More Junior High — Almost a High Schooler

Lunar Landing Confirmed! . . . Camp Deerwood . . . Final Season: The House that Ruth Built, Yankee Stadium . . . Block Island . . .

Greg and his folks went to Florida in April for Spring Break and visited the Kennedy Space Center, Disney World and Universal Studios in Orlando. Check out the Florida trip by clicking here.
Lunar Landing Confirmed!
A few weeks after our visit to Florida, Greg was confirmed. Confirmation is a big deal for Christians — kids reaffirm their baptismal vows, accepting responsbility for their own spiritual lives. So what's with the talk of "Lunar Landing Confirmed"? Was this website's editor confused by Greg's recent trip to NASA?
No. This all goes back to one of Greg's nicknames: Lunar Landing Loftus. When Greg's Mom was pregnant with him, her due date was July 20, 1994 — the 25th Anniversary of the first lunar landing. Greg's Dad, ever the sophisticate, said that if "you have a boy on that date, we should name him Lunar Landing Loftus." To which Mom replied, "I'm going to cross my legs and hold the baby in for a week!" Greg was born on July 26 (almost the whole week that Mom promised in response to Dad's idiocy) but Greg loved the nickname "Lunar." Returning to the topic of confirmation, at about the same time Greg was being confirmed, many of his Jewish friends were becoming bar and bat mitzvahs, and many of them gave sweatshirts with their names and bar mitzvah dates on them as party favors. Greg's Dad, still clinging to the lunacy of the Lunar nickname, created this one-of-a-kind sweatshirt for Greg's confirmation (right).
Below, a close-up of the photo on Greg's sweatshirt. That's Buzz Aldrin (2nd man on the moon) saluting the U.S. flag on the lunar surface. Photograph by Neil Arnmstrong (1st man on the moon) — Apollo 11 — July 20, 1969. The date on the photo, is Greg's confirmation date, so . . . Lunar Landing Confirmed. Get it?
Below, at the reception for Greg's confirmation, family, family-by-choice and close friends celebrate the big day.
Above, Clarence and Margs, and Uncle Felix.
Above, Mom and Greg's confirmation sponsor, Mark, who's a really good guy even though he is a Boston Red Sox fan and gave Greg two books on the Sox as a present.
Above, Aunt Jill, godfather Steve and Greg's grandmother, Nanny.
Above, a godfather-grandmother sandwich. From left, godfather Steve, grandmother Nanny, godfather and Uncle Dave. (Episcopalians are funny people: You get to have two godparents of the same gender as the child. Hmmm . . . )
Above, Uncle Rich, Aunt Helen and Aunt Centes.
Above, buddies Krishan, Matthew and Evan.
Above, buddies Eric, Tim and Barry. At right, Greg with his friend Alex.
Deerwood
Above, Greg lounges confidentally in front of his fourth-season cabin at Camp Deerwood, Waldorf. Right, Greg at "the Fro", the camp's waterfront on Big Squam Lake, better known as Golden Pond. Greg's calm serenity in these pictures is somewhat at odds with the cabin clean-up chaos, below.
Above, Greg and his mother share a quiet moment on the lakefront, and then, below, give vent to the more hostile side of their natures on the camp rifle range.
Final Season: The House that Ruth Built — Yankee Stadium
Above, Greg's last game at the old Yankee Stadium. (Sorry about the photo quality — cell phone, what can you do?)
Above, A-Rod is out in a collision at home during Greg's last visit to the House that Ruth Built on July 18th. The Yanks beat the Oakland A's 7-1. Mike Mussina allowed only 1 run, and A-Rod and Robbie Cano each homered. Below, Yankees captain Derek Jeter makes the throw from deep in the hole at short (not from this game).
Block Island
Below, the Block Island Gang '08: Mom, Greg, Dad, Aunt Jill, Uncle Felix, cousin Sophie and Aunt Kit at the ferry dock in Old Harbor.
Above, on Crescent Beach, Sophie, Greg and cousin Alex demonstrate their true natures: totally nuts. Below, Greg and Dad go parasailing, first on the way up and then getting their feet wet on the way back to the boat.