JNez@thirtydaes.2010

man, our spring break vacation was awesome! the opportunity to visit different cities with the girls (& kittens) was incredible. after busch gardens in williamsburg, virginia, we headed to the nation’s capital for a night & day there. we arrived too late in DC for any sightseeing friday evening, so we headed to TGI Fridays for a nice dinner (and drinks for dad). we awoke to a pristine spring day with 78 degree temps, checked out of the hotel & headed to our dcbyfoot.com tour that began near the national mall on 15th & constitution. we learned the history & took pics of the washington monument, capitol building & lincoln memorial before leaving the tour to head on our own to the white house.

the white house is inaccessible from pennsylvania avenue but we were able to walk up to its north entrance on H street to take flicks. beautiful.

by the time we walked back to where we’d parked the car, we were plenty tired (and hot). but our trip wasn’t finished yet: we drove 45 minutes north to Baltimore’s Inner Harbor where we had dinner outside at pizzeria uno’s. what a magnificent end to a magnificent vacation that spanned 3 states and nearly 1100 driving miles.

we got back into the city early sunday morning around 1 am. i dropped the girls off to their mom early sunday afternoon before my coda to the trip, which was a game at the new yankee stadium with the ex!

we had tickets for the final opening homestand game against cleveland sunday, april 19. the new stadium is massive, but feels…cold to me. the structure is open and offers little protection against the elements: good to watch the game from any location but not so much in inclement weather. there’s also a lot of exposed, albeit painted, steel & concrete. seems to me they saved the luxury for the VIP fans in suites not accessible (or even visible) to “regular” fans. still a pretty attractive stadium though, and us fans were rewarded with a come from behind win by the team.

well our trip to busch gardens is over and now we’re beginning the final leg of our spring vacation by heading to washington d.c. we have a walking tour of all the historic sites in our nation’s capital scheduled for 6pm tonight. we’ll leave williamsburg after checking out the colonial america preservation at jamestown settlement this early afternoon.

the weather has finally turned and we’re expecting gorgeous temps near 70 as we head north to dc. i predicted great weather for today 10 days ago on twitter & now it’s coming to fruition, finally. we spend the night in d.c. before heading to family day at the national archives on saturday, april 18. then it’s an early dinner in baltimore’s inner harbor with some high school friends before we head back to nyc saturday evening.

so we arrived last night in williamsburg, virginia around 7pm to our hotel room @ the hampton inn just 3 miles away from busch gardens theme park. we unpacked real quick, used stealth mode to enter king & queen & set them up. then it was off to wal-mart for some last minute toiletries & a quick dinner at burger king. all the girls wanted to do was lounge in the hotel pool so that’s where we chilled until it closed at 11pm.

i awoke at 9 to check out the free hotel breakfast. hmph. i should have stayed asleep with the girls. there were danishes, cereal, toast, biscuits, and some weird “breakfast pizza bagel.” by the time the girls awoke and saw “breakfast,” they nibbled politely at the pizza bagels before cracking open a bag of chips. i started to protest, but hey—we’re on vacation, right?

the rainy, cool weather had me feeling down emotionally and i wondered what in the world we were going to do today. i’d paid for a 7 day discovery pass to busch gardens, which is incidentally the same price as a one-day admission. the weather forecast was rain & clouds through wednesday so i’m thinking “damn we just got cheated out of 3 days!” i wanted to sulk the rest of the day indoors but by noon we were hungry so i pulled it together, showered, & we headed out.

i was trying to get to arby’s for my beef & cheddar fix, but when we left it had stopped raining and the theme park is only 5 minutes down the road so i said what the hey, let’s check it out. we stopped for a quick lunch at wendy’s and entered busch gardens. what a great decision that was: the weather had kept the crowds away so we had our pick of any & every ride with absolutely zero wait time!

