Drive to Ohio

Well, it’s 7:55 PM on Wednesday as I'm typing this and we are about 2 hours away from Bowling Green. Alex and I are in the front seat listening to the Yankee game (on Cleveland Indian radio), Jacob and Lauren are in the second row watching a dinosaur DVD, and Claire has the third row to herself (although she is surrounded by luggage and supplies, including a bag with my dirty underwear).

We’ve had a very long day. We left Montauk at 5:30 AM, worried that we would be stuck in traffic driving across Long Island, and then get slowed down again in New York City. Strangely, we had a smooth and quiet ride through New York. As soon as we crossed the George Washington Bridge, however, traffic jammed up for about an hour and a half. It was stop and go for miles (more stop than go) because of an overturned tractor trailer. Near the Delaware Water Gap, we also had a long jam up, and another one just over the border into Ohio. So, we made it through NY fine—it was the rest of the ride that was the problem.

The biggest news of the day was that Jacob had an accident with his penis early in the trip. Yes, I said penis. Somehow, he pinched it between the restraints of his car seat and his shorts and underwear. We don’t really know exactly how it happened but we know Jacob’s reaction to the pain- it was LOUD! Since then, whenever Jacob gets his penis in the wrong position in his pants, he starts screaming, “My penis!” or “My penis hurts when I touch it!” I laugh every time; I can’t help it. He also wants to show all of us his boo-boo every time we stop for a bathroom break. Poor kid!
Lauren is doing great on the trip- her only injury has been a bitten tongue while eating a cheese stick and she recovered from that pretty quickly. She was up really late last night watching fireworks and didn’t take her nap today so I’m sure a major break down is on the horizon. Until then, we’re having fun.

We had a great day in Montauk yesterday, which started at 6:30 in the morning for me. We got some breakfast and headed for the beach. Jacob and Lauren are volcano crazy! As soon as we picked our spot, Jacob built a volcano and he and his dad spend the next hour running to the water for buckets of “lava” and erupting the volcano with it. Even though Claire warned me that I would not be able to read with the kids around, I brought my book with me to the beach. Guess what? Claire was right!

While the kids were napping in the afternoon, Alex and I walked down town to buy some sandwiches. I then talked him into walking the couple of miles down the road to the LIRR Montauk Station. It looked like a quaint little station when I passed it the night before after Alex picked me up at the ferry dock. I though I could get some good photos. We did get to see four trains (two getting ready to pull out), but it was not as picturesque as it looked the night before. I didn’t think it was worth the ½ hour walk down a busy road, and Alex was less impressed than I was.

Next, we gathered up Claire and the kids and went to the Montauk Lighthouse (or courthouse as Jacob and Lauren called it). We climbed some rocks, went out for some pizza, tried to cook some marshmallows (they only had minis at the store), and then waited for the big fireworks show. After the fireworks display, we packed our bags and hit the hay for our early start today.

I’m sure after we get a few hours of sleep tonight, we’ll be ready to go again tomorrow morning!