Home. Glad. Tired.

So, this was not the big wonderful birthday extravaganza I was hoping for. First of all, the trip out there was nightmarish as far as traffic went. It's supposed to be about a 4 hour drive. We left mid-morning on Thursday and got caught in some hellacious traffic on the Belt Parkway in Brooklyn due to construction. Once we got out of that it was time to find some lunch and...nothing. We were driving through the middle of nowhere and ended up going ridiculously out of our way to get some nasty fast food. But then, when we though it was smooth sailing, we hit a huge snarl-up somewhere along I-78 that only allowed us to travel 10 miles in just over an hour and a half. What caused such a major traffic tangle, you ask? A horrendous accident? The Presidential motorcade? Barry Bonds in roid rage? No. Evidently it was a large, invisible elephant in the middle of the highway, because we never did see what the problem was (I'm assuming they managed to move it off to the side of the road by the time we got there because we did not, in fact, slam into an invisible, fleshy wall at any point.) So yeah, you get what I'm saying that the trip up was slightly less fun than a root canal. Seven hours after leaving home, we arrived at our hotel. But that was only half the trouble. See, Ben is not really big on getting things his way because he has a big pushy sister. It was hard for him to assert himself when he was offered his choice of things to do. He got a little freaked out and couldn't really make up his mind, so Rebecca tended to jump in and try to control things, a per usual. Also everyone (but most especially Ben) was still utterly wiped from our week in Mass. Neither kid has had a decent night's sleep since before we went to camp. Last night was our only "early" night of the trip and that was a 10:30 bedtime. Ben was having meltdown after meltdown. Just to be fair and balanced, I have to mention three awesome parts of the trip, two of which involve food, naturally. First, the new water park inside Hershey is WICKED. I sat back and watched, but the kids absolutely had the BEST time there. Thumbs way, way up. Also, we had a wonderful time traipsing around the Plain and Fancy Farm in Lancaster, and we had the most amazing family-style Amish meal there: fried chicken, ham, turkey, sausages, all kinds of sides including the best corn on the cob I've ever tasted, and mouth-watering pies for dessert. And finally, Ben was tickled when the waiter at the Texas Roadhouse brought out the little saddle for him to sit on and then announced to the entire restaurant that it was Ben's birthday. We all did a big YEE-HAW for him, which he loved. But, that being said, I have to confess that I am completely and totally happy to have it over with and be in my own house for a good long while. I need to get some sleep, because starting tomorrow I'll have to take little Carlos/Buddy/Arlo/PuppyDog Simon out to piddle in the middle of the night. Fun fun.