Massachusetts!

Over my break, one of the things I got to do was take a quick little ride around the block to Massachusetts, to see the Woods! It was so good to get to see them, especially Becky, as she will be my Matron of Honor (and is one of my dearest friends!!) We hung out at home lot, being that she is quite pregnant (less than one week to go!), but we all went to dinner at Acapulcos on Monday night, then Becky, Catherine and I went for lunch at Panera on Tuesday before taking a spin around the Northshore Mall... which has gotten so shi-shi since I was there last!! It was tremendous fun and did me a lot of good to see them all. There is way too much time between visits and they are never long enough!!

I didn't take many pictures, but here are the few good ones... only two were taken by me! One by Becky, two by me and the first taken by Catherine herself!!

Catherine's view of her parents!


I brought my personal box of instruments... she was in love with the slide whistle (here) and harmonica, and was a little sad when they got packed up and brought back to my house! Too bad I didn't get a picture of her when she had a maraca in each hand and the whistle in her mouth!


Bored to death as she waits for us to finish eating at Panera...

Painting - she is into painting in a BIG way, which I think is delightful! I was happy to paint with her... it's been a long time since I have used watercolors! :)

All in all it was a very good trip and goot to spend time with friends. :)

BackPost 7/01/08: Corning Museum of Glass

I've been meaning to get up the pictures from the trip we took right after school let out, but they have been on the back burner... at least here's a start!

Matt and I went to the Corning Museum of Glass while in upstate NY with Matt's parents. It is an AMAZING museum! We spent the good part of a day there - seeing exhibits, wandering, having lunch, and my favorite thing - making a blown glass ornament! What a fun, fun place. I totally recommend it to anyone and everyone. Truly something for all can be found there!

Blowing my brains out?

TD looks Jumbo-sized!

Beware! Scientific content!

Lots and lots of cool exhibits to see.

The photos from the day are here.

BackPost 7/26-30/08: A few days at the shore

After the craziness of the workshop I attended (and a lot of other things, too), it was time for a little R&R. We spent the weekend - plus a few more days - down at the shore, and it was WONDERFUL.

On the rainy Saturday, we went bowling, and experienced four power outages while there! Lucky for us, though, the guy in charge was hanging out near us and he was persuaded to take us on a tour of the pin setting area! SO COOL! (Pictures)

Bowling with my "Male Harem" :)

Matt and I also went to Jenkinson's for a bit one day - to play skeeball and eat boardwalk foods, not burn in the sun!

TurtleDuck loves the ocean!

On the last day of our trip, we got up super early to see the sunrise at the beach - something I've wanted to do for a long time. It was hard to get up so early, and was cloudy and hazy, but still beautiful. Well worth it, and something I'll do again!

The calm before the craziness of a hot summer day!

It was a fun time, and I hope I'll get back again once before the summer is over. The ocean calls to me! (more pictures)

Photography Update

I've been very lax in uploading pictures lately... partially because my new camera's card doesn't fit into the reader on my laptop! But that's no excuse, really. :)

Here are a few updates from recent events:

Easter: We were at my sister's house and enjoyed a great meal and family time. Matt brought these cool balloon-pinwheel things and we played with them outside with my niece and nephew. There was also some fierce Wii playing in the basement after dinner... but all in good fun!

Watkins Glen trip: Here are the long-ago promised pics of the trip, including the visit to the Krispy Kreme store!

Lastly, this past weekend we went to the Grover Cleveland Birthplace - a part of the NJ Parks Passport to Adventure Program. It was a nice visit, complete with an extremely extensive tour/lecture from the volunteer on duty. She was an interesting lady, who had been a high school history teacher, college professor/administrator, involved in town politics (we guess Mayor from the sticker on her car) and now volunteer historian. The house isn't large, but we actually stood in the room that Grover Cleveland was born in. He is the only president that has been born in NJ, although he lived most of his life in NY and elsewhere. It was a lovely spring day and we enjoyed ourselves, not only visiting the house, but wandering in the area, going to a book sale, and getting some lunch as well. A nice little local adventure! Pictures are here!

