The Adventures of
David
Elizabeth
and Leif

Thursday was an incredible day. I swapped days off with a guy at work, so technically I was “off” (although I was answering emails all day…).

Leif and I jumped on the F-train for an adventure down to Coney Island.

After a 30 minute ride, we got off the train and onto the beach.

Leaf acknowledged the presence of the ocean…

… surveyed his surroundings …

… and got to work.

After a while, he decided to explore.

He soon discovered a bird. “Bird!” He exclaimed! (It sounds like “Dah!” In fact most of his words sound like “Dah!” It’s sort of like his sound for *.* in DOS … or “.*” if you’re into regular expressions)

He gave chase for a while and soon bored of the futile pursuit.

He was happy to get back into the stroller.

We had a couple hot dogs (Hot Dog = “At Ga” in Leivish) and fries, and then hopped on the subway home.

It was a really fun day.

So we’ve been incredibly lazy about blogging lately. Maybe it’s because of Leif (he’s walking), or RIBS (Elizabeth’s other baby!). A lot has happened in the 3 months since the last post. Instead of trying to catch up majorly all at once, I’m going to let Angie tell you about our awesome Christmas in Mexico. At least for now.

I’m going to tell you about a fun trip to visit Pop and Kevin in Townsend, TN in October. Yes, that’s a really long time ago, but it was a blogworthy trip, so here goes!

Pop and Kevin invited us to crash Kevin’s family reunion, so we hopped on a great, comfortable JetBlue flight from NYC to Nashville and drove about 4 hours to Townsend TN. Leif was fine for the flight, but didn’t really approve of the long car ride after that. We got in really late … the next morning, we woke to a beautiful scene …

and Pop and Kevin’s smiling faces!

After a brief period of adjustment to his new surroundings …

… Leif got a chance to warm up to Grandpop.

We spent a lot of time on the porch looking at Mount LaConte in the distance.

While there, Leif made a new friend — Dalton.

“What the heck? We’re surrounded by grownups! Do you have to go to these things all the time?”

“Hey, watch this. I just discovered the glass coffee table over there … ”

Now the grownups are looking!

What trip would be complete without a drive in Pop’s new high-tech car up to low-tech Cade’s Cove?

There was a dramatic sky up over the Smokeys.

Once back at the cabin, we discovered that Leif might be called to be a conductor:

I’ll leave you with a picture of Pop in one of his favorite pastimes — involving amazing displays of cunning and dexterity. And a few smeared flies.

Last weekend, Elizabeth wanted to go to a dance performance at Bard College, about 90 miles north of NYC. When I jokingly suggested we camp out up there after she went to the performance, she agreed [NOTE from E: that was my idea]. So we camped at Mills Tillie State Park, on the Hudson River. It was beautiful! [Good idea, E...]

[See, I knew this would be fun... ] [[D just forced me to bracket that...]]

Of course, what camping trip would be complete without Smores? Can you guess who makes the best smores in our family?

[This is a very serious business... ]

The dogs favorite “on leash” activity…

… rolling in the grass and dirt …

… and trying to live with the tangled consequences of their frolicking!

Leif had a tough time falling asleep in the tent on this trip (unlike our previous trip). He also had a tough time sleeping.

So did his parents.

It was a wonderful break from the city … we returned sleep-deprived, but soul-refreshed.

This is a happy dog.

These are dogs looking for squirrels to eat.

This is a squirrel.

This is a dog chasing the uncatchable squirrel.