Month: August 2025

Today is the first day of school for the kids. And, the first day of a life back in some semblence of routine that I am looking forward to after all of the “big” things from this past year. Yes, I am thankful- this year was way out of the ordinary.

This was not a normal pace. We hit some big milestones: Taylor and I turned 40, Rosie turned 10, and a 15 year anniversary. We travelled 6804 miles by plane, and 580 miles by car, but we did it in much better shape than any of us expected. Even the 10 hour drive to New York was (pretty) smooth! And all of those milestones had to be celebrated.

Now, we have absolutely nothing on the calendar (well, thats not true, a few weekend trips), and it is a great moment to reflect and be grateful for our family and friends that we got to spend time with this past year.

Disney World in August. The kids had never done a big trip, so we took em. It was cheaper the longer you stayed. It was a wonderful trip- the kids had a blast, and I am in NO RUSH to get there any time soon. Why? Not because it was bad, but because I feel like we did it all. There is nothing that we did not get to do. 528 miles flown.

New York City in December for Rosies 10th birthday surprise. This is a big milestone birthday, and we wanted to honor her. It was a great, 3 day weekend and jam-packed. Now how do we top it for Mercy’s big birthday in several years? 453 miles flown.

Miami in January (for Taylor). This was her girls trip when she turned 40. No, I didnt post about it- but I still think it’s funny that these girls chose Miami- they are a very Asheville NC type of crowd, but it looked like a fun weekend. 711 miles flown.

Nashville in January (for Luke). This was my guy’s trip when I turned 40. I love music, and this was a blast. It was really special to spend time with these guys I have known since before college. 390 miles flown

Italy in May for our combined birthdays AND 15 year anniversary. This was a big trip- I wanna say the best trip of my life. The Church History stuff was really amazing for me, and I am so grateful for the chance to have gone. 5197 miles flown.

North Carolina Beach (Ocean Isle Beach) for 4th of July. This is our normal tradition, and we were glad to see the Core family as well. Pictured is the 4th of July parade. 207 miles driven.

Merriewold in August. This was new, and didnt want to pass up the opportunity to visit before Rosie got too old. The week was fantastic, and the kids are already asking to go back. 580 miles driven.

Taylor’s Big Birthday in August. And man, it was a big birthday party. The big gift was a crowd-funded skee-ball machine, and it is so much fun! 0 miles driven.

Lots of memories this year. Maybe our 50th birthdays/25 year anniversary will top it in the year 2035? As for this coming year, maybe we will just go to Myrtle Beach or Dollywood and keep it a bit more simple.

Taylor wanted two things for her birthday:

• Her Friends
• Dancing.

And a few months ago- plot twist! – she asked me to be in charge of planning it. After my extensive track record of planning exactly 0 parties, this was gonna be a blast.

Fast forward past the months of prepping the house each weekend to make things look good, and the whole night was a lot of fun. We rented chairs to make things look “Funky and Fresh” to match the theme of the party, and rented speakers to dance- thank you to all of my neighbors who didnt call the police as we danced until 12:00 (my legs are still sore). Missy Elliot, Lil Wayne, and TLC were all welcomed with open arms.
And, I leaned into Pepper Moon Catering so that none of Taylor’s dear friends had to volunteer to work the whole night to keep things moving. It was so, so good to see so many friends together from over the years.

Somewhere along the way of planning this party, a friend of Taylor and I’s suggested something that seemed just absurd, but possible: what if we get Taylor, the skee-ball queen, a skee-ball machine of her own? “Preposterous”. I said. Then, within 24 hours of that comment, it seemed like a wonderful idea. In summary, here is what happened. Our friend began collecting money from those coming to the party, and:

• Found a skee ball machine on Facebook Marketplace.
• It was sold by the time I could get a truck and get there.
• Found another skee ball machine in Fayetteville, NC (2 hrs away).
• Rented a U-Haul pickup truck, and drove there with Rosie.
• It weighs 700 pounds
• Had to store it in a warehouse here in town for a month (Thank you Mark!).
• Had to pick it up from the warehouse and bring it home when Taylor was out of town. It was too heavy to unload.
• Had to hire 2 people from next door to come on short notice and help me move it into its new home.
• I wasn’t murdered by a stranger in the process.

