obligatory

Our annual summer trip to Connecticut is a study in traditions. We've got a specific agenda of mandatory activities that must be scheduled. There's the obligatory visit to NYC

As well as several required stops in the 'burbs, including Norwalk:

tinkering on a Steinway, no big whoop

the Shore of Haven

 (not pictured: 3 seperate trips to Stew Leonard's, all including ice cream)

And then there's Milford:

Tahoe doesn't have the Nation's only Fanny Bridge

 And of course, New London:

a Shleckarific run down Ocean Beach waterslide

and dinner at Captain Scott's

There are, of course, special meals to be prepared

The fun just never ends!

But the most important ritual of all is the event that attracts followers from near and far. The players sometimes change, but the goal remains the same: to make the biggest splash. This year's contest had a definite olympic flair, and participants large and small put their very hearts and souls into the competition.

First we have the individual Cannonball event:

Then we line 'em up en masse

and command them to GO

followed by gender specific exhibitions

boys! I lost one of them underwater

more boys

girls! oddly underrepresented at a Corey family gathering

After the stress of competition, the athletes cooled down with a refreshing game of Chicken before receiving their well earned awards...

...straight from the seed truck!

how can something so inappropriate be so perfectly fantastic?!

Thus, a new ritual is born. Big John better stock up for next year.