Ethan’s wry, punchy humor can be seen in his silly behavior or his general demeanor, but it also comes through in his amazing one liners. There is his order to Cheetos and other classics, but over the weekend, Ethan ripped a new gem. We had just finished a hike and the boys were looking for a sugar pick me up, special treat. A few options had fallen by the wayside and we settled on Dad sprinting into Hannafords. Having been at the Dad game for sometime, I realized I needed more than just one thing per boy. Back ups are a must. Here is how it went down:

ME: What do you boys want for a snack?

Isaac: Chester’s (Chester’s Spicy Cheeots)

Ethan: Whoopie Pie

SIDE NOTE: Ethan has become a Whoopie Pie aficianado over the past year. He has had whoopie pies up and down the Northeast Sea Board.

ME: Sounds good. What about back ups? Iman?

Isaac: Cheez it Snaps

ME: And what about you Beeth? What do you want if they don’t have a Whoopie Pie?

Ethan: An even bigger Whoopie Pie.

INSERT rim shot.

Funny enough, as it turns out, they only had bigger Whoopie Pies, so in an ironic twist of logic, he got what he wanted. This kid is one funny kid, like a 6 year old George Burns.

The iPad chirps awake at 7:30 AM, normally way too early for a Sunday morning. The sun slips through the leaves and into the room and I am awake. I walk down the hall to Isaac’s room and wake him up: “Time to ride buddy.” The normally sleepy pre-teen bolts awake and tosses off his covers. In a few minutes we are gathering our stuff—helmet, pads, and bikes—for what is one of my favorite little traditions: a riding through the woods with my Mountain Bike Buddy.

About a mile and half away there is a conservation area in the town of Lunenburg. About a half dozen times since I got my mountain bike, Isaac and I have gone through this ritual so that we could ride before the scorching sun reached its peak. The result is some really good riding just before it gets too hot and buggy for wooded travel.

The trails aren’t as manicured as those found at a mountain bike park, but there is no crowd or wait, just hop on and go. Isaac and I have even named a few features. The main trail that connects all of the other trails is called “Main Street.” There is a lake with a very twisted drop nearby that we call “Brain Twister” in honor of a burled stump strategically placed at the bottom of the trail. Even cooler—we have yet to find all of the trailheads and so it seems like this unending network of riding.

But better than the trails or the riding is the company. With two boys, a business, a pandemic, and a professor to contend with our schedule is super busy and packed to the gills. This time when it is just I-man and myself brings me back to when he was very little. In fact, I think we have a shot of him when we were riding the bike path and Ayer where he is doing this exact same lean, but in that picture he was standing up and still able to lean on my shoulder because he was so little. He is not little anymore, but he is still his Dad’s buddy.

Hopefully you will be able to catch us for the foreseeable future, Sundays at 7:30 AM.

This past weekend Mom was on a Girl’s Weekend with Nanny, Aunt Katie, and Aunt Erica. They were at some hippy retreat in upstate New York doing boring things like: relaxing, enjoying each other’s company, and talking. We decided, instead, to go to a baseball game because, well, its baseball and Fenway is the Church of Baseball.

Isaac had been to two prior games and Ethan had been to one game, but the tickets we had for this game were perfect for kids—first row right field just behind the visitor’s bullpen. Oh and it happened to be Red Sox Yankees, so, it was extra special.

We got there about a half hour early and while we all wore masks to our seats, given where they were, we were social distanced from everyone else and the boys, for the first time in more than a year, went maskless in a public space with other people. The game, the atmosphere, and being maskless were great (PS: I called the pediatrician before going and she gave us two thumbs up). Here they were joyous and grateful:

During the game we developed a banter with the bullpen catcher/coach Radley Haddad. He was a really good guy and was very kind. During one inning he managed to hold on to a ball and give it to Ethan. It was his second game AND his second game-used ball. I guess it pays to be a cute kid. People always talk about the Yankee approach and it is true—they really do insist on professionalism all throughout the organization. Good for Radley Haddad and good for the Yankees. He made someone’s night:

It also happened to be the latest we ever stayed up with Ethan. When we finally pulled in it was around 1:20 AM. I scooped up my youngest and brought him into the bedroom. Because Mom was out of town and it was too hard to get multiple kids that were asleep into bed, we all crashed in Dad’s bed. The next morning they were laid out well into midmorning. Here is a pic around 10 AM. Both were snoring.

In all it was a great trip and a great game. I have been to probably around 400-500 games in my life and this was my favorite. Even over some playoff games and an All Star game in 1988.