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  • Day 86

    Drive to Franklin, NY

    June 28, 2018 in the United States ⋅ 🌧 23 °C

    This morning started with Elisa attending a fitness class with Aunty Claire and Brandon sleeping till 10am, the latest yet of this trip and more than a 12 hour sleep.

    We left rainy Rockport,saying goodbye to the MacCrate familu, just after noon and headed to the closest Costco to eat a quick lunch and to buy Kirkland liquor. We have heard many good reviews of Costco name brand liquor and as we always bring liquor home, we thought we would try this.

    After Costco we had a 6 hour drive to Franklin,NY where we we are having our last camping trip in this adventure. We have 2 nights booked at KOA in Onenata.

    We made it to the campsite before 7pm, quickly put the tent up and headed back East 20 min to the closest town for dinner. We ate at Applebees and then a stop at the grocery store so we had food for the next day at the campsite .
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  • Day 85

    Lazy day in Rockport

    June 27, 2018 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C

    Tom had to work in the morning and Claire went to yoga, so we left at the house about 10am and went down to down town Rockport, which is small roads, cute little shops right on the coast.

    We had coffee, did some shopping and added a Xmas tree ornament to our collection from around the country. It is such a cute little place.

    The afternoon was spent at the house, we walked around the quarry which is near the house, we played corn hole and a catching game which Brandon caught on quickly. Cousin Isobel was able to come home after class and hang out for a little bit before she needed to study again.

    Dinner was a yummy spaghetti dinner made by Claire and we were able to hangout out a bit after the kids went to sleep.
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  • Day 84

    Whale watching

    June 26, 2018 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C

    Most of the time in Massachusetts was on the colder side but humid. Today was a gorgeous warm and sunny day.

    Originally we were to leave for Franklin, NY for camping but we decided to not go to Cedar Point a bit later on as the kids are too little and wouldn't be worth it. We has 2 days to play with and Tom and Claire were only 30 minutes from the Gatti family so we thought we would have a few days there.

    Tom and Claire invited us to go Whale watching and the only day we could go was today. As whale watching was 20 min away and early, we had the whale watch and then headed back to Lisa's house yo sat goodbye and pack up.

    Whale watching was awesome. Tom used to work on the boat about 5 years ago over the summer busy months. We had the mates rate treatment and Brandon even got to drive the boat on the way back into the marina.

    We had a very lucky trip and we were a 10% boat as we saw breaching, tail flipping, flipper flapping and saw whales everywhere , including a mom and calf. We also barely got out of the harbour going no more than 3 miles off of land and still able to see land.

    We also had confirmation that Brandon gets motion sickness. We knew he got headaches in the car on the ride to the snow mountains back at home and he had a few headaches on car trips here, but halfway through the boat ride he had a massive headache and needed to lie down. He perked up when he got to drive the boat back.

    After the whale watch we headed back to Lisa's house and said goodbye to the family. It was so nice the cousins were around to hangout with. Elisa is at least 10 years older than the oldest cousin so this was the first time hanging out with them as adults with their own lives. They were also amazing with the kids, even when Brandon was being his high energy.

    We headed back to Tom and Claires in Rockport, had drinks on the porch, ordered food where Josh tried a lobster roll and was a pleasant night, heading to bed with the kids about 930pm.
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  • Day 81

    Gatti family

    June 23, 2018 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 14 °C

    Today we spent the day with Elisa's family. We slept in the basement of the house which was quiet, on the colder side and very dark so we all had amazing sleep, exactly what we needed.
    We woke up to Dina bringing all types of bagels, muffin and coffee to the house.

    After we all got dressed our gang along with Dina and cousin Steph met up with Aunty Lisa, cousins Jackie, Terri, and Jimmy for a extremely fun time at the Willows, an arcade area. Everyone had fun and our kids got spoiled as the kids got all the tickets from the group and was able to win a light up moving wand and a light up sword.

    About 3pm everyone came back to Dina 's where we had a bbq and played outdoor games. Inara and Brandon warmed up really well to the entire family and it was so great to see Elisa 's cousins playing hands on with them. Brandon held his own when we had a table of 9 or so playing uno.

    Everyone included the arcade group, cousin Nick for a brief time, cousin Joe, Uncle Danny, Steve, and Scott, Noni, and cousin Andrew and aunt lynn. Everyone from Elisa's dad side was there except Elisa 's family.

    The group dispersed about 8 and Josh headed with Joe and Steve to the local bar to watch Boston play baseball.

    The kids were in bed by 9pm with the help of Stephanie playing with Brandon.
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  • Day 81

    East Coast driving

    June 23, 2018 in the United States ⋅ 🌧 15 °C

    Today we thought we had a easy drive from Brooklyn to Peabody, Massachusetts where we are staying with Elisa's Aunty Dina, Uncle Steve and three grown cousins.

    We have passed 8000 miles and 19 states.

