A belated tale from the flight to Philly.

(This was written on the flight from L.A. To Philly)

Vacation is wonderful.

Traveling stinks.

I say that as I sit in this airplane for the last four hours now, the second long leg of this trip.

I know, cry me a river, right? This flight is definitely going better, though. Kids, as usual, continue to impress me. Everly is her ansty self, but has been in good spirits. She’s actually asleep at this moment. Jude is starting to get a bit impatient. I just got my first “Are we there yet??” All in all though, he has been a champ. He’s a sentimental kid with a long memory. He already misses the faces he saw in California. At the same time, he remembers how his cousins in New Jersey (that we’re going to see) took him out to their cul-de-sac to play hockey with him last time we were here. I couldn’t believe he remembered that, but he did. Those moments are important enough to him that he holds on to them. It makes me wonder what he’ll hold onto during this trip.

You ever been to Jersey? I’ll be honest, I like New Jersey. I think it gets a bad rap due to the really ugly parts (and there are some really ugly parts, though they have a lot of character), and the stereotypes out there. That being said, it’s called the Garden State for a reason. So many parts of it are green and lush. Farmland, even. North New Jersey (think north of NYC) and up towards New York State are gorgeous. And the pizza… oh my the pizza. I tell my wife at least once a week that if someone was able to open up a legit east coast pizzeria in Kauai that stayed open past 10:00 they would absolutely clean up. Jersey pizza is the best, I don’t care what the New York people tell you. Must be the clean, clean Jersey water that they make it with. 😁

I digress.

But seriously. Get yourself some Jersey pizza. If you’re in the Colonia area, try Luna’s. You won’t regret it.

I digress again. Everly is asleep in my lap. Isla is asleep in Vanessa’s. Jude’s head is on my shoulder while he watches Land Before Time XII. There are 14 of them, FYI. Life is good.

P.S., this picture was taken on Friday at Merrill Park in Edison, New Jersey.