we first hopped the skyway to a division of the park with the biggest & newest roller coaster, griffon. i rode it. not so wise on a full tummy. almost lost my lunch lol. no matter, we carried on, and the girls were brave enough to ride a less ambitious, but still pretty terrifying coaster, the apollo chariot, with me. we strolled around the park, visiting attraction after attraction without waiting in line. some of the rides the girls were able to remain in for seconds & thirds. by then i had to hang on the sidelines, snapping pics & sending updates to twitter lol. i’m not as young as i once was

still we had a great time, and the best part is we get to do it all again tomorrow, thursday, & perhaps even friday. the weather is supposed to get progressively better until it reaches the mid 70′s on saturday, when, alas, we’ll be on our way back to nyc. still waiting to hear about our white house tour, but we leave williamsburg on friday morning to head to DC for the day/night anyway.

well, the girls & i (and king & queen) are off to celebrate spring break in williamsburg, virginia @ busch gardens. we have passes for the entire week, april 13-17 and a cozy hotel suite @ the hampton inn. we plan to enjoy the theme park, take in a few movies, & get some shopping in. on our way back to nyc, we spend an evening in washington d.c. on friday april 17 where we intend to visit all the historic monuments & also, if we’re fortunate, tour the obama white house.

we’ve been planning this getaway since early last month and now that it’s finally here, the girls are very excited. we’ll do another road trip like we did for christmas vacation, and enjoy what had better be some nice spring weather in the mid-atlantic region. of course, we’ll keep you updated on our itinerary & what we’re enjoying/enduring on twitter. i’ll post pics of our trip via twitter or my flickr page. also, i’ll try to include at least a summary of our days away here on the blog. but this trip is all about rest, relaxation, & being together as we take our family on the road for spring break 2009

we arrived in fayetteville, north carolina at 5:30 am, making the 580 mile trip from new york city in just 8 1/2 hours, which ties a record for me. the girls & i picked up my 17 year old nephew in harlem and were crossing the GW bridge into 95 south at 9pm. stopped once for gas 180 miles later at maryland house just outside of baltimore, and just once more nearly 300 miles later near rocky mount, north carolina. traffic was light; the drive was pleasant. i had my best of 2008 iPhone playlist on the car stereo while the girls had their new iPod nanos & a portable dvd player to keep them occupied in the back. my nephew sent & received texts while listening to his own iPod as he rode shotgun.

so we get here, greet mom & my sister & her two young children, and mom’s husband. they’re all happy to see us, although we’re a little early lol. as we begin to unpack the truck and settle in, i notice, via my iPhone, that mom has a wireless network now that she didn’t have the last time i visited in february. during that visit, i purchased a wireless router for her & configured it, but when i returned home, she complained that it messed up some crucial settings that she uses for her online free-lance customer support business so she disconnected & returned it.

now you know i’m coming with my new macbook that the ex blessed me with for christmas & also preparing to surprise my nephew by giving him my old laptop. so wireless internet access was essential. as a result, i came prepared with a new wireless router that i was going connect & access for the three days i’d be here. however, when i went to connect it, i noticed mom, in fact, had her own new wireless network. sweet. so i asked her for the password so i could access it. hmmm….that’s when the hemming & hawing began. mom said she didn’t know the password, that she’d forgotten it. i’m thinking, that’s unlikely: i’m sure mom had help with configuring the network and its security and she’d be sure to write down explicit operating instructions for reference. but she claimed she hadn’t. no big deal; i thought i’d shuffle around among the desk & file cabinet near her computer where i’d be sure to find the configuration settings.

so mom’s about to put the christmas turkey in the oven and is also preparing the side dishes. i should have known it wasn’t a good time to trouble her. but your boy was amped, ready to get online instead of resting like i’d promised to do. so after sorting through the folders on her computer desk and still not finding the settings & passwords, i became suspicious. mom is known to be very territorial and she was now noticeably jumpy & a bit irritated. i’m thinking: she does know the password or at least where to find it but doesn’t want to share it with me. wow. how could mom not trust me. i’ve never given her any reason to whatsover. she knows how connected i am online and is even known to read this blog occasionally (oh boy). so my feelings are hurt now as i think, wow…just got here and mama drama is starting already. it’s so not worth it. i should fall back, get some rest, and try to address it later. but no…

so i come up with another idea. heck i’ll just disconnect her router & replace it with mine. as i start to do that, my sister suggests that i ask my mom if it was ok to do that. by then, i’m in offensive mode so i go ahead and begin the process anyway. but then, thankfully, something stops me and i go to her and explain what i wanted to do. mom looks wary & reminds me of the trouble she encounterd after my first attempt to set her up with a wireless network. completely emapthetic by now, i gently explain that she will not have similar issues; the configuration will be temporary, only for the duration of my visit & i’ll ensure that her settings are reset to the defaults before i leave.

still wary, mom starts rustling through another folder of written documentation and suddenly locates the documentation of her wireless network. she reluctantly passes it to me before leaving the room in a huff. problem solved.

oh but my feelings are hurt, so i tweet about it, asking my twitter fam what their experience is when a visiting family member asks for a password to connect to their wireless network. overwhelmingly the feedback supports my expectation that this is a non-issue: family members are provided access without hesitation. still, a few twitter fam encourage me to just let it ride; as by now, the tension in the house is thick & it’s evident that mom & i are at odds. so i finally let it go. i got what i needed, didn’t i? conversation between me & mom resumes, and the rest of the morning & afternoon proceed without incident.

and let me tell you, mom’s christmas dinner was off the chain: turkey, stuffing, mac & cheese, red rice, sweet potatoes, potato salad, collard greens, cornbread, & sweet potato pie. now you know where i get my cooking skills from: mom is no joke in the kitchen. we all eat together, exchange gifts, & my nephew & i spend the rest of the afternoon glued to our laptops lol.

i take a quick 2 hour nap, shower & then contact my dad to set up a football day at his house on sunday. growing up, dad was a huge football fan, but i wasn’t. as an adult though, i’ve grown to obsess about the game as much as he. i only get to visit dad once or twice a year, sometimes even less, so we’ve never actually watched an nfl game together. dad was ecstatic about us finally getting to do that so that should be a highlight of the trip down here: dad & i will drink beer, & shoot the breeeze while watching nfl games before i head back to new york city sunday night.

my plans for tonight, however, fell through: my cousins down here are feeling under the weather so we couldn’t hook up as planned. it’s all good…i’m still a little tired from the drive anyway. that’s what tomorrow’s for. the girls, on the other hand, are in heaven: their three younger cousins are all here & they get to have a bonafide sleepover, complete with hannah montana & high school musical themed sleeping bags, right here in the middle of grandma’s living room.

can’t wait to see what tomorrow brings…

well, the week we’ve been anticipating (or dreading) is upon us: christmas 2008.  this year, the girls & i are going to fayetteville, north carolina, to visit my mom, sister, cousins, & hopefully my dad too. my plan is to drive down on christmas (thursday) evening, spend the weekend, and then head back home alone on monday. the ex has a surprise getaway planned for my 36th birthday on tuesday, dec. 30. we’ll be away for new years eve and then i’ll return to fayetteville next friday, jan. 2 to pick up the girls for our trip back to new york city the next day.

yep, that’s a lot of driving! but i’ve done it before so i’ll be ok. the girls are super excited about the whole adventure. they haven’t seen their cousins & other family in north carolina since last february and talk about them non-stop. only thing is, the last time i took them home to nc, a great visit ended abruptly thanks to a huge argument i had with my mom. the incident, in fact, inspired one of my first blog posts. mom & i have, of course, made up since then. still, the way my moods swing whenever i visit home, i’m going to fraction my visit to minimize any chance for repeat conflict with mom. she’s an awesome grandmother; but i still have some issues with her that at this point really shouldn’t matter.

now my relationship with dad is an even more conflicted. he & mom divorced years ago, but he was abusive to both of us. he & i have forged an up & down adult relationship over the years. we’ll go months without speaking, years without seeing each other, but when we do reunite, we focus on what we have in common and try to enjoy the few hours together. i got dad into iTunes & iPods last year so he’s in heaven realizing the convenience of reconstructing his music collection digitally. we usually have a few beers together while i show him how to tweak & optimize his computer programs.

so it’s gonna be pretty exciting & eventful over the next 10 days for us here. of course, i’ll bring you all along, for the good & the bad. i hope that you’ll be enjoying yourself this holiday season too.  happy holidays, readers