Drive to New Jersey for Christmas (Dec 2022)

After going through a couple of really cold days, we decided that we were ready to leave for New Jersey on Christmas eve.  I believe the wind-chill went down to -30F because even our windshield wiper fluid froze!  And I know you're probably thinking... okay, you bought the car in CA - but seriously, we did but we were sure not to top it off with water.  I just looked at the fluid after we got back from our trip and the bottle said up to -20F so yikes, even THAT wasn't enough.  Totally ridiculous!!

At least the sun is trying to come out!

Brrrr...!!  We decided to go further south before cutting across since there was a bad pile-up/accident on I-80 the day before.  There were still at least 10 or more cars, trucks, and even semi trucks, randomly scattered along the side of the roads during our drive.  Yikes!

I'm so glad we bought this other spray that supposedly was able to melt the ice on the windshield.  That was the only way for us to clean our wind shield so Bobby really sprayed the heck out of it every time we stopped to get gas:

If anything, the Christmas music was keeping us going in the car.  Bobby was happily singing to some, unbeknownst to him that I was recording in the dark.  He he! :-)

I don't remember where we stopped for the night, but the next morning - Charlie's drink that was left in the car was totally frozen!

At least the roads are much cleaner today:

Not like the kids are paying much attention anyway.  All they are doing is keeping their head down and playing on their computers!

Finally, some signage pointing to New York City.  We are getting closer!

It could almost be so pretty!

Made it to Grandma and Pop-pop's house!!  And it didn't take long for the boys to go look under the Christmas tree.  I suppose it is Christmas Day.  We actually made it just in time for it :-)

Thank you to Grandma and Pop-pop for all the presents!  And of course, to "Santa" as well ;-)

The next day, it's time to get my not-so-red "beast" a good wash:

OMG, these car washes are so expensive! It's like the price of a decent steak. Sheesh!

Okay boys, be sure to spray lots and lots of soap.  We need to get my monies worth!

Okay, maybe it was worth that few extra bit of cash.  It's finally a red truck again!

After the car wash, we decided to head out to the nearby field to fly Graham's new drone:

Let's see how long this one will last before it breaks.  His record hasn't been very good, but then again he keeps saying that Charlie is the one that's breaking them.  

I think Charlie did try to fly the drone but not for long. It's been a while since we've had another drone so just maybe, this one might last a bit longer since Charlie is older now.

Dinner time!!  So happy we are able to come up to New Jersey and spend time with Grandma and Pop-pop :-D

For whatever reason, I told Charlie to draw an angler fish at the restaurant.  And I think he nailed it on the head here!

After getting home, I tucked into a Chinese rice dumpling (Guo Zhong).  I had to get some when we went for lunch at the Malaysian restaurant earlier in the day:

I promise these look more appetizing before they are half-eaten. They are wrapped into a prism shape and most of them are filled with pork and beans.  The Malaysian restaurant also had some that were filled with red beans, but blah - those tasted very bland and Charlie can attest to that too. I have never actually tasted a red bean one prior to this so looks like that was my first and last. Ha ha!

Graham and Charlie are so excited to spend the next few days with Grandma and Pop-pop. In the meantime, I'm hoping it's not our house that is responsible for the low water pressure for our neighborhood back in IL.  The below freezing temperature made me very nervous with stories of pipes bursting but thankfully it wasn't us.  Phew!