Hey big man. Mom, Joe and I just got to the beach. We are staying with Aunt Abby and Uncle Andy for the Fourth of July. Jack is at camp - and it appears he is having a good time.

We just showed up and I gotta go eat dinner. I want to take this weekend to catch you up on everything. Let's see if I can do it.

Thinking about you. Loving you.

We went to Aunt Abby and Uncle Andy's house in Rehoboth for July 4th. I think it is a tradition now.

Their beach house is just so beautiful. It was in Washingtonian Magazine this month - one of these days Mom is going to be featured in there as well as a "Washingtonian of the Year" for all that she does for sick kids at Georgetown.

It rained for a bit and I was lucky enough to read and then fall asleep on this really comfy couch they have on their screened-in porch. I cannot tell how how incredibly perfect that was. It doesn't take much for me to be happy.

For Joe to be happy all it takes is Funland, Funland, Funland. He even went on Sea Dragon with Joshua. I guess he is growing up. I need to tell Jack that his favorite ride, Chaos, is gone.

It was sunny too. Joe is getting more comfortable in the water, but he has a ways to go. Noah is an awesome maniac. Non-stop dynamo. Michael, Rachel and Josh are fish. They're also good off the diving board catching a ball while getting squirted by Uncle Andy.



The anniversary of your transplant, July 6th, passed by without much fanfare. Neither Mom or I mentioned it to the other. I think it must be all the time that has passed. Or it could be we were tired of being sad. June was really hard.

The guys have spring break this week. Mom took them to the beach. I stayed home and worked. And fed Joe's fish, Potato Man.

Summer is over. Today was Labor Day. These are some pictures from our vacation last month at Rehoboth Beach. Nothing too exciting or different. Joe made some friends with other boys on the beach and played football with them. Joe doesn't have the close friends you and Jack have. Maybe he'll meet some new buddies in school this year.

You'll see Jake and the rest of the Mitz-Greenfelds in a couple of these. We went to Jake's 12th birthday today. It was baseball just like last year. Couldn't ask for anything better.

There are also pictures of your cousins too. We stayed for a weekend at Aunt Abby and Uncle Andy's beach house. And the craziest thing was we bought a car that is a lot like their fun yellow car that doesn't have the roof - the Bronco. I have a picture of you and your cousins taken in the back of that car. I will find it and put it on here.

Ours is green, one year older than you would be and is called a Land Rover Defender 90. I think your brothers are going to have a lot of fun with it. It reminds Mom of the Willy's Jeep that they had growing up. I think it will be a lot of fun to have around St. Michaels.



Today we went for a hike up Sugarloaf Mountain and brought David Lane along. We took you for a hike there when you were just a little guy. I remember that I carried you on my back. I will find the pictures I took of that hike and put them up here too.

After our hike we went to this new winery -- a winery is where they make wine, course -- that is at the base of the mountain. We went on a tour and learned how the wine is made. In October there is a "Grape Stomp" there that I think we'll do. That's gotta be fun... sloshing around in thousands of grapes.



Here are some pictures from Jake's party. Ari was there. Simon had gone to the National's game. I have a lot to tell you about upcoming B'nai Mitzvahs, including Cousin Hannah's; Michael and Rachel's; and especially Ari's.

By the way, your brothers did really well, but overshadowing their efforts was your Mom. She is a good hitter!

We went down to South Carolina for the weekend. That was pretty different for us. Aunt Jen, Uncle Dan, Hannah, Papa Teddy and Jeri were there. We stayed in a place called Folly Beach which is near Charleston.



The house where we stayed was right on the beach. Joe is getting a bit more brave. Mom, Jack and I did a lot of body surfing. We are going to Rehoboth starting tomorrow for a full-blown family vacation.

Your aunt and uncle's beach house was in a magazine. I am happy for them. It looks beautiful. You were really sick when we were there. I remember us all in that big cycling contraption. I think they fixed the house up after you died. Not sure. We haven't been for a while, but I bet we'll go over and visit when we go to the beach in August. We rented a house in Rehoboth for a week.



Jack is going away to Camp Ramah on Sunday. Mom spent last night ironing name tags into his clothes. That is something my mom (Grandma) did for me when I went away to Tel Shalom. I bought Jack a bunch of Simpsons comic books to read in his bunk. I think he'll be psyched. He'll use his headlamp!

I know he is excited about going. As excited as Mom is bummed to have him leave. I will miss him. Cousin Hannah is already away at her camp. Aunt Jen and Uncle Dan are coming to town on Friday for Papa Teddy's wedding.

Joe and Jack are going to Home Run baseball camp this week. Joe is going to go to camp at St. Alban's. I am not sure when he starts. Remember when you and Joe and I brought Michael to camp at St. Alban's. Joe was in a stroller. I was worried about how much walking we had to do. You weren't doing that well.

