Now that we are potty training (ah, the joy), Sam likes to jump up after he’s done his thing and go ride the footrest that goes with the rocking chair in his room. I couldn’t resist catpuring this snap last night while Amy was out playing a gig. Cute, no?
Rita recently marked a significant milestone – her 80th birthday. The actual day was during the last week of June when I was in the midst of the CNN.com relaunch. We did manage to head down to Savannah to celebrate with a kiddush at my mom’s synagogue, Mickve Israel a few weeks back. The picture at right is by my brother Jerry, and catches us as we head into the kiddush. More photos are here.
A few weeks back we were in Savannah to visit Sam’s grandma, and the highlight of the trip for the little guy was the visit to the Roundhouse Railroad Museum. Only a few hundred yards from where my dad’s store Thrifty was located, this spot was always off-limites and behind tall fences when I was a kid. Abandoned from active use back in 1960s, I often picked blackberries in the adjacent fields as a kid, and recall vividly taking photos with my Canon AT-1 as the Ranger batallion from Hunter Army Airfield practiced urban combat in the abandoned buildings in the early 80s. Anyway, it’s now a wonderful museum of train history, with at least a dozen old engines and cars, including the restored switching engine pictured above. One of Sam’s favorite books these days is The Little Engine that Could (sam loves this version the most), so seeing the tiny (not blue) engine pull the much larger full-size steam locomotive was a highlight of the trip. The ash that covered us was an unexpected memento of the visit requiring a good shower afterward, but seeing the little engine belching steam was pretty darn cool. These demos take place twice a day on weekends and are well worth checking out. For more photos, see the full gallery here.
So off we headed to Savannah this weekend for some quality time with Grandma Rita, Uncle Jerry, and Scarlett. We stayed downtown at the Mulberry Inn (very comfy, thank you) and hung out with family for most of the weekend. We did explore downtown and it’s environs with Sammy, who had a blast riding the water taxi across the Savannah River, going bumpity-bump down the cobblestone ramps to River Street, and hanging out with our friends the Suszynski’s and their nearly 5-year-old daughter Maddie.