more summer fun...

Sam just finished a week at the Hochstein Music and Art Summer Camp. He had a great time doing crafts and learning songs. The camp had 23 kids and 10 staff--what a ratio! This morning was their final presentation, and one of the songs they sang for the parents is shown here.

A few weekends ago we were very happy to host our friends, the Dechers, who drove to New York from their home in Vermont for a baby shower, and then drive an extra several hours to Rochester. What a treat! Jan is a small mammologist (actually, he's pretty tall), and Laurel is the chief epidemiologist for Vermont. (Any outbreaks of deadly disease and we were all set!) She's currently writing a children's book set in Medieval times which we are eager to read.

They brought with them their two daughters, Sophie and Isabelle. Isabelle is older than Sam, but they are close enough in age that he eagerly followed her around and she graciously played with him. This was after a week at camp for Sam, and he was thrilled to have someone under thirty to talk to. They are shown together here using the new 2^6 crayons which they brought as a gift for Sam.

This past Monday, after a morning of music & art camp, we took Sam to a McDonald's:





Susan: Guess where we're going? I think this is a McDonald's which has a play land!
Sam: (gasps) Who's idea was that?!
Susan: I think it was Daddy's.
Sam: Daddy's the best! I still like you, though.

Only a four-year-old can deliver that line with such an un-self-conscious lack of guile.

Sam was even more frank (franker?) as we entered the restaurant:

Okay Mommy but I have to warn you, I'm not very good at eating, but I'll try.

a "teachable moment"

SAM: Did you know some people don't even have LEGS?
MOM: (Seriously, wondering if they were talking about this at Montessori...) Yes, I did know that.
SAM: (Gasps) What?! That really happens? I thought I made that up!(Susan goes on to talk about war, handicapped people, etc.)

Addendum: I am sitting in the San Francisco Airport, preparing to spend the night in the air, eager to see Sam and Susan again.

In the past Susan and Sam have made me a (one) welcome-home sign and pasted it on the door. Not this time! Let me explain:

Today Sam--I think it was Sam--had the idea of combining an octopus and a kangaroo. Sam even drew one today, and decided it was an Octaroo, rather than a Kangapus.

Susan asked Sam if he wanted to make it a welcome home sign for me, and he said, No, Daddy's had plenty of welcome-home signs. (They are so played out!)

Fun in the sand

This weekend started with an extended period Saturday morning of hanging out in the sandbox. Sam made "apple racers"--slides for little green apples from our tree to roll down. See the movie below for a full two-minute tour! (Movie may take some time to load.) (Sorry for all the movement--I'll hold still next time.)

Saturday we also took a trip the the Sodus Point lighthouse and museum, about 45 minutes away. Aside from my forgetting one of Susan's shoes, we had a great time!

I've lived in Rochester for over 20 years but never spent much time at the beach. This area has many little treasures like this.

It was quite pleasant, and the weather perfect (if a little warm). Sam had a whale of a time racing up and down and splashing in the water. We also toured the lighthouse museum, while outside the lighthouse a group was preparing for a summer wedding.

This week Sam was at vacation Bible school at church. He could not possibly have had more fun. They sent home a CD music (verses set to words, but really well done), and Sam listens to it continually. He asked Susan yesterday when VBS happens again.
Tomorrow morning I fly off to California for the week, so it was nice to get lots of family time.

molecules

SAM: Daddy, what is inside water?
DAD: Um, molecules. Little particles. Actually, everything's made of particles.
SAM: Everything? Even tomatoes? Milk? Pens? Lights? Cats? Refrigerators? Stickers...

North-country trip

We spent the week of the 4th at camp with Nana and Grandad. The whole country was hot, and northern NY was no exception. No air conditioning, though being in the trees helps, and we almost lived in front of fans. Perhaps because of the heat, the deer flies were thick and persistent. Just being outside usually meant having half a dozen flying around your head.

Some highlights:

• Sam's first camping trip! Grandad, Sam and I spent a night at the nearby Higley Flow state park. What fun! Sam's first camping trip. Smores & all. And good news--the deer flies go to sleep around 10 pm... after which the mosquito flocks emerge! Needless to say, after Sam went down, there wasn't the extended father-son shooting-the-breeze-under-the-stars session I had hoped for! But Sam did well and had a fun time, and most importantly, slept very well, despite the INSANELY LOUD RAVENS YELLING ACROSS THE CAMPGROUND FROM 6 AM ONWARD. Grandad slept well too--best night's sleep in years, he says! Woke up that morning to the smell of bacon from the only other group of campers on our loop. Ended with a hike on the Beaver-Pond Trail. Couldn't have been better!
• Many days at the state-park beach with Nana and Grandad. The water up there is generally on the cool side, and getting used to it takes some time. Not yet. Last Thursday, for instance, the water temp at 4' depth at 10 in the morning was 84 degrees. Wow. Sam got his introduction to Marco Polo and will never be the same.
  