Catch up on a road trip

Last weekend, we went up to Watkins Glen, NY so I could meet Matt's family. It was a loooooooong drive up, partially because the TomTom directed us on a "shortcut" which ended up being TWICE as long due to the fact that halfway through the shortcut, TomTom died. Not just the battery... that would be easy to fix! No, we had complete software failure. It rebooted itself about five times and then went to a glowing screen and no more. Sad. But we did eventually make it. The one good thing about that trip was that we went to Krispy Kreme... my first trip, and the light was on! I was fascinated by the process of how the donuts are made... and oh, the hot ones are amazing! :) New Jersey does not have any KK retail stores. How sad!
We had a nice weekend, despite the long drive up. Matt's parents had gone up on Thursday night, so they were already there when we arrived. On Saturday, after an AMAZING breakfast at the Bout Time B&B I met two sets of family members, including one teenager (Jay) who was performing in his high school's production of Thoroughly Modern Millie that evening. (He played the male lead, Jimmy Smith - his only audition ever and he lands a lead!)
In the afternoon, we went to a chicken place (the aptly named Mr. Chicken) and then over to Famous Brands store... where I got a pair of pink Tevas. (cute, no?)
After a bit of a rest in the afternoon we headed over to the high school for the show. It brought back a lot of memories... I have fond memories of my theater geek days in school. Jay did a great job in the role, and we had fun poking around the school and having root beer floats during intermission!
On Sunday... another unbelievable breakfast started the day, then we visited one more house for a bit before we headed home. It was a very quick trip, but nice to finally get up there. It even snowed when we were there - a surprise! I want to go back up when it's green - there is a ton of great hiking and outdoor adventures to be had, and I want to take a trip to the Corning Museum of Glass as well... it looks like such a great place! There are also a ton of wineries that look interesting and lots of other things to do. Next time, however, we will not do a whirlwind weekend!

(I'll hopefully get the few pics I took uploaded soon.)

It's A Small World After All!

Time for a trip post. :) I'll do my best to remember everything... or at least most. It was jam-packed with lots of goodness, as this post will be!

S u n d a y : We had to get up before the butt-crack of dawn to get to the airport. We flew to DC, and had a layover there... which was longer than we initially planned, since they changed our flight after we booked it. We arrived in Orlando at 1ish and got in the first of many queues... to get on the bus. We'd taken up Disney on the option of the "Magical Express" - they will take you to your resort and then deliver your baggage later that day. Very convenient! We were a bit sad that we didn't get one of the cute Disney motorcoaches, but at least they got us there!
We stayed at Port Orleans - French Quarter. When we booked our trip through AAA, this is the option they gave us. It was a really nice place... they make it so believable. We actually had a corner room that overlooked the little river - very picturesque!
We right away hopped on a bus to Hollywood Studios - enough time had already been wasted! ;) We wandered a bunch and did a few things - Tower of Terror, Muppet Vision 3D... and dinner at the 50's Primetime Cafe! We'd bought the Disney Dining plan, and it was worth the money!! I highly suggest it if you are considering it. You won't go hungry and have a ton of choices. The place is hilarious - they had us wait in the "living room" and then when we were seated we were told some of the "house rules" - no tattle-taling, no spitballs, no elbows on the table, etc. We were chastised for using hand sanitizer and praised for cleaning our plates... and their dessert menu is on a Viewmaster! How fun is that??

M o n d a y : We woke up wicked early (especially after the early morning the day before!) to catch the early extended hour at Animal Kingdom. We mainly went early due to Expedition Everest - the new coaster. We got to ride in the front car, then got back on line to do it again - and rode in the back! The coaster travels in both directions... and if you have to wait in the queue you will have a TON to look at while you wait! :) We also visited the Kilimanjaro Safari and went to It's Tough To Be A Bug before we had breakfast and then hopped... (gotta love the park-hopper tickets for ADD people like us!) Next stop was EPCOT! Our first stop was Soarin' - a new ride that is like hang gliding over scenes in California. When we were there two years ago, the waits were just too long for us to handle... this time was no different. We were debating fast-passing the ride when a cast member (Nicki Rose!) came up to us and questioned if we were thinking about the ride... we said yes, and she told us to follow her.... into a side door. We ended up getting to be "VIP - First Class" riders!!! We were taken through the VIP entrance (supposedly the Travolta family had been in the same place a few weeks before!) and got walked on to the prime seats. SO COOL!! We also got an open ended fast-pass for the ride so that we could come ride again on our trip. It was cool to get a little piece of The Year of A Million Dreams! :)
The one partially gray cloud of the day was that Matt was suffering with a neck-muscle spasm due to the teeny airplane/seats... so he really needed to get some help and called to make an appointment for a massage. Luckily, they were able to get him an appointment the same day. So we hopped on the monorail to the Grand Floridian Hotel and Spa - so amazingly beautiful! On both of my "nanny-ing" trips to Disney a few years ago we ate there, and I can tell you it is luxurious! So I walked him over to the spa and planned to poke around the hotel while he was there... but he surprised me with a massage for myself as well! Oh, happiness! The therapist, Rachel, was amazing... and the spa is unbelievable. If we had time, I could have spent the day there!!! Needless to say we were both super mellow after that... but still ready to hop again!
Our next part of the day was spent in the Magic Kingdom (told you we hopped and hopped!) where we visited the Pirates (yay!), rode the Teacups (so dizzy!), went to the Monster's Inc. Laugh Floor, Philharmagic (one of our favorites!) and Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin... to which someone gave us their fast-passes! Yay! We also had snacks at the Main Street bakery... which I HIGHLY recommend. If nothing else, imagine this: two large cookies (4+ inches) with three scoops of vanilla bean ice cream between them. Mmmmmmmmmmm......
But the day wasn't over. We went back to EPCOT for dinner at our favorite Morocco.... it was still as amazing as we remembered. :) The day finished with the EPCOT fireworks, which are beautiful. I am quite a fan of fireworks!

