the trip to burlington went fine--easy. carter snoozed a little bit at the end, and then we went inside, dr gary saw us, all is well (as i expected), 5 minutes later we were scheduling our 6 month follow up and we were out of there. good thing we went for that obviously crucial event.

we went to kidstown to get some car-friendly activities. a little difficult to control the kids in what is essentially a giant toystore, but we managed to emerge with some john deere replicas of large earth-moving vehicles (big digger, grader, dump truck, some jeep-looking thing and a bulldozer), some ridiculous dress-up shoes for ava (purple marabou feathers), and a bunch of car-art activities. then we tried to leave vermont. i knew there was a reason i don't live in vermont. you cannot escape. their major north-south highway takes you deeper into new england, and further away from new york. so, if you want to get back to the dark side, you have to travel along these crazy country roads to either a ferry or the bridge at the southern end of lake champlain. either way, it takes hours to travel 40 miles. FINALLY we crossed into ny, figured out how to get to 87 south, and instantly hit construction....it was like driving in peanut butter. we had been in the car for 2 hours, and we still had 120 miles to go. and then ava had to go potty. "tinkle or poopy, honey?"..."poopy." "oh, ok." reststop. where is the reststop? 5 miles go by. i know the sign said it was soon. where is it? oh, come on, reststop, where are you? no reststop. parking area. no facilities. whatever. we parked, i hauled out the little potty, put it between the open doors of the front and back seats, and sat ava down. wipes...wipes...where are you wipes? ah, toilet paper, good. ok. "all done, honey?" "no. 5 more minutes" "ok, well, it's hot out, can you try to go a little faster?" "ok--i'm all done!" "good job ava, pull your pants up, good, ok, back in your car seat, ok, there you go, all buckled in." and then i looked for the garbage can. garbage can...where are you? garbage can? no garbage can. pack it in, pack it out. IN WHAT??????? oh, look. a plastic bag. that will sort of work. and here is a mcdonald's cup. plastic bag in mcdonalds cup. bury it in the back of the car.

and we were off again. we actually made it in good spirits all the way to saugerties, ny. no crying, no fussing, lots of stories and pretend digging. incredible. the kids were champs. we found our campground and went to the office. the very nice man that managed the campground said "well, i saw that you were a woman traveling with 2 kids, so i figured you would want to be close to everything, so you are right here near the office and our house and the palyground and there is another group with a small child right next door. it was very thoughtful and a perfect spot for us. we parked and i let the kids out and carter ran in circles for the entire half hour that it took me to set up the tent and put all of our things in it (we decided to sleep in the car since there was an indeterminant chance of a thunderstorm). then we hit the playground, which included a huge red real firetruck that the kids could climb on. the playround itself was superb--well maintained and little-kid friendly. they played til dark, then we all collapsed (at ava's request, actually) in the car. it was really a great way to break up the trip--hotels have their advantages, but for small children, this is a great way to keep them occupied and active and happy. and they cannot locate a tv anywhere. as for safety, which so many people seem to be concerned about, i swear this was safer than many of the hotel rooms i have stayed in with them. the campground was filled with retirees and children and believe me, had there been an issue, no one would have slept through it. when we woke up, i made myself some incredibly gross instant coffee and we went straight to the playground. what a nice way to wake up--in my opinion, waking up outside is just about the best thing in the whole world. we finally packed up and cleaned up and drove to pa. not difficult at all, it was an easy 2 hours. it was raining when we got here, but the kids had a good time outside anyway. playing in the rain is fun. no two ways about it. tomorrow is the big party to celebrate da's new office. ava is practically bursting at the seams to wear her 'cinderella dress.'

despite all of the above, we decided to go ahead and get a hotel room here in pa. i think it is for the best, since nana nad da are trying to get ready for an important event, and their minds are definitely elsewhere. and we got a room that is quite nice, with a hot tub just down the hallway and a pool somewhere else in the building that we will visit tomorrow. and yes, despite the above comment, i am fairly certain i am safe here as well. granted, i was not thrilled with the monster truck sporting the confederate flag license plate in the parking lot, but i gathered they were not guests, and were picking up a friend. perhaps they were going to go play with some sheets or something. it's funny. you can gentrify all you want, but those rednecks, they just don't get the hint. i probably should not have looked at them, rolled my eyes, and said "now that's quality," but please. could you think of a more blatant way to advertise your mental void? they may be people that could do damage to someone, sure, but my god, how much more could you isolate yourself from progress than by leaping onto an ancient bandwagon of hatred?