With the gift hiding behind the sheet that Rosie constructed, here was the big reveal:

And this: Yes, it was A LOT of work to put this thing together; but, it was really special as her husband to see how many people stepped up to help volunteer their time and energy to contribute in some way: a few hours before the party, a small team of specialists transformed our house with balloons, flowers, and everything else needed to honor Taylor (Thanks Mallory, Deborah, Evan, Stacey!). Others helped make the music playlist for dancing- and not one song was skipped, the playlist was awesome (Thanks Rachel!). And CiCi for letting me use her van to move that gigantic game. And thanks Sara Core for helping to make the skee ball machine a reality, she loves it. And Mark for letting us use his warehouse.

After all the years I see Taylor instinctively love on others, it was really, really special to see others love on her.

This was a big week.

After years and years of talking about it, we made the plunge: driving just short of 10 hours north to the most special place of my life: Merriewold park.

Our family had only driven 3.5 hour trips before- to and from the coast of North Carolina- so there were a few nerves about our inaugural road trip. So, we did it just like we did in the old days: and stop at the Logan house in Mechanicsburg on the way up.

Hershey Park

Ken and Lesley and Paula were kind enough to let us have dinner with them on the way up, and Mercy had a blast meeting some second cousins.

But, there was more: Hershey Park was also there. Taylor had the idea to plan in a day at the park, and to put short: I wasn’t ready for it. After doing some coasters in Disney, I thought I had it in the bag. This was a terrible miscalculation on my part. Some of these roller coasters take something simple, like an innocent swing that children might enjoy, and they turn it into a terrifying, “let’s make people feel like they are going to die” experience.

Mercy went on her first upside-down roller coaster. We are good parents, and thought it was a great idea. Wrong. She cried. Then, the ride got stuck at the end, and the workers had to come push the train back into the station. Also, this was the first ride we did.

Ok ok, enough with the naysaying- it was a great experience. Rosie wanted to do all the big-kid roller coasters, and I was perfectly happy doing the rides with Mercy.

If you haven’t been, its an awesome park. Taylor had visited before because Milton Hershey School was a client of hers, and I thought it was an innocent, small park- only to realize how wild and big it is. The girls had a blast, and Ken and Lesley- thank you so much for hooking us up with tickets!

Manhattan

The clubhouse at the lake is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays- meaning no kids or entertainment for the day. The best way to spend the day is in New York City- just 90 minutes (or so) away. Rosie got a chance to go back in December, but Mercy had never been before.

What to do with a 10 year old and an almost 5 year old in the greatest city in the world?

John’s on Bleecker Street for the greatest pizza in the world. Taylor and I got a fancy pizza- sausage, ricotta cheese, green peppers; it was just ok. The pepperoni that we got the kids though- absolutely unreal I ate most of theirs, and we ended up giving 1/2 of the leftover adult pizza to some construction workers, since we couldn’t lug the pizza along with us all day. They were grateful.

The Color Factory, not far from John’s, was the next stop, and it is a great stop: well done, clean, interactive, creative, busy. They have things that talk about color blindness, a silent disco, a gigantic ball pit, and a confetti room. It was pretty expensive- but what isnt expensive in New York City?

The weather was perfect- so we hopped the subway uptown to Central Park- the playground Rosie played on was a lot of fun back in December, so Mercy needed a chance to go at it too. It was completely different in the summer with the leaves on the trees- not as much of a view of the whole skyline surrounding us, but we did manage to get at least one solid pic together. And rosie was such a proud, patient older sister sharing all the fun things with Mercy- it was really sweet to see.

