The train guy is back with his barrel-cars!
Oh yes. Yes he is.
More importantly, we went back for sushi the other day.
I like sushi.
I was born with two hands for a reason.
YUM!
Mom and Dad tried to get free sushi by claiming it was my birthday.
It sounds bad, but I'm used that that kind of thing with them.
And although it wasn't free ...
... I got sushi! See?
Aunt Danielle came out the other day. (Dad was shooting a wedding, so Mom needed the help). She settled into the routine pretty quickly.
Aunt Danielle got along with Zoe just fine, even though Zoe is always so unfriendly.
Zoe got Bjorned across the whole zoo. Thanks, Aunt Danielle!
While we were all at the zoo, the usual stuff happened. GET BACK HERE, PEACOCK!
I fed more birdies ...
... and ate Fritos.
Mom gets me Fritos because they are "the fattiest of the chips."
Oh yeah--Mom was in the garage and found this pengo-sprinkler that she bought 45 years ago. Dad and I set it up.
I am fearless! Charge!
Auuggghh!
We went to NYC for a whole week. I got to go into the ocean!
Zoe came along too, but she did not get to go into the ocean.
Kim and Emma walked me to the beach on the first day.
After that, I pretty much did what I felt like doing.
Zia Mary helped me get accustomed to the Atlantic--or, as Dad calls it, the Sewage Basin to the Right.
This is Shirley and Lulu--or, rather, Lulu and Shirley.
And here's Ethan and Jenn in what would be a touching photo if he were not depositing toys into her shirt.
My friend Sydney brought her dad to the beach ...
... and she brought her brother Adam too.
Lulu is teaching Emma her best techniques for avoiding medical waste.
Emma wasn't too worried about it.
OCEAN!
After a long day of UV exposure, nothing hits the spot like a two-fork bowl of spaghettini.
You can really taste the -ini!
Aunt Ellen makes this weird gesture when she's encouraging me to do silly things, like whip up a delicious Spaghettini Soup Sundae.
This is Aunt Ellen's "That's what I'm talking about" gesture, but I have to admit I had no idea what she was talking about.
Good times.
For reasons I don't completely understand, people kept giving me stuff while I was in New York. This is a stamp kit that I like to stack. I'll stack just about anything. Try me.
Aunt Ellen took a break from encouraging Disturbing Nutrition to pose with Haley.
The best dessert after a two-fork meal is a two-spoon course of ice cream.
This is me with Grandpa Les. Dad says "Tres Primos" is Norwegian for "The canpake lens continues to impress."
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Grandma Marianne chilled out with Baby Zoe.
Then Grandpa Ira squeezed her walrus cheeks.
I've seen that all before, so I strode purposefully to the ocean ...
... and made sure the tides were still working.
Yep. All is well on Riley Potamus's watch.
We met up with Grandpa Joel to see the strangest thing.
In Queens, they have cell phones _attached to the walls_ and the phones take "quarters."
Baby Zoe thinks that's hysterical.
Judy and Becky seemed to like her a little bit.
I got this really cool cookie-baking set. Over on the right, there's a rare Dad-hands sighting.
Since _everybody_ loves the great taste of black licorice, I'm adding licorice scotty dogs to some of these cookies.
The next day, we went to Grandma Annette's apartment in Manhattan.
We had authentic New York ice cream ...
... and saw authentic New York garbage. (Dad checked for squirming rats. The results were inconclusive. Those squirms could have been anything.)
In New York, they put water parks right in the middle of everything.
This guy was taking a shower on the way to work.
Elephant!
ELEPHANT!
Dad says there's no comfort to be found at the "COMFORT STATION," so don't even look.
What could possibly go wrong?
Yep, this is how they roll in NYC.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch again with Grandma Annette ...
... Zoe was doing her thing.
Uncle Eric (who made me a really cool red panda puzzle with his robot machine) took me outside for some bubbles.
Dad says this is a "Brooklyn porta-potty." It's nice that it seems to be open all day, but it doesn't look that portable to me.
On my last trip to the beach, I traded my pants for a kite and a stick.
Zoe seemed surprised by that, but I have plenty of pants. Hey Zoe, what do you think about coming back to NYC for another visit one day?
Zoe says that would be exxcellllent.
Dad's friend Haley was here today, so she picked up his camera and favorite lens and showed him how it's really done.
In return, I showed her how to play "feed sticks to the fish in the lake."
I also showed her how to play with dandelions.
I keep missing my gymnastics classes, so we got in a little practice.
I think Dad is fond of me.
Some kid left behind all this high-end construction equipment, so I spent a little time with it. You can build anything with a good set of tools.
Dad and I went over our plans to build a five-lane suspended highway in the sandbox.
He just kept smiling even when I told him the sandbox isn't zoned for a commercial freeway.
Yep. He's definitely fond of me.
Sometimes if he tickles me, I tickle him back.
TUNNEL!
TUNNNNNNNEL!.
It was great to see someone with a clue finally using dad's camera. I hope Haley comes back whenever we need real photos taken. Right, Dad?
I guess there are some things you just can't joke about.
My big sister likes to check in on me when I'm sleeping. She's just making sure I'm OK.
Mom and dad got Riley a small Pack and Play for her own baby. Riley found other uses for it. Sorry, baby!
We went for a walk around the block yesterday. Aaron and Simon came too.
Murray the dog joined us.
Simon made sure that the basketball was very safe. Even so, I was glad that Mom was walking me in my own stroller at the end of the line.
Riley certainly had a great time.
She laughs at anything Simon does, even though she's the one walking a basketball around the block.
I slept through the whole thing.