May 2026

Here are all our photos from May, and below are some of the things we've been up to:

Florida Vacation

Rob: There's a small airport a short drive away from us that has cheap flights to a few cities in Florida and S. Carolina, so we decided this year it was time for us to join the many who travel there from NY. Of all the things we could do there, we wanted to make sure we got to swim with the manatees, so we chose to go to the St. Petersburg / Clearwater area since it is close to the big manatee preserve at Crystal River. We flew there on Sunday night, and checked in to an AirBnB - a small house in a neighbhorhood near the shore - where we stayed for a few days, when the temperature was pretty hot, reaching the low 90s each day.

Monday was Memorial Day, and the day of our manatee trip at Crystal River. We met up with our guide and boat captain, and another couple, and boated out to look for manatees. Being a holiday, there were plenty of other people there, but we tried to avoid the crowds. They equipped us with wetsuits and snorkels, and when we spotted manatees we dove it.  The first stretch of  water wasn't very clear, so you could only see them when they were right in front of us.  The second stretch was very clear and Becky got to swim right  next to a  mom and her baby that she got a good view of (sorry, no photo).   Sometimes they would rub against you as they swam past, which was pretty cool. We didn't go to the trouble of getting Alex a wetsuit and snorkel, since that would be way out of his comfort zone. I really wasn't sure how it would work out with him, but he enjoyed the boat ride and was really good about waiting on the boat with the captain while we swam. That evening we got dinner at a touristy seafood place with outdoor seating, but moved inside when there was a torrential downpour.

Our activity on Tuesday was a longer boat ride out to an island state park off the coast (Egmont Key) that has a stretch of really nice beach and some historic structures, including a lighthouse from the 1850s, a fort from the Spanish-American war, and red-brick road where a little community used to be. Becky was hoping to do some snorkeling there, but the clear water was all churned up due to high winds. We brought lunch, hung out on the beach, and walked around the island a bit until the boat came back to pick us up. That evening we walked around a nice beach that was near our AirBnB and experienced another torrential downpour, which eventually let up. Alex probably enjoyed that the most because it was in the evening.

On Wednesday, we went to the Clearwater Aquarium to see the wildlife up close, including dolphins, feeding sting rays, sea turtles, etc. Alex didn't enjoy that as much as we did, so later in the hot afternoon I took him to a local library where he had a good time looking at their Baby Einstein collection. That evening, we booked a sunset kayak tour around a mangrove forest. Alex and I shared a kayak, and Becky had her own. No one else was in our group, so we got a private tour more or less from our guide and her husband, who both seemed very knowledgeable about the wildlife. We saw many types of birds and some dolphins, but no alligators to my disappointment.

Thursday we got permission to check out late from our AirBnB, which gave us time to go check out Clearwater Beach in the morning. It was crowded but it's a beautiful big beach, with some nearby activities and shaded chairs lined up on the beach you can apparently rent. After one last swim, we cleaned up, packed up, ate up all our leftovers, checked out, and killed some time at Target (Alex is always a fan) before our late afternoon flight. Alex was a very good traveler, going along with us on all our adventures despite probably a lot of uncertainty about what we were doing and for how long. He even let us put a hat and sunglasses on him, which he's never really tolerated since he was an infant. He loved the AirBnB probably the most because he recognizes that as temporary home where all his comforts are. He was happy to be back at our real home, and we were happy to have a short drive to get there from our local airport. 

Mothers Day and Birthday

Rob: As Elders Quorum president at church, I led an effort to do a special treat during 2nd hour for the moms and and young women in our ward. I think this is now my 4th time doing this. This time we did fancy sorbets in fruit shells (pineapple, mango, citrus, coconut, etc.), which was easy because you can buy them at the grocery store. As per usual, I had the men take over primary, where one of my counselors puts on this jeopardy game for the kids that keeps them occupied for the whole hour, and I had the YM help with serving in the kitchen. They put out the sorbets on little plates with umbrellas and grapes. We had flowers, and chocolates, and a semi-Polynesian mix of church and church-adjacent music. It turned out pretty well I think. At home, I made Becky strawberry shortcake with buttermilk biscuits using my mom's old Kitchen Aid that I brought back here with me through the airport last year. It was my first mother's day without mom.

This month I turned 47. I enjoyed some yummy treats courtesy of Becky and her mom (via a thoughtful package) and some phone calls with family. I also got to do something that morning I wanted to do for a while, which is try selling some of the terrariums that I've been making at a flea market hosted by a local business. I got a 10-foot canopy tent, a little folding table, and I set up on the lawn and managed to sell 6 or 7 of them despite some rain and wind. I was just curious to see if there would be any interest, maybe I'll do it again. But I enjoyed chatting with the visitors who were interested enough to stop by and take a look. 

Old Job, New Place

Rob: This month I switched my employer from Baylor College of Medicine to Penn State College of Medicine, since the people I work for are moving their lab there this summer. So a lot of my work lately has been dealing with the paperwork required to move research projects from one university to another. One day this month I also took a drive down to Hershey, PA, where the College of Medicine is, and joined a tour of the research facilities with some of my colleagues. It's a 3-hour drive, so it was a lot of driving that day, but great to see some of my colleagues and meet some of my new ones that I'll be interfacing with in the office at Penn State. 

My new (old) job has about the same salary as before, for now anyway (maybe that will change). But Becky got a $2 per 30-minute session wage bump, which is good to see, especially with inflation.

Other stuff..

Rob: I've been trying to get outside and go on more hikes this year. Longer ones I'll do by myself, but shorter ones sometimes I'll take Alex. When it's not too hot, he can do a mile or two at a slower pace because he often gets distracted along the way by logs and rocks he wants to climb on. So I bring a podcast or something to listen to. 

Becky: The highlight of our month for me was definitely the manatees.  I LOVE manatees so sharing some moments with them was pretty great.  I've also always wanted to try oysters so I ordered Oysters Rockefeller and they did not disappoint.  We were both happy Alex does so well on boats so that we can have these adventures. I'm trying to play pickleball once a week lately at an indoor facility with people I can usually hang with (I don't want to slow anyone's game down), and can learn things from.  An hour or two of pickleball really is the best type of workout.