Joe and Elle Adoption Profile
Sports
Sporting activities are an integral part of our lives. Individually and collectively, we strive to maintain active lifestyles. Our family membership in the New York Road Runners association allows us to participate in races throughout the year. The annual 40-mile Five Boro Bike Tour is a favorite of ours and at the local Y we go swimming and exercise if the weather is bad outside. For Alex, we have a foldable scooter that travels with us.
We also enjoy watching football, basketball and when possible, attending games in person. However, our best times are spent walking or riding bikes together.
Hiking/Walking
Down the hill from us is a 13-mile off-road paved trail -- dedicated to bicyclists and hikers only -- and nestled in the midst of three ecologically distinct forests. There is nothing like the feel of the earth and leaves under our feet. Twigs snap, birds chirp and when we gaze up through the trees to the sky above, we notice how the light filters. Ahhh… deep breaths of sweet fresh air.
​
We take pleasure in walking together whether it be along the Hudson River, behind Alex at the Olympic-sized track adjacent to the park, or when visiting Opa (Grandpa) Marty when in Europe during the summer as seen in this picture.
Riding Bikes
The best views come after the hardest rides. Legs on fire, sweat beading down foreheads and pine scents in nostrils, Elle and her father arrived 2,000 feet above sea-level to a wondrous mountain view of the Pacific Northwest (picture taken by Elle of her father on one of their bike rides). Years earlier, Joe had scaled the Italian Alps on his mountain bike at Lake Garda, Italy's largest lake area.
Riding bikes is one of our favorite things to do whether it be for exercise, to get to work or to spend time with Alex. We can’t wait for our destination meet-up where we will attend the Tour de France in Europe.
Swimming
We love the water. Elle was born in the water and Joe taught Alex, a fish in the water, to swim. On a near weekly basis, we swim at the Y. However, nothing compares to the fresh, salty sea air, soft babbles of waves splashing upon the shoreline and calm experienced when swimming in the ocean at the beach.
​
Although we can't go to the ocean every day, our 20-gallon fish tank is home to a variety of fish, snails and live plants surrounded by stones, live ferns and guppy grass. As Dory from Finding Nemo sang, "Just keep swimming, just keep swimming, just keep swimming, swimming, swimming."