roadtrip, day 5

Today was crazy-exhausting.

We had great intentions, but things didn't fall into place exactly how we had hoped they would.

We woke up in Pennsylvania and decided that we had plenty of time for some fun. Our plan was to drive to Brooklyn and take Aidan to Coney Island. He was thrilled about the prospect (one of his favorite Wonder Pets episodes involves rescuing a baby squirrel off a Coney Island roller coaster).

Unfortunately, we completely underestimated the amount of people who would have the same "great idea" we did -- it was packed with thousands of people. We drove around for about an hour looking for a parking place anywhere in the vicinity, but in the end, had to give up without so much as a nibble of a Nathan's famous hotdog or taste of saltwater taffy.

And bless is his little heart ... Aidan was such a trooper about the whole thing, despite the fact that we kept passing ferris wheels, roller coasters, hot dog stands, balloons and the beach. Talk about torture for a four-year-old. But we've promised to make it up to him, and he seems o.k. with the agreement.

But our New York City [mis]adventure had only just begun. According to our trusty Garmin GPS, we should have arrived in Stamford, CT by 3:15; however, at almost 5:00 pm, we were still sitting in some of the worst traffic I've ever experienced (which is saying a lot coming from a Houston girl). It was especially baffling, considering it was mid-day on a Tuesday.

So in the end, we spent most of the day in traffic in New York City while Aidan watched Thomas & Friends DVDs in the backseat. Again, he was awesome.

Tomorrow is our last day on the road, as we finally arrive in New Hampshire. Unfortunately, our house won't be ready until July 6, so we'll still be sleeping in a hotel until then. But at least the drive will be over.

Finally, I wrote the other night about missing the fireflies ... last night they came out to play again, and I was able to snap a picture of Aidan with them. So if you look real carefully, you can see the speck of light to the left of Aidan's head in the picture. Those little flashing buggers are hard to take a pic of! :)