The Last Few Weeks

We have been gallivanting around the northeast for a couple of weeks.

The kids got to play where I played as a kid, swim where I swam, catch frogs and salamanders like I used to, see their cousins, play in New York City park sprinklers, see the best collection of dinosaur fossils ever, get lots and lots of attention and just have fun.

Here are a bunch of pictures from our trip. I only brought my iPod, so the pictures that look like they were taken in 1972? Yeah, those are mine. I depended on the kindness of the camera-toting grandparents and they didn't let me down.

Sadie at my rock. OK, so it's not really my rock. But it has always felt like it is.

Walking to the pond on our road.

Hanging at the beach.

Playing in Otter Pond.

Frogs, salamanders, we even caught minnows. Which reminds me, try not to stress a minnow out too much, it appears to make them catatonic.

Sitting with my "Baby Mermaid."

Cranberry Pond.

Pony rides. Silas objected to his, so Sadie got two.

Petting a Meow Meow.

Wearing the popular new dresses for Sadie and her cat, Frisky.

Silas destroying Grammy's dollhouse furniture. Everything he touched turned to something that resembled a jumble of matchsticks.

At the swings by the clubhouse.

Going to the children's museum.

Your local news team. Don't believe a word they say.

Climbing the curvy tower. Or whatever it's called.

The carousel! Sadie loves her a carousel.

Silas loved the carousel, too. For a minute. Then he got a puke face and clung to Grammy until the ride ended.

Picking wild blueberries.

We ignored the fact that there was a bear sighting right around there that morning. It wasn't right there. And we needed them for the next day's pancakes.

But we picked fast and brought a whistle, too.

My Mama didn't raise no fool.

Sitting in the clubhouse. Where I spent many an hour in these same chairs from the 1970s hanging around with friends and reading random books.

At the Museum of Natural History.

Sitting on a scapula, or something like that, of an Apatosaurus.

The playground in Brooklyn.

First real Italian ices. Scooped into those paper cups that get soggy so fast but are perfect for squeezing so you don't miss a drop.

And, as long as we're sharing all this I should tell you that I may never be invited back to Uncle E's house. When I heard the ice cream truck I got so excited for Sadie to go see it and get ice cream that I decided to ignore the fact that she was naked in the sprinkler in the backyard.

There was no time! I mean, seriously, remember that we have a lame ice cream minivan. And we've only ever seen that thing twice.

It was worth it.

Uncle E and Sophia. Look at that cuteness.

Cousins Nicholas, Sadie, Sophia and Auntie M.

Me and my bro. Tell me he couldn't pretend my kids are his.

It's good to be home but we miss you all.

I promise to try to refrain from front yard nudity if you invite us back.

Notice I said try.