Fathers' Day 2011

Way, way back, when summer was fresh and new...and in fact, I wasn't even on vacation yet...we celebrated Fathers' Day. It is becoming our tradition to attend a minor league baseball game on Fathers' Day. It's a pretty great setup. Jamie gets to enjoy some baseball; there is plenty of family activity to keep Duncan from getting bored, and there's lots of good people watching for me. The baseball, the cheaper food (than at Yankee Stadium), the mascots:  it's a no brainer.

But first, we gave Jamie a hammock. I wish we had all found more time for it this summer. It is sheer heaven to lie in the hammock on the perfect summer day, daydreaming or reading a book. Check out Duncan's choice of reading material that week. It was all about mummies, Pompeii, and gross insects.

And then we were off to the game. We caught a Tri-City Valleycats game in Troy. I have no idea who won. I'm pretty sure it was the Vermont Lake Monsters. Seriously.

See how intently the boy is watching the game? His interest was partly encouraged by how close we were. We were in the first row! See how close we were?! It makes it a lot easier to follow what's going on, even if a 5 year old would rather watch cars race around the outfield and people dressed as catsup, mustard, and relish running the base lines.

All in all, it was a great tribute to Dad and fun way to usher in summer!

June

June flew by. Really, I don't know where it went. I worked for a great deal of June so it didn't really feel like summer until July. I did have days off here and there so I can't pretend it was all work and no play.

The first week I was training tutors for summer camp, Jamie and Duncan set up GeoTrax world so they would have something to keep Duncan occupied. They kept pretty busy. The hit the library and the bookstore, did some crafts, played outside, and made chocolate ice cream.

We got our vegetable garden going. Oddly, I have no pictures, but I'll post some soon. It can't be going too badly. We have baby peppers, lima beans, cucumbers, and watermelons taunting us in the front yard.

Duncan had a Children's Day at his preschool, and Nana and Poppy came down for the day so they could see his school and meet some of his teachers and friends. He road a pony, played in the bounce house, played some great games, and won $216 in the 50/50 raffle.

We met up with Grandma and Grandpa and Don and Sue for a barbecue at Jason and Suzanne's house. Good food, family, good friends, and croquet. Who can ask for anything more?

For Fathers' Day, we took a trip to a AAA baseball game and watched the Tri-City Valley Cats get creamed. We didn't care. We were two rows behind the visitors' dugout, and Duncan had a great view. He asked a lot of good questions about the game and really seemed to enjoy himself. We ate too much junk food (isn't that what baseball is for?), and Jamie and Duncan got new baseball caps.

We had fun visiting John, Melissa, and Anna in Hopedale, MA. Anna and Duncan played in the  sprinkler, and we visited the DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park.

We all wanted this for our yards:

This was Melissa's favorite.  I was kind of fond of it too:

Finally, at the tail end of June, Jamie, Duncan, and I took a trip to Hancock Shaker Village, where we marveled in some aspects of Shaker life, such as their devotion to God and connectedness to nature and their diligence and industriousness (they harnessed water from a nearby reservoir to run their sawmill and various other running water uses!)  On the other hand, we could only shake our heads at their belief that they could propagate a religion solely through converts. We were also a little curious at how fancy and sophisticated the Trustees House was, where Shaker elders met with visitors from the outside world. It's a beautiful museum, and it was nice to take a step back and think about a simpler way of life.

Oh, yeah.  And Dawn, Diana, and I trained some teachers for summer camp. 

I seem to remember complaining at the time about having to work so soon after graduation, but in retrospect, it does seem like we were able to pack in a good amount of summer. I'm sorry for my long absence, but there you have it.  June, in a nutshell. I hope yours was as good as ours was!