Penn Station

If you're ever looking for a fun Sunday afternoon adventure, you should try packing up your family and sitting in Penn Station for 6.5 hours! I'm kidding...I don't recommend it.

The good news is that we were wrapping up a wonderful weekend in New York City and everybody was still in a good mood after snowball fights, Macy's, and the Rockettes. The kids were troopers and they both took in the entire afternoon as if it were an adventure. Even Papa sucked it up and made it a good time!

We got to Penn Station at 3:30 for a 5:00 train to Kingston, RI. If you know me at all, you know that arriving an HOUR AND A HALF early for a train drove me batty in the first place. John raced to the convenience store to get us sandwiches for the train (always the Boy Scout) and added 2 grocery bags to our load of 9 or 10 bags that we were guarding against the wall. We only somewhat resembled tourists, I promise. I was perfectly cheery and exhibited a positive attitude that helped everyone else feel good...oh wait...just kidding.

If you remember, there was a large blizzard on this particular Sunday and trains were delayed all up and down the East Coast. Our train originated somewhere in the D.C. area where the worst of the storm was hitting. We were delayed about 2 hours so we decided to move the 6 of us and our 10 bags to the TGI Fridays restaurant for some dinner. Along the afternoon, the train was delayed by about 10 to 15 minutes at a time so we had to stay close. After a couple of hours at TGI Fridays, we consolidated and John/Mike moved to a cocktail table to watch the Chargers game while we all took turns entertaining the kids. (Someone changed the channel with 2 minutes to go and the Chargers needing to score - this was not pretty!). Nana took Annalise shopping in the gift shop and I took Justin to the entry to run up and down the stairwells. We entertained the security staff as we raced up and down the steps and changed the patterns to make it interesting. I remember being very annoyed when Justin wanted to get up and find a place to play, (I wanted to sit and sulk) but once I was out there running up and down, annoying everyone in sight and acting like a child myself, I had a wonderful time! He and I also took a little trip to Border's and I was introduced to Justin's passion for the "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" book series.

At about 10:00, we finally heard that our train was arriving. Joyfully, and in the holiday spirit, we were inspired (forced) to be good souls and share our train with passengers from two other cancelled trains. There was some jockeying around as we all groaned and did the math (one train, three trainloads of people, one train, way too many people, not enough seats). People pushed and mobbed and tried to race to the front of the line (perfectly childish behavior) and John declared that we all needed to fend for ourselves. I grabbed Annalise and John grabbed Justin. I had a suitcase, purse, tickets, and my baby girl all being jostled around in the crowd and I too turned into a complete monster. If anyone considered parting me from her I elbowed, kicked, and shoved without an ounce of guit. Someone wearing a uniform asked me for tickets and I told him "They're in my purse and I'm holding on to my daughter. Sorry!" Luckily, the crowd pushed me forward and it wasn't a problem.

At about 10:30 that night, our train finally left the station. Annalise and I got a seat next to a crazy woman and in front of a gangster rapper. She slept on my lap and found it all perfectly fine. John, Justin, Nana, and Papa sat in the snack car next to the broken door and overused toilet. The train was racing through the freezing cold snow so you can imagine how miserable it was for them every time the door opened to let the air in and did not shut. They were troopers and made it through the ride to arrive in Kingston (and 2 feet of snow in the parking lot) at about 2:30am. We all loaded into the Suburban and drove home to arrive at the house (another foot of snow stood between us and the driveway) around 3:30am. John shoveled out the Honda for Nana and Papa to drive to the hotel while I put the kids to bed. I think the adventure ended at about 4:00am. Plenty of time for John to close his eyes and get some rest before heading to class at 8:00am!!!

I'm writing this entry on December 29th and I think I'm still wiped out from it. But it was fun and we will always remember it!