In early Sept. we traveled to Fire Island, NY to celebrate Isabella's cousin Gus's 3rd birthday. What a trip is was! It was by far the most modes of transportation we've ever taken to get anywhere.
We left our house bright and early 5am to get on our 6:20 flight from Cedar Rapids. Isabella wasn't too happy to be taken from her crib that morning. By the time we drove to Cedar Rapids, drove thru McDonald's, got everything unloaded, we were cutting it pretty close for our flight, but we made it. (Our bag had to have a "late check" tag on it though...whoops). When we went to board, they said we didn't specify that Isabella would be traveling with us, which we had. At first, they acted like it was a big deal and then basically just let her on, I think. We spent most of that flight to Detroit feeding Isabella her breakfast, so that flight went smoothly. Our layover was pretty short in Detroit, by the time we walked from our arriving gate to our departure gate it was practically time to board. We made sure it said Isabella was traveling with us with an attendant at the gate and she was very helpful and said everything was okay. The flight from Detroit to JFK was pretty uneventful, we pulled out the portable dvd player and Isabella ended up taking a short nap, which we were very happy about because I wasn't sure if she'd get a nap in the entire day. We landed around 11:50 am in NY and we knew the train we wanted to take left at 11:45, so we weren't too surprised that we didn't make that. The next train we needed wasn't scheduled to come until 1:43 so we hung around the airport to get something to eat. We had to take the AirTrain from the airport to the LIRR (Long Island Railroad). So we left the airport around 1:00 to give us plenty of time. We figured out how to pay for the AirTrain and how to get our LIRR tickets and what train to get on. Track 7. I confirmed it with the Information attendant. Of course, none of this matters if you get on the wrong train on Track 7. Which is what I had us do, a train pulls up at 1:38 and I got us on it. We settled in on the crowded train prepared for the 45 minute trip. When the conductor came around to take the tickets, she informed Jeff we were on the wrong train. Agh!! We just got off at the next stop and waited for the next train to take us back to where we started, explained to the conductor on that train our mistake and it was very nice that they didn't charge us. Obviously, we missed our 1:43 train and the next one didn't come until 3:00. This was a bummer because we were trying to make a 4:00 ferry and this would be cutting it close. So, we hung around the train station until 3, not too much to entertain Isabella with, just basically had to chase her around and pull her out of the way and people actually trying to get somewhere. We made our 3:00 train, the correct one, settled in, more comfortably now, this train wasn't nearly as crowded. We pulled out the dvd player about when Isabella got antsy. The train ended up running a little late, we didn't make it to the station until 3:50 and all we knew is that we had to make it to the ferry by 4 and to get there we had to take a cab or a shuttle. Jeff ran ahead and tried to get a cab, they said pointed us to the shuttle. Others were also trying to make 4pm ferries so it was a big rush. We were going to Fair Harbor, others were going to Ocean Beach, I heard others shouting out Ocean City and some of the ferries left from different places. People were even saying they called ahead to tell the ferries the train was late and the shuttle driver was driving like a maniac. I had Isabella on my lap and she was being quite jerked around. We made a stop, I yelled out "is this for Fair Harbor?" everyone yelled back "No!", but how was I supposed to know. We pulled up to the ferry and it was still there! I ran on with Isabella and Jeff gathered all of our stuff and came running on a minute later. I may have asked 3 different people if I was on the Ferry to Fair Harbor, because everything was a blur and I had a bad feeling that we were on the wrong ferry! The wind had picked up quite a bit but it seemed ok to venture up to the top to let Isabella sit outside and see the water. A few minutes after we got up there, the waves got really choppy and water started flying in over the sides. It was pretty crazy. I wasn't sure if I could carry Isabella and get back downstairs, but step by step, we made it.
Waiting for the train. That is seriously all our luggage - except for diaper bag and plane carry-on backpack.
Windy ferry rideNancy, Gus, Grandma and Abdoul were there to meet us at the dock. It was so great to see them after our long day. We walked to the house, which was only about 5 blocks away and settled in. The house was very nice. Lots of room for all of us. Jeff, Isabella and I stayed upstairs in a room that was kind of like a loft. It had 4 beds and a bathroom. Downstairs had two bedrooms, the kitchen, dining area, sitting area, bathroom and porch. That evening we just hung out and walked around the island a little bit.
Exploring with Grandma
Out on the beach
Gus making a sand angel
Watching a movie while it rained outside
Isabella and Gus playingOn Saturday the weather was looking much nicer. Isabella, Aunt Nancy, Grandma and Gus went out to the beach while Jeff and I went out for jog. We jogged to the Fire Island lighthouse and came back on the beach, which was pretty tough to jog on. Then we all hung out on the beach for a little while. Isabella and Gus had a ton of fun playing in the sand and venturing into the water. Stacey came to visit from Manhattan and made it on the 1:30 ferry. I went to meet her and as I was waiting for her she called and said "I'm here" and I said "Where?" because there was no ferry that arrived. So she quickly asked someone and the ferry made a stop at one town over and she got off there. Luckily, she was able to get right back on the ferry and get to Fair Harbor. We hung out with Stacey the rest of the afternoon. That evening we celebrated Gus's 3rd birthday. We had cupcakes and opened presents. Gus enjoyed it quite a bit.
Singing 'Happy Birthday'
Sunday was our travel day back home. Grandma was also flying home that day, so we made the trip to the airport with us. We made the 8am ferry and were hoping to make the 8:45 train, but little did we know that the ferry would make a few extra stops and we'd be on the ferry for an hour. So, we didn't make the train we wanted and the next one wouldn't come for awhile so we took a cab to the next train station over in Babylon where the trains run more frequently. We make it on the 9:30 train, but this train took an hour since it made more stops. Then we got on the Airtrain and we were flying Delta so we got off at Terminal 3. It was 45 minutes before our flight so we were running. When we made it to the Delta counter, the man there said "This is a Northwest flight, you are in the wrong terminal. Go to Terminal 4." We said "Can't you check us in? Delta and Northwest had merged and on our itinerary it said we were a Delta flight. He said "No". So back to the Airtrain we went to get to Terminal 4, pretty defeated at this point because we knew we had missed our flight. We got to Terminal 4 and looked and looked for Northwest and all we saw was Delta counters. We asked and someone said "Delta and Northwest have merged so they are the same". When we got to the counter, she confirmed we had missed our flight. When we complained about not being able to check in at the Delta counter she said the guy should have been able to check us in! How frustrating! She booked us on a later flight and didn't charge us, which was nice. So, rather than leaving at 11:30, we were sechduled to leave at 4. A pretty long day at the airport. We went to get something to eat and Isabella fell asleep in Jeff's arms while they were standing in line waiting for food. That is pretty unusual for her. Our flights were on time. Isabella was a bit of a handful on the first flight. We couldn't really even keep her occupied with the dvd player. The second flight was a little easier as we had gotten her dinner and let her eat her chicken nuggets on the plane. We made it home by 9pm. Overall, Isabella was a trooper, but exhausted when we got home.
I think Nancy took some really great pictures from the trip. You can view them here: Nancy's Fire Island pictures
All of our pictures are located here: Our Fire Island pictures
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