Merrifield Times

Growing up, Mike was a lifeguard at Robert H. Treman State Park . It's one of many beautiful reasons that Ithaca Is Gorges . It's always a treat to be able to walk the trails again and take in the incredible scenery of Creation. After lunch, the whole family plus Kelty started at upper Treman and walked the gorge trail. Trevor and Mike made it to the lower park and back. Meanwhile, the girls enjoyed the scenery and some splashing about in the creek. Check out the album for more pictures. To the right is a composite picture of the 115 foot Lucifer Falls on Enfield Creek in the park and Trevor in the blue shirt.

In all the years we lived in NY (a total of 27 between Jolyn and Mike), we never visited the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY. Perhaps it was because Mike switched to a safer sport ( lacrosse ...), when they put the ball in the hands of the kids to pitch... With Trevor's interest in baseball (although he played lacrosse this past spring), it seemed like a natural choice to visit the Hall of Fame. Here's an album showing some of our (Trevor's) favorite items, exhibits or scenes. We hit Cooperstown just right, if you want to avoid crowds. An early Tuesday in July was fine with us -- long before the festivities surrounding the All Star break and the 2007 HOF induction ceremony .

It's been a while but we made the trip back to New York over the fourth. It was largely a spontaneous decision to go on our part. Mike learned from his sister that Uncle Gus and his neighbors would be throwing a big (~70 people) 4th of July party and all the cousins and their families would be there. We also wanted to surprise Mike's mom who is doing ok but recovering from hernia surgery. After traveling on the fourth and arriving at my sister's quite late, we managed to get over to Longview just before lunch time. The four of us wandered into the cafeteria and found mom patiently waiting for her meal. Unfortunately, we were not early enough to take her out for lunch but the surprise was worth the trip. For many reasons, it was a good trip. We caught up with family and friends, visited old haunts, made a trip to Cooperstown , did a little hiking and just had a fairly relaxing time together. New York weather didn't disappoint us either... There was no shortage of