nintendo Store.

After this we decided that it was probably time to hit the road, as I really didn’t know my way back out of Staten Island and would prefer to do it during daylight. This plan was botched as we just missed the Ferry and had to wait for the next one. One thing we didn’t realize was when we got our directions (we use Microsoft’s Streets & Trips software) the route it gave us was directly through the city! Not fun at all, especially in the dark. I persevered and got us out! We drove as far as New Haven, Connecticut and spent the night there. It was a great day and definitely a great end to this leg of our travels!

Last night was not much fun! Firstly Ciaran just did not want to go to bed. Once he finally settled, I think he was up about 5 times. He was feverish, and his nose was completely congested. Andrew and I tried to get some Tylenol Cold into him, but because it was liquid form, he would not take it.

By mid-morning Ciaran seemed to be feeling much better, The kids had a fun time playing in the condo. There was a cool sleep loft with a single bed and a trundle bed under it. This is where Mackenzie slept, she really liked it as it gave her, her own space away from he boys, the boys really like playing up there though!

This gave me time to get all of the laundry done and the suitcase packed. Nothing better than packing CLEAN clothes! I took out enough for the weekend for our drive home, and the rest will stay in the monster size suitcase in the back of the van. Depending on how everyone is feeling tomorrow we’re going to do something SUPER EXCITING! I’ve been feeling bad that this week didn’t turn out as planned especially for Mackenzie, so we have something in the works for tomorrow! Stay tuned!

With a dark sky hanging over our heads, we got out of the condo and headed for The Crossings Outlets. We found them a few days ago, but didn’t do any shopping. On the drive there we also noticed that the Giant Flea Market was open too, although not quite as giant as before. We stopped there as Mackenzie was hoping to get back to get some toe socks and was very happy to find them open!

We then hopped back on the I-80 west, bound for the outlets. Retail therapy was just what I needed. We weren’t sure if they were going to be open. It’s funny in the Maritimes on Holidays EVERYTHING is closed with the exception of convenience stores. Once we pulled in we realized that this was not the case here! The parking lot was completely full!

I got myself a purse and matching wallet that I had eyed the other day, other than that I got some great deals the The Children’s Place Outlet, they had 50% off the lowest ticket. I got polo shirts for the boys for $2 and camo shorts for $3, and some cute matching hats for $1.50! Mackenzie spotted a Claire’s Outlet and the had a 10/$5 special and she got a few pair of leg warmers and arm warmers and some hair bands and a few other things. She was quite excited! Liam and Ciaran was happy to find a KB Toys Outlet and Pokemon figures. And Andrew got a pair of camo shorts to match the boys at Gap, not so sure if he was so happy about this though.

After shopping we decided to stay on the I-80 one exit past our resort, to see a place called the Delaware Water Gap. WE drove around, but never actually found this supposed “attraction” we’re now thinking it was maybe just the town’s name! WE did find this really cool highway there with some scenic overlooks of the Delaware River. This highway was quite narrow at some points and the vegetation so lush and green, both Andrew and I thought it reminded us of the Caribbean. A lot of the roads are just like this on many islands down there.

The day of shopping was just what I needed! Especially finding the great deals I found! We kicked back and watched some TV together, then had a treat. After snacking on some Krispy Kreme donuts the boys got quite sticky, so I decided to give them a bath. The first night we got here Andrew gave the boys a bath in the big Jacuzzi, but it was a bit of a bust. For some unknown reason the water smelled of rotten egg when the jets were turned on, so Liam was really opposed to bathing. The day after I found an info sheet for the condo and it said that sometimes minerals can get trapped in the lines causing sediment build-up. The info sheet said to fill the tub, put in a little dish soap then run the jets for 10 minutes. I followed these directions precisely and ended up with a LOT of suds! Mackenzie and I actually had to physically relocate the suds to the shower so we could refill the tub! The boys and I had a bath together, and then we all watched TV for a little while together.

With everyone still feeling under the weather we didn’t venture too far from the condo today. I managed to find an Internet connection to get the blog updated, and check my email quickly. Hopefully by the weekend I’ll be able to get back to everyone that has contacted me. I promise I’m not ignoring you, I just don’t have a connection!

After that we had a late lunch at this diner called the “Four Seasons Diner” that immediately caught our eye as soon as we drove into town. I must say it was pretty impressive to the eye from then exterior, but a wee bit of a let-down from the inside. I would have assumed it would have been a little more “themey”, you know with a jukebox and fun stuff like that. It was nice inside with some nice woodwork, but didn’t have that fun family atmosphere. The food was OK, but nothing special.

We came back to the condo and I did some laundry, and Mackenzie played on the computer. Without an Internet connection she’s been making the best of her computer time and using a program called PAINT.net. It’s a free-ware program that’s an enhancement of the original Microsoft Paint Program. A group of university students decided to take the original and improve upon and this program was born. The great thing is that it’s completely free and a huge improvement of the original. I thought I’d take the opportunity to showcase some of the things she’s been doing this week. She’s becoming quite the graphic artist!

