This past weekend I spent a little bit of quality time with the nephews (Sparhawk, 4 and Rowan, 2) up in Franconia, NH at the cool old place built by an explorer ancestor of mine (he was one of those guys who raided the Egyptian pyramids, and I remember when I was little there were artifacts in the house like a mummified child's foot and a mummified baby crocodile). He built it in the 1800s, and I think it could withstand a direct blast from a nuclear strike. It's never been redone, but there's not a creaky board in the whole place. Wherever you'd find a 2 x 4 in a contemporary house, this one has what look to me like 4 x 8s! You could throw a cocktail party inside the massive fireplace.
Anyway, we went for a mini hike:
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My brother-in-law David, Rowan, Spar, and me (note my expert form here, due to years of experience in NOT holding small children):
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Here I am with the fellas:
The whole gang (my sister Gallaudet is at far right; her platinum hairdo should give you a clue to the fact that her votes in elections tend to cancel out her brother's. . .):
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