the sculpture garden (a one-year comparison).

On Sunday, we visited the sculpture garden at the Nassau County Museum of Art. The boys had a picnic by the water fountain, and then we walked the grounds.  It turned out to be hotter than we expected, but still better than the rainstorm that deluged us the first time we went (which, oddly enough, we discovered when we got home, was one year ago to the day). Seeing the boys juxtaposed against the same giant sculptures, which remain unchanged, one year later, was an in-your-face way to gauge how much the boys have changed and grown -- and also how they are still very much the same.  It's hard to explain it.  But I was really amazed when going back through the pictures.

June 2, 2013:

 

and June 3, 2012:

 

Apparently some things never change. Such as, I like to dress my sons in red shirts when we go to sculpture gardens. And we are still using the same Esprit tote that I got 20 years ago as a picnic bag.

And some things are completely different. Like, how much bigger and stronger the boys have gotten, while still completely looking like. . . themselves.  And Henry is now wearing the shirt and shorts that Rowan has on in the pictures from the year before. And yet, last year I felt like Rowan was so much older than I think Henry is now.  And how last year Rowan had to climb up onto the Allen Bertoldi sculpture on his knees and belly. But this year he was stepping up and jumping off like a big kid. Last year, Andy's legs were barely long enough to reach up to where Rowan was this year. It's really fun to see them all grow up and do the same things, and the same things as each other, but in their own way.
The same. But different.