Summer Vacation Monkeyshines

First things, first - or so I'm told. By that I mean to say that I missed an entry or two re: The Monkeys. Actually, I ran out of memory card crunch credits so I went a weekend without taking any pics - problem will soon be solved.

Daddy and the Monkeys spent two wonderful weeks together over the first half of August, and during that time we traveled to the wild unknown wilderness of Pittsburgh, PA to visit Grandpa Monty and Grandma Fredi. What a blast! We went swimming at Grandma and Grandpa's golf club, explored new parks and playgrounds, had french fries and the world famous Original Hotdog Shop, etc. The flights were tollerable and the weather was (uncharacteristicly for Pittsburgh) perfect.

After returning to Brooklyn, Daddy and the Monks spent a week just banging around our usual haunts, riding our bikes, and discovering our world - good times! Here are a few pics of all the fun:

Dawg Dayz Monkeyshines

Once again I'll dispense with the chatter and just caption the photos - suffice it to say that we (the monkeys and Daddy) had an absolutely amazing weekend!

No sooner had she arrived Friday night, Miranda decided that it was time to do some painting.

After the Sensory Gym on Saturday, we went to a birthday party at Adventures (formerly Nelly Blye). It was the kids friends, Chloe and Galilea's 2nd and 5th birthdays, respectively.

Here, Zach leans on the fence around the train ride (unfortunately out of service on this day).
Zach takes a car ride with Mommy.

Miranda shows us that she is an excellent driver.
... and an excellent sailor.
Zach checks out the gift shop.


Daddy and Miranda brave the mighty roller-coaster.

Miranda on the very scary swing ride - she loved it!

Miranda rides the merry-go-round.

Eventually it was time for lunch, cake and cookies!

Miranda shows off her new hat.

On Sunday we went to Zach's horseback riding - he's getting good at it!

Miranda examines some bugs that she spotted.
Zach bops on down the street.
That's all for now - sorry so tardy with the post, but keep checking back:)

3 Years

Today is my 3rd anniversary - I had a peaceful day of quiet reflection (even though I worked), which will be capped in a short while by a visit to PAX and my usual goodnight call to the monkeys. Tomorrow will be another day - day 1097 (this was a leap year). Sincere thanks to all for all the help along the way.

Miranda & Squeaky (part 2)

I took this last Wednesday night, for no apparent reason. We were just having some fun playing with Squeaky and getting him some exercise in the process (nobody wants a fat mouse). There is no point to the video other than to simply document a typical moment. Enjoy.

Summer Solstice Monkeyshines

Soooo... among the many other wonderful things that transpired during Daddy's latest weekend with the monkeys, we went to a big block party at Louis' house. And although Daddy planned to take all kinds of yummy photos of the kids in the swimming pool, eating hot dogs, riding bikes and big wheels, dancing to the band, etc. the batteries in the camera died immediately after taking the above picture (Miranda playing the drums). Quite a bummer - Zach did some great drum playing (he crashed the Sh#t out of the cymbals and played some mean piano too! We also had our own private pool party in Lou's pool - perfect for a hot sweaty day!

Rest assured, however, we had a slamming, action-packed weekend in spite of off and on thunder showers that hung around all weekend. In addition to our regular trips to the Sensory Gym and the Riding Academy, we had a big water balloon fight at the park, fed the ducks in the PolyPrep pond, discovered new parts of Bay Ridge and Bensonhurst, went out for brunch with Barry and James (Gannon's twin boys - Gannon came too) and discovered that Miranda will eat 5 large dill pickles all in one sitting.

Only about 4 weeks or so until our big adventure episode: "Daddy and the monkeys fly to Pittsburgh" - stay tuned!

It Feels Soooo Good (our network is growing)!

It's really nice to know that you are not alone. Perhaps this is the biggest blessing that the internet has yet produced - take this article from a comrade in arms, whose feed I subscribe to:

How Can You Tell When David Kirby Is Lying...?

Father's Day Monkeyshines

Only 1 week late! These pics aren't in any particular order and I'll caption them for y'all, but first let me say that this year I had the nicest Father's Day yet - they just keep getting better and better! I got magnificent hand-crafted presents from both little monkeys, but most of all I got to hang out with my two favorite people: Zach and Miranda.

Well, on with the show...

Miranda poses in the bagel shop, wearing the necklace that she and I made together (several shots).




























































Zach in the bagel shop (I couldn't decide which pic I liked better so I posted them both).
























Zach climbs a tree on Sunday , outside the horseback riding academy, while waiting for his turn.






















Zach and Miranda at the park playing in the sprinklers (several shots).