Trip to the Big Apple

Jace meets my grandma Tita for the first time

Jace and Tita

Few days ago, while talking to my sister over the phone I found that Tita was planning to come to visit my cousin Alejandra, who lives in New Jersey. The last time we had some time with her was during my mother's funeral back in Venezuela (almost 2 months ago); and Tita was very happy about Jace's arrival, and the fact that my mother was able to see him at the beginning of his life. But Tita was also sad thinking that she might die before ever getting the chance to meet him.

So, we decided to surprise my grandma by traveling to New York, and be at the airport waiting for her.

The road trip from Michigan to New Jersey took us about 10 hours, and Jace did really good. Towards the end my little boy was a little bit tired of being in a car-sit for that long. We got there a day before my grandma and aunt's arrival, and we meet my cousin's husband Joshua, and her son Rafi. They also have 4 little doggies, 3 turtles, and an Iguana; and we brought with us Kylin and Kelso. The house was like a zoo!

The next day, by the time we managed to get to the airport, and found the correct parking lot, they had already arrived. But we were still able to pull off the surprise. Tita was crying out of joy when she got to held Jace for the first time on her lap. It was a priceless moment.

Our stay there was short, only 4 days. The next day we celebrated thanksgiving with Joshua's family. His parents have a nice view of New York City from their apartment. We decided to skip the Thanksgiving Parade, because we were told that the crows would be so big, and for us carrying a stroller will be very complicated.

For this thanksgiving Jessica and I are thankful for Jace, also and I am so thankful that I felt always God's presence during all the difficult times I've recently experienced, while losing my babies, and losing my mom. I never felt alone, I felt His comforts and His peace during those moments of sorrow.

In the way driving back from dinner, Tita wanted to buy a present to Jace; something that we knew he would love; obviously it was an Elmo! As soon as she picked up the Elmo and showed to him, his eyes got so big, and he was extending his arms to hold it. I don't what it is about Elmo, but anything that has to do with Elmo it is very exciting to Jace. He likes to watch Elmo shows all the time.

Our last full day in New York was dedicated to tour around the Big Apple City. I'm amazed to see how many people can live in the same place; this is a very crowded city. The traffic was crazy. We learned how to use the buses, catch a cab and use the subway to move between places. But they don't have accessibility means for disabled people. So, every time we had to go on the stairways we had to pick up the stroller, and they don't even have elevators. I don't know how disabled people can get around in New York City.

We visited Times Square, Rockefeller Center, NBC Studios, Radio City, drove by Ground Zero, went to the Statue of Liberty and ended the day shopping in some Holiday Market shops around Union Square. It was a go, go, go busy day.

We also found that in New York, people call "soda" what we call in the mid-west "pop". It was funny to see their reactions every time we asked for "pop", they didn't know what we were talking about. Thinking about it, makes me wonder what they call it in other countries or regions. I remember that in Hawaii they understood when we asked for it.

Finally on Saturday we took the trip back home, we got some snow in the way, but it wasn't too bad. I'm glad we were able to have Jace to meet his great-grand-mother on this year. Tita's Elmo is Jace's favorite toy, he figured out how to get it to make noises (and he is only 6 months old). Sometimes, he falls sleep in his play-mat hugging his Elmo.

Happy 2010 Thanksgiving !

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