July-August-Sept. 2026

Life has been busy and we've fallen behind on updating this blog, but here's a summary of what we've been up to for the past few months, and here's where you can see all our photos and videos with some notes about what they are:

July Photos
August Photos
September Photos

Rob's Updates

It's been a hectic summer at work with the transition of people in my group over to Penn State, but it's good to be busy. Despite a lot of uncertainty with changes in government funding lately, we have managed to still be successful in acquiring some grants for a few new research projects related to gastric cancer and infections during pregnancy. So that's great news all around as we come to the end of a very rocky federal fiscal year. 

I've been pretty busy lately also with some freelance writing project deadlines, hence my delinquency in updating this family blog. I had two stories published in Scenic Hudson's magazine, one about ice caves in July, and one about erratic boulders in August. I'll have another one coming out for them about life after death in the forest, and I'm now working on one about the role of fog in local ecosystems. This summer I was also contacted by an editor from a new print-only magazine in the Hudson Valley called HERE Journal who had read some of my pieces for Scenic Hudson, and they invited me to write a longer-form story for their second issue about human-bear encounters in the area. They pay generously, have a good community mission, and their first issue looked like a real work of art, so I accepted the offer and enjoyed working with them on that piece, and learning a lot about local bears. That one will come out sometime this Fall. 

In other endeavors, I'm still Elders Quorum President. I've been doing it for about 4 years now, so I expect to get released soon if we don't move from this area first (see below). But before that happens, I wanted to make sure we did our annual Fall EQ BBQ. We did it at my counselor James's house, which sits on a really beautiful historic property and it turned out really well with lots of guys showing up and perfect weather. It's one activity that we consistently get a good turnout for. 

I finally went through with getting a CPAP machine for my sleep apnea. I'm still adjusting to it though it's not as uncomfortable as I thought it would be. The machine sends data to the insurance company so they know that I'm actually using it, which is a bit creepy. Even with some insurance coverage, it still costs almost $1000. So that's part of why I delayed getting it for so long -- I wanted to try other things like mouthgaurds first. I wish I could say that CPAP changed my life, but I still wake often in the night, sometimes because I have to adjust the face mask and sometimes because I'm just a light sleeper. But it does help me sleep with my mouth closed, and should be helpful I hope when I have a sinus infection and my apnea is dangerously bad.

This summer I wanted to get out to do more hiking and I have been able to do that, thanks in large part to Alex being such a good hiking buddy. We explored some new parts of Minnewaska State Park together, including hiking all the way around Lake Minnewaska, which we haven't done with him since he was small enough to be pushed in the jogging stroller. You'll see in the photos many of the places I've been exploring. One of the reasons the Hudson Valley has really grown on me is because I've slowly been discovering all the amazing range of natural beauty and hiking spots around here.

Alex's Updates

In August, we started Alex at a new therapy program called All Points ABA that is located about an hour away from us, in New City, NY, which is more or less an outer suburb of NYC. They have been starting him at 3 hours per day, with the plan to expand on that. Becky has been making that communte, and has arranged her work so that she has some clients in that area that she sees while Alex is in his program. As we've probably mentioned before, Becky has some experience with her own training at this clinic 20 years ago, back when it was called the Carbone Clinic, and so she is familiar with their practices and reputation, and is excited to have them working with Alex. But it is a lot of driving to get there, and so we are looking to move closer to that area soon. Alex seems to be responding well so far. They say he is sweet and gentle and compliant most of the time, but as we know, he struggles to be motivated to use the words he knows, and so that's a big part of what we'll be working on. 

Otherwise, Alex has been doing well, still playful and energetic, and really enjoying being outside more now that it has cooled off a bit. Keeping him fed continues to be a challenge as he recently decided he doesn't like pancakes and waffles anymore, and he takes a long time to eat the shrinking list of things that he does like. But somehow he's still growing.

Becky's Updates

As noted above, Alex's getting to go to "All Points ABA" has been a major development.  I couldn't be happier that he got into that place (one of the best  Autism training and treatment sites in the world), and that it will largely be paid for by his insurance.  For about a month we thought we would have to pay "out of network" costs which would've been around 4K a month.  It's crazy that we still live in a country where Autism treatment coverage depends on the type of insurance the family has.  So far Alex and I are doing alright with the driving, but it's getting old fast so we're looking to move closer as soon as we can find a reasonable place.  We're looking at Highland Falls/Fort Montgomery, which is close to West Point.  We'll really miss Montgomery.   It's pretty idyllic, but most of the Hudson Valley is beautiful so I'm sure we'll end up someplace nice.  

Rob and I are getting back into Thursday night pickleball and we're both excited about hiking through the fall colors and visiting some farms with Alex.   Autumn in upstate New York is pretty great.  Lastly, I've tried to keep up with weekly phonebanking and canvassing.  The other day I got to introduce Lisa Kaul, a Democrat running for the State Senate, to our canvassing group.  She is an excellent person and candidate.   If she wins, she will be the first progressive to represent this area and she will give Democrats in the Senate and Assembly a supermajority, which means the Dems will be able to override governor vetoes.  That will allow the Democrats to finally lower untilities throughout the state by replacing Central Hudson with a publicly owned, non-profit power authority, pass a measure to stabilize rent not just in NYC, pass NY For All which will stop ICE from getting a foothold in our state, lower healthcare costs, and move forward environmental causes.  Just a few more weeks push until the Midterms!

Holidays, Celebrations, and Other Activities

Independence Day gave us a scorching 3-day weekend. We avoided the heat by driving out to Danbury, CT to visit a mall with an indoor play area that kept Alex entertained for a while. We also tried a famous BBQ joint in the area called Hoodoo Brown that lived up to the hype. On Saturday morning, before it got too hot, we took a short hike to Split Rock at the nearby Monhonk Preserve for a little swim. There was a small crowd there swimming that quickly dispersed when a water snake decided to join them. Later that evening, our neighbors invited us and the other family on this property over for some food and conversation. They love to make food and they made one of the best cakes I've ever had. We are lucky to have some pretty great neighbors. We did some fireworks at home, but didn't go to any bigger firework shows until later in the month at our County's annual 'Freedom Fest.' We also enjoyed some fireworks in September at our town's smaller annual 'Montgomery Days' event. Alex still enjoys watching the fireworks explode in the sky. As always though, the firefilies are most abundant in July and those are the best fireworks.

In August we celebrated our anniversary, which means it has been 11 years since that day we made our friends and family stand outside for pictures in 118-degree Arizona heat. We've been fortunate to get to know many great places and people along the way. We celebrated with a date night that included some kayaking in the river that runs by our home. The local park has this kiosk with a few kayaks in it by the river that you can rent using a phone app, so we tried that out and it was a peaceful escape into nature on the water among the fireflies and bats at dusk that felt far from home although we were never further than a mile or two away. Our neighbor watched Alex for us, but maybe next time we can try taking him with us on the kayaks.