Guess who’s starting to chew now?!
Yes, that’s Tiger’s first tooth! He actually got it about a week ago, but the dang thing is impossible to take a picture of…kinda like the Loch Ness Monster, Santa Claus, or a pretty pass from Alex Smith.
Nothing beats a Friday, especially on a week where you started work at a new job, and just a week after your family moves cross-country. The NJ State Fair opened today and was advertised as $1 parking, $2 entrance fees, $1 games, and some $1 foods. With that in mind and a weekend to look forward to, we figured the 30-minute drive would be well worth it.
The fair was held near the New Meadowlands Stadium where the NY Jets and the NY Football Giants play there games, so it was cool to see what a new stadium looks like (ahem Qualcomm). Time flew by as we ate sausages, $1 hot dogs, $1 roasted corn with cheese, mayo, and chili powder, and even got a few prizes after Keante played a few games.
I don’t think we’ll ever fully get used to NJ, but this is a good start.
After picking up Angie and Em from Dulles, we planned out part of our East Coast trip, which included trips to Washington DC and Philadelphia.
The first stop was the Nation’s capitol, as we walked for 6+ hours in hot and humid conditions. We checked out most of the main tourist attractions (Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial, WWII Memorial, Vietnam War Memorial, Korean War Memorial, and the Jefferson Memorial). Through all of that, we even made it to the Holocaust Museum (which is a must-visit in DC). Although the heat took it’s toll on us, we managed to get through it all and even managed to find some good eats in the way of Rita’s, Ben’s Chilli, and other food establishments that I can’t remember right now. I don’t have many pictures, as Angie is a much better photographer, so we deferred to her, but her’s what I have of DC.
I have a feeling it’s gonna be a long, long day…~Tiger
I Guess this is what my tax money is paying for…
My dada says that this is an important picture because I can use it to remind Mama that we’ve been here before (because she won’t remember)…~Tiger
Philadelphia was our next stop on the trip (although we made a quick detour back to NJ for a day). Philly was Philly. Good, unhealthy food, and plenty of historical sites to checkout. Although I don’t have any of the Philly pictures on my camera, we did check out the must-sees from the eatery world (Geno’s and Pat’s….Pat’s is better for the record). In Philly, we also had the most expensive take-out Vietnamese food ever, stayed in a sub-par Sheraton Hotel, visited the Liberty Bell, took the Independence Hall tour to view where both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were formed and signed, visited Ben Franklin’s grave, partially visited Love Park (the girls didn’t want to get dropped off because somebody told them they might get mugged) and finished the afternoon off with a Philly Hoagie. All in a day and a half’s work…not bad even by Benjamin Gates’ standards.
Our first outing in New Jersey took us to Jenkinsons (Jenks as the locals call it). Not a bad boardwalk if you like games, expensive carnival food, and watching people pretend like they’re on the cast of Jersey Shore.
We did have a great time, although driving there was a bit of a challenge (imagine me doing a few loops around the same roundabout and not knowing which exit to take).
On Sunday, June 12th, we left LAX and arrived in the wonderful world of Newark, NJ. The flight over was pretty easy, as Tiger slept for a total of 3.5 hours or so, pooped once on the plane, and even ate a good amount. Even the luggage situation (3 check-ins, 2 carry-ons, 1 large stroller, and 1 car seat) wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. Upon arriving in NJ, we were set to meet up with Yen, Keante, Angie, and Em over the next two days to embark on our East Coast trip (more to come on that later).
First impression of New Jersey…for the most part, it holds up to most of the stereotypes that you hear (I’ll let you figure out what those are). There’s definitely a lot of stuff we’ll need to adjust to. The weather is crazy with 85 degrees and thunderstorms (although for the East Coast trip, it was near perfect), the driving is insane (with roundabouts, constant toll roads, millions of highways, exiting off a freeway directly into shopping parking lot like Best Buy), you can’t pump your own gas (against the law), and when you go shopping, you’re pretty much assured to be the only Asians walking around town.
As we’re now just starting to settle into Corporate Housing, I’ll hopefully get a chance to post more pictures of Tiger in his new surroundings. He’s growing up really, really fast now, as he’s starting to crawl a bit and he’s even gotten his first tooth.
Stay tuned for more adventures (and pictures) of the Garden State…more to come soon!