Vacation Archive

2

October in VT 2010

By
Steve
– October 18, 2010Posted in: Jack

We headed up to VT this October with Mike and Nicole again.  This year we were joined by Jonah (Mike and Nicole’s son) and Ed and Katie.  This little Fall tradition of ours is growing.  With a near cancellation by the Needleman’s (more on that later) we all had a great time.

Spend Friday just bumming around the house and getting everything set up.  Jonah had a fluctuating fever, so the Needleman’s didn’t make it up Friday as they had planned. We discovered a new pizza place that had extremely passable pizza for VT.  Jack had a successful night’s sleep.  All in all, it was great.

Saturday we spent a lazy morning just hanging out until Mike, Nicole and Jonah got there.  Then it was shopping and laying around watching college football.  I will let you figure out who went where.  Jack was running around like a mad man.  I think he just likes having more space than a 2 bedroom apartment to run around in.

Saturday night we had a giant Mexican feast.  Gotta love make your own taco night.  Ed and Katie put together a great dinner while the rest of us tended to our kids.  Dinner was really good.  They will definitely be invited back next year. Then we watched Hot Tub Time Machine, which everyone else but me and Jen had seen.  It was hysterical.

Sunday was a bit of a whirlwind.  We had to clean up the whole house and do all the laundry.  Mike and Nicole decided to head out early to take Jonah to the doctor since he still wasn’t feeling well.  The rest of us went out for breakfast.  Then Ed and Katie went for some follow up shopping and the Shaw’s hit up the Pumpkin Patch.

The Pumpkin Patch was very cold and much more crowded that last year.  They had a Bouncy House, which Jack had a good time in.  Then we walked around and picked up some pumpkins.  We were all very full from breakfast, so no cider doughnuts were had… but it was still a lot of fun.

Can’t wait for 2011!

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The Count’s Halloween Spook-tacular

By
Steve
– October 11, 2010Posted in: Jack

Having gone to Sesame Place over the summer, we had a free ticket to go any other time this year.  We decided we were going to wait for the fall to go near Halloween for The Count’s Halloween Spook-tacular.  Basically they decorate Sesame Place for Halloween and have all the characters in costume.  The kids can wear their costumes and go trick or treating at some of the rides.  We brought Jack’s costume, but it ended up being a very hot day and we figured he would be too hot in his Buzz Lightyear jump suit.

The first ride we went on was the Grover roller coaster.  It was MUCH faster than it looked.  Jack was so excited.  He was laughing and having a great time on the way to the top… but once we headed down, he was scared.  Not too scared that he was crying or asking to get off, but he couldn’t decide if he wanted to smile and laugh or be scared.  He didn’t want to go on again… but he said he had fun.

Other than that we just had a great time walking around.  Saw some of the characters.  Ate lunch.  Went on some rides.  He made me go on the cargo nets again.  This time I only had to go up since he wanted to take the stairs down.  Of course, the section he wanted to go on had a 5 foot vertical climb.  I had to push him up and then scramble to climb up before he ran down the stairs.  I’m not exactly built for vertical climbing… but I made it.

We can’t wait to do it again next year!

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The Great Shaw/Cervone Disney Trip 2010

By
Steve
– August 15, 2010Posted in: Jack

Jack had a week of firsts… first airplane ride; first trip to Florida; first boat ride; and his first trip to Disney!  The Shaw’s and Cervone’s headed down to Orlando to visit the Magic Kingdom and all the other parks.  We all had a lot of fun.

The airplane ride was decent.  It wasn’t that he didn’t like the airplane, its that he didn’t like sitting in one spot for so long.  We had movies and coloring books, but it did not matter.  But it was only a 2 hour flight, so we all survived.

Disney was amazing.  Jack loved every minute of it.  He LOVED meeting all the characters (or guys, as he calls them).  He loved the rides; even Goofy’s Barnstormer, which might have been a little too big for him, but he loved it none the less.  He even enjoyed the 3D shows.  At one point he was reaching out at the stuff.

Two things were constant throughout the trip: Jack would put his finger in either the eyes or nose of the characters and I would be soaked in sweat.  It was soooooooooooo hot.  So hot.  Hot.