This was our vacation. I'll tell you more about it later, but it was pretty much the usual...

We are on vacation in Rehoboth.

The lifeguards told everyone to get out of the water, and I thought it was because of the giant-sized jellyfish that were floating in.



Mom took a picture of one that washed ashore.

But then someone said something about a shark and I looked out and there it was.

I saw a fin cruising around right near the shore and then it disappeared.

Unfortunately, by the time Jack, Joe and Mom got up to the water's edge the shark wasn't showing anyone his fin anymore. This was the only other shark sighting on the beach.



I went back in the water after the lifeguards said it was okay. I have seen it a million times on TV but this was totally different. It was a little freaky and scary, but mostly cool.



Rehoboth Beach Clears After Reports Of Shark Sighting
By WMDT STAFF -- WMDT 7/17/2006

Rehoboth Beach Patrol cleared the waters on Sunday after reports of sharks in the water. Officials say it could have been a sand shark, a skate or a ray.

Captain Kent Buckson says they get sightings at least a couple of times a summer.

"We're going to be proactive and protect the public and pull them out for an extended period of time until we feel confident enough that whatever it was, sharks, skates or rays have moved on," Buckson said.

Buckson says if you see any kind of marine life in the water to remain calm and tell a lifeguard.

Portions of this story copyright —2006 by The Associated Press.

We went on vacation to -- where else -- the beach. We rented a house in Rehoboth. It took us a little time to get there, though. First we went stayed at Aunt Abby and Uncle Andy's house and then we moved a couple blocks over to the house we rented.

These are some pictures that I took. This first one is Joe sleeping on my tummy (yummy). I can make him fall asleep by stroking his hair forward on the front of his head. I seem to remember a movie where the someone has the ability to make wild animals fall asleep by touching them the right way... or something like that.



Sam Shoyer came and stayed with us. His brothers were with Paula at other friends in Rehoboth. I am glad Jack could have his buddy with him to share his vacation. We went to the boardwalk and Candy Kitchen. The guys got wax bottles.



We went to Jungle Jim's water park. There was a water park or at least a big slide in St. Louis Park in Minneapolis. I kept saying I wanted to go, but we never ended up doing it.





During the week after Sam Shoyer left we went back over to Aunt Abby's and went to the pool at her house and then to beach with all of your cousins. They have a lot of good toys for the beach. You can see all the surf boards. Uncle Andy has a pretty cool toy too. You rode in the yellow Bronco once when we were down there. It is perfect.



Michael and Jack had a good time together. I think Michael misses you.



Hey, check this little dude out. That is your brand new cousin, Noah. I haven't seen him for a while. He is three months old. Joe is now the older cousin. Hopefully they'll be buddies. Joe is really close with Joshua now. They have a very sweet friendship. They play together and hang out.



Here is Joshua skimboarding. Both he and Michael are really good at all of the beach and water sports.



Joe decided to try his hand at skimboarding. He looks like he might just be able to do it, doesn't he.





I am really proud of two things - one, that Michael is a really good surfer, and two, that I was able to get a picture of him getting up on his board. There is a lot of waiting around in surfing. You wait for the right wave. It takes a long time at Rehoboth.



We also hung out a lot with Richard, Helaine, Jake and Abby. Jake is all grown up now. This is him skimboarding. I am bummed that I can't picture you being as big and grown up as your friends, like Jake. I wonder what it will be like when I see Ari again. I haven't seen him or Simon almost all summer.



We played football. Your little brother Joe is quite the athlete. He is a lot like you that way.





Jack keeps getting more handsome. I am in love with him.



Jack was showing some serious bravery - helped by Michael. The two of them went on the Sea Dragon and then we all went on Chaos together. We are at a whole new level of rides at Funland.





A good thing that Joe likes the calm rides. Mom will be bummed in a couple of years when he only wants to do the scary ones. I'll go on Paratrooper with her.







We also went seining, which we have done on past vacations with Hugh and Liam. You go out into the Delaware Bay and use a net to catch fish and other sea creatures and then take a close up look.



I learned a lot about horseshoe crabs. We also caught a puffer fish and some other cool things.





This is the photo that I started taking with you. I have done it a few times with Joe now. I wonder how much longer I'll be carrying him on my shoulders. Hopefully we have at least one more summer left.

Joe tells me all the time that he loves me "to Saturan and back." If you didn't figure it out, he means "Saturn" the planet. Joe has a funny way of saying some things. I don't correct him because I think it is cute and he'll figure it out after a while. I don't see him being in college, listing all of the planets and saying "Saturan."

Joe is just a really sweet little guy. I hope we have a lot of summers left of him telling me how much he loves me. I'll carry him on my shoulders and his feet never have to hit the ground until he is a grown man if he'll just keep telling me how much he loves me.



This is Mom and you on the boardwalk. I think you are tickling her with a feather.