Day 4: August 28, 1999
Mohonk resort, NY

The Famed (edited) Family Photo

The next morning, we had agreed to meet at 10:15 for a group picture, with everyone wearing their T-shirts. Walendo was leaving that morning to go home so he'd have more time to spend with his mom. On his way out, he was going to drive Keith to pick up their rental car, which they'd arranged to get while the car was being repaired. Apparently, Nancy had a big argument with David about him not getting ready on time, so things were delayed. Eventually, everyone came out and I shot a few pictures using the tripod and the timer. Unfortunately, Danny & Jeffrey were in the kids program and it was too hard to take them out for the picture, so we agreed to take pictures of them in that same spot later and I'd Photoshop them into the picture. Nancy was full of confidence that this would work out just fine; I have my doubts. (As it turned out, I think it worked out okay.) After the photo, Walendo took off with Keith as well as Laura and David, who wanted to go along for the ride.

Mohonk Lilly Pond

Nancy and I decided to go walk up to the Tower, so we took the steep route up and talked along the way. Nancy said it was the first thing she'd gotten to do, since they'd spent so much of the rest of the time on the phone making arrangements for the car. She told me how the insurance company didn't really help them until Keith got on the phone and asked for a supervisor and forced the issue. Amazing how many companies -- even ones whose business is to help people -- don't serve customers well. I've thought about doing a Web site where you can post complaints and praise about customer service (rants and raves), partly as a way to do something, but maybe as a way to enable others to consider customer service before buying. We wound up taking a long, slow route back, which was nice since it turned into a long walk. Along the way, we passed by a pond full of lilly pads with a gazebo and a bridge and I decided to come back later for pictures.

Dad rough-houses Jeffrey cheered on by Mom & Ann

After that we had lunch at the Granary, where they had a big barbecue. Once again, you didn't really have to sign up, which was good.

Michael & Danny relax

They had a nice spread that included lots of salads and fruits, so I was able to eat relatively light, although more than I'd wanted. So much food all the time! Keith and the kids were back and they joined us, although clearly Laura was upset, something about taking her medication. Clearly, this was not a relaxing weekend for the Reznicks. Meanwhile, Danny and Jeffrey seemed to be having a good time, and Ann and Michael were having fun, since the kids program allowed them to have time for themselves while also sharing the good time with their kids.

After lunch, we went back to the spot where we'd taken the group picture earlier, and I shot Danny & Jeffrey in their T-shirts. After the formal shots, people were hanging out the shade and I was able to get some more spontaneous photos of the kids with A&M and M&D with the telephoto lens. Those may come out well.

Frog Looking at Flower

I hung out with M&D there for a while, and then walked back up to the lilly pond with my camera gear. I shot a bunch of pictures of the gazebo and then the bridge, and then some of lilly pads. Toward the end, I was shooting a flower coming out of the lilly pad and noticed a frog with its head sticking out of the water facing the flower. I'm hoping those shots will turn out well. (Unfortunately, my camera was having problems with focus & depth of field, so many of the shots didn't come out well, and this one was a disappointment, sigh.)

After that, Mom, Dad, Ann and I went to play tennis together. That was a lot of fun. Even though I haven't played in about 2 years, I did okay.

Dad, Ellen, & Mom

I had a tendency to hit it out a lot, I think cuz of all the times I hit tennis balls as hard as I can for Libby to fetch. But still, I felt pretty good about it and had fun. Mom & I played Ann & Dad, and despite going up 3 games to 0, we managed to lose 6-4. Oh well. It was nice how much we could do in a day, since everything was so close by. We sat out on the porch for a while after that and chatted. They were commenting about how nice everything was, how nice the staff was, and how the place didn't overdo things. I suppose the staff was nice, though it didn't seem especially so. I wonder if in NY people expect the staff not to be friendly. I did like the place, though -- although they shouldn't charge extra for soda in the dining room, my only real gripe with the place.

After showering, we went to dinner, where dad tried to make a little speech that was based on the MC commercial. He said, "On the way up, we bought two candy bars that cost $1.50. We bought a soda that cost 75 cents." He mentioned a few more, and then said, "Last night we played $25,000 Pyramid with the family: Priceless." However, as he tried to give this speech, Ann kept asking him whether the two candy bars cost $1.50 each or together and so on. (I had the same question, but, unusual for me, decided it wasn't worth asking.) It took him three tries to get past all the questions until it became clear what he was doing. Another Isaacs moment. After that he said never before had they been the center of attention with their kids catering to them like that, and it meant a lot to them. So I think that made Ann feel good, since she'd been the one to organize it and was most concerned about showing them appreciation.

After dinner, the family wanted to play more of the pyramid game, since both Ann & I had more categories. So I guess that was a sign that they really enjoyed it. This time we played in a room off the porch downstairs. It went pretty well. We didn't bother with timing it anymore, and we mixed up who did which clues, so that made it better for everyone to play. Two of the funnier clues: Dad tried to get Mom to say "Going to the movies." He wanted her to get it exactly, so he said something like "when you go to the Ritz," which of course uses the "going to," but that's a separate problem. Mom eventually got movies (after a struggle), but she couldn't get the "going to" part, despite us finally helping her to get "go" and "movies" and telling her to put them together. Another funny one was Laura giving clues to Nancy when the category was "small things." I had put in "Mom's head," cuz she had just been explaining about how she had a hard time finding hats cuz her head was so small. Nancy finally got "mom" and "head," but took a while to get "Mom's head" and then realize why that was in the category. It was funny. Dad also decided to try to make it harder (since he was such a pro by then) by not giving the obvious clues. So when he got "Diane Frank," he gave mom the clue "Mrs. Levine and a Nazi survivor who wrote a diary." Mom was baffled, to say the least. I had come up with a photography category, so we had Keith give the clues to Michael, and he did a great job, especially with "exposure," a hard one.

Finally, we ran out of categories and energy, and it was past 11. Again we'd had fun.

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