Huck returned to school on this summer-like April morning a little tired from all the adventures we packed into the final three days of spring break, which is what happens when non-car owning New Yorkers suddenly have access to one. Pre-Car Spring Break included a packed Easter Sunday, a little friend’s birthday party in the park, lunch at Chuck E. Cheese, and many hours of Huck entertaining himself while his parents tried to earn a living at the church.  A couple of delightful moments during this car-free time: While looking over his Easter egg goodies in the bright sunshine Huck  innocently said, “Let’s go shit in the sade,” and a few days later while playing Monopoly asked me, “What’s your real name again?  Angelica?”  I hope he keeps getting things a little wrong for a few more years, although I do hope he memorizes his mother’s name sometime.

(We also spent a lot of money getting faulty wiring in our bedroom fixed so that we could install a ceiling fan.  Once the two day job was complete the electrician sympathetically said, “That was a very expensive ceiling fan.”)

Once our friends went on vacation and needed their car looked after, things got exciting.  We drove down to Liberty Science Center in Jersey City on Friday, up to Bear Mountain near Peekskill, New York on Saturday, and way down to Coney Island in Brooklyn on Sunday.  If we owned a car, we’d probably never be home.

The highlight of the week was our day trip far from the city noise and crowds.  We spent the day climbing to the top of Bear Mountain (with occasional fearless rock climbing excursions led by Huck) accompanied by our good friends John, Shana, Dusty and Natalie.  This was especially impressive because two of us have bad knees, one a broken rib, one a hurt achilles tendon, and one a seven year old body.  Once we returned to the bottom of the mountain all intact, we began searching for a charming upstate eatery.  We stumbled upon a wonderful place in Peekskill where we could sit outside in the lovely spring weather.  As we got ourselves settled Troy asked if I recognized the woman in the beautiful sweater nearby.  We all  turned to look, and because each of us are fans of The Wire, our entire table of tired mountain hikers let out a collective scream/gasp when we realized it was Sonja Sohn who plays the wonderful Kima!   We sort of scared Huck with our ridiculous reaction and so I explained to him that it would be like if Uniqua from The Backyardigans suddenly walked into the place.  Suddenly he understood our excitement (though Uniqua is animated so it’s not a perfect example).  It took us a while to settle down from that thrill of a lifetime.

And now life is back to normal.  No more celebrity sitings, no more mountain climbing, no more ocean gazing, no more driving, no more electrical problems … until next time!  Because I’ve noticed that about life:  For good or bad, there’s always a next time.

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Here’s two Hucks exactly one year apart on the Coney Island Beach wearing the same white shirt:

Oh spring break.  You’re adorable!