It was a great vacation, which has finally come to an end. The zoo, the aquarium, Block Island, and some boating and tubing at the beach house. BTW: Christy flew off the tube yesterday, giving her mother a heart attack. She knew exactly what to do though – she raised her arm to signal she was okay and to make other boats aware of her. I’m very proud of her.
Eric works a buzz bait on his brand new fishing rod.
Fish and chimps – that would describe the last two days.
Today’s vacation event was the New England Aquarium. I’m too tired to write much more than that right now. Okay so I didn’t bother with the camera, thinking it would be too dark inside, which it was. We saw lots of fish (duh). The penguin exhibit was pretty cool; Christy, of course, wanted to take one home, but settled for a plush penguin from the gift shop. Eric went for the toy sub. “Gertrude” the GPS, as usual, got us there and back with no wrong turns.
We went to the Bass Pro Shop in Foxboro today so we could buy Eric his very own fishing rod and reel – no more borrowing mine. We rigged the rod and headed for Jones’ Pond not far from the house. It was just before sun down. We got one hit on the rubber worm, during my turn. I guess I didn’t set the hook right, because by the time I handed the rod to Eric, it decided to let go – but not before I saw it jump clear out of the water – a small Largemouth Bass. Unfortunately, Eric didn’t see it jump. Rats.
First up on the vacation tour was Southwick’s Zoo in Mendon, MA. We loved it. It’s bigger than the Roger Williams Zoo, and it has the “Skyfari,” which is basically a ski lift that takes you around the zoo. My favorite was the parrot that sat on my shoulder and tried to go home with us. I miss that bird. Coming in second was the monkey that was mooning us. And then there’s the little guy in the photo above.
Just called Donna to wish her a Happy (13th) Wedding Anniversary; they’re at the beach house. Just tried to upload a .tif image of our wedding, but it generated an error. Hmm. 13th and an error. Hmm.
I had volunteered today (I’m on the Genzyme R&R Committee) to get some photos of the Bicycles Battling Cancer bike-a-thon. I found the route on the internet, and so I decided to catch up to them at a point midway through the 72-mile course. Team Genzyme IT was in good spirits despite having only completed half the course. I squeezed off a few shots of the team as they caught their breath at an “aid station.” I bid them good luck and then headed for home.
Just got this email from Martin: Corey and I went fishing Sun and nailed a 23 inch Fluke, Yum Yum. I’ll try and send a pic.
Donna throws a preserver out to the kids, just in case, during their evening swim. The current in “the narrows” can sometimes take you up or down stream in a real hurry. No swimming when it’s that fast, but the kids know to swim towards the beach without panicking. We’ve had them practice this “maneuver” a few times.
Earlier in the day Christy made a nice dive off the back of uncle Jeff’s boat. Even the passing Coast Guard was impressed, and they announced a score of “9” over their loud speaker. Christy, who just helped write this post, was thrilled.
Eric and Christy fling themselves off the dock at sunset.
Long Days and Nights 