Were in Saprano country now.

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Hi From New Jersey .

Well we got away from Washington DC about lunchtime after doing some washing and emptying out the sewage tanks. I get all the good jobs. Had a pretty good run up here. Got tucked big time on tolls, $39.00 in tolls. We hadn't paid any before then. Delaware was the best , we only went through 23 miles of Delaware and they got us for going over there bridge and along their piece of road. Got to Ross and Christa's about 5pm,managed to fit the trailer down beside the shed.
Friday we went to the Columbus flea market, Kylie and I went here years ago and it was huge, Friday obviously wasn't a good day to go as only the inside was open, Kids bought lollies funnily enough. I took the trailer into a RV place down the road to order a new awning for it, he had to order it and hopefully we can get that replaced next week sometime.It has finally ripped all the way through, each trip when we drive between places , the wind just peels off more of it , Bugger !! I helped Ross feed up at night.
Saturday , the kids are enjoying having a TV again. Ross,s TV goes up to 500 channels. Most of them are crap !! We went back to Columbus, but Saturday wasn't near as big as we remembered. Walked around the outside stalls but Christa said to go Thursdays. This sounds like going back there to often for me.Had lunch there and then went to a place that had a heap of outlet shops. Oh lucky me, but yes I think the rest of the Claridge,s needed some retail therapy. Todays budget got spent on helping the local economy. We went over to Tommy and Trishs ( Christa's daughter) and their kids Ethan and Grace, for tea. Had an awesome night sitting outside having a bbq. Kids played soccer baseball, Grace showed us how she can ride her own horse, shes only 6. She did really good until the saddle slipped around and fell off.Blame the person who tightened up the saddle !!. They live on a 4 acre wooded block , Next came out the 4 wheeler bikes, of course my kids thought that was pretty cool, and plenty of room to ride them. Stopped off and feed the horses and put them out on the way home. My kids weren't too impressed with the smell of the stables. Filling up water buckets wasn't high on their list of things to do while in America either !!
Sunday, Bloody Hannah Montana !! We've decided to leave our TV here at Ross,s. We couldn't get it to go properly anyway but now we have realised we don't get anything done and we just blob in front of it. Went down to the farm at about 10.30am and jumped in the truck with Ross and Christa and headed to Pennsylvania. We had one of Steve's horses in there, Ross just trains it for him. The track is at a casino, So Ross headed off with the horse and we headed off to the casino. They have a grandstand on one floor for people to go outside and watch the racing. They have about 6 different restaurants in the casino, one looks over the track with little booths, each with their own terminal to bet from. They had 4 people working on the totes , the rest was electronic. There had to be 100 computer screens that you can sit at all over the room and about 15 that you can just walk up to , put your cash in to and print out your own tickets, Easy.
Christa and I went upstairs to the casino. Thats where the money for the racing come from , it was probably half full at 1pm in the afternoon, mostly older people , just sitting in front of their pokey machines. Thousands of machines. They have poker machines where they have a good looking girlie on a TV screen and she deals the cards to players sitting at her table and the whole thing is electronic. WIERD !! I found an electronic roulette machine, thanks to my lessons from Leanne Bell at 3am in sky city in Auckland. I made $27.00 on that and unlike most people in there, I walked away. Kylie and the kids had lunch downstairs, Josh had a Philly cheese steak sandwich, uumm. Ross was in the 3rd race , so we had time to get in a bit of practice at this betting caper. My two little gamblers learnt very quick how this all works. We made $9.20 on the 1st, $4.10 on the next. Dragon's Yankee ( Ross,s horse) was 4th favourite, started from the 3 hole and came from behind to win just on the line by about a head. Yeh baby !! And what did the Claridges have on it , we had it for a show, which pays out if it gets 1st, 2nd or 3rd. made $3.20. Should have backed it for the win !! all punters say that aye. Came home and we went for our 1st game of ten pin bowling as a family over here. $2.50 to hire the shoes and $1.75 a game per person. Normally $4.00 a game but it was sunday night special. I won through our handicap system , so I get to choose where we eat next time we have a meal at a restaurant. Sounds fair to me.
Ross has taken a couple of days off from racing at nights, so only has to jog them and do stalls and stuff in the mornings which gives us time to go and do somethings in the afternoons with them . The plan is to go to Great Adventure six flags with them today. Will keep you posted.
Cheers Paul

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Comments

[kylie]

sounds like my kinda place!!
think id like to have a go in that casino. kids must be loving all the different things you are doing. freezing here

[The Jammies]

Gamblers!!
Yo - learning the art of gambling - great stuff! By the time you hit Vegas you'll be ready to put a thousand on black!!! Enjoying the diary entries and photos! Sure make our July school holidays here in the cold (and yes we're so not lying when we say cold) pale in significance!! Doing the usual winter holiday things - movies, dvds, ps2!!! Mind you the squash membership is definitely paying for itself. Have even sat thru 2 tournaments now!! Dedicated parent that I am. Looking forward to your next blog. Keep happy, stay safe, love the Jammies. p.s. Boys High Enrolments are next week apparently - I'll tick Soft Materials (Sewing), Te Reo Maori and Drama/Music for yr options aye Josh!! Hugs to all, xox.