Chris, Kelly, Lily, Olivia & Grandma all made the trip from NY over to Ohio for the July 4th weekend and it was a blast to have family in our new place to celebrate independence day. We packed a lot in during the extended weekend, by going to the famous Columbus Zoo, seeing fireworkds, playing in the backyard pool and eating lots of good homemade food that Grandma made.

Mateo was able to finally meet his two cute cousins in Lily and Olivia. He had a blast with both of them and there were lots of laughing and giggling as they played the whole weekend. Olivia and Mateo are only one week apart and both are growing like little rabbits so it was fun to see them face to face.

On saturday we decided to celebrate with a good ol' BBQ and some sparklers/fireworks show. The babies fell asleep for the light show but Lily was having a ball with the sparklers and watching daddy make short order of the small fireworks we were allowed to light in Ohio.

Sunday was the day for the world famous Columbus Zoo. The zoo lived up to the hype and we didn't get to see it all, but what we did see was great. The kids were excited (mostly Lily) and saw everything from Snakes to Gorrillas to Tigers and all. Surprisingly it wasn't too crowded and we'll definitely be making plans to visit again this year and see the rest that we missed. The Aquarium as well was nice and we got to see huge Manatees swimming around as the big attraction.

The next day we had some fun in the blow-up pool we put together for the kids. The water was a wee-bit cold so the little ones were not too excited about jumping in, but Lily was in and out of the pool and slip-n-slide all day under the hot sun. Maybe next time the water could be a lttle warmer so the babies can have a better chance of splashing around. But it made for good photos all the way.

We finished up the short week with a fun trip at the huge park/playground next to the house with the kids (and adults) playing in all kinds of fun contraptions. I wished I had this kind of park when we were kids but the little ones enjoyed themselves for one last day before Chris & Kelly had to leave to head back home.

 Again, thanks to all of the family for making the long drive out to Ohio. We loved having everyone over and can't wait to see you all again for the holidays.

We posted up tons and tons of pictures here in the gallery since its too much to put into this one post.

Off we went on another car trip to see Robert hit the great milestone of High School graduation! It was also the first time Mateo got to see most his cousins, uncles and grandpa so it was an eventful weekend no doubt. The graduation was a small but long affair at almost 4 hours. It was good to see all those kids graduate with most getting Regents diplomas as well.

Just remember Robert, graduation isn't the end, just the begining. Now all that is left is to go out and get a J.O.B.!! Remember the quote from Newton Baker:

The man who graduates today and stops learning tomorrow is uneducated the day after.

The rest of the weekend was spent up at Grandma's to eat some good Dominican food and spend time with all of Mateo's cousins and uncles/aunts. We played baseball, football, kids got on the swings, chased the chickens, Cooper the dog swam in the pond, fed the fish, and all around just good 'ol fun.

Pictures of Robert's Graduation here.. pics from the rest of the trip here.

First Father's Day and we got to enjoy a fun day at the Center of Science and Industry in downtown Columbus. There was lots to do and see and Mateo had a blast touching and grabbing everything at the center. It was a little crowded but well worth to see the space, ocean, gadgets and egyptian sections of the museum.

 Mateo got to play in the children's section with all the water toys and contraptions. He made some friends with the toy blocks and the baby band-aid stations. Definitely a place we all would like to come back to and explore some more.

The rest of the pics from the Father's Day fun is here in the gallery.

We haven't seen so many cardboxes since, well - our last move :) We've been steadily unpacking since we moved and hopefully we get to the light at the end of the cardboard tunnel. The weather has taken a little bit to get used to here in the midwest. The first few days were above 90F degrees with as equal amount humidity. It felt like a wearing a hot-wet blanket all day.. Thank god for A/C in the house!

Mateo has been having fun learning to crawl all over the carpet.  Mommy caught him getting into all kind of trouble crawling into boxes, under tables, going for cables and generally pulling all on the dog's ears and tails.  The dogs themselves had a great time at the sitter while we traveled and are enjoying playing in the huge backyard. The have yet to jump into the lake but I just know it's coming sooner than later.

Mateo is going through his needy-stage right now and loves to be around his mommy 24/7. She spoils him something rotten but he's learning to be independent and entertains himself with his toys and playmat. But once in a while he gives you the saddest face in the world when he wants his momma to pick him up :(

More pics of Mateo at the new house here in the gallery.