T u e s d a y : We were going to start the day at EPCOT, but the bus never seemed to come to our stop... so instead we got on one to Hollywood Studios again, and were there when it opened! This gave us the opportunity to be in the front car on the second train of the day at the Rockin' Roller Coaster... woo hoo! We fast-passed it again for later, and opted for the last car on that ride, being the coaster-heads that we are. We also did the Star Tours and the Great Movie Ride, rocked to a bit of the High School Musical street show (yes, I sang along!), and then left to go over to our original destination of the morning, EPCOT. We decided to country-hop... and so visited each country, spending time and riding the boats in Norway (I even spoke my teeny bit of Norwegian with a friendly guy named Kim!), viewing the Canada 360 movie, browsing in a ton of cultural shops, and eating lunch in Morocco (we had wanted to actually do a counter-service in Norway, but the line was too crazy... luckily we were happy to eat Moroccan again!). We used our Soarin' fast-passes while we were there and walked on to Living With the Land, which takes you on a boat through their greenhouses. Matt was fascinated with this (I was too, but his was a Science-nerd fascination!) and we discovered that there was a "Behind the Seeds" tour of the greenhouses we could take, so we booked a tour for the next day!
Tuesday night was a dinner we were really looking forward to - the Spirit of Aloha Dinner Show/Luau at the Polynesian Resort!!!!! I've done it before (whilst nanny-ing) but it was even more amazing this time - first of all, we traded two "dinners" on our plan for it, and then were lucky to catch someone's cancellation table, so we went from "tier 3" diners (the back) to "tier 1" (second table from stage!!!) for a grand total of $18!!!!!! AHHH! So amazing, and such great food!
We were crazy enough to take one more stop before putting weary bones to bed... back to the Magic Kingdom! I actually got Matt to ride Small World(!!), we had a "hunny" pot to ourselves on the Winnie the Pooh ride (where a cast member originally from Hoboken gave us "princess and prince-for-a-day" stickers!) hit up the front car of Space Mountain, and played some more on Buzz Lightyear again.

W e d n e s d a y : Our last day began at EPCOT, where we finally were able to ride Matt's favorite ride - Spaceship Earth, which is new and improved! The exploration area at the exit of the ride was very interesting as well - we played a bit there before heading on. After a very quick breakfast it was time for our "Behind the Seeds" tour. Matt came prepared with a notebook (my cute scholarly nerd!) and I had directions to photograph everything in sight, which I did - well over 100 pictures were taken in that hour-plus! The tour guide, who is a senior scientist at the project, was very interesting and knowledgeable, answering questions from everyone, from the young kids to the very specific ones from Matt. He let us taste cucumbers grown hydroponically in the greenhouse, the kids released ladybugs into one greenhouse as a means of "bad" bug control, and we fed the tilapia, too. There was a lot to see and do! We wandered through part of the Innoventions exhibit and visited a "house" within that was very technological and efficient!
It was then time to go back to the Magic Kingdom, where we did a lot... (in no particular order) Philharmagic (2 times!), Small World again, Haunted Mansion, lunch at Columbia House in Liberty Square, Cinderella Carousel, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, The Enchanted Tiki Room (Under New Management), Swiss Family Treehouse, Indy Speedway, Buzz Lightyear (2 more times - it's fun to shoot the targets!), and managed to also do some research for a friend... the one thing we sadly didn't get to was our dinner reservation over at Hollywood Studios at the Sci-Fi Dine-in Theater... we canceled it due to fatigue and the fact that we didn't have another dinner service left on the dining plan! We will save it for next time, since it looks so cool!
After a little shopping, we had one final "snack" and watched the "Wishes" fireworks display from Main Street. Beautiful!!! We rounded off the evening by staying for the "SpectroMagic" parade... by chance. It was the late parade and there were so few people on Main Street that we were just behind the people sitting on the curb!
The funny thing is... I can't report on the parade. I saw the beginning and then DOZED OFF. In the midst of the loudest and brightest nighttime parade possible. How I did it, I still don't know! It's kind of funny, really!!

