June 2022

Here is a link to all of our photos and videos from June. This month included a trip to NYC, so there are a lot more photos than usual.

The Big Apple

We've lived in New York for more than 4 years now  and seen a nice sample of upstate but not New York City (although Becky did take a trip there years ago before we were married). So we finally booked an AirBnB in the Astoria district of Queens for 2 nights the first weekend of the month, and made the 1.5 hour drive to get there. The AirBnB was a basic small 2-bedroom place that was just what we needed, and nothing more, for $200/night plus fees. It was very close to the Astoria metro station. After we arrived Friday evening and unloaded, we walked around Queens to get something to eat and let Alex play at a nearby playground. Saturday morning we took the metro to Central Park, which was about 20 minutes away. We explored the southern half of it, hitting some of the playgrounds and along the way to let Alex loose. The weather was nice and so there were a lot of people there enjoying  it too. We came back for a break/naptime/snack in the afternoon, and later took the metro again to Times Square for a rooftop bus tour. It's a bit surreal coming up the stairs from the dark subway and popping out right in the middle of skyscrapers, jumbotrons, and a sea of people below. Times Square is not a kid-friendly place, but we pushed Alex around in the stroller through the crowds and hopped on our double decker bus for a 1.5 hour night tour around the major parts of Manhattan. The tour did a loop through lower Manhattan and across the Brooklyn Bridge, giving a nice surface level introduction to the historic buildings and neighborhoods like Chinatown and the East Village. The whole area was saturated with people, but we managed to find an uncrowded sushi place to grab dinner before taking the metro back to the AirBnB. Sunday morning we just checked out of the AirBnB, grabbed brunch and hit the playground one more time, before driving home. Throughout the trip, Alex was a great little traveler, and seemed to enjoy being immersed in all the new sights and sounds as much as we did.

Other News

Ward Activity: We spearheaded a ward activity at a neighborhood park that involved a game of softball, and 14 pizzas from Dominos, donuts, chips, watermelon and other things people brought. We organized something similar last year, and again it was a good chance for people to come out and socialize while kids played games with water balloons or on the playground. So there wasn't too much planning involved, and we had the turnout we expected.

SLC Plans: We made plans to visit Salt Lake City for a week, over Labor Day weekend. Alex has a few days off school so it seemed like a good time to go. We'll arrive late on Wed. Aug. 31, and then fly back the afternoon of Wed. Sept. 7. Actually, Becky and Alex will be flying back to NY, and Rob will be flying to Houston for a work meeting before flying back to NY a few days later. We hope to have a visit from Becky's Mom in October, and to visit Becky's family in Arizona over Christmas and New Years.

Temple Trip: Rob made a second trip to New York City in June to visit the Manhattan temple. The ward youth had planned a trip to go do baptisms, so I joined the carpools and went too. I ended up doing some initiatories upstairs.

Home Rental: The tenant renting our house in Endwell will be there until mid-August, when his 6-month work contract ends. After that, we'll see how difficult it is to find another short term renter that wants a furnished house. A lot of people had interest last time I posted on Zillow, so we'll see. It's been nice not doing the AirBnB and going out there every week, while getting a $2000 check for rent each month. Anyway, we may make a trip back to Binghamton to stay at the house like old times in August or September.

BBQ Grill: We've been without a BBQ grill in the Hudson Valley, although we do have one back at the house. I like to grill so I found a small one for free that someone was getting rid of on Facebook. I gave it a cleaning, and now we are back to grilling again. The exterior is in good shape and the gas valves work great, but the bottom is rusted out inside the basin. But I think I can replace it with an oven cookie sheet the same size to get a few more years out of it.

Outings: We've discovered some new places to go for outings, some of which are in the pictures. Outside of Bear Mountain State Park, where we've been many times, we found a trail to a zoo, swimming pool, and then it goes all the way out to a dock on the bay. We hung out at the dock and marked the swimming pool for a return visit. Not far from home we discovered Circleville park, where we hadn't visited before. It has a sandy beach, boat rentals, a lake with a trail around it, several playgrounds, and fields and courts. Apart from that, we have enjoyed outings to our local favorites including the nearby arboretum and Winding Hills Park, where you'll see videos of various amphibians I've found there and a large turtle climbing a large hill. We also discovered another park with a playground, skate park, and baseball fields nearby our local grocery store.

New Things: June

Rob - I got two new books that I'll start reading but make no promises to complete, because that's how it goes lately. One is "The 7 Basic Plots," about some repeating patterns that we see throughout history in the art of storytelling. And the other is "Jesus Is the Question," by a theologian who counted 307 questions that Jesus was asked in the New Testament, plus a hundred or so more that he asked Himself, but for only three of them did he give a direct answer. So it's about what that implies, and I thought that sounded interesting.

Alex - There hasn't been a new show or toy that Alex has been too excited about this month. But his go-to entertainment lately has been to watch videos taken on on our phones, usually of him playing. It's a way for him to relive his favorite memories I guess. This is nothing new, he's always enjoyed doing that. But especially lately.

Becky - I'm reading "The Lincoln Highway" by Amor Towles.  Rob got it for me for Mother's Day.  Really well-written and the plot's starting to pick up.  I'm doing all right with some of my major goals this year, which are to see more clients (this is much easier now that COVID is abating), exercise regularly (we are going to start playing pickleball weekly in addition to our walking/hiking), read more books, and finish a blog article I started ages ago about SLP's and BCBA's working together.  Consistent and effective implementation of Alex's ABA program at home/during the after school hours is my biggest priority.  It's kind of a given that I'm always working on that.  Also, I'm pretty much always working on some aspect of my calling in Relief Society.  I guess this might sound like a lot, but I have a pretty easy work schedule so I have time to do a variety of things.  Full-time work can be cool if you're not a parent.  For me, personally, I just can't swing working full time and still do a good job with Alex as his ABA program tends to require a lot of daily effort.  So I'm always grateful I don't have to do both.