Toward the end of July, I was talked into bumming a ride back to Montana with 3 little kids and a newborn. A few hours into the ride I was able to take a nap, but a few hours later, I vowed to never again bum a ride from a growing little family! It wasn't all bad, and it was nice not having to drive by myself, plus sometimes the kids would say some pretty funny things.
When we got home, I requested to sleep in the suburban instead of the couch or on the floor in the basement. At first I think mom and dad were a little worried about me not wanting to sleep around the family, but after the first couple of nights in the suburban, family members were begging to trade me spots so they could get a good nights rest. Lucky me! It was also refreshing to be able to wake up in the middle of the night and see the big starry Montana sky. You know you're in Montana when you can see the shape of the Milky Way.
My best memory of being at home for the family reunion was either playing with matches and lighting off all the illegal Wyoming fireworks and scaring the kids to death, or fishing with grandpa Heagy on the Diversion Dam Reservoir. Being able to be in grandpas canoe, trolling with the little electric motor and catching little trout him was one I'll always remember and want more of. The water was so calm. The fish were jumping everywhere. A few drops of rain would hit the calm water. It was so quiet you could hear the canoe cutting through the water. I always started smiling when grandpa would hook a little trout and then started to do his excited laugh and giggle. I hope we get to do that again sometime soon!
About a week later, I hopped on a red-eye flight to New York City. I wasn't feeling well when I left and I probably felt worse when I arrived. I may have had the swine flu, and then added on air sickness when Brooke and Jared picked me up. They were living on Long Island, so I thought it would be a quick ten minute drive to their apartment. After 15 minutes I asked how much longer it would be. To my suprise, Jared responded with, "a good 40 minutes!" Little did I know that Long Island was so BIG. I thought it was only about 7 or 8 miles long and a few miles wide. Nope! Near 118 miles long and almost 23 miles wide.
After I recooperated a while, Brooke and I hit the Yankee game and enjoyed the professional baseball atmosphere. However, we didn't want to miss the train and have to deal with the thousands of fans so we left a little early. I think that's what the Yankees wanted, because as soon as we left they hit a huge homer and also scored a few more runs.
Brooke and I hung out for a few days on Long Island, and even went to the beach on a cold day! It was cold almost the whole week but I thought it was a good time to be in a city of solid asphalt. A couple days later we made it back to the city and took a tour bus to see all the popular sites, even the "Soup Nazi" restaurant from Seinfeld. There is so much to see, but so many people, its claustrophia city! An artist in the park offered to draw Brooke and I in a cartoon picture so here it is. Look at those pointy ears!
The final day I was in New York, the weather finally turned warm and Brooke and I went to the beach. I had never been to an ocean beach where the water was actually warm enough to actually jump in. Yes, the water was borderline filthy and you came out with a sticky, smelly, coating on, but it was fun playing in the waves and trying to pick up sea shells with your toes. Plus, the thousands of people on the beach was interesting!
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