Dropkicked your jacket

In 25 years, I don't want to forget that Mercer found this song hilarious.

Mercer visits the Bronx Zoo

Today was a beautiful day to go to the zoo. Mercer and Dad set out early to make the most of it. Mercer had been to the Bronx Zoo before, but it was so long ago (before he turned 2) that he doesn't remember anything. Which is cool, because there's nothing better than the look of discovery on a child's face (or a cubano sandwich).

Anyway, many of the animals were inside because of the cold weather, but we saw so many creatures. In addition to everything we photographed below, we saw alligators, lemurs, bison, pelicans, toucans, mice, mongooses, seals, sea lions, all kinds of fish, giant beetles, and a huge, fat snake. The Bronx Zoo is just a gorgeous place to walk around. It's clean, amazingly marked, and kept relatively up-to-date in terms of design and hands-on exhibits.


Mercer takes in some birds.


Tiger!


The rhinos were kept inside the Zoo Center and stunk up the place something awful.


There was an excellent 4-D short movie involving Diego and Dora. There was the 3-D part, which was cool, and the "4" meant things involving your other senses. We felt water mist, smelled ripe bananas, touched bubbles, and felt our seat vibrate, etc. Great show.


This peacock seemed to follow us everywhere.


Pink flamingos braved the cold temperatures.


An all-too-common Coca-Colacus Bottilicus creature. Stop being so gross, people.


This is a real gorilla. He was beating everyone in a staring contest. Amazing to watch these animals.


The rhinos stunk, but the giraffe house was even worse. Beautiful creatures.


Mercer getting friendly with the peacock, showing a feather.


A big brown grizzly.



Mercer's favorite, the polar bear. He got pretty close to us.

Mercer climbs Bald Mountain (almost).

The weather was gorgeous today so we took to the outdoors this afternoon before running some errands. The site was Bald Mountain, a "mountain" just northeast of us near Teatown Lake. It was not a strenuous climb, more of a challenging walk, slightly uphill. It wasn't a terribly interesting walk, either; no rivers, streams, wildlife, or old buildings. Just lots of trees, rock walls, and the promise of some nice views at the summit. We almost made it to the top, but Mercer wanted to head back because he was getting hungry and tired. No big deal. He is a great explorer and we learned a lot of things like how to tell how old a tree is.

Mercer visits Sparta Cemetery

On a chilly Sunday afternoon, with the sun beginning to fade, Mercer decided he wanted to see some gravestones. He promised to protect Dad from the arms that might pop out of the ground. Luckily, we live near a great old cemetery, with stones dating back to the 1760's. We spent as much time as we could there before the cold became too biting, investigating the names on the stones and feeling the soft ground underfoot, presumably where zombies had recently unearthed themselves.

Fat Mercer

Fatify is one of those apps you use one night and then delete it because it's pretty dumb. That said...

One final phone dump

Pop is getting a new phone today so this will be the last photo dump from the old phone.

Mercer enjoying a father-son dinner at Tavern on Croton Landing:



Watching the seals at the Martime Aquarium in Norwalk, CT with Pop:



Hide-and-seek with a meerkat:


Enjoying the sunset over the Hudson River in Ossining:









The local pool where Mercer has his swimming classes: