Family Time

Every time we go back to New Jersey or Nebraska we like to take sometime and spend it with just our little family.  Most of the time it is only for a couple hours but since we spend most of Mark's vacation time visiting family we like to take time to ourselves doing "vacation" type things.  I really wanted to go into NYC again but it just didn't work out this trip, maybe the next one.  Instead we spent a morning in Wyckoff, my old stomping grounds!  First up was Abma's Farm.  There are animals that the kids can see and they also grow vegetables and have a little store that you can buy veggies, homemade baked goods, and all sorts of things.  During the fall they have a pumpkin patch where you can go out and pick your own pumpkin.  Anyways, it is just the sort of place our kids would love and did love! :)

 Our second destination was the Environmental Center.  I love this place!!  I love that in the middle of a town you can go and feel like you are in the middle of the woods.  I have made hundreds of trips to this place when I lived in Jersey and have seen deer wandering around in the trees along with wild turkey and of course Canadian geese, squirrels and chipmunks.  It was a popular place that I would take all the boys that I use to nanny for.  I am happy that even though we live far away I can still share this place with my own kids. :)

This trip we only saw wild turkeys! :)

After our morning adventures we were going to meet some good friends of ours for lunch.  They have a special place in our hearts, as they were our mentors when we lived in Jersey.  However, we had about 30 or so minutes before we were suppose to meet them so we decided to stop by my old work place.  For those of you who don't know I worked at a tile store. (I loved my job there.)  Before we entered the store the girls were warned not to touch any of the tiles or mannequins (made of glass tile) and they did pretty good with that rule.  I unfortunately left out that they were not to play in the shower stalls.  They of course went right to those and were having a blast.  Honestly most kids at some point or another will go in and out of the displays like they were doing so I told them to be gentle and not to slam any of the doors.

 They thought it was funny that they were in a "shower" in their clothes and you could see right through and wanted a picture of themselves in one.  So I quickly snapped a couple and went back to talking with my old co-workers just around the corner.  It was shortly after this that it happened.  Grace was back over by us but Eva was still around the corner, in a different display than pictured, and we heard a loud bang which made us stop speaking but then it was quickly followed by the clinking of glass falling on tile!  One of the shower doors shattered!!  Praise God she was not injured at all!!  She only had one tiny little scratch on her!!  She was pretty scared as was everyone when it first happened and when you first came around the corner.  So a quick stop at an old work place resulted in one broken door!  I don't think we will be stopping here on our next trip back!! As for the door shattering....there was a slight flaw in the door that the company was unaware of until that accident. Glass shower doors are made to NOT shatter....just to ease any nerves in case you have a glass door. ;)

After we got Eva all cleaned up we then headed to lunch with Mary & Don and had a very enjoyable time.  It was great chatting with them among all the craziness that comes when you take 3 small children out for lunch! :)  I'm thinking the next time we may just leave the kids with Grandma & PopPop and go out to dinner just us adults!  Right outside the restaurant were some blow-up decorations, the girls wanted to see how tall they were compared to the decorations.  As you can see they have a little ways to grow before they are taller than the decorations. ;)

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