Monkey trunks

     Better them than me.  Up into the sky they went to skip around the ropes and connectors from pole to pole and dangle dangerously up in the air.  It was touch going at first for Jackie but Emily came through in the end to help him navigate the ropes.  She too, was very afraid of heights.  I think that helped out a little with bring Jackie around.  Once he got going he was fine and was daring as ever...Well, maybe not so much but he did it just the same.  They ended with a trip down the zipline.  Laura was a beast, of course, going to the top row and pushing the limits.  There is no fear in that girl.

     Erin loved it too...She got around the ropes with no problem either.  Those rings are tougher than they look.

   Here Jackie is getting more daring as the day went on.

Sandwich fair

Oh such sweet memories with Catherine on these rides.  After going on the initial rides on these himalaya and other speed rides, Cat wanted to stay and ride on them again.  I stayed behind with her while the others went and got some food.  What a blast.  She loves the speed of the rides but didnt quite like the height of some of them.  It was a joy just to watch her with the smile on her face and we waved to each other every time she passed around.  I cant even touch about how sweet it is to have watched her and continued watching the smile on her face..  It was great!!

We all went into the Goat corn maze (a tribute to Tom Brady).  Its pretty cool to get lost inside.  Eventually we found our way back to the entrance.  There were a couple of shortcuts taken by one or two of us.  I'm not gonna say i'm proud of myself, but it did cut the time a little bit.  

     Jumbo Turkey legs.....I'm just not so sure thats how i'd market it....

Looks like we made it.....again

Barry decided to come to Boston one more time.  Of course we have gone to two goodbye concerts for the poor guy but i'm not complaining.  He is such an entertainer and Jackie knows alot of his songs....well, i sing alot of them and our shared iTunes account has several of the songs so when Barry sings the songs he knows them as well.  ...We had a blast !!!

   What would be a trip to the Garden if we didnt stop for a trolley first.  And then we headed over to Quincy Market to get some grub.  Jackie just wanted to get some pizza so thats what we got...after walking and looking at each booth.  The pizza was pretty good though.

This is where we sat down at Quincy Market and the area just caught my eye for some reason.

I must say...My selfie skills stink.  The picture never comes out good.  Jackie had to take my phone away from me and take this picture.  Yes, I've turned into one of those old guys who cant keep up with technology.

      The stage can be seen in the background.  It looks far away but we were actually at a great point to see the stage.  We were right behind the goalie net (if it were there) and the stage is on the other side of the floor, so it really was some good seats.  StubHub came through for me once again.ss

Beach night

It was a last second trip to the Beach with Erin.  Erin kept calling and mommy gave her the idea to ask me to bring them to there.  So after we all picked Catherine up at gymnastics, we headed on the highway and off the sand.
When we got to Hampton, it was practically all closed down so we had to go to Salisbury to get some pizza and fried dough. 
Here, this big fat bird attacked us while we were at the counter he couldnt stay away.  He was not afraid of us and looked like he knows where the food is. 

We made it over to the arcade and the kids were able to get coupons to get their prizes of laffy taffy...very important you know.  We mostly had the whole place to ourselves

Fenway with James

     James and I have been taking this Fenway trip many, many times over the years.  He asked me a couple weeks ago if we could go, so on to Stub Hub we go and off we went.  They didn't win but it really doesn't matter much.  Great time.
     We didnt get an early start so I thought we would pay for it.  The traffic was a little heavy but was doable.  Once we got to Lechmere I found the parking lot that i've parked in for over thirty years was gone.  I was lucky to find on street parking but i spent the whole game wondering if i'd be towed.  Oh well, i'll just adapt i suppose.
     It was a very good experience both ways on the Green Line and we arrived on time for the game.  Of course Jimmy loaded up on some food and......dont worry the middle of the sixth inning there were helmets of ice cream for both of us.
     I

 Here is the view from our seats.

The Summer at the Mill is over

Onward to the Sunday before Labor Day and the last day of summer at the Mill.

This is the old blow a bubble game.  you have to eat through the whipped cream, grab onto the piece of bubble gum and blow a bubble in order to win.  You cannot use your hands.  I think Catherine won.  It was hard to tell because all hell broke loose when the first handful of whipped cream started to fly.

Baltimore with Jackie

This is how us modern day travelers start off our trips.  Jackie slid into a massage chair and got a three minutes massage before the flight.  He told me it made him feel much more relaxed.  I also tried it and sure enough, Jack was right again.

Oh this goofy hat with the fake hair.  I wore it onto the plane and tipped my cap to the flight attendants and the pilot.  Jackie seemed to like it too.  It looks a little creepy though.  I'm still going through my hippie stage i guess.

Oh what a feeling.  Jackie and I had planned in August to go to New York to see the Yankee/Red Sox game.  During a conversation with the ump Jackie heard that we had gone to Baltimore with Jimmy to see a game a few years ago.  He liked that it involved an airplane trip so he liked that idea a lot more.  So off we go to Baltimore.

It was really an easy thing to plan.  Grab a flight, a hotel room and go to stubhub and get some game tickets....I did it all online in a couple of hours.  We ended up sitting in the first row in left field.  They were great seats!!.  We left on Monday morning and got back Tuesday afternoon.  The flight down was a bit rough though.  Jackie was a little bit scared of the 'speed bumps' in the clouds.  Actually, he did really well compared to me when i first started flying.  During the flight he grabbed on to me and was only a little disturbed......well, that was until we were landing.  If you've ever sat on the wing during the descent where the wing opens to create drag to slow the plane, you'll see that it splits apart and creates a separation.  Well, nobody let Jackie in on this.  That was it and the airplane was falling apart.
     The flight back was even better.  While we were walking onto the plane, Jack didnt like the look of the pilot or someone he thought was the pilot, i think it was a flight attendant or part of the cleaning crew.  Anyway, after some turbulence he told me he knew something was wrong with that weird guy with big eyes welcomed him onto the plane.  It was a great flight but still had some turbulence.

The game was a wonderful back and forth affair that went into extra innings.  We finally won it in the 11th on a single by BienAcutie (as Nana and all the kids call him).  It was a fun fun time.

Jackie kept asking me all week if we would see the brick wall behind right field.  So I guess it is appealing when you see it on TV and he was curious about why it was there.  It was fun for him to see it for the first time.

and there was some turbulence

Art festival..and guess where we went after

I had worked at the Art and Maker Festival on Saturday and thought it would be great to bring the kids the next day.  They had bands that played and some art tents and interesting paingings.  We got there early enough before any crowds came in so it was really good.  The Patriots game was at one so we couldnt miss that.
Jackie really liked this band and didnt want to leave until they were done.

     Don't you just love that train.  Some body has to tell those kids to keep off the train!!

Friday Night Lights

Its a big day for Jimmy.  He got to play in his first Friday night Varsity football game.  He is the JV QB and the backup for the varsity team.  The game got out of hand and his team got way up so he came in in the third quarter and played great.

Cat's Red Sox game with Ant Joe

She was very lucky to be visiting the souvenir shop when they were doing a photo op with Devan Marrero.  He is now her favorite ball player.  She repeated their whole conversation several times.

Such a sweet appreciative little girl.

First Day of Skool 2017

      This is Laura's first day of high school...so exciting

      and also jack's first day of middle school.  Catherine is going to show him the ropes

     Oden joins the kids for the exciting walk to school...They are all so excited