We had a little vacation in Wilmington, N.C., where we took a Segway tour and I ran into a high school classmate.

Lia looking sparkling as always. The Battleship North Carolina is in the background.

Our soggy Segway group. Rolling in the rain like bosses.

My Avoca friend Lauren posted on Facebook that she’d be in Wilmington over the weekend and I messaged her “me too.” I walked into her on the street only an hour or so after arriving.

The view from our hotel – the mighty Battleship North Carolina, the most decorated ship of World War II.

The weather has been terrific here lately. We got in some walking practice after dinner.

A public park, paid for by the public, is left unmaintained by the government for nearly 20 years, decaying to the point that an insurance company has to force it closed. In a bizarre move, it gets partially torn down and left with shattered plastic and craters in the ground. Then, when the public asks in a reasonable manner for it to be fixed, they’re told to take a hike.

Welcome to Flora Hill Park playground, Colonial Heights, Virginia.

The Colonial Heights city council yesterday said a park that looks like this is OK with them, voting unanimously for a 2013-14 budget that doesn’t include a dime to fix it. Joe’s mom and others went to the public comment session before the vote to explain why this isn’t acceptable, but the vote took place as planned and with a predetermined outcome – the public comment was just for show.

So we now have a playground that is about as safe as a construction site but less attractive, since it carries no promise of something new.

We’ll do our part to raise some money, on top of paying taxes, but I hope public funds are found to pay for this public park that is now a very public disgrace.

Apologies for a less-than-positive post, but it affects Joe.

Lia shot a quick video the other day that was begging for the Benny Hill treatment.

In the first (maybe only?) entry in our On Location series, Joe visits the historic Battersea home in Petersburg for the annual Revolutionary War reenactment.

Don’t forget, all our videos are on our YouTube channel.

We had a terrific meeting today with some of Joe’s teaching team. Colonial Heights’ school system has been great for Joe, and we all marveled at how far he’s come in the past year or two.

Big thanks to everyone who spends part of their day making sure Joe ends up an educated, gracious young man.

Bench at school.

Getting off the bus.

Joe loves his bus team.

One of Joe and my favorite places to go is the Petersburg National Battlefield. There’s a bunch of Civil War history of course, but best of all is the quiet, rolling road through the middle of it all. We ran there together on Saturday, and on Sunday went back to play in the grass.

There was a small spring fair in the parking lot at our local shopping mall, so we checked it out.

My wife is stunning.

Joe had fun, though it was very hot for early April.

Not a bad Wednesday afternoon.

Joe had a great time hanging out with his cousins on Easter. The whole set of pictures is on Flickr – here are some of the highlights.

Staying warm with Dixon.

Learning from the master.

An impromptu meeting of the Khaki Pants Club.

Lia, her sister and dad passing on the fine art of egg salad preparation to the next generation.

The big slinky was a big hit.

A few photos from our date at a local arcade.