Pictures to Accompany the Not-So-Vacation

So now for the pictures. This may get long.

OK, let's begin.

We finally made it to NYC!

Afton was happy.
Nippon was tired.

Wowie! Look at all the lights.

Affy, Mummy, DaDa, Ghia & Kaku

Gray's Papaya....om nom nom....

The Apple Store on 5th Avenue.

Flags on display at Boston Common for Memorial Day.

Trinity Church reflected on the John Hancock Tower.

Lovely gardens at Boston Common.

So what would you like in your paan?

Nippon, along with several other cousins, helped usher the bride down the aisle. Good job on the frown. ( He was told to look sad.)

The beautiful bride.

The happy couple.

Mamu & Mai

Sick boy at the wedding. He looked so cute in his white kurta.
Oh look! You can kind of see the top of my salwar kameez.

Green sea anemones are awesome.

The harbor just outside of the New England Aquarium.

Looking out of the hotel room on our last night in Boston.

I think I see a smile in there somewhere.

Heading back to the desert.



Whew! Done.

The Not-So-Vacation

Just thinking about this post makes me tired. As Nippon wrote, our trip didn't start out too well. The whole process of getting to the East Coast was long and exhausting. The re-directed flights and delays cost us the little time we had planned for New York. Even though we weren't there long, we still had fun in NYC. I mean, it is New York! We got to the hotel pretty late but decided to hit the town anyway. We strolled on down to Times Square and checked out the lights and the people. Afton was quite impressed with all the bright flashing signs and the bustle of the city.

The next day we had a yummy hot dog and delicious papaya, pina colada, and orange drink at Gray's Papaya and then headed off to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. That museum would take days to get through if you really wanted to see everything. One of my favorite paintings there is Dali's Madonna and Child. I love that it incorporates so many images and change as you get closer. Unfortunately Afton started to get cranky. He had been such a trooper with all the ridiculous flights, odd eating schedule, and disrupted sleep, but it was finally catching up to him. I took him to the lobby and let my brother-in-law and hubby continue the tour. After the museum we took Afton to one of the many Central Park play areas. He was happy to be out of that stroller and stretch his legs. He played for a while and then we headed to meet the rest of the family for some tasty Chinese food. I happily picked up a small I heart NY shirt for Affy.

After dinner we made the drive to Boston/Framingham. Afton didn't sleep very well that night, and he wasn't his cheerful self the next day, but we decided to check out Boston anyway. We drove to the Boston Common area and saw the many Memorial Day flags that were displayed. We then set our sites on seafood (which was a big part of our plans). Yummy oysters at Skipjack's! On our way back to the car we wandered around the gardens and even stepped inside the Boston Public Library, which I must say is gorgeous! The murals by Sargent are amazing. They also had a display of old B&W photos of Boston. Pretty sweet. The day had been wonderful, low humidity with scattered clouds, but just as we drove out of the parking area it started to rain, and rain hard.

Fortunately the rain had stopped by the time we headed over to an outdoor family dinner party. I put on my new salwar kameez that I bought specially for this party. Sadly we had to leave early because Afton was tired. He had been getting grouchier and grouchier, and I was starting to think it was more than simple exhaustion; he was getting sick. He didn't stopped crying the whole time we were at the party. Well, I take that back, he did stop when Ma let him play with water in the sink. It was the only thing that calmed him down. Poor boy. His temperature sky rocketed that night. For the rest of the trip he was sick....sicker than I'd ever seen him. He was lethargic, threw up most anything he ate, and slept a lot. He basically lived on Pedialyte, only taking a few bites of apple sauce each day. The wedding we came to attend luckily was held at the same hotel in which we were staying so Nippon and I were able to tag team our attendance whilst one of us stayed with Afton. We did take him down briefly during the dinner so that he could meet some family members, but that was it. Nippon's cousin looked beautiful and the wedding decorations were gorgeous.

