Well, it's the end of my first day of vacation, and I don't have wireless. Actually, the campground *does* have wireless, but the router by this site is broken. That's all right - I'm happy enough to be more disconnected than normal.

Left NY kindof lazily, today; Aidan and I got out at 9:15 or 9:30 or so. Stopped for breakfast at McDonalds, got going. The drive was fine, but it ended up taking the better part of 7 hours to do 5 hours' worth of driving. Being re-routed through the middle of Princeton while trying to get from I-287 to I-95 did *not* help (damn you, New Jersey!).

Got to DC and immediately changed to run off to the pool with my sister, my parents, my niece, and my son. The pool at Cherry Hill is really nice, having a large mushroom thing that sprays water everywhere for kids, and is conveniently immediately adjacent to the cafe/ice cream bar. So we swam, chatted, shot each other with water-guns, ran through the waterfall, and ate ice cream.

Dinner was at a place called the Hard Times Cafe, which was a (self-described) Chili Parlor. I'd never really heard of a Chili Parlor before, but it was a stereotypically western-themed place with chili vinegar (yes, vinegar with red peppers in it) and tabasco sauce on the table, and almost everything on the menu involving chili. Bowls of chili, chili mac, chili nachos, chili poppers... I ended up teaming up with my mother to have an order of Texas Lime boneless buffalo wings smothered under a bowl of hot Texas Chili, and we split it. Was incredibly yummy. My sister paid - something about us giving her a week of peace and quiet being worth way more than a dinner and ice cream.

The kids' conversation on the way there was priceless, by the way.

Aidan: "Where are we going?"
Me: "A place called Hard Times Cafe for dinner."
Aidan: "Do they have pizza?"
Me: "No, but they have chili, and they'll have like quesadillas and tacos and chicken nuggets for you guys."
Aidan: "I love chicken nuggets."
Claire: "I love chicken nuggets too!"
Aidan: "I love chicken nuggets *more!*"
Claire: "No, *I* love chicken nuggets more!"
Aidan: "How about we just say we love chicken nuggets the same? Then it'll be a tie."
Claire: "Okay!"

...If nothing else this trip, the comic relief will be free.

And now it's bed-time. The kids have had an episode of Wallace and Gromit, and are settling in to sleep; I'm quite drowsy but also quite happy. Knowing I have nothing important (well, except for watching the kids) to do for two full weeks is really quite relaxing.

Good night, y'all. Talk with you soon.