• Discovered the joys of the Higley Flow nature center activities! The naturalist (B.A. in sculpture, now getting her second degree in bio) was a joy and a delight. (Sam and naturalist and Nana pictured below looking at pond critters in a bucket, including shrimp, diving beetles, and a baby catfish.) Made fish sun catchers with us in the 90-degree heat (including visits to what she called the "warm glue-gun station in the parking lot"). She also had some good advice regarding the deer flies: To get rid of them, stand next to someone else for a minute or two and then run away. The flies are observant enough to notice your friend, and lazy enough not to chase after you.
  
• Dinner at the fancy "1844 House," the best dining in the North Country, imho. $17 prix fixe dinner. And Sam behaved great! Every year he's better and better. Did well in church, too, and had a great time exploring the old 1876 sandstone church after the service.
  
• The annual trip to Colton's Hepburn library, the canoeing trip around Arbuckle (how did he not see the two turtles? We'll never know), numerous trips to the Higley Diner, a visit to Allen Falls, coloring on old tractor-feed computer paper, &c.
• A "craft" with Susan in which she and Sam made superballs. Didn't know you could do that at home.
  
• It was a long time for Sam to be without other kids. Mid week he asked, plaintively, "Mommy, when do other kids arrive?" Fortunately, near the end of the week he finally met another boy, Christopher, close enough in age to play with. They had a fun exchange while making sand castles:
  

SAM: What do you want to be when you grow up? I want to be a scientist because I already know all about science.
CHRISTOPHER: I want to be in the army. Maybe in the air force, I don't know yet.
SAM, after a silence: But I don't want to grow up. I like being a child.
CHRISTOPHER: Yeah, me too." (pause) But, you have to grow up...
Sam agreed. They sounded very wise and philosophical.

Great seeing N&G, and I know they had fun with Sam, and even gave him his first pair of swim goggles.

Returned to a delightful visit with the Dechers of Vermont--photos of that to come...

Nocturne #1 in Pajamas

A little movie of Susan and Sam étuding for the pleasure of our guest, Aunt Carolyn. (Reminds me of Gershwin. The music, I mean, not A.C.) And farewell to Aunt Carolyn, whom we were happy to have join us overnight last week and this. See you next time we are in Columbus!

The latest theological question

Why did God create animals that eat people?

To her credit, Susan did a nice job talking about the Fall.

Getting ready for, and excited about, taking Sam on his first camping trip at Higley Flow State Park. Just an overnight while we are up at camp. If all goes well.

Also thinking of a little hike from Adirondack Loj to Marcy Dam, near Lake Placid. The trip to the Rockies got me in mind of this. I had briefly courted the idea of camping overnight up there, until I realized there aren't any toilets, which might be too big a leap for Sam.

What else? A trip to the science museum, where there was a new exhibit on the brain.

Science museums are hard to do well.

In an effort to translate the cool ideas into something that works on a kiosk, they tend to turn into simple games, short looping movies, science toys, or, well, freak shows. The brain exhibits included all of these. A looping movie on the brain; a variant of the old game "Operation" which had something, I suppose, to do with brains--I can't recall what; not one but two kiosks talking about trephining and holes in the head; and a bigger demonstration about information traveling down synapses, represented by balls rolling through chutes.

Balls through chutes! Long-time readers will recognize an obsession of Sam's.

Unfortunately, like two or three others, it wasn't working.

This didn't stop Sam from staring at it, studying it, trying to figure out how to fix it, and even approaching complete strangers to tell them about it and ask for their help. Many times he urged me to talk to the staff (which I did as we were leaving), and we returned twice to the exhibit--I suppose on the off chance they'd sent someone up to fix it.

He really wants to go back. [Update: As of Monday, it was fixed, and Sam fix-ated!]

What else? Had some trampoline time at Katrina Boris' graduation party (fun was had by all); waded in the creek; met some neighbors (Trevor, 4, and Luke, 6, who were splashing each other in the creek in a spontaneous aquatic reenactment of the Civil War); wrote birth-parent letters and repeated Sam's life story to him.

Oh yes. The other picture shows Sam and Susan working on a Lego city for Sam's new snakes. To his meager collection of three tiny snakes from Colorado (Lime, Orange and Lava), he now has several larger snakes, a surprise gift from Aunt Ruth. And Sam hates to see his snakes homeless.

Oh, hey! Can't quit without the Wildlife Update™ . Back in Colorado Marlene almost stepped on a Bull Snake, and again the coyotes came closer to their house this week--Marlene, am I remembering this right?

Of course, while we were gone in Colorado, a black bear wandered into the area. Males come up from the south in warm weather (they really can't come from the north) looking for ursine romance. This guy wandered around the 'burbs, and is expected to head south again in due time. Folks in our church spotted him wandering across the main road into Penfield, heading toward a park we visit from time to time.

Must be the good weather--the wildlife's encroaching from all sides. In the nearby ridiculously named suburb of Chili, a deer burst through a window and ran through a family's house. Ironically, they had recently moved from the city to avoid break-ins. Young Brandon did what anyone of his generation would--shot footage with his cell phone:

"Oh yeah, obviously,” said Brandon Wilson. “I'm a 20-year-old kid just waiting for things to happen. That's why I have that type of phone just in case something does happen. I'm always ready."

Makes me proud to be a Rochesterian. :-)

A good weekend. Hope yours was as well!