We left at 9:17 am on Wednesday, April 6th to head to NJ. The kids had breakfast at the house prior to leaving. Blake and I stopped at Bojangles, our order was wrong and we got 2 free sandwiches out of it and the boys happily ate them.

It was a bit of a drive but the kids did great. Our next stop was at a rest station in Maryland. We all got a drink. Nick found his doppelganger. I tried to get a picture but it didn’t turn out well.

Shortly before we got to our hotel, we got stuck in traffic. Welcome to NJ/NYC traffic. It didn’t help that it was storming.

We made it to our hotel a little after 3:30. We stayed at the Comfort Suites Newark – Harrison. The reviews online were a little mixed but overall they seemed pretty good. The pictures looked really nice and it also offered a Free Hot Breakfast and with a family of 8, this is extremely important. It saves a lot of money. We were hopeful and if all else failed, we could find another place to stay. Once we arrived we were very surprised by the area in which the hotel is located. It did not appear to be the nicest area of town but throughout our 3 day stay, we didn’t run into any issues. The rooms were very clean, beds could have been a little more comfortable but overall decent. We thankfully didn’t have road side but we did have work yard side with river views. The breakfast did not end up being a buffet style hot breakfast that advertised. It was a freezer with frozen breakfast sandwiches to microwave. We ended up eating breakfast elsewhere for the next 3 days.

Once we got our belongings unpacked, we headed to the American Dream Mall where we will be spending the next 2 days. We wanted to figure out the area and how to navigate the mall as this is the 2nd largest mall in America. As we get closer to the mall we are able to see the skyline of New York City. This was exciting for my kids and I because none of us have ever been to NYC.

We passed MetLife Stadium which is located next to the mall.

We finally made it to the mall. We read reviews about this being an ugly mall from the outside and the reviews didn’t disappoint. The outside of the mall is very blah.

We got inside the mall and it was huge. We went around and looked at different things and checked out a few stores.

Check out my blog post on the American Dream Mall:

We checked out The Lego Store, Nickelodeon Universe, DreamWorks Water Park, It’s Sugar and Toys R Us.

It’s sugar is a 3 story candy store and the kids went a little crazy but we didn’t end up getting anything. Most of the kids are not old enough to remember actual toy stores and they were in heaven when they saw the Toys R Us. We could see most of Nickelodeon Universe from the entrance. We tried to see DreamWorks Water Park but unfortunately we couldn’t get inside to see it. We were able to see small pieces of it from the windows.

We needed to find a place to eat and decided to try a restaurant called 1ST RND. 1ST RND is a sports theme restaurant with lots of beer on taps and burgers to choose from. We had an excellent experience, our server was attentive and patient. Especially with our family of 8 and a toddler that doesn’t like to sit still. The manager was great with local recommendations for around the area. Decent pricing and great food.

The next morning we had time before Nickelodeon Universe opened so we went to check out Paterson Great Falls National Historic Park. Prior to our trip, I never looked into waterfalls in the NJ area. I was sitting at work a couple of days before the trip with The Weather Channel on and Paterson Falls came up and I looked into it and it just so happened to be about 10 minutes from our hotel.

We stopped by a Burger King near the falls for breakfast due to the lack of a breakfast at the hotel.

The falls are located roadside and there is a short hike to the falls. Unfortunately the bridge across the falls was closed and to access the opposite side of the falls guest need to park along Maple Street and enter through Mary Ellen Kramer Park.

Unfortunately for us, the day we went to the falls the weather was poor, it was overcast and rained at times. It did not take away from the beauty and power of the falls.

Before leaving the falls, Ethan and Isabella spotted a person with a drone and it looked as if he was filming a video for Social Media and they were very excited. As we were walking by I told the kids to ask him if that is what he was doing and they were too embarrassed to ask so I asked for them. He was in fact filming a video for Instagram. It was then that this amazing and kind stranger allowed each of the kids to fly his drone and this was an exciting time for the kids. Well it got even better……..he then filmed a video for us with his drone to use on our own social media and YouTube channel. This was amazing and extremely kind of him!

We get to the mall shortly before the park opened and we went in a few stores and looked around. Shortly after the park opened we began our day of play in Nickelodeon Universe! The kids had an absolute blast and we rode almost every open ride at the park.

Check out my blog post on Nickelodeon Universe!

Shortly before 6:00 pm on April 7th, 2022 we had a life changing event happen during our time at Nickelodeon Universe. As Blake and I were getting off of The Shredder and Ethan and Nick were getting on, we were told the ride had been shut down and no reason was given. The employees were just as confused as we were. It also appeared other rides were shutting down as well. We though well maybe they decided to close the park an hour early. Disappointing but it has happened to us before at our local Busch Gardens. Unfortunately that was not the case. The reason ended up being a 3+ hour lockdown situation due to a shooting in the mall and at the time, it was unknown if it was an isolated incident or an active shooter. The majority of the information we received came from Twitter and local news outlets. A ton of police presence and a lot of scared adults and kids. Our kids shed tears but in the end did very well with the situation. We explained to them the importance of practicing the active shooter drills in school because sadly these types of situations are real and can happen anywhere. We did a lot of explaining to the kids what was going on and reassuring them that they were safe.

Check out my blog post on the American Dream Mall shooting!

We got to our car a little after 9 and it took us a little bit longer to get out of the parking lot due to all of the police vehicles and ambulances.