T h u r s d a y : Since our bus to the airport was going to pick us up pretty early in the day (1:40pm), we decided to not go to the parks... and instead went on a quick trip to Downtown Disney. We did a bit of quick shopping/browsing and had a VERY fast lunch at their branch of Planet Hollywood (thanks to a AAA coupon!) before we caught the bus back to the resort, getting there just in the nick of time for the airport bus!! (This time we did get a "Mickey" bus!)
The airport in Orlando was an adventure, to say the least. The security checkpoint is poorly managed, but we made it in time for our flight... just. We had a three hour layover in DC, so we went over to the main terminal for some food and wandering to pass the time. It started to snow when we were getting ready to leave... luckily we were still able to leave just fine, and had the beginning flakes escort us home in NJ as well. The kicker was the next morning when we woke up to EIGHT INCHES OF SNOW at home! What a switch!

It was a tremendously fun trip. There are a ton of pictures in the photo gallery if you're interested (and it's easier than posting them all on here!)... Part 1 and Part 2.
(I'd reccomend the slideshow option, but that's just me!) Enjoy!

M-I-C....K-E-Y....M-O-U-S-E!

I will make a proper post about it, but if you're interested, you can see pictures at the link below. It was an amazing trip and we had such a wonderful time!

Disney World Part 1 and Disney World Part 2

one sigh of frustration and another of relief

United Airlines, as M says, "Smell like poop." They changed our flight information on us, so now instead of getting to Florida in the late morning, we don't get there until after One. Grumble. Don't mess with my plans without expecting to get the wrath!

But on the other hand, I didn't think that we would be able to get our transfer from the airport to the resort since we didn't do it in advance. But when I called tonight to beg mercy on them, they were so cool to me. Yay, Disney Magical Express.

... and the guy even told me to "have a magical evening". hehe!

FOUR MORE DAYS! WOO HOO!

Christmas Roadtrip!

When we last went to Sandy Hook, we talked about coming back to see the History House all decorated for Christmas... but with the whole pneumonia thing last year, we weren't able to go. So I surprised Matt with a road trip on Saturday. We had so much fun! The house was beautifully decorated, there was a live jazz trio, and they even had cookies and hot chocolate!

We had the opportunity to climb the Sandy Hook lighthouse as well - a delight for Matt, since he was never able to go there as a kid. (It was run by the Coast Guard until a few years ago). We then took a quick sidetrip to the Twin Lights as well and picked up a sticker for our NJ passports!

We then drove in to Matt's hometown, Atlantic Highlands. We stopped into the public library and browsed in a vintage shop, but the highlight of the trip home was the Memphis Pig Out. This place serves up great food in HUGE quantities. We ate ourselves silly and then hit the road, as we were expecting a Nor'Easter late that night.

View a bigger slideshow at the Photo Gallery!

Great Big Sea at LL Bean!

Two weekends ago, we took a crazy two-day road trip to Maine. Four of us loaded into my dear 'ol Jeep and took the long, long drive up to Freeport. Why, you might ask? Unlimited shopping at LL Bean and the outlets? Well, that's a good reason and one we did take advantage of, but no. We went on the quest for music - Great Big Sea!

The concert was great - it was a part of the LL Bean summer concert series (free!) - supposedly they had over 4500 people in the park that night! It was especially fun because there were so many Canadians there, and they know how to party!

We had wanted to stay in Freeport, but everything was booked solid, from the swankiest B&B to all the sites at the campgrounds, so we stayed in Portland - what a great choice! It is such a charming city and I wish we could have sent more time there. I will go back there to explore the interesting little shops and experience it properly! Our hotel was fantastic, too - Holiday Inn By The Bay. The room was comfortable, they gave us a bag of goodies, and we had a bay view!

