A Whale of a Good Time...

Earlier to day Sammy went with Ashylnn and Logan to "Underwater Adventures" underneath the Mall of America. Sammy had a whale of a time seeing all sorts of fish, sharks, and other sea life.

Amazing fact...

Crowded waters...

Ashlynn, Logan, and Sammy...

Sammy reflecting on the sealife...

Face to face...

Sammy of the Sea...

Bigger than others combined...

Michele and Paul grew up in the Mohawk Valley, "sandwiched between the Adirondack Mountains and Catskill Mountains." Often times when you think of New York State all you think of is the Big Apple. But there is so much more to the state where we grew up.

An interesting and impressive set of facts:

"The Adirondack Park sprawls across six million acres in upstate New York. Bigger than Yellowstone, Yosemite, Glacier and Grand Canyon National Park combined, it is by far the largest park in the lower 48 states. Yet it is the only one on the continent in which large human populations live and whose land is divided almost evenly between protected wilderness and privately owned tracts. This patchwork pattern of land ownership has created an utterly unique place."

End of trip...

Our visit back east went by fast. We were accompanied to the airport for our return flight by Grandma R, Grandpa R, Aunt Diane, and Uncle Andy. While we were at the Syracuse Airport, Sammy decided to take everyone for a flight...

Pilot Sammy shares his knowledge of aerodynamics...

Sammy and Grandma R taxi along...

Grandpa R, Grandma R, Uncle Andy, Aunt Diane, and Sammy...

Grandpa R, Grandma R, Michele, and Sammy...

Sisters...

Some photos of sisters from our spring 2009 trip back east...

Aunt Susie & Grandma R...

Jamie, Sharon, Michele...
...along with Noah and Ana...

The Birthday Girl...

One reason for the timing of our trip back east was to celebrate Sammy's Grandma R's birthday. Michele took some artistic portrait photos of the birthday girl.

Seeing double...
...Jaime and Grandma R...

Dinner at Eddie's

While visiting back east, a group of family (including Grandma R, Grandpa R, Aunt Diane, Uncle Andie, Uncle Paulie) went to dinner at Eddie's Restaurant in Sylvan Beach, NY. Eddie's Restaurant is a local favorite and has been for 75 years.

Eddie's Restaurant...

Aunt Diane took a gamble and told the waitress to "surprise her"...

Uncle Paulie and Sammy sharing a laugh...

Eddie's usually has a long line...
...so while we waited we walked over to the water...
...and watched this fellow reel in a massive sturgeon...

View Larger Map

Back in April we went back home to visit Michele's family. While we were there, Sammy's Grandpa R (Poppa) took Sammy on his first fishing expedition. Along with Paul, they went to the Lake Moraine. It was a beautiful day.

Sammy was surprised to find out that New York State has "...plentiful water in 70,000 miles of rivers and streams, some 4,000 lakes and ponds, 2.4 million acres of wetlands, and over 210 billion gallons of groundwater used annually..."

We thought Sammy would last about 20 minutes, but he sat focused on fishing for over an hour and a half with his Poppa. Sammy can't wait to fish with his grandfather again. He didn't catch any fish, but he caught a whale of a good time.

Poppa and Sammy...

Hooking the worm...

Grandfather and grandson fishing...

This fellow caught a large fish...
...we think he may have used one of his earrings...
...to hook it...

The Lake Moraine Watershed...

A google satellite map of Lake Moraine, NY....

View Larger Map

Our Ash is Trash...

Our Ash is trash.

In our front yard, we have an ash tree between the sidewalk and street.  Recently Paul noticed a bad crack in the trunk.  He called an arborist to look at it.  The arborist said that although he could attempt to save the tree, he would not recommend it since the dreaded emerald ash borer is rapidly boring in in Rochester (see link).  Minnesota has something like 900 million (that's right, see this second link) ash trees and it looks like it's going to be a slaughter.  Supposedly Rochester has 80,000 ash trees.  The arborist felt it was not worth the risk/effort to try and save the tree (only later to have the city condemn all ash trees in a given area) and unfortunately we agreed.  Paul contacted the city forester who came by and officially condemned the tree today.  

Conversations with Sammy...

Tonight Sammy had the following conversation with Paul:

SAMMY:  Daddy, come close I want to whisper a secret in your ear.

PAUL:  OK.  (leans close)

SAMMY:  (whispering in ear) I want some cold chocolate milk.