Pippin and Vash discussing who is going to get to sit on Alex's lap...Pippin winning at the moment.
Where, everyone is asking, is Alex? Not a word about Alex for many many days. Well, I will say I am missing the little guy. First I was in Iowa and he was not, then I was in Louisville for the swim meet and he was not, and then he was at scout camp for a week and I was not, and as soon as he returned from camp, he packed his bag for the "Aunt Nan and DeNephews Vacation" and left with them and I did not. Never fear, he and I will be seeing plenty of each other from here on out...well, when he returns, which is next Wednesday, one day before Matt sets off for Italy with the ICC.
Today Alex is crossing the water on a little boat trip from Vermont to Canada via Lake Champlain. Each year Aunt Nan takes her nephews on a vacation and they visit all the sites, museums, amusement parks, and baseball parks that they can possibly fit in during a given period of time in a given geographical location. Everyone should have an Aunt Nan. (Aunt Nan is Mark's sister, his only sister, for those of you who don't know. She was raised with 5 brothers and never saw a need to compound that torture of dealing with so much testosterone by getting married. She has no kids, and therefore has endless amounts of energy and patience for all of ours each summer. She was hoping for a lot of nieces. She got a lot of nephews instead, so she is just rolling with it these days...and no one is as great at doing vacations as Aunt Nan!)
This vacation thing has worked out well for Alex. Matt always gets the big ICC trip each year (China, Greece, Italy) and Alex gets Camp Tecumseh, Camp Ransburg, and the Aunt Nan gig. Alex is pleased with the arrangement as those are all things he just loves doing, so while the vacations are not really the same sorts of things, Alex is pleased and that is all that matters in the long run. This year cousins David (14) and Jonathan (10) are also on the trip. Their destination is Canada: Montreal and Toronto to be exact. So far we have had one phone contact which was rather hurried as they were headed to the swimming pool somewhere in Vermont and we were just "talking up valuable time." I was going to post a photo, but they haven't sent any of those either. Sooner or later, we will get to hear all about it, but in the meantime, news of Alex is pretty scarce. I am certain they are all having a great time. Montreal and Toronto, what's not to love there? Great things to do and see in both of those places. Personally, however, my real love in Canada is Quebec...what I would not give for a week in Quebec right now...yep, Quebec sounds very fine...can think of a ton of fun things to do in Quebec! Alas...not anytime soon...but still nice to dream and hope, right? News from Alex when we get it!