Matthew Monday: Father’s Day 2026

I’m only now getting the chance to post on our annual Father’s Day, father/son adventure.  This is an annual event we do for Father’s Day.  We do some “adventure” together, just the two of us.  I first wrote about this in 2014 when Matthew was four years old.  And if you’re interested, you can scroll through all the annual Father’s Day adventures using this link. 

This year we decided to hike and explore one of Staten Island's many parks, a lesser known park called Wolf’s Pond.  It’s not a very large park, but it’s eclectic.  It has woods and hiking trails as one would expect with fresh water ponds but it also runs up to the Raritan Bay, which is part of the Atlantic Ocean.  So it also has ocean front and beach.  Here is a map of the park.

I don’t think any of the hiking tails are more than two miles, so that should give you a perspective.  The long tear-drop shaped pond on the southwest corner is Wolf’s Pond, and you can see that only a sliver of land separates it from the bay.  Major hurricanes have caused the ocean water to breach into the pond and kill all the fresh water pond life.  Several times in the last century they have had to fix the damage and restore normal pond life.

The real adventure of this day was not so much the hiking and exploring, but the drive.  Matthew has his driving permit and been taking driving lessons.  The adventure was for him to drive us there and back.  Not using highways, which he has not learned to do yet, it’s about a ten mile drive through the streets.  I took one picture of him driving.

I will say he drives pretty well in the streets, but I have to say he needs work on his parallel parking and managing parking lots.  But we went there and back with no problems.

Here are some pictures of Matthew on the hiking trail.

Here are some pictures of Wolf’s Pond.

The Canadian geese had monopolized this but there were ducks and turtles and people fishing.  It’s actually a very lovely park for those who live by here.

Once you come out of the woods, you can see ocean.

We explored a remote area of the shore for a bit as well. 

There was lots of fallen trees, washed-up stuff from the ocean, and a seaweed stinky smell.  It was not somewhere you wanted to hang out. 

That’s yours truly, with his camera. 

I should mention, Wolf’s Pond Park has a very nice memorial to those who fought in the Battle of the Bulge.  I took several pictures, but I’m only going to share one.

On the way home, I had Matthew stop at what I thought was an upscale pizza place.  It turned out to be an expensive Italian restaurant.

Matthew wound up getting a prime rib that was enough for three servings and I had cavatelli in a Bolognaise sauce.  Delicious!  We took home the left overs.

Finally, a father and son picture.

Matthew is good at selfies.  I’m not. 

 

 

Matthew Monday: Father’s Day 2025, The Air Show

As you may know, Matthew and I have what we call our Father’s Day adventure every Father’s Day.  It’s just a father and son outing.  I’ve documented our Father’s Days on my blog from when I started the blog in 2013.  If you click the “Father’s Day” tag at the bottom of this post you can pull up the Father’s Day posts through the years.  Some great pictures in those blogs.  And I do really get watery-eyed nostalgic looking back at Matthew as a little boy.

This year we went to an air show.  I’ve never been to an air show before, and obviously neither has Matthew.  It was the NJ Air Show and you can look at their website.  

The weather was overcast, so they had to cancel a few performances, but what we saw was thrilling.  The show started at 5:30 and was a combination of daytime and nighttime shows.  The daytime acts allowed for smoke trails off the planes while night show provided the opportunity to for fireworks off the planes. 

Let me give you a sample of photos and videos I took.

The show started with the National Anthem and the American flag was taken up to the sky by one of the Airythmia pilots.

That’s essentially a powered parasail with a pilot hanging to the parachute.  I will have more on Airythmia when their part of the show comes up.

Here’s a picture of two planes in tight formation.  This is a father and son team I think. 

Here is a movie of the two doing a near miss cross.

Here is a still picture of another near miss cross.

 

If speed, engine sound, and tight formation is your thing, here are three jets blasting across the sky.

I believe the group is called “The Next Generation Eagles.”  And a still picture.

I can’t recall every act, so I’m just going to give you some videos.  Here’s one with flips, nose dives, and maneuvers.

As you can see and hear, flights were accompanied by trailing smoke and music.

Let me get to the Airythmia Paramotor team.  This is so cool.  It’s basically a parasail with the pilot dangling in the air with a motor on his back.  Here’s a zoomed in photo as best I could capture it.

But they put on a show, a beautiful show. 

Here’s a movie clip of part of the show.  You can see there are a group of four.

Here is a photo of one them landing.

Man you have to have a lot of courage to go up in that thing.  They said they offer lessons for those that might want to take that up.  No Thanks.  Here is one of the pilots talking to the audience after their event.

I asked the guy when how much that gear weighed.  He said around a hundred pounds.  Wowser!

My favorite I think was this highly maneuverable plane.  I think it was called the “Long EZ,” piloted by Kyle Fowler.  Here is a still shot in flight.

Those wings are for hard maneuver authority.  Unfortunately I did not catch a video of it.  But you can read about the pilot, Kyle Fowler, here.  And watch a YouTube clip.

 

I think he did a smoke 360 for us too!  I thought Kyle Fowler and his Long EZ plane was the epitome of what stunt flying should be. 

They closed the show with another high maneuvering plane, the Fox Jet Sail Plane.  This was really neat.

The Air Show was a lot of fun for both Matthew and me.  The only picture we got of us was Matthew’s selfie.

A great and different Father’s Day!

Matthew Monday: Father’s Day 2024

Yesterday was Father’s Day and like every year Matthew and I go on a “Father’s Day Adventure.”  As those who may follow my blog should know, this “adventure” is something Matthew and I have done since we adopted him.  The first that I noted this Father’s Day Adventure on the blog was Father’s Day in 2014, which was the first Father’s Day I had the blog.  I explained it all then and described the previous ones.  If you are really interested in reading all the adventures through the years, you can click the “Father’s Day” tag at the bottom of the page. 

