our shadows taller than our souls"
Family road trip this past weekend. The first leg was a killer. 8 hours in the car for me and the boys, for a 4 to 4 1/2 hour trip (Yes, Demi was there too. She was far from sipping Mai-tai's on the beach, but she was not in the car the entire time....you'll see). We knew we had 2 to 2 1/2 hours to kill for a stop. So after some research on the web I had located a park near our stop in CT, where I planned to play baseball with the kids. The forecast was for partly cloudy skies with a temperature of 58 degrees.
Sidebar: Yes, Lefty, I did some research on CT. While you had a valid point in your rebuttal about construction on Route 1 in Saugus, I had a South Shore kid and don't much venture over the Tobin Bridge. So what is with all the wholesome "VIP" bill boards in CT. Just you wait until your girls are old enough to read.
So back to the car, the kids had been great. We stopped to pick up breakfast, played some games, and then Demi and I let the boys watch a little video on the travel DVD. Madagascar. Another quality family film. 4 out of 5 Chins. You haven't lived until you have seen Coco "move it, move it!!!" shaking his money maker for all it is worth. We caught a break and my wife's appointment in CT was able to be moved up almost 2 hours (which was great because we both miscalculated, even allowing for traffic). After dropping off Demi, we wandered over to the park. About 20-25 minutes into the boys running around the playground, the drop started falling from the sky. Not much at first, but it sent all the soccer moms with their toddlers back to their SUV's and station wagons. The boys and I toughed it out for 10-15 more minutes but then it started to pour. We booked it back to the Pilot (Demi's football/baseball mom SUV) and had lunch. Lunch was breezed through and we still had a lot of time to kill. Another DVD was not an option unless I wanted to run the car. So I pulled out Eragon with I had been reading to the boys at night (mostly Caz, but Coco will put in stints here and there). I read for an hour and five minutes. The boys just curled up next to me, sat there, and listened the entire time. I was amazed. I thought they had definitely earned some Looney Toons for the second part of the ride.
As we slowly made our way to the border of CT and NY (the usual heavy traffic), Caz caught sight of the "Welcome to NY" sign with the Miss Liberty backed by Old Glory.
Caz exclaimed, "We're in NY, that is where the Statue of Liberty is!"
Followed up by Coco, "Yeah, but we're from where the American Flag is."
Demi and I gave each other a look that said, "Yes, only us. Only MA has the American Flag." Well, who was I to tell my son differently?
About 20 minutes later but not much further up 95, Caz had a follow up comment. "We are definitely in NY."
"How can you tell?", I asked.
"Because we are not moving."
Ah, they learn so much at such a young age.
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