Sometime in May, Jason started saying to us that he wanted to go to NJ, because there was no homework or swim practice there. He had just started practicing with Special Olympics, while continuing to practice with Sunrise Swimming. So he was swimming six days a week, plus his regular school work. We told him that it was impossible to go, which he didn't like, but he accepted it to a certain degree. I say to a certain degree because he never missed an opportunity to mention going up. Finally, I said to Arlene, let's do it. Her answer was that I was crazier than he was. I talked to her about it some more, crunched some numbers, and managed to convince her. We decided to go up for a week in early August. We then decided not to tell anyone, and make it a surprise visit. That meant not telling Jason either, because we were afraid he would slip up.
So school ends, and we start getting visitors from NJ from Arlene's family. Good times were had, with the occasional comment about how nice it would be for us to go up. Arlene and I would always say that we couldn't go. The summer kept rolling on, Jason swimming hard and often. Meanwhile, we're quietly getting things organized for the trip. Stuff like getting the car ready, prepping entertainment for him on the road, etc. Jason had never been on a road trip this long before. His previous road trips were to Tampa and Orlando. We had some uncertainty about how he was going to react after a certain amount of hours.
Finally, it's the night before we leave. Everything is ready and now we tell him where we're going. At first, he is ecstatic. Then we tell him that we're not flying, but driving. He made it very clear that driving was too long and he wanted to fly. I told him, we don't have the money to fly, so it's driving or no trip. Needless to say, he quickly decided that driving was acceptable. I am happy to report, though, that he handled the trip like a champion. Thanks to his portable DVD player, his iPod and the hand-me-down iPad from his Tio Pepe, he barely spoke a word to us on the road. He played games, watched movies and cartoons, listened to music and just generally had a good time before we even got to NJ.
When we arrived, it was a LOT of fun for all three of us to see the looks on everyone's faces. It was also fun calling Arlene's mom and my parents to tell them where we were. My dad didn't believe us at first, and remained skeptical the next day, until I took a picture of Jason in front of the house and sent it to him. We got several calls from them while on the road, always covering our tracks. We wouldn't even let Jason get on the phone, for fear of slipping up.
The trip was great for all of us. We stayed at Arlene's sister Solangel's house, with her brother-in-law Pepe and nephew Alex. We spent a lot of time with them, as well as our future niece Ashley, niece Mimi, her husband Ian and grandniece Ava. (Yes, I have a grandniece, but I'm not old yet) We went to the Teardrop Memorial in Bayonne, took Jason to a Lego store and gave him his first taste of White Castle and Smashburger. Jason and I took one day to visit our old hometown of West New York, NJ. We were at Weehawken Cemetary to see my grandparents and my childhood friend Cary. We hung out for a while with one of my best friends, Alan. We visited my old house, as well as Arlene's old house. We walked around Bergenline Avenue, checking out the shops, including a visit to A & S Comics in North Bergen, where I used to buy my comics as a kid. I also visited my cousins Arecia and Margaret at their shop, Arecia's Creations. The three of us had dinner one night with another one of my best friends, Lorenzo and his wife Raquel and their two kids, Wally and Laura. After dinner, we went to an Italian festival one of the churches in Jersey City was having. Wally won a stuffed animal at one of the games and promptly gave it to Jason. Jason won one himself, and said he was going to give one to Ava and bring the other one back to Florida for our nephew Daniel. We had dinner another night with our cousin Juan and his wife Agi and their son George. Afterwards, we went back to the house and talked and played games the rest of the night. Arlene even got to do some wedding dress shopping with Ashley.
The trip back was bittersweet, because the week seemed to fly by before we knew it. I stole some pictures from Ashley, Alex, Mimi and Pepe for my photo album, which does have a few of my own pictures. The link to the pics is New Jersey 2011. I would have taken more of my own pictures, but I was having so much fun that I forgot half the time to do it. All in all, Jason came home very happy and ready to tackle swimming again. He also went back to school with a much better attitude than how he normally starts the school year. Maybe we need to do this kind of trip every year. ;0)
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