Finally, our last stop for just a few hours in the city was Serendipity 3 in Times Square. This is a place we wanted to visit in December with Rosie, but could not get reservations (it is well known for its Christmas decorations). Tay was pretty sold on it, so we went: really good. Enough dairy to stop up a person for days. Since I had to drive 2 hrs back home that afternoon, I wanted a bit of caffeine, not something they offer a bunch of. So, I asked for 2 espresso shots in a white chocolate something. The waiter hadn’t heard of such a creation, but was really into the idea. It was the right way to go in such an over-the-top dining place.

Merriewold Park

We went every year as kids. When my parents got divorced, we went less frequently until the summer after 7th grade. Since then, I have been only twice.

Its a park with about 100 homes; my great grandfather bought a hunting cabin there and turned it into a little summer home, making Rosie and Mercy 5th generation logans to visit the park. In 2018, a big storm came and took down the Logan house.

There is no sign for the place- just a guardhouse you would pass without knowing, and a plaque on a rock alerting visitors to their location. And the park has very few lawns- mostly an endless landscape of ferns stretching as far as the eye can see.

You can’t just get an air bnb there either: you have to know people, and lucky enough, we were able to connect with the Studer family, and stayed in their 130 year old home. It was amazing.

Par 3 golf, fishing, the clubhouse, tennis, dirt roads: its hard to say why this place is so special. Its the most relaxing place Ive ever spent time at in my life.

But why? What is special is what is not at the park: it is far from the highway (cannot hear cars), there are very few cars (can’t hear cars again), and very few of the homes have air conditioning: there aren’t even air compressors interrupting the silence. No motors on the boats in the lake: just rowing or sailing. Again, just a profound, peaceful silence.

No homes built on the lake: just trees. And I can count on one hand the number of things that have changed in 30 years.

Rosie rode a bike around and enjoyed her independence. Mercy enjoyed making sand castles. And I enjoyed absolutely every second: there was absolutely nothing to worry about. No stranger danger, no theft, Mercy couldn’t really wander away- she had a life jacket and couldn’t drown. There not even anything to buy (also something Mercy can get really focused on, snacks). The only thing to buy is a greasy (but delicious!) cheeseburger, or a mint-chocolate chip milkshake. Sure, they have other things, but those other items aren’t really important.

We did the paddle boards, tennis in the mornings, I did a couple rounds of par 3 golf, we saw more deer than I have ever seen in my life, enjoyed connecting with the people at the clubhouse, showed Mercy and Rosie my name as the “swim champion” of 1997 on the wall of fame. We played ping pong, fooseball.

There is a new playground: Mercy loved it.

Also, mercy had fun on the rope swing. Here is a picture of me on the very same rope swing at about 4 years old:

But it turns out, that is a picture of my older brother Jake; my whole life I thought that was a picture of me!

We saw Allison Smith and her fam: Mom Joan, and dad Tom; Also Julie and Liz; weird not having seen them in 30 year, and Joan said “welcome home, Luke”. That felt special, Merriewold does feel like home.

The wildlife was pretty active:

• Bald Eagles
• A family of beavers
• Fish
• Deer
• Rabbits
• Water Snakes
• Turtles.

The kids arent scared of snakes, but I am, and I had to justify my fears by spotting one.

Taylor was a bit concerned about the food situation for the week: would she be home cooking each meal all week? It turned out alright. We ate at a local place called Yannis a few times: once we ate in, once to go on our way back from NYC.

Also while we were there, Taylor and I celebrated our 15 year anniversary: Rosie made us a special cake she was really excited for. It turned out really, really good. We got to enjoy it with Hernan and Cathy Torres, who took the almost 4 hour drive from Rhode Island to come visit.

We did fishing on the last day, and Rosie caught two perch. She hooked a large (maybe 4 pound?) bass twice; the line snapped both times, and I was crushed: fishing in that lake has a long, proud tradition in the Logan family.

The days passed quickly by, then it was time to come home, so we did: a single drive home in a filthy car, but after such a relaxing week, the time went easy.