Uncle Dern Dern's Visit

The day after Susie's birthday, Dern Dern arrived to help us remodel our bathroom, and by help us, I mean he did it while we oohed and ahhed. Jackson was especially impressed with the whole process and would chant "Dern-Dern, Dern-Dern" while Darren worked. He also enjoyed when we'd sing the Dern Dern theme song, "He can do anything."

It was mostly work for poor Dern Dern as we were on a tight schedule and he had another job after ours, but we did manage to do a little sight-seeing. The first weekend he was out, we went up to the Overlook to grill out.

We hiked through the wooded trails and Jackson got to try out his new backpack carrier. He wasn't in love with being strapped in, but Rach liked it a lot better than carrying him.

When we were in the woods, Jackson kept saying "hum, hum" which is the sound a llama makes (or so Diego says). We all chuckled and thought he was pretending. We agreed that llamas did live in mountians, but assured him that no llamas lived in Brocton, New York, but Jackson disagreed. Care to guess which one of us was right?

There were, in fact, several llamas living across the street from the state park. We hadn't seen them when we came in, but Jackson obviously doesn't miss anything when it comes to llamas.

A few days later we slave drivers gave Dern Dern the afternoon off to go see Niagara Falls. It was our first trip to the American falls because Darren cannot legally leave the country (he doesn't have a passport). While you never get the full panoramic view of the falls on that side, you do get much closer to them, and there are fewer tourist traps.

On the way home we stopped at the Anchor Bar to eat original Buffalo wings before diving back into the Home Depot. It was a a lot of fun to have Darren in the house, and we all miss him now, but we're going to see him in Illinois in a few weeks. Jackson will be eagerly waiting to give him "the claw."

We'll also post pictures of the bathroom remodel as soon as the we get our camera back.