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Wednesday morning we picked up our rental car, packed it jam full with luggage, kids, dogs and the last of our Virginia Beach fast food, and hit the road. We had an uneventful drive to Baltimore, crashed in a hotel that had the most hideous decorating scheme I have ever seen, then woke up this morning and drove the rest of the way to New York.
It was our most graceful entrance to the city yet. We arrived in the late afternoon. The traffic was moderate, the weather beautiful, and we were all pretty happy to be home. We had even stopped complaining about the tolls or even about how ugly New Jersey is the closer you get to New York. It is also the first time I didn't have that open-jaw feeling when my first view of the NYC skyline comes into view--it just felt familiar. We didn't even use directions to get here, which is a huge change from our first trip, with Brett white-knuckling the steering wheel and me compulsively reviewing what seemed like a 30-step process over and over just to navigate the plethora of highway names, exits and turns. When people started cutting and honking and a taxi driver and motorcyclist nearly came to blows we barely even noticed, we were too busy squeezing out the guy behind us and cutting someone off ourselves.
While we still had the car I went to the grocery store and spent over $300 there restocking our empty kitchen. Then Brett took the car to La Guardia and here we are.
He goes to work tomorrow while the kids and I try to unpack some of the tremendous piles surrounding us. Then we have a 3-day weekend to make the transition back to our normal life.
The car we drove was a huge Dodge Caravan. We had to remove the middle seat to fit in the dog crate (since we now have 3 kids, we couldn't do the more logical removal of the rear seat unless we strapped one kid to the roof). The kids were crammed in the back with luggage piled under their feet, and they were so far away that we couldn't really talk to them--nobody could hear anyone else between the back and front, so eventually we gave up and they were in their little world and we were in ours. Kind of nice, actually, as if we had one of those magic walls, like in limos. We have learned some things over the past 2 years of this kind of travel--we used more large duffel bags and less random floppy things. The effect of this was marked when our belongings were all spread out between the sidewalk, the lobby and our apartment on the trek inside. Way less embarrassing than having overflowing bags of junk spread out for all to see. Also, arriving by a decent hour made the whole grocery shopping/returning the car thing much less painful. Same with taking a taxi home from the airport instead of the torturous bus/subway combo.
Simon is in his element here. He was loving the overstimulating environment that is New York from the first moment we stepped out of that car door. Looking everywhere with bright, alert eyes, then falling into a sound sleep in the sling while we brought everything up. I think he is just a New York kind of guy. And we just got his birth certificate in our pile of mail to prove it.
My cold, by the way, is much better. Nobody else seems to have gotten it, and I am over the worst...
Our whole family was pleasantly surprised by how homey and comfortable our apartment feels--makes us realize how cheap and yucky the Virginia Beach place really was. It was just cheap construction. Not saying this place is deluxe or anything, but you walk in and the hardwoods and the bones of the building, it just feels so much more substantial and less drab. We are happy to be here, all of us, even the dog, who has been so sound asleep that he didn't even notice I was all ready to go for a walk until I had to yell to wake him up. That never happens. Usually he has it figured out before I even get my shoes on.
Autumn is the best time here--it is beautiful weather, the tourists are not out en force, it is leafy by the park and has that wonderful feeling of back to school anticipation in the air. We aren't even really feeling sad about the Key West trip--as it turned out that whole concept was tossed since the dive school is only offered there once a year and 3 weeks is too long for most of the divers to take away from other work. They will consider other options that are shorter in duration and offered more times a year, but nothing is in the works yet.
Our summer away was great--Maya became a swimmer this summer, and Jonah grew up in so many ways. Simon got over his colic and has become less of a newborn and more of a baby. It seems really important to get out of the city every once in a while and see another side of life--having a car, letting the kids run free outside without having to be so supervised all the time, experiencing life in another part of the country. I am glad that Brett wasn't away from us--it would have been a lot of long days and tiring nights without us being together as we were growing used to being a family of five. I feel recharged, energized to be here and be part of this monstrous urban area. I appreciate the recycling, the walking, the interesting things to do. I did not appreciate the rat I saw on my walk tonight, sigh, but I guess it just goes to show that no place is perfect.
Virginia Beach--We found some lovely things to do, and the pool couldn't have been better for the kids. However, it is one of the least environmentally friendly places I have ever been, the boardwalk area feels trashy and brazenly touristy after too much exposure, and the beach was devoid of shells and scenic beauty. We never found anyone in Virginia Beach that we felt like we connected with or shared many beliefs or interests with. The military-ness of the town was overwhelming and permeated everything constantly. Three televisions in one apartment is too much for The Spositos. We are grateful for whole experience though. It has been a pretty nice summer.