The Twilight Zone

Dinner Monday night: Maya and her Great aunt

I managed with the little battery life I have on my computer to load my photos. I will try to post soon. We are back in New Jersey waiting for the laundry to dry so we can go to The Jersey Shore. It was very hot yesterday in NY. I tried to run in the high humidity. I was fine for a while but started to feel faint on my way back plus I had said I was going to be back at a certain time so I needed to try to run.

Travelling with so many people can be stressful. Sample: Yesterday Naomi and Dontae were invited to go to yoga, only $5 but no clothes so they had to be taken shopping. So this class ended up costing infinitely more and where does all this money come from?

And then I am defriended after watching the baby all afternoon.

Steve doesn't get to see his family often and looked forward to it. But the five of us, one being a baby, on top of the four already there can be challenging. And every time Maya gets into stuff or makes noise.. I felt we were really imposing. .

After the traffic sort of cleared, we drove back to NJ. It is amazing so many people do this every day. Even Steve did it for a year only in reverse, he worked in NJ and lived in NY spending up to 4 hours a day commuting. Why? Who knows.  One can leave NY for free, just not through Staten Island which would cost yet another $13. So we went through Manhattan, much longer and more traffic. Very pretty at night. However we were mired in a traffic jam at the Holland Tunnel. After learning that there was little chance of movement in the near future, we drove even further north to the Lincoln Tunnel. We saw the Trapeze School along The Hudson. A series of trapezes lit up on top of a building with men swinging back and forth. What a sight! Steve enters an entrance ramp to the tunnel and then encounters a sign immediately Do Not Enter! Are we headed into incoming traffic? Could they have given us more warning? He backs up and tries to enter 'the correct lane'. We exit the tunnel, see the beautiful NY skyline again and enter the NJ Turnpike. Steve finds himself funnelled into a lane with signs flashing Expressway Closed!!! But we are on it anyway..no getting out of it. It is the part of the turnpike usually reserved for cars only. There was some minor constuction on it but for ten miles, we are about the only car on the road, an impossible situation given how busy the area is.

It is a beautiful day.

From car window on Brooklyn Bridge looking at Manhattan bridge

Brooklyn Bridge

NYC as we got out of the Lincoln Tunnel

At my brother's with Charlotte the Jack Russel Terrier

Charlotte was initially suspicious of Maya and her toddler ways but once Maya began feeding her, all was good. Maya would fling her food piece by piece and Charlotte would chase after it.