Of course, we did some shopping while we were there as well, both at Bean and in other stores in that shopping mecca. There was a fantastic little British shop where we all stocked up on chocolates and other goodies, great little cafes for food (lobster roll, yum!), and surprisingly I came home with an extra suitcase!

I had wanted to take part in one of the Walk-On adventures, but we didn't have time... so I will return for that, too. This is as close to kayaking that I got, but I will get to try it some day!

Sadly, a very important thing that I wanted to do in Freeport didn't happen.... my dear friend Kate lives there, and I was excited to get to see her. But she went away! Oh, the sadness! Ah well.... just another reason to go back! Pictures are here... and there might be more soon if I get the "ok" from our friends!

Mystic Mini Break!

I had a lot of fun with Rebecca and Catherine in Mystic. Here are a few pics from a fun-filled visit!

First, we met at Olde Mistick Village where we wandered and did a little shopping. Then we grabbed some lunch and afterwards hung out at a beach/park in the afternoon.

We had dinner at Rice Spice Noodles then wandered around donwtown Mystic, even catching some tunes (and dancing!) at an outdoor concert!

We played a bit in the hotel before bedtime... and musical Catherine liked her belated Birthday present from me - a Bongo drum!!

In the morning, we took a swim at the hotel pool after breakfast and then visited Ocean Beach Park - it was VERY hot, but we enjoyed the breeze, had some lunch, played some games in the arcade and then enjoyed some ice cream before we went our separate ways.

It was really great to spend some time with Becky... I am so glad that we have stayed friends through a lot of life changes and with a lot of distance! It was tremendous fun... too bad they live so far away!

(I know, I know. Here I am spending time with my dear friend and I end up taking tons of pictures of her daughter and really none of us... but she is so darn cute and photogenic!)

Road Trippin'

I had a wonderful few days in Massachusetts. I left later than initially planned on Sunday, but that was all right. Once I got up there, I checked in* and met up with the Woods at Qdoba. We enjoyed some food and then hung out a while at their new house - so cute!
The next day, Becky, Catherine and I went to Stage Fort Park in Gloucester. We'd initially planned to go to Good Harbor Beach, but because of the Nor'Easter, a lot of Gloucester ended up underwater and is now being repaired. The day was fantastic and we had such fun hanging out , catching up and playing at the water's edge.

Later in the day, we went to Building 19... I was excited to go, but unfortunately found nothing that I wanted! Oh, well. I did try on some funny boots... I'll try to get the pic, since Becky took it with her camera! :) My feet looked like a muppet!
That evening, I got to see my long-lost friend Amy for some chips and salsa at Chilli's - something we did on countless times while in college!! We'd recently found each other again through MySpace, and it was great to reconnect. I missed her a lot!

The next day, I met up with the Wood girls again and we went to a very belated birthday lunch (and vanilla cokes!) at Johnny Rockets. I was supposed to be up in MA for Becky's birthday party in January, but ended up somewhere else instead! :( We wandered around the mall a little bit and perused some sale racks, got some ice cream, and went back to the house and sat on the patio to enjoy the sun for a minute before I had to get back into the car.

I got home in record time - just a touch over four hours! It was a great trip and I am so happy I had the opportunity to get away and play. The weather was amazing and it is always good to reconnect, both with old friends and yourself!

Pictures are here.

*A space of my own - yay! Or as Amy put it, "How grown up of you!"

Another update... a travel one!

When we went down to Florida for my grandfather's funeral, we had to drive due to the short notice and astronomical plane fares. One of the big things we all see on Route 95 south are the unending parade of signs for South of the Border. Being that neither of us have ever been there, Matt and I decided to stop there for breakfast! (This was after staying at a frightening place that looked charming but was a bit of a nightmare! Too bad they don't have a website!)

I think I've gotten my fill of SOTB now. But it was an experience we both had to have. What a strange place! It was kind of like a ghost town. But that might be different in the summertime, at the height of roadtrip season. But you can see the pictures here!

Road Trip?

Round trip drive to one school I work in - 32 miles.

Round trip drive to another school I work in - 40 miles.

Driving forth and back to each place in one day - 72 miles.

At $2.039/gallon, considering the mileage my car gets... (whir, whir, click, whir)... $8.64

Plus tolls on the Garden State Parkway for both trips... $2.90

Total, $11.54 and about 2 hours of time.

Isn't work fun?

Pack Your Bags...

It's really kind of awful that I have been getting (some of) my motivation to travel from television...

