April 2026

Here is a link to all photos from this month, of which there are plenty because we were outside a lot and visited some new places.

Rob: We enjoyed a low-key Easter this month over General Conference weekend. We had the usual egg hunt in the yard that Alex was mildly interested in. Later we made a fancy fish dinner and visited our old neighbor Mary in the senior living facility where she is now.

Rob: I want to get outside and do more hiking this summer, espceially if Alex will go with me on some of them. So far this year, he's been a good hiking buddy. And so with lots of good weather this month, we got outside a lot to visit some new places. I have been working on a magazine story about famous boulders in the area that were moved by glaciers (geologists call them erratic boulders), and so I went to several places of interest to take photos, sometimes with Alex. We drove all the way out to see Balanced Rock, a strange boulder that sits on top of a few smaller boulders that can be easily found on the side of a road near the Connecticut border. Some believe ancient people put it there, geologists say it flowed with a glacier and landed there. I guess I side with the geologists on this one, but I could be persuaded either way because it's so odd. Alex was less impressed with Balanced Rock than me, so on the way back we stopped at Fahnestock State Park and did a beautiful little 1-2 mile hike around a lake that we haven't visited before, which he enjoyed too. I saw a couple eagles flying overhead there. Minnewaska State Park is huge and so I'm trying to explore more parts of it that I haven't seen. I went to Peter's Kill area of Minnewaska a few times this month, including once with Becky and Alex, and once with just Alex. There are nice trails there that follow a river or go up the mountain to a view. And I did some new hikes by myself at the Sam's Point area of Minnewaska and on a trail near Lake Minnewaska to see some glacial boulders for my story. One weekend, the three of us went down to Tarrytown/Sleepy Hollow to see another boulder for my story at Rockefeller State Park. It's a cool park closer to NYC that I'd love to explore more of, but Alex wasn't into it that day, so we only hiked that short trail, then went to the library, playground, and eventually a Japanese restaurant down there we've been to a couple times. We also took a trip out to Bear Mountain State Park where we haven't been in a while, along with lots of other parks, libraries, and malls we have visited before. We have a state park pass that gives us unlimited access to all state parks in NY for $80/year, which is a good deal since there are more than 200 state parks here.

Rob: April was my last month working at Baylor College of Medicine, and I started my new position at Penn State College of Medicine on May 1, which was sooner than I expected. The group of people that I work with are gradually making this same transition gradually over the summer, I'm one of the first. It's a big process because they have to stop projets, move lab equipment, make sure data is stored and backed up, on top of all the HR stuff. More on that next month. But for now, it's no major change for me as far as my role and salary go, but maybe that will change eventually. For now, the biggest change is figuring out which health care plan to choose, since we are in the process of getting Alex set up to go to a new ABA special needs school, and so this raises a lot of questions we need to figure out (are they in network? how much will it cost? etc.). In May, I'll take a trip down to Hershey, PA to join some of my colleagues on a campus tour. It's a 3-hour drive, but I look forward to seeing what it's like there. This is the 6th college or university that I have attended and/or worked at. Go Nittany Lions (did I spell that right?).

Rob: Later in May, we are also looking forward to a trip to Florida that we booked. We'll be spending a few days in the Tampa Bay / Clearwater area, visiting beaches, hanging out with manatees, and sipping pina coladas. We've got our plane tickets, AirBnB, and car rental all set, but we still need to decide on some of the details. Let us know if you have any suggestions!

Becky:  I finally got an exercise routine going that minimizes injuries now that I'm getting old.  I very much prefer to just play sports as my way of working out, but since I can't do a tennis or pickleball league right now I've resorted to doing some daily geriatric exercises from an app on my phone, plus some ellipticl for cardio.  I'm not using the word "geriatric" facetiously.  I'm not ashamed to say it- they really are exercises for older people with back or knee problems.  Better to have a steady, scaled back routine than to keep having to pause your workouts every time you pull or tweak something :)