Nippon was suppose to fly back 2 days before us so that he could get back to work, but he missed his flight to stay with us for another day. It was nice to have him there, and I know Afton was glad his daddy was there to snuggle with him. The day he flew back we went to the New England Aquarium. They have a giant tank in the center that you walked along and can see the different animals that lived at different depths. At the beginning Afton didn't really seem to notice (or care) that we were there, but right at the end when we were about to leave he seemed to be feeling better and wanted to see the animals. I took him back inside to look at some fish and the penguins...and finally a smile! Hallelujah!

We stayed one more night in a hotel near the airport and Afton started to want to play. I had purchased a ball at the aquarium and he started to toss it around. It was so great to see his energy returning, and he even ate a bowl of oatmeal! He was definitely not 100%, but was much MUCH better. On our second flight home I bought the in-flight entertainment just so he could watch his beloved Yo Gabba Gabba. Best $6 I've ever spent.

The trip was overly exhausting but was still enjoyable, even if I did spend most of it in a hotel room with a sick boy. I would love to go back and check out more of Boston. I'm not a fan of the traffic, but the greenery and the seafood out weighs any negativity I have about their roadways. Next time hopefully we will hit Cape Cod.

We're Not In Denver Any More

Our recent 'vacation' to Boston and New York was memorable indeed. Just not in the way I generally prefer. After logging hundreds of flights and perhaps a half million miles in my lifetime, I've never been faced with as many airport closures, redirects and stranded passengers. I've only been through Denver once before and I don't remember it being such a harrowing experience. But let me give you an idea of the events of those days.

Flight 1: Phoenix to Denver - This is generally an hour and a half flight, however on approach we learned that there were tornadoes touching down on the runway. The airport was shut down and all planes were put in holding patterns. We circled for over an hour and since the airport was still closed and fuel was running low, we were diverted to Colorado Springs 20 minutes away. There were already 10 planes on the tarmac and the refueling truck took over 2 hours to reach us. New FAA regulations penalize airlines $25,000 per passenger if a plane is on the tarmac for over 3 hours. Obviously no airline is going to pay, so they have their tricks. With minutes remaining they announced that passengers bound for Colorado Springs could deplane. Once the doors opened, they restarted the clock. So after 5 hours on the ground at Colorado Springs, we get in line to return to Denver. We managed to land after 9 PM, but lightning strikes meant that the ramp could not be deployed. Another half an hour and only feet from the gate. Once we got into the terminal, we then stood in the customer service line for another 2 hours until we made plans to take a 6 AM flight from Denver to Las Vegas and then to Newark, NJ. We booked a hotel, which turned out to be the nicest one in the whole trip, for a few hours of rest.

Flight 2: Denver to Las Vegas - Relatively uneventful, but now we're further away from our destination.

Flight 3: Las Vegas to Newark - This flight was 5 hours, but put us only 20 min from our hotel in Times Square. We would manage to lose only a half day, since the original plan was to drive from Boston. Half an hour from Newark, the pilot announces that thunderstorms over the New York area have closed all regional airports and we begin another holding pattern. As fuel dips, we learn that we are headed to an air force base to refuel. Our hopes of making anywhere soon are suddenly revived when the tower clears us to make an attempt. The pilot manages to ram the plane onto the runway and we all share a sense of relief to be free of airline travel for a few days.

Flight 4: Boston to Newark - I was originally scheduled to fly from Boston to Houston on Memorial Day, however the stress of our previous days was too much for my little boy and he was still running a temperature, throwing up anything more than a couple bites and generally not happy. He slept all day, cried, didn't eat and just wanted to be held. So I missed my flight to stay with him another day. I managed to book another flight for $150 change fee and a $47 Continental credit, yay! My flight from Boston to Newark was pretty good, had an empty seat next to me.

Flight 5: Newark to Phoenix: Four hours and forty-one minutes with a window seat and British youths sitting next to me. I watched the entire nation drift by. From deciduous forests to river deltas to farms to plain to foothills to mountains to desert plateaus and finally over the Mogollon Rim to Phoenix. It's a wonderful land. Can't wait to try it again.