I love to watch Samantha Brown on the Travel Channel. Great Hotels and Passport to Europe (along with all of the other shows she's done) are both fantastic, and I've learned about so many places I want to go and see. I think part of it is that she's so personable and fun and genuinely excited about going to new places - I want to be her! Matt and I both have the travel bug and are already planning more trips than we can possibly take! I've wanted to go to the Library Hotel in NYC for years (I actually have now seen the outside, just by chance!), and Matt wants to go to Barcelona... if only for the "secret cookies"!! I've now found another hotel... Hotel Aria, in Prague. It's a music hotel! Much like the Library Hotel, each floor has a different theme (Jazz, Opera, Classical, Contemporary) with different rooms that celebrate different people in that genre.

Oh, I'd better start picking up loose change on the street if I'm ever going to begin to afford all of the traveling I want to do!

Road Trip!

Last week, during the winter break, I decided to plan a little road trip. So I surprised Matt and we headed out on the highway and drove to Easton, PA... to the Crayola Factory! What a fun place! They teach you how to make crayons (although Mr. Rodgers already taught us that - and he is represented there, too!) and you can learn about the history of the company, and then... the creativity happens. There's coloring and watercolor painting and playing with Model Magic and painting with wax and projects and markers that write on glass and a play area and sidewalk chalk... and who knows what else?! Unfortunately, due to the holiday week there were a ton of people there, but still so much fun!
Upstairs is the National Canal Museum. The cool thing is that the two are included in the one admission price. It is another great place - very interesting to learn all about this form of transportation in an entirely hands-on environment. There were lots of things to do, like learn about pulleys and mules and actually take a little boat through a series of locks. I learned a lot!

I'd initially planned for us to go to the Easton Museum of Pez, (website down, hopefully will be up soon) too... but it seemed awfully small and doesn't have to do with the actual Pez company. So instead we hit up the Crayola and Canal gift shops and eventually headed out.

Being an overachiever, I then mapped out three state parks for us to see and collect stickers from... we started the Passport for Adventure program and figured we'd hit a few out of the way places (which were conveniently on the way!). We only made it to one - Voorhees State Park - since I was not feeling so great and the parks close early on a weeknight in the winter!

We did have enough time to get some dinner, though... at Matt's favorite restaurant. Soul food!

It was really a great day, with a lot of great memories made. Pictures are here!!

What's wrong with being a geek?

Another picture!

This was found in Atlantic City, when I was there for the teacher's convention. Take a look at the second line.....

What did the geeks do to you?

Lunchless days, free books and gambling

This past weekend I went to the NJEA convention in Atlantic City. I've never gone before, so I decided this was the year to initiate myself. What an overwhelming experience!

Got to the convention on Thursday morning after too few hours of sleep. Went to three workshops that day, which meant that I was not going to have time for lunch. Bah. Luckily, I had a "special helper" who was kind enough to bring me food, considering the union doesn't like the convention food vendors and therefore there was no food at the convention - nor time to get some, with only a half-hour between sessions and a handful of places within walking distance.
After the sessions were over that day, some downtime was needed (so many people, so much noise, so much confusion!) and then food. Dinner was finally acquired at Johnny Rockets (yay for vanilla cokes and apple pie!) and we visited a few casinos - the Sands was about to close that weekend, so we stopped in for a look. I then blew a whopping $10 on the penny and nickel slots (woo hoo - big spender!) and then went to bed.
Friday I ended up doing only two sessions - at that point, I'd had enough of sitting for two hour segments! It was a good thing I did that, though- when back in the exhibits again, I visited the booth of the people who publish the textbooks I use. The guy started up a conversation, and then, since the exhibit floor was soon getting ready to close, he gave me five teacher edition textbooks for my series! Now I have almost a complete set of them to keep at home! :) Yay!
Saturday we went to Point Pleasant and played skeeball and arcade games before heading home. It was a good weekend, but hectic and tiring and involving a lot of stuff. But I am glad I went, saw, and conquered. And experienced.

Next time I go, I know I really need to plan ahead. I ended up only being able to acquire a room at a chain hotel that is normally fine for just sleeping, but in this case was not quite so nice. I know now to plan enough in advance and stay at one of the many casino hotels, aiming for the ones closest to the convention center. I know it means more planning and more money, but it will be worth it. Atlantic City, on the whole, is not the greatest place to be, so it is best to be in an environment where there are lots of lights and security people. Also, I will know that it might be a good idea to have dinner reservations made in advance if you want to eat anywhere nice, and also know the phone numbers of local take-out places in terms of getting lunch at the convention. I wonder if places would deliver if you asked them to? Hmmm....