Aren’t they awesome?

After another night coughing through the night, I knew I needed to see a doctor. What ever illness this is, needs more that over the counter medicines. Finn was also sounding really wheezy too, and although his disposition was still really good, I thought I’d err to the side of caution and take him too. I called the front desk and got directions to the Pocono Medical Centre in the next town from us called East Stroudsburg, PA.

We found the hospital with no difficulties and once we got there we brought everyone in as I had no idea how long I’d be. I spoke with someone at the front they got mine and Finn’s names and the reason we were there and were told that the nurse would be with us in a few minutes. About 5 minutes later we spoke with the triage nurse named Brian, he got our vitals and told us we’d probably be there about an hour or so. I let Andrew know so he could take the other kids and go do something with them rather than sitting in the ER waiting room. I was kind of in shock that I would only be there for an hour as it seemed pretty busy.

Finn and I waited a few more minutes then we were called behind the big doors to an exam room. Finn was getting hungry so I decided to nurse him, (not so easy in a Johnny shirt). A few minutes later I got a visit from Robert in Registration. He had a mobile cart with a laptop and took all of my insurance information, so the hospital could direct bill BlueCross. This was great as I thought I might have to pay upfront then submit once we got home.

Our next visit was from Dr Cornish, he was very thorough and explained everything to me in detail. It was decided that a chest X-Ray would be best for me, and they’d do a test for RSV on Finn. He assured me I’d only be separated for a moment from Finn and they actually brought in an extra nurse into the X-Ray room to entertain Finn on the other side of the glass. Once we returned back to the exam room, the next nurse (and I had a little chuckle about her name, anyone that has watched Pokemon will understand), her name was Joy! She took the sample from Finn for the RSV test. What she did was squirt a little saline in his nose, so she could get some of the mucous coming from his nose. It only took her a minute and Finn hardly even squirmed.

We waited another 20-30 minutes to get the results from the X-Ray and Finn’s test and Dr Cornish came back to tell me that we both have Bronchitis! He prescribed us both Zithromax and some pretty strong cough syrup for me, so strong that I can’t drive while taking it! We went to the SuperCenter Walmart to get them filled, as I knew we could take the kids to the toy section while we waited, it was a good thing too, as it took almost an hour and a half to fill! While browsing around Liam seemed really sluggish, I touched his forehead, he was burning up with a fever too! We got some Motrin into him and soon after he was feeling better. This particular Walmart had some unique art as well, I used had to capture a photo of. This is a map of the US made out of each states lisence plates. It was really well done and looked like it was made to scale.

$92 later, we got our prescriptions and headed out on the road again. We headed west on I-80 in search of an Outlet Mall we saw when we drove in and somewhere for lunch. We found The Crossings Premium Outlets ( www.premiumoutlets.com ) in Tannersville, PA with over 100 stores, unfortunately Ciaran fell asleep (those Britax seats are just too comfortable), so we decided just to drive around and see what outlets were there and then head further NW back to Scranton as Andrew had also spotted some of the big-box electronic stores there. This way Ciaran could sleep on the drive there and we’d all eat once he woke.

Scranton was a bit of a bust. We did get to Staples and buy an adaptor we needed for my laptop and a package of pens. Yes, pens. I have been without a pen since we left Saint John! We had a bite to eat then headed back to the condo for the evening, with Pokemon playing in the background. It was a peaceful drive, until we realized that we needed to gas up. Just as soon as I said to Andrew that the van pretty much runs on fumes, and we should make it to the next exit, the “Low Fuel” light came on! I then see a big blue sign “Exit 20- GAS”. WE get off Exit 20, and the next sign we see is another sign for gas with arrows pointing to both the left and right. I told Andrew to go to the left, right away we see a station sign with the prices, but no actual station! I should have clued in right away as the gas prices were around $2.00 a gallon, not the over $3.00 of today! We found a place to safely turn and headed in the opposite direction, and drove for a few minutes, and came to a set of lights…no gas! Now I was starting to panic little. We got back on I-380 S and were joking around about what we’d do if we ran out of gas and what would be better to do?…”Drive 90km/hr to save fuel, but get to a gas station slower, or drive 110 km/hr and use more fuel but get to a station faster?” Please comment if you know the correct answer to settle this for us.

Lucky for us we found that the next exit sign once again said it had gas, we rolled the dice and got off, as soon as we got off, we both had a worried look on our face as there wasn’t a sign directing us to the gas! I shouted left and after a few minutes of holding our breath, we spotted the station! Phew! With the minivan filled, we continued our peaceful journey back to the resort with the kids not ever knowing our stress!

I woke up this morning to everyone hacking and coughing including myself. I didn’t even have the energy to get out of bed to go to the hospital. The kids watched a few movies while we all tried to heal a little. Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day.