This year we had wanted to drive up to Kingston, NY, an Old Dutch town that was attacked and burned by the British during the Revolutionary War.  There are a number of historical sites to see (including the oldest existing intersection in the US!) and has a panoramic view of the Hudson River.  Alas, we didn’t get there.  By the time we got out of Mass, it was almost midday, and it’s about two hours drive one way.  That would have put us on the road for four hours, and Matthew had to get home to study for two finals the next day. 

We changed our minds when we got home from Church and quickly pivoted to plan B, that is, we went to a minor league baseball game.  I know, not much of an adventure, but it couldn’t be helped.  We quickly got tickets to the Staten Island FerryHawks game.  The FerryHawks took over the stadium when the Yankees killed their Staten Island single A team that was situated here. It’s an Independent League team comprised of teams not tied to any major league affiliates.  They probably play at the same level as single A or maybe a little bit better. Independent League teams get players who are not signed by major league teams with the hope of catching a scout’s eye and getting signed. 

There were two ex-major leaguers (at least two, I didn’t recognize anyone else) playing on the FerryHawks.

One was Alejandro de Aza. I remembered him.  He played a couple of years with the Orioles. He’s 40 years old now and still playing. I guess for the love of the game. I can’t see him being picked up by anyone at that age. He did get a couple of hits that day.

The other ex was Pablo Sandoval. He was actually a star third baseman for the San Francisco Giants when he was in his early twenties.  If I remember correctly injuries and a weight problem drove his career into the ground.  He last played in the majors in 2021.  He’s now 37 and I guess hopes to get picked up. He got at least one hit that I remember. I think he was DH. He was not at third.

FerryHawks beat the York Revolution 6-4.

I can’t say it was a big adventure but it was a lot of fun.  I took a few pictures. 

The ballpark overlooks the NYC harbor, and beyond the left field fence, you can see the Manhattan skyline.

Over the right field fence you have a more unobstructed view of the harbor, and here you can see the orange Staten Island ferry going out. 

Finally a picture of Matthew.

I love spending time with my son and nothing better than spending time with him at a baseball game.

Happy Father’s Day!

Matthew Monday: Father’s Day Adventure 2023, Philadelphia

This year’s Father’s Day adventure—an outing on Father’s Day my son and I have each year—was to go to Philadelphia, the Old Town Philadelphia of the founding fathers.  Philadelphia is about an hour and a half drive, which is not too much.  We left early, had a nice day, and found parking on the street which saved us some money.  We went to Independence Hall, where we got a couple of tours of the room where the Declaration of Independence was signed and a tour of the first Congressional rooms where the House and Senate debated and passed legislation while the final buildings were built in Washington D.C.

Here are some pictures.  First Independence Hall with a statue of George Washington.

 

Some pictures of the room where the Declaration of Independence was signed. 

 

And the Liberty Bell.

 

And we had Philly Cheesesteak sandwiches for lunch!  Delicious.  I should have took a picture of that. 

Matthew Monday: Father’s Day 2022

Father’s Day for us means a father/son adventure!  It’s not always so adventurous—I wouldn’t do anything risky—but it does mean a father and son together event.  You can look through all the Father’s Day adventures through the years here and you can see how Matthew has grown through the years.  I mentioned this year we took a weekend trip together down to Washington D.C. when I posted last week a photo essay on Washington’s Cathedral of St. Matthew.  

Obviously the Cathedral wasn’t the only place we toured.  First we drove down on Saturday, taking about five hours.  That afternoon we went to a Washington Nationals game.  We sat in the outfield by the opposing team’s bullpen on Matthew’s desire.  He wanted to watch the pitchers warm up.  They were playing the Phillies that day is here is Aaron Nola warming up before the game.

And here is a nice action shot of Didi Gregorious swinging the bat.

Sunday morning we went to Mass at the Cathedral of St. Matthew as I explained in the photo essay.  You have plenty of pictures of the Cathedral in the other post, but I don’t think I mentioned that Sunday was the Solemnity of Corpus Christi, and like most parishes across the country took in procession the Blessed Sacrament. 

We didn’t unfortunately participate in the procession around the neighborhood since the afternoon was planned for sightseeing.  We got on the Metro (way nicer than the NYC Subway) and got to the National Mall.  This is not in any particular order and it does not cover all our sights.  I provide it as a sampling to project adventure.

The World War II Monument:

The presidential monuments: Washington, Lincoln, and Jefferson.

We didn’t actually go to the Jefferson Monument.  We saw it in the distance.  He didn’t want to walk there since his feet were hurting.  (Kids today, I tell you.  Not like when I was a kid.)

Now some of the other war monuments: Korean, World War I (Statue of General Pershing), and the Vietnam Wall Memorial.

 

While at the Vietnam War Memorial we looked up the name of the only person who we knew that died in the war, that of Fr. Lieutenant Vincent Capodano, “the Grunt Padre” who died giving his life trying to save wounded soldiers.  He was a Navy chaplain from Staten Island and is in the process of being considered for sainthood.  You can read his entire story here.  

One of the buildings that really impressed us was the original post office.  We didn’t know what it was until we got up to it and saw the statue of Benjamin Franklyn. 

That night Matthew splashed around at the hotel pool.

So after checking out Monday morning, we went to Arlington Cemetery, where we also saw the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

2670, 2669, 1091

 

Close by—though we got lost getting there—was the Iwo Jima Memorial.

1093, 1100

That was magnificent.  I had never been there before.

And so, on the way home we did stop at the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception. 

It was an exhausting Father’s Day weekend, but well worth it.  I love spending time with Matthew, and Matthew learned a lot from this trip.