PHOTOS 2006
Lucky you, I'm doing summer of '06 rather than trying to catch up with the stuff I've been too lazy to post. As usual, the newest stuff appears at the top and it gets older the lower you go. Be sure to page down to see it all!
Returning home, we found plenty of things to do -- including me finishing up my job at Write Source, and the kids getting into the swing of summer vacation. At the very start of July, we went to Six Flags: Great America (an annual tradition with us). By chance, we had an extra ticket and ended up taking Julie & Kendall's friend Taylor along with us. This turned out to be good, as she knew the ins and outs of the new water park that's included as part of the regular park. After swimming and some rides, the kids posed as gangsters in one of the "get your money" emporiums. The great shot was well worth the money! That's Taylor in the back, with Kendall & Julie in front.
Well, spring 2006 came and went without too many pictures taken -- except a few at Kendall's pre-birthday birthday (Since we were spending his actual birthday on vacation) -- and maybe I'll show a few of those further down the page. It's funny, but when kids are small, you seem to be taking their pictures (and taking video) all the time. But, as they grow older, it gets harder and harder to get that camera out. Summer vacation, though, got the shutterbug going again.
In these first pix, we see the kids on the train on our way to Massachusetts. The trip takes about 24 hours -- including the inevitable delays. The second pic is Kendall, pre-haircut, standing outside my mom's house near the Cape. The third pic is a horseshoe crab -- a very ancient species (and not very dangerous, unless you step on the tail). I always feel honored when we see these usually nocturnal animals on the beach, and we got to see 4 on this trip.
In the first pic, Kendall is standing at Back Beach, around the corner from our house -- though we did most of our swimming in front of the house or at the Point. The second pic shows the assembled family (minus me) on the front steps. The last pic is me and Kendall at Kool Kone -- famous for seafood and soft serve. The picture shows me with the last of an ice cream cone that was, literally, taller than my head. (There was a more embarrassing picture I'm not posting, but notice the melting drips on my hand.) The three major food groups in MA are Kool Kone, Crescent Ridge, and Town Spa.
Julie's friends have a hard time believing there are houses on stilts on the Cape, so Julie took this pic to prove it to them. For Kendall's real birthday, we went to the very tip of Cape Cod, Race Point in Provincetown. That's the point at the top of the map next to Kiff. And here's a pic of Uncle Michael and the kids at Race Point. The last pic in the set is J&K in the 55 degree water (that's what the weather said -- maybe it was actually 60). I took a dip, Mike took several, but the kids were in the water for a long time -- especially Kendall.
The grown-up daytrip was to Newport, RI. Kiff and I went down (sans kids) to look at the mansions and, specifically, the mansion used as the exteriors in my favorite (old-time) soap opera, Dark Shadows. I had permission to photograph the place (with hopes of using the pix in my books later), and took over 200 snaps of the mansion. This is a pic that Kiff took of me in front of it. The second pic is Kendall finally getting his cake. We'd been so busy on the trip during his birthday that we didn't get around to the cake until the day after. Finally, we visited with friends and relatives during the trip (actually, we did that quite a lot). The picture here is of some of the Sirkin kids with our brood at the famous Town Spa Pizza. A great time was had by all, though it sometimes seems that little actual relaxation is done on a vacation!