Day 10: Connecticut

Friday was another short drive day as we were heading just West to Connecticut. Not only were we just going next door, but we were only staying about halfway across the state, so the drive was only about an hour to get to our campground. However we were going to drive 30 minutes past our campground to check out the PEZ Visitor Center.

I really didn’t know what to expect when we got there, but I wasn’t thinking we’d see much. The place had very good reviews online, but all of the pictures I saw led me to believe the PEZ place was just a little popup type stand in a restaurant area. The name itself - PEZ “Visitor Center” - seemed odd to me.

We all ended up pleasantly surprised when we saw that it was a two floor PEZ museum. It was actually really cool. There were PEZ dispenses from throughout the company’s history and a bunch of fun facts. They also had a scavenger hunt that kept the kids very occupied. The best part of the museum was that each PEZ dispenser was $2.50 so we could get everyone a souvenir and not spend a ton of money. It turned out to be a great stop.

After the museum we grabbed some groceries from Aldi and then headed back to our campground for the night, the Riverdale Farm Campsite. Before talking about the campground I need to note how difficult it was to find a decent campground in Connecticut. We actually wanted to stay on the Western end of the state but we couldn’t find a good spot. We ended up really lucking out because the campground we ended up at was awesome. It was really pretty and we had a good spot near the front.

We got checked in and then took the kids over to the basketball court and playground. While we were there we met a family from Orange County California who was taking a five week trip around the country. They had three little kids who were similar in age to ours and they were all able to play for a while. The mom and dad were great to talk to, so it was kinda sad we were only there for one night or else we could’ve hung out with them for another day and night.

We also went over to the arcade. I typically try and avoid arcades, only because they are one of the least efficient uses of money, especially with four kids playing games. You just blow through money in mere minutes and that's exactly what we did here. We went through $20 in about 20 minutes, but the girls did seem to enjoy it.

For dinner we grilled some steaks that I was quite pleased with given some limited seasonings on hand. After dinner we made s’mores with the girls and hung out by the fire. It’s always fun to get more time outside at night with more kids. At first we just had Caroline, then Natalie, and then Julia, and now we get Sam out there too. We eventually put them to sleep and then Allyson and I hung out for a bit.

At this point in the trip we are both feeling pretty tired. This trip has been a lot of work. Nolan is at a tough age and he needs a lot of attention. He’s also approaching the terrible twos and already starting to spaz out with little to no notice. His constant need for Allyson makes things difficult on everyone, but especially Allyson who has been bearing the brunt of it. On past trips Julia and Samantha have been very clingy with me, and Allyson has mentioned that this was only fair that she would now have to deal with it. But this is way worse than what I dealt with. Nolan simply wants nothing to do with anyone but Allyson. So either she is doing everything with him, or I am dealing with him screaming in my face. So it’s made some of the days a bit long. I think we’re all ready to get back home and have some more space.

Tomorrow we are staying in New Jersey, right on the Pennsylvania border. We had considered driving all the way home instead but that would be a 9.5 to 10 hour drive and unless we left super early that would be a long day for everyone. So we have one more stop and then we’ll be home.