Final day of travel and we've reached our destination in Columbus! We left Chicago at the crack of dawn for the 6 hour ride to Ohio and made great time. There must have been about 6 gazzilion tolls in the Chicago-land/Indiana area. There were tolls for on-ramps, off-ramps, at different points on the freeway, on the bridges - wherever there was a 6foot stretch of road, I swear there was a toll :(

We cruised through Indiana, stopping for breakfast at XXX. No, not that kind of store you perverts, but rather XXX rootbeer family restaurant that had some mediocre breakfast but is really popular I guess with students of Purdue University. We got back on the road and were excited to finally see the welcome to Ohio sign on the freeway. First we saw some cheesy sign marking the state line and it was as anti-climatic as you could imagine. No sooner we started complaining - a monstrosity of some blue arches came in view with a big of Welcome to Ohio! sign.

Eventually we finally got to our destination. Our house we got over the internet was real and not a hollywood facade, it is plenty big and Norma was eyeballing where all our furniture and baby stuff would go. We still have lots to do, but Columbus looks like a great family town and we have lots to explore.

So when it was all said and done, we ran through 2900+ miles, 7 full days, 10 states, 3 National Parks, 2000+ pictures, one teething baby and a few disagreements but overall one helluva enjoyable experience of a once in a lifetime trip through good portions of what the best America has to offer. We have memories and pictures to last us quite a while and maybe one day we'll be back again to visit some of those places, but next time in a kick-ass RV for sure :) One final word of advice for anyone thinking about driving cross country - buy a plane ticket! LoL :) But no seriously - get out there and do it! It was a lot of fun.

Pics from Day 7 here in the gallery.

Sights to See: Madison, WI and Chicago!

What a difference a day makes. Today's drives were short stints compared to yesterday's monster day so we had a good chance to sleep in and check out downtown Cedar Falls, Iowa before getting on the road. We headed out towards Madison, WI to have lunch at Lazy Jane's Cafe. Madison looked like the quintensential college town and the cafe lunch was pretty good. Norma has been having spotty luck with her lunch picks but finally found some good soup to eat.

We then had a short drive over to Chicago (or so we thought) What should've been 2 hours turned to 4 with Chicago traffic on the Kennedy Expressway. Reminded me of being on the Cross-Bronx in the middle of rush hour in NYC.. plain murderous.  We go to our hotel a lttle later than planned but headed right out to go sight-see.

First on the list was Portillo's World Famous Hot Dogs and the place did not dissapoint.  I'm a plain kinda guy for hot dogs but Norma loved the tomato, pickle and other stuff they put on a traditional Chicago-style dog.  After dinner we taxi'd over to the Navy Pier to take a stroll through the famous Chicago landmark. It was a bit windy and cold for Mateo as he fell asleep in the carrier Mommy had him in but the Pier was definitely fun and there was lots to do. It is like a mini-theme park right in the heart of the city.

We didn't stay too late as we had to wake up early for our final leg of the trip so we shot back up town to our hotel. We did notice the neighborhood around the hotel reminded us of the classic brownstones we saw in New York City - to be sure there are no broke people living in those neighborhoods.

More pics of Day 6 here..

Sights to See: Mt Rushmore and Driving through South Dakota, Minnesota with final arrival in Iowa.

We got an early start on checking out Mt. Rushmore since it wasn't too far from where our hotel was. It was overcast and quite cloudy so we knew going in that the pictures wouldn't be as vivid as the last couple of days. There were lots of folks there visiting and the facility looked practically brand new.  It was awe inspiring though to see the representation of the 4 presidents up on the big hunking piece of granite rock of the mountain.

Back on the road we were in for the longest driving leg of our trip. two 5.5hr blocks of straight highway driving. I think Mateo and Norma went Cuckoo for Coconuts at least 8 different times inside the car the drive was soo long :( There just wasn't as much drastic scenery after leaving the badlands of South Dakota - flat farmland can only make you oooh and ahh so much after 10+ hours but we did manage to capture the sunset of an Iowa farm. The colors were absolutely rich.

The rest of the Rushmore and other random shots from the day are found here in our Ohio Move portion of our photo gallery.

Sights to See: Wyoming (BigHorn) & South Dakota (Deadwood)

We slept in a little late since our guaranteed lil alarm clock didn't go off (Mateo). We had to head off the eastern portion of Yellowstone to exit out towards Wyoming as we continued east. It went slow as all heck due to construction and the windiness of the park mountains. We did get a few nice shots of Yellowstone Lake on the way out but Norma was driving with the lead foot and made up some good time.