All in all we had a great time.  And anyone who read my Facebook post saw the line of the vacation… After waiting 30 minutes to see Mickey and Minnie it’s finally Jack’s turn. They turn to him and open their arms in a big hug. Jack goes running towards them… then right past them to the big mouse eared pumpkin saying, “Look at this pumpkin!” The photographer said she had never seen that before.

You will see in the photos a picture of Minnie Mouse shrugging her shoulders next to said pumpkin.

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4th of July at Sesame Place

By
Steve
– July 8, 2010Posted in: Jack

It what I hope will become an annual tradition, the Shaw Clan took to the road this 4th of July and headed to Langhorne, PA to visit Sesame Place.   I don’t think we could have had a better time!  Jack absolutely LOVED it.  The look on his face when he saw Bert for the first time was incredible.  He was mesmerized.  Then we went to a show and he sat there with the biggest grin on his face.  Because it was 4th of July weekend, they also had fireworks at night.  We weren’t sure how that was going to go since he was going to be up late and had never seen them before.  Well, just like everything else, he was totally enthralled.  It was such a great feeling seeing him have such a great time.

… and I haven’t even started talking about the rides yet!  He loved the rides.  The water slides, the regular rides.  He even went on the giant cargo net thing (for anyone who has ever been to Sesame Place you KNOW what I’m talking about)!  It was such a great day.  We can’t wait to go back!

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Our 5 Year Anniversary

By
Steve
– June 5, 2010Posted in: Me

5 years ago I stood, pale and sweaty, at the alter of a church in upper Westchester County.  Then, my wife-to-be walked through the doors and I suddenly felt much better.  While that day was one of the greatest in my life, what followed was also amazing.  10 days in Hawaii (4 in Kauai, 1 in Oahu and 5 in Maui).  We had such a great time on our honeymoon, we swore that we would make it back in 5 years…

And we did!  11 days in Maui.  You just can’t beat it.  We did so many great things this time around.  We really got around the island and saw a lot of what Maui had to offer.  So, before we left, we made another promise.  I look forward to going back in 5 more years!

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The First Official Shaw Family Vacation

By
Steve
– April 16, 2010Posted in: Jack

The Shaw Family took their first official vacation this past weekend.  On a whim we decided to head down to DC for the last weekend of the Cherry Blossom Festival.  We jumped in the car on Friday night after work and made the 4.5 hour journey.  It wasn’t bad.  Jack fell asleep about 7:20 and slept almost the whole way.  He woke up a few times crying, but only for 30 seconds, and then went back to sleep.  He did, however, wake up when we got to DC… and was awake.

The hotel we stayed at was WAY to nice for a family vacation, as evidence to the fact that the entire lobby was a chic lounge with people in expensive clothes drinking expensive drinks with very loud slow techno playing.  The bell hop was yelling, “Baby coming through,” as Jen and carried Jack in a blanket through this club.

We got to our very fancy room and got our very small rental crib.  That was a no go.  So, Jack slept with us and spent most of the night kicking me in the ribs and pushing me off a king sized bed.  The next day was fun.  We walked around and saw the parade and a lot of the monuments.

Jack’s 2 favorite things were the WWII Memorial with the fountains and the DC Metro Police on the horses.  At one point Jack was yelling, “Horsey ride!  Horsey Ride!”  I’m just glad he didn’t tell the cop, “Jack’s turn!”  Getting back to the hotel was not so good as Jack was tired and wanted to stay by the fountains.  But he slept better that night, which was nice.

All in all it was a great trip and we can’t wait to do it again!

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Pumpkin Patch

By
Steve
– October 8, 2009Posted in: Jack

The Shaw clan went to VT this past weekend and took Jack to his first Pumpkin Patch.  I don’t know if he was took thrilled about posing for the pictures, but he did like walking around and looking at everything.  Especially when a truck pulled over on the side of the road… now THAT was excitement!

Jack even had a little piece of Apple Cider Doughnut!  He didn’t spit it out… but he didn’t have another piece either.

Anyway, we had a great time and got some good shots.

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VT Bound

By
Steve
– October 5, 2009Posted in: Jack, Me

I’m sitting in the back of the car with Jack on the way to VT. So far this trip has been 100 times more pleasant than Labor Day Weekend. Not sue if its because he took an hour nap at the start or if he’s just getting used to being in the car.

I may have spoke to soon. He’s starting to get antsy as I type this.

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