Birthday Roadtrip ...

This article marks the end of one of the fastest years I have known -- it was Quinn's 1st birthday. I know it seems like I just wrote my first article about him, and I know I have chronicled many of our visits and his exploits, but that certainly was one fast year.

Randy and Margaret (Danika's parents) joined Pam and me in helping Doug and Danika celebrate this monumental event. What a weekend it was -- we all walked to the park and watched Quinn play with other little children on the swings and the other park equipment, we had a beautiful (but quite warm) birthday party on their back patio, and we also had some very nice family cook-outs.

Pam and I got to meet some of their friends at the party and got to know some of them a little better. This was good because when D&D talk about so-and-so, we now know who that is.

It was pretty funny at the party when Quinn had his birthday cake in front of him. We weren't sure what he would do with it -- would he flip it off the chair onto the ground, would he tear into it and get it all over the place, or what? Well, it seems he played with it a bit, tasted the icing and got it all over his face and shirt. I'm not sure he really knew what to do with it otherwise. He might have been overwhelmed by all of us sitting around waiting for him to dive in. Then again, the sugar might have been a bit too much for him -- something new. In any event, he certainly seemed fascinated by it all.


Randy and Margaret had to leave Sunday morning, but Pam and I stayed over till Monday afternoon. So, on Sunday afternoon, we went to the New York Aquarium at Coney Island. That was a very nice place and had some very interesting exhibits. Quinn really liked the fish and the walrus/seal tanks. He was mesmerized by the big fish, the sharks and the seals as they would fly by the window in front of him. He just pointed and laughed.

Since Doug has Mondays off, we went to another park and got to spend time with him and Quinn. It was fun watching Quinn play on the artificial grass surface on the playground. Pam took some bubbles and Quinn crawled after them as the wind blew them around. He came very close to getting up and walking by himself when he and Doug went after his ball which had rolled away from where we were sitting. I'm sure, after watching how easily he got up, held on to Doug's hand, and took off after the ball, that he'll be walking before long. He looks like he's got pretty good balance.

Quinn got lots of pretty neat toys, some really cool new books, and some spiffy new clothes (as we all know, it wouldn't be a birthday without some new clothes from grandma[s] -- would it). All in all, it was an absolutely great birthday celebration. There were some serious issues with the apartment we had reserved for the weekend, but that's another story.

Sadly, the weekend came to an end, and we weren't even through the Holland Tunnel when Pam started saying how she's looking forward to our next get together. In the meantime, she and I are planning our get-away trip to celebrate our 40th anniversary. Being together this long reminds me of a quote from Antoine de Saint-Exupery who wrote Vol De Nuit (Night Flight -- the only book written in French that I ever read. It dealt with flying which is why I read it...that and the fact that it was required reading in the French class I was taking in college at the time.) -- "Love does not consist of gazing at each other, but in looking together in the same direction."

Oh, yeah ... Pam said she might go golfing with me when we take our trip -- which I think means I will golf and she might ride in the cart and work on her putting when I get to the green -- maybe. But wherever we go, it will probably involve water and mountains.

In childhood, we yearn to be grown-ups. In old age, we yearn to be kids. It just seems that all would be wonderful if we didn't have to celebrate our birthdays in chronological order. (Robert Brault)

Hooah