Wyoming had some of the best backdrops you can imagine. Wide open plains, caverns and canyons, red rock and limestone, waterfalls and raging rivers through BigHorn national monument. We stopped for our lunch break in Sheridan, WY for some lunch at a rustic old western inn that was the home of Buffalo Bill and then continued trekking eastward for some of the highlights of this leg. Deadwood, Sturgis and Mt. Rushmore are all within minutes of each other and close to the day's stop for us in Rapid City, SD.

Mateo has been sleeping lots during the car rides but he probably will personally light his car seat on fire before learning to walk after this trip is over since he undoubtedly hates having to sit in it for our long drives. Mommy has been taking turns reading his favorite books, singing nusery rhymes or letting him play with his favorite brush (he loves to bang things and make noise with his toys nowadays).

We got to Deadwood in the early evening and took in a stroll through main street to see what an old western town would look like. Turns out the wild west in the 2009 is more about gambling and tourist traps rather than a historical depiction of the late 1800s. The hoochie mama manequins in the hotel windows were funny to see though.

Lots more pics from Day4 in the Ohio Move section of our gallery.

Sights to See: Grand Tetons, Lower/Upper Yellowstone, and Old Faithful 

The weather forecast predicted thunderstorms all day, but as luck would have it we got in some beautiful sunlight and light clouds most the day. It made for great great pictures. We started with Jackson Lake and Colbert Bay Village where we were staying at and the Tetons were in vivid splendor with the lake as a backdrop. My best shot of the trip so far came from an early morning photography walk.

It felt good not to have to drive all day again - so the little 45min trip back up to Yellowstone was small potatoes. We got in some waterfalls and other good shots until we ended up at the main tourist attraction for Old Faithful. It is on a 90min schedule nowadays so we didn't have to wait very long. Maybe we watched too many movies as we were expecting the earth to rumble, a light show, and the Scorpions to play a 'Rock You Like a Hurricane' as the geyser went off - it was kind of uneventful and lasted about 3minutes. But at least we can say we've seen it now

We walked all around Geyser park and saw lots of small pools of hot springs, mineral pools which all smelled a lot like rotten eggs (it was the sulphur).  Castle Geyser isn't as well known as Old Faithful but it was probably more exciting to see since it billows steam all the time.

The rest of the day was taking it easy - stopping at turnouts, taking pictures and heading back to Colbert Bay to have a relaxing dinner. We missed the forecasted thunderstorms all day - so I guess we had luck on our side. I was aiming for some beautiful sunset shots of Jackson Lake with the Tetons in the background but it was too overcast unfortunately.

Again, lots of pics from Day3 found in our Ohio Move portion of our gallery.

Sights to See: Glacier National Park, Helena Montana, and the drive thru Yellowstone

We started a little late this morning but headed out for a snack breakfast and into Glacier National Park through the West entrance. The main pass through the park was still snowed in and closed so our intentions of taking the 'Going to the Sun' road that traverses the park didn't pan out. We still got in some great scenery and picture taking as we wound around the park to the eastern entrance.

After Glacier we head southeast out to Helena, MT for our lunch time break. We stopped at a great local place called the Staggering Ox. They had the funkiest sandwiches wrapped in some type of tubular bread. Look weird but tasted great. We found a place to self-wash the car and got rid of the nasty bugs all over the front windshield and bumper. It was as disgusting as you think it to be.

Back on the road we cruised through large portions of Indian reservation land - which was gorgeous against the foothills of the glacier mountains. We made great time until we got just outside of Yellowstone and got pulled over by the Montana State Patrol. Now mind you I've never received a speeding ticket before. Yes, never. And if it wasn't for the radar detector, he would have nailed me, but he gave us a warning to slow down so my streak stays intact!!

Yellowstone itself was an absolute wonder. An amazing pristine habitat for all sorts of wild animals. I remarked to Norma that the animals probably have more rights than we do while in the park :) This is where we lost much time on the road since you can't go more than 45mph and it doesn't help when the traffic jam is caused by the herds of Bison crossing the road. The pictures tell it all.

We staggered late into the Grand Teton National Park and made our stay in our cabin for the next two nights. We'll be hitting Old Faithful tomorrow. Here's hoping the weather stays ok.

Lots of pictures from Day 2 here in the Ohio Move section of our gallery.