    Yesterday Google maps said 4 hour 16 min, this morning it said 4 hours 45min and by the time we had reached our final destination it was a 7 hour drive including a short stop for lunch.

    We left at 1120am, as we had a lazy morning and waited for Ger to get home from work and day goodbye. We were very lucky and got a perfect parking place to pack up the car.

    The first 2 hours was bumper to bumper and we barely went the speed limit for more than an hour in a row. The kids did extremely well though and Inara had a great long nap.

    During the drive Josh decided to check out our banking and discovered that our credit card has been used and a ticket to tigerairlines was purchased. It was still a pending transaction and easy to fix but it's just annoying and Josh spent some time chatting to the bank.

    We finally made it to the house. The house has a great big yard and the kids just ran around screaming. After a lovely homemade pizza dinner the rest of the Gatti family came over and we all had make your own Sundaes. The kids loved all the attention and Brandon was in heaven with older boys.

    It was a a large group with 6 aunty and uncles, noni, and 7 adult cousins, either in college or just out of college.

    It was the latest night for the kids yet, finally in bed at 1130pm. They better sleep in.
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  • Day 79

    Brooklyn Botanical Gardens

    June 21, 2018 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C

    Another morning of sleeping in and being lazy as we wait for Ger to get home from work. Today she brought Cecil home with her, a friends little boy who is almost 5.

    We sunscreened up, hats on and out into Brooklyn. We had a decent walk to the Q line train where the we took the train to Brooklyn Botanical Gardens. Ger is a member there and used to volunteer there.

    There was an area for kids and of course lots of trees and plants. It was an extremely hot day and resting in the shade was the best part.

    We spent a few hours there before we headed back to the apartment. Cecil and Brandon got on fine, even though Cecil was quiet and Brandon loud and handsy.

    After Cecil left Brandon had a major melt down and we finally got him to nap at 5pm. It was a hot day and he just had too much. That night was quiet with NYC pizza and one last mancala game with Ed before we leave tomorrow.
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  • Day 78

    Coney Island

    June 20, 2018 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C

    This morning we made our way to the bagel shop and had a lazy morning while we waited for Ger to get home from work.

    The adults stayed up way too late the night before and finished the Tenessee whiskey in one sitting which Josh bought so were all a bit tired. The kids were cranky so after lunch it was nap time for all.

    After naptime everyone felt better and we made our way to Coney island. Brandon was unfortunately to small for most of thr exciting rides so we stuck with sno cones and a ride on the Ferris wheel.

    The Ferris wheel had cabins that swung or were stationary and we were adventures and went on the cabins that swung. The first swing was scary but the rest were fine. We had a great view of the city, boardwalk and beach.

    While we were up in the sky we saw the whalburger, a hamburger shop owner by Mark Whalburg, and we read about it months ago. We stopped there for gator tots and fries and made our way back to Ger' s house on the train.

    We wanted to get the kids to bed early but before we knew it, it waa already 9pm after dinner was finished.
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  • Day 77

    Walking around NYC

    June 19, 2018 in the United States ⋅ 🌙 23 °C

    We had our first night at Ger and Ed' s apt and we all slept well. The ac was on and the kids slept in our queen blow up beds together while the adults slept on the futon.

    Ger's neighbor Dianna and son came over and we then adventured out in the neighborhood. We got bagels, coffee, dollar store stop and then to the Greenwood Ave playground which was great.

    Ger had to work at 3pm, so after lunch we took the train into Manhattan and saw where she worked. It has a awesome roof top where they grow veggies and a beautiful view.

    We then left Ger to her few hours at work and we walked around down W Broadway and finished at the World Trade Center site and the new building in its place. We unfortunately had to take the train back during rush hour but we all made it back together. Josh almost had the door shut on him while trying to get into the train with the pram.

    The kids went to bed and us 4 adults had a lovely time staying up and chatting.
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  • Day 72

    Sesame place

    June 14, 2018 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C

    Lisa and Bill live 20 min from Sesame Place so it was the perfect place to take the kids on a gorgeous sunny day.

    We had a fun time and went all the dry rides and made it to some of water park. The favourite ride for Brandon was Oscar's wacky taxi. It was a super fast old ridgy roller coaster. Brandon went on both with Josh and Elisa as the lines we very reasonable.

    We got to see the 4pm Sesame Parade before we left back to Lisa and Bill xs house where we had yummy stromboli and pizza.
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  • Day 70

    Elmwood zoo

    June 12, 2018 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C

    Today was a perfect relaxing day. We got up and had a lazy morning and then when Jack and Jen came home we made our way to the little Elmwood Zoo not far from their house. Jack and Jen have been members for years and have seen it grow over the years.

    The zoo was definetly little and local but it was so cute and had mostly animals that were endangered or critical. The kids were spoiled by Jack and Jen as they fed the farm animals, the bison and the parrot and birds.

    After the zoo we played at the pool and has an amazing rib and salmon dinner that our hosts has cooked for us.

    Nothing but a great day.
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