More Massachusetts

Our third day in Northampton involved a road trip to nearby Conway for a dip in the chilly South River. We picked up sandwiches (and soup for Satchel) and made a day of it.

Due to the male monkeys' extreme energy levels and penchant for punching one another for fun and not-so-fun, getting them outdoors everyday was a necessity. In nature, they were usually in perfect harmony.

They loved walking up and down the banks, picking up sticks and collecting rocks. They even made friends with another little boy who was spending the day with his family. The adults had a chance to relax and the boys had some freedom to roam. It was great.

Since the weather was so nice, we decided to continue relaxing in Vanessa & Liz's backyard. Vanessa made cocktails, the kids played on the swings and ran in the yard, and we ate pizza at the picnic table.

Then, when the kids went inside to watch a little TV and enjoy Dora popsicles, Warren and I snuck over to Friendly's to get milkshakes for the adults.

The next morning, we decided to head back over to downtown Northampton to check out the skate park. Warren packed two skateboards, but no pads or helmets, so we did more watching than skating.

Miles brought his scooter, and in no time Satchel was scooting all over the place.

Scooters and bikes were definitely the preferred mode of entertainment at the park.

After awhile it became clear that Miles needed Vanessa all to himself, so we decided to split up for the afternoon.

We went back to the main drag to have lunch at the Haymarket. It had a juice bar, fish tacos, and some yummy vegetarian dishes, so we were all happy. Then we tooled around a bit before giving in to Jiro's pleas to go to Sweeties. They sell candy by the pound. He was in heaven.

By the time we made it back to the house, Miles was ready to hang out, but Satchel needed a break. So Vanessa and I took the three littlest monkeys back to Look Park to play in the sprayground. They had a blast.

Two boys who live down the street from Miles were there, and Jiro had previously bonded with them at the fireworks display, so the four of them soon started playing tag and spit water and whatnot.

Once we'd all had enough, we headed home to dry, clean, and feed the monkeys before the babysitter arrived. Yes, babysitter! That Vanessa is a genius. We wasted no time hitting the town. Our first stop was the tunnel bar. It's built in an actual tunnel. It was too dark to take pictures inside otherwise you'd see one of me holding an enormous French 75.

After drinks, we went to Zen for some delicious Japanese food. It was really nice to have a few hours to have adult conversation with no monkey noises in the background.