Friday June 5th

This morning we go into Union City, NJ to the Toys “R” Us Studio for a go see. It is a rainy day. We take a taxi. It is $11.00 each way. There are no lines when we arrive. We fill out some information and Kendall has her picture taken. The entire process takes about five minutes. We call for the taxi and wait about fifteen minutes. We talk with the \staff while waiting for the taxi to arrive and they inform us that this is the third and final day they have seen children. The first two days they saw around four hundred children each day and today they have seen about seventy so far, a much slower day. They say Toys “R’ US will select 25-50 children who will be shooting for about three weeks for the catalog for the upcoming year. Kendall is having fun. In the afternoon we go to the pool for family swim. Later in the afternoon we decide to go to Target. Target is within walking distance, only about a mile away but not on a rainy day. We learn that there is a free shuttle from the Sky Club to the Path Monday through Friday after walking the 1.5 miles there and 1.5 miles back all week. We decide to take the shuttle and get off. Near the Path is the city center and we go into CVS and the bank. When we are finished I decide to get a taxi at the Path station to go to Target. The taxi driver says he will take us but it will be $10.00 instead of the usual $5.00 fair in the city. That’s okay, it’s been raining all day and there isn’t much to do. Once inside the taxi, the driver becomes agitated and slams his fist on the steering wheel. He is complaining now about taking us into Jersey City to Target. He is complaining about my choice in transportation and about the heavy traffic. It is rush hour on a Friday night. He is making me nervous and I actually think about jumping out at the next stop. I tell him to take me to the Sky Club instead. He ends up taking the wrong turn and takes me to the wrong apartment. When I tell him we are not at the Sky Club he begins yelling at me asking me how I could let him take me to the wrong place. I explain that I don’t live in Hoboken. We arrive at the Sky Club and instead of driving up the drive and dropping me off at the door he drops me off on the street in a puddle of water. He then tells me that I now owe him $6.00 instead of $5.00. I quickly get out of the car and hand him five dollars. As I walk up the drive to the apartment he gets out of the car and yells at me about how much I payed him and it being the wrong amount. Once inside I talk with the doorman who informs me not to take the “yellow” taxis anymore.