And here she is, the newest of the new cousins: Kayleigh.

What a week -- we just rolled back into Berea-Rose after a whirlwind tour of the old 'hood: Andre's family, Guido's family, friends of family and.. family! RoseAnne's place was the last stop as we veered our way toward the completion of our appointed rounds. Two-day-old Kayleigh was lounging about in her mommy's hospital room when we arrived, alternately snoozing and making squeaky-toy noises. We stepped out for a bit and when we got back she was getting herself a late lunch. We headed back to the house with Joe only to learn that Kayleigh's older brother wasn't feeling so well -- certainly not well enough to play with his wacky cousins Cookie and Mojo. Poor kid -- he took some Tylenol and kicked back on the sofa with his dad to watch the Yankees while we did our goodbyes and hit the road, unsure whether we'd make the whole drive in one night or have to stop over at a motel.

Well, we made it. And it's good we did: tomorrow evening is the last regular season game of our beloved Berea Mets. With all the post-holiday going-home traffic, we got a little anxious about what the drive would be like if we left it all for tomorrow. As coach, I wouldn't want to miss their last game (though some might want otherwise: I understand the team won big on Tuesday evening, a game I missed in order to start the week's fantastic journey).

And speaking of Mets, here's some of us standing outside the SNY studios visiting with the strange Statute-of-Liberty/Shea-Stadium... thing.

Ironically, we stopped to take this picture only a few short blocks from Rockefeller Plaza -- and as we walked through there I pointed out to the boys where the crowds of tourists would stand each morning, waving signs and hoping to touch the hem of Al Roker's cloak as he swept outdoors to mug for the cameras and patronize the howling mob.

"All I wanted to do was get to work," I explained to da chimpz. "And those people just stood there in my way."