The worst day-trip ever...

This is very long, but I promise it is worth reading.

Last Friday Laurel, Angie, and I headed out to Babies R Us for a quick shopping trip. Little did we know that we were heading into a nightmare. We left our building around 3pm and began walking over to the 4/5 stop on John street. As most NYC mothers know, there is a certain way to take your strollers down the subway steps. So we all picked up our strollers, balance them on our hips, and began our descent into the station. Unfortunately, there were two very drunk men (with half full beer mugs in hand) walking down in front of us. Since they were so intoxicated they were walking very, very slowly. One can only assume that they were having trouble seeing the next step.

When we FINALLY made it into the station entrance, Angie swiped her metro card and went to let us in the handicapped entrance (this entrance could only be opened from the inside). Unfortunately, the door was locked. Yes, locked! So, we looked at each other and thought "how in the world are we going to get our three strollers, complete with three babies, through the turnstiles?" I picked up Angie's stroller, lifted it pretty high in the air, and passed it to Angie on the other side. Once I had handed Jackson(plus stroller)and Maddy(plus stroller) over to Angie, it was my turn to get over. Unfortunately, I had already swiped my card, because I thought that I would be going through the handicapped entrance, so I had to jump over the turnstile. Next, Laurel lifted her stroller over the turnstile and handed it to me. No sooner after we had 'jumped' over the turnstiles, an announcement came over the radio which said, "due to mechanical difficulties the 4/5 train will not be running indefinitely."

Like the good little troopers that we are, we decided to find another way to get to Babies R Us. We did not want to leave the station since we had already paid, so we continued through the underground maze to the J train. Once there, it took the train nearly 20 minutes to come. At this point, Angie decided that the trip was not worth the effort, so she went home. A very wise decision, might I add.

When the train finally arrived, Laurel and I boarded it, thinking that our troubles were over. Think again. We needed to transfer to the 6 train at Brooklyn bridge. Once there, we had to climb two flights of very steep stairs, walked through more subway maze, and then descended a very steep set of stairs to reach the correct platform. This was all done wearing winter coats and carrying strollers, you can only imagine how sweaty we were.

Immediately upon reaching the right platform, what do we see? You guessed it, the 4/5 train pulling up!

Laurel and I looked at each-other and laughed out of frustration. We boarded the train, thinking that our troubles were over (this is a common theme in our story). A minute or two later, an announcement comes over the intercom "the train will be delayed in this station indefinitely." Laurel and I proceeded to get off of the train, crossed the platform, and hopped on the local train that had just pulled up.

After several uneventful stops, we finally reached our destination. We climbed another set of stairs, and proceeded over to the escalator, which goes to the street. When we got closer, we noticed that it was broken. At this point we had to make a decision, 1)proceed up two more flights of stairs, or 2)take the subway elevator. For those of you who have never had the privilege to ride in an NYC subway elevator, count your blessings! Apparently, NYC elevators are used as toilets! They are disgusting! As Laurel and I approached the elevator, we could smell it. But, we were exhausted and could not stomach climbing any more stairs. We boarded the elevator and basically held our breath until we reached the street.

We walked over to Babies R Us, and began shopping. This should have been the highlight of our trip. Unfortunately, our babies were tired and were letting us know it. We had to feed them and change them. Then, as we were standing in line to check out, we noticed that it had begun raining. Neither of us had umbrellas, and Laurel did not have the rainguard for her stroller. Once outside, we speed-walked to the elevator, but in our hurry we did not see that we had passed it. So, we had to backtrack in the rain to the elevator.

We got into the very crowded station (it was rush hour at this point) and had one more set of stairs until we were at our train. We came to the closest set of stairs and noticed a very elderly woman going down the steps. I could make it past her with my stroller, but Laurel could not (as she had to carry Ashton's stroller and hold Avery's hand) so she was forced to go to another stair well. As she began down the stairs a man walking up the stairs stopped right in front of her and wouldn't move. He just stared up at her in exasperation. She asked him to move, but he wouldn't, he just looked up at her and said "I can't hear you." Duh!, of course he could hear her. Fortunately, she was able to push past him and made it to me as the train was pulling up.

As all NYC natives know, subway driver never give enough time for people to get off the train and others to get on. So, as all of the passengers left the train Laurel and I tried desperately to get close enough to board in time. As I got on the train the doors started to close, I propped my body against one door and another passenger grabbed the other door, in order to give more time for Laurel to get on. But, the subway driver was relentless in trying to close the doors and the people on the train would not make space for Laurel to get on (even though there was plenty!). We were at the front of the train and Laurel even asked the driver to let her on, but he kept closing the doors. Finally Laurel was able to push herself on.

To top it all off, when we finally got off the train it was pouring rain outside. So we both got drenched as we walked to our homes.

A trip that should have taken us an hour (or so) to complete ended up taking us three hours!

Despite the almost comical happenings of the trip I am so glad that Laurel was with me! It would have been too much without a good friend to commiserate with. Thanks Laurel!