Grandma and Grandpa's

We spent a few days with four of my siblings who live in a cluster two hours south of where my parents live. This little Transformers game kept Bruce busy on the drive and on the airplane. Bruce has never even seen Transformers, but likes this thing (Optimus Prime's head?!) because it looks like a robot, has a manly voice, and talks about strange things like "autobots" and "decepticons." I guess I like it too; it keeps Bruce occupied on long trips.
Once we got to my parents' place, we put the game down and played outside all day every day. The weather was gorgeous the whole time we were there. Bruce fed the ducks...
...rode on the Jeep with Cousin Jared...
...climbed the apple tree with Ruby...
I enjoyed letting Bruce run around without holding his hand or worrying about him running into a street. Bruce is a total city kid in some ways - he knows how to get around on the subway, for example - but he appreciates open spaces too. I have to put this picture on the blog: I've probably seen my dad's calves less than a dozen times in my life. He always wears pants and, until a few months ago, never really exercised. Now that all the kids are out of the house, my parents got a treadmill and elliptical to put in the basement. They work out every day now and are in the best shape they've been in for years.
When I'm home, I always have a list of a bunch of people that I want to see. I usually get around to about half of them. This time I got to see one of my high school cross country teammates, my best friend in high school, and world traveling companion (we went to the Galapagos Islands one summer).