We were all starving and needed to find a place for dinner. On our way to the mall, we passed a restaurant called Tick Tock Diner and the sign said open 24 hours. The kids really wanted to eat there because of the name. Even though it wasn’t spelled TikTok it was close enough for them. I walked into the restaurant and was told their kitchen would be closing in 10 minutes. I went to walk out and asked if everything was okay because of the look on my face. I told them about the incident we just experienced at the mall. They welcomed us with open arms and said they would cook anything on the menu we wanted and I they bent over backwards for us. We told the staff the whole story about the mall shooting and talked to our server a lot of the time. We had a fantastic dinning experience and the food was exceptional! All of the kids meals came with ice cream and Blake and I got a piece of Cannoli Cake which was the best we have ever had. Such a wonderful experience.

After a long day, we made it back to the hotel.

For breakfast the next morning, we went back to Tick Tock Diner. We loved the food the night before and the service was top notch. It was only a given we go back for breakfast. Another wonderful experience, great service, delicious food that came to us quick and some of the employees remembered us from the night before. We were told how well behaved our kids were. If you are in the East Rutherford part of NJ, you have to check it out!

The DreamWorks Water Park opened at 11 and we got there shortly after they opened. We expected to stay about a half a day and talked about going back to Nickelodeon Universe for the rest of the day. Well that did not happen. We spent the entire day at the water park and left as they were closing. I have never been to a water park like this one before. This is by far the best one I have been to. We live super close to Water Country USA and it has nothing on the DreamWorks water park. It was nice that everything was close together. Lots and lots of stairs but that was to be expected, a huge wave pool, water coaster that goes around the entire park, kids play area and the worlds tallest trapdoor drop slide (14 stories tall) that gives exceptional views NYC. I may have died when I got to the top of the slide but it quickly revieved me.

Check out my blog post on DreamWorks Water Park!

After we closed the park down, we decided to check out the rest of the mall but before we did, we stopped at the Nickelodeon gift shop outside of the parks to get a souvenir for the kids.

We walked the rest of the mall. Many stores were vacant and coming soon. We checked out a few of them and went to The Avenue the luxury upscale part of the mall.

We needed a place to stop for dinner and we found an Irish restaurant out of the mall called Blarney Station Pub. Delicious food and entertainment. I got a rum bucket to drink not really knowing what it was. It was quite tasty.

Tay took a quick nap during dinner as well and made herself a nice bed.

We got back to our hotel for our last night at the Comfort Suites.

The next morning we get up and head to Diggerland USA for the day. We stop by a rest area with restaurants to grab some breakfast. This was around 9:30. We get in line for Chick-fil-a and upon arrival, we were told they were only serving lunch. Next to Chick-fil-a was a Burger King and we were able to get breakfast there before they stopped serving it.

We made it to Diggerland as they were opening. This was also the opening day for the park for the year. We had a ton of fun during our time at the park. Plus it wasn’t crowded at all and we could ride anything and everything we wanted and as many times as we wanted. This is a park we have been wanting to take the kids to for a long time and finally got to check it off.

Check out my blog post on Diggerland USA!

Once we leave Diggerland we head to our 2nd and last hotel for our trip, Holiday Inn Express Wilmington North – Brandywine. This hotel was fantastic. A lot of room, very clean hotel and clean rooms. Nice and welcoming staff and in a very safe area. Also their advertised free hot breakfast as actually a hot breakfast buffet. This is a huge bonus for us. I chose this hotel due to it being 1. closer to home and 2. because it was minutes from the Delaware State High Point.

Another state checked off the list for Ethan, Arianna, Isabella and Arianna! They were excited to get another state checked off.

During our drive, I researched restaurants along our route to find one that all the kids would like. I found a couple that sounded good and we settled on Stanley’s Restaurant. The online menu sounded delicious and if I haven’t posted it before, Blake calls his mustache Stanley. This was clearly the obvious choice.

Once we arrived, the parking lot was very crowded but we were willing to wait. I walk into the restaurant to see about getting on the waiting list and told the host that I had a party of 8. She asked if I made reservations and I told her no. They had a table for us anyways for a reservation that cancelled. It was perfect for our party. We had an excellent server, he was very attentive and did fantastic with our 6 kids and did a great job entertaining us. He asked a lot of questions and it was a lot of fun telling him about our trip and where we were from. Come to find out he had actually been to Williamsburg before. I told him how we found out about the restaurant and he loved it.

The next morning before leaving the hotel, we had a delicious breakfast buffet. We all enjoyed it!

Our first stop on our way home was of course the Delaware State High Point.

This is one of the high points I was very excited about getting and Blake loves to tease me over it. This is because the high point is roadside with no hiking involved. Ebright Azimuth – Delaware’s highest point sits 447.85 feet above sea level. We parked in the neighborhood across the street and walked over to the sign. We were unable to find the benchmark for the highpoint.

As we were getting back in the car I realized that I forgot to record the “hike” on my AllTrails App and ran back to the sign to complete the hike. During my “hike” I was able to spot a welcome to Delaware sign and I found the mud covered benchmark. Blake brought all the kids back over for pictures. I used my hand to wipe off the benchmark vs going back to the car to get wipes.

Once we left the highpoint we go to Brandywine Creek State Park Nature Center which is part of First State National Park to get a Cancellation Sticker. The park seemed great and we would love to go back there sometime to do some hiking. It was pretty busy as well.

Not far from the park sits the Old Swedes Historic Site/Old Swedes Church. This is another location to get a First State National Park Cancellation stamp. We tried to enter the church but unfortunately it was closed. I did reach out to their park services to request a stamp and they are going to send one to me. This is much appreciated, as I love collecting the stamps.

Once we leave the church, we head home. We opted to go home the longer route along the Eastern Shore and Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel. This is more a more scenic route vs getting stuck in traffic taking 95.

We made a stop at Bojangles for lunch and then headed straight to my parents house to celebrate my moms birthday with my sister and her family.

We had a great and interesting spring break trip!