You have already seen the photos that Tim Shapiro took, but another highlight of the Ohio trip was actually hanging out with the Shapiros. It was really cool to think that Eli was the same age when he met Isaac that I was when I met Jacob, AND Isaac was about the same age Jacob was when I met him. It was also nice to catch up with Gretchen, Tim, Jacob, Ian, and Eli.

Here is a great picture of Jacob with Isaac and Bianca:



Jacob, in addition to doing the graduate school thing in Math, is, as always, a super nice kid. He was great with Isaac and Isaac was really relaxed around him.

Ian was quite good with Isaac even if they both were a little skittish around each other, Isaac because of Ian's Mountain Man beard, and Ian because with Isaac around he was not guaranteed of being the source of ALL the laughs in a room. Here is a great video clip:



Eli was extra nice to the little guy, perhaps remembering more than his two older brothers what it was like to be the smallest person around:



Gretchen introduced Isaac to Ada, the Shapiros wonderful Airedale Terrier, and stood watchful over Isaac as he squealed and screeched when he met their cat Angie. We all were blown away by Tim's pictures and there were more than I posted. The rest are in the photo section on Flicker.

We all went on a walk, deep into my childhood stomping ground of Wildlife. The place had become overgrown significantly, but the big landmarks were there. It was surreal walking through that place with the Shapiros and Isaac, something like the jumbled memories that form a dream that catches you off guard with experiences from your past, present and future. I was also thrilled to see how the boys have all grown up into really interesting people. I only wish that Isaac could live nearer to them as well as all of the other great folks in Ohio.

Isaac's New England cousins are laugh riots every time we hang out, but I was afraid that the age difference between the Ohio cousins and Isaac would make him a little shy. I should have known better. Here is Isaac playing with Griffin and Olivia in front of a small audience consisting of his grandparents, his mom and Dad, his great grandparents, his great Aunt Barbara and Uncle David, his first cousin (once removed, to be technical) Lisa, and his second cousins Griffin and Olivia:



It was about 4 hours after we got off of the plane and as you can see he was really shy and wary of new people. Or not.

Here is a picture of Olivia and Isaac, right after he finished product testing my flashlight:



A few days later Isaac met his cousin Ayden, who came over with his Maw. Here are the cousins having a toy summit:



Ayden was absolutely sweet with Isaac, being very gentle and patient, almost like he had a bedside manner. He is such a kind little kid. It makes me think he is going to be a surgeon for Doctors without Borders or something. It might be odd, though, when he ships out to a war zone with his Grandpa trailing behind him.

We tried to get a picture of all of the cousins on the couch but the ones I took were uniformly terrible (everyone looked possessed). Here is a really nice picture of Isaac and Olivia (who, Nanna claims, correctly, is a baby hog, but then again, all the Pucketts are):



Isaac also got to meet his cousins (once removed) Nicole, Lisa, and David. I am glad he got to meet everyone and now he can officially tell all of his friends at Goddard School that he has the most bad ass cousin of them all. I originally wrote that thinking of Little David, but Griffin is a pretty big bad ass, too. There needs to be some way of calculating bad ass-ery, a formula that can convert broken bones into concussions. But then again, there is nothing less bad ass than a formula to figure out how bad ass you are. If you have to figure it out, you aren't one.

Perhaps the thing that I wanted to see the most was Isaac meeting his great grandparents. They were so involved in helping raise Monica and I as kids and I still rely on them for advice, insights, stories, sayings, and the occasional very dry joke. Pap and GG were about as excited to meet Isaac as I was to have them meet him. Here is a video of their very first interaction, Isaac trying to open his birthday card from them (THANKS Pap and GG!):



He was a little reserved, not exactly shy, but hesitant for about thirty seconds, then he warmed up to both of them and had a great time. Here is a picture of GG and Isaac:



And here are Isaac and his Pap hanging out at the front door of 75 Sexton Drive looking out into the Circle:



GG and Pap came back the next day when Auntie Monica was in town. We all hung out and watched Isaac:



On Thursday or Friday night G-Daddy busted out the torch and lit up the pizza oven. We all hung out outside. G-Daddy was manning the oven, making pizzas on his outdoor granite countertop, while GG helped feed Isaac Anthony:



Isaac and Pap were fascinated by each other and Pap's rock:



Finally, on Sunday, we all went to Uncle David and Aunt Barbara's house for a cookout/birthday party (Isaac, Pap, and Little David were all born within two weeks of each other). There Isaac got his first brush with his innate Puckett need for speed genes:



Reach for the throttle Isaac Anthony!