Life's a beach -- part I

I have to say, I think this photo collage is some of my best work ever! Last weekend was Annie's first birthday party! And man let me tell you, throwing a birthday party is hard work. I totally have new respect for our parents and everyone else that has done this sort of thing. Let's go over the details.

Karen and I have been talking for weeks about what Annie's first birthday party would be like. There were a lot of variables, like who would be coming, where would we have it, what would we eat, etc. etc. etc. We finally decided to have it at the beach, and since the Kattmans live in Marblehead they were able to reserve this great pavilion on Devereux Beach. Of course, having it outside when it's been non-stop rain for the ENTIRE month of June was a bit nerve wracking. But luckily when Saturday came the weather held off and we had a beautiful, if a bit windy day!

We were so pysched so many people could come. The Kattmans were there, Magga & Poppa drove down, the Sullivans came in from Chicago and Bill & Kelly Drummy also came! Karen had been thinking about the menu for weeks... And we had many many discussions, all complicated by the fact that we didn't really close in on a location until about 10 days before, and then when we decided to have it at the beach then we had to figure out how to transport everything and all that fun stuff.

Annie was such a champ the whole time, barely making a fuss! Although, there were a couple of times that she face-planted into the sand for a mouthful. That was fun, trying to get her to open her mouth so you could dig the sand out of it! Karen made her cake, and she loved it!

I'll be posting more photos and menu details later this week --

Annie's First Cake

This is some pretty impressive video! Instead of getting her own cake, Annie got a piece of cake the size of her head. And she kills it. And nobody rocks a popped collar like daddy!

I have more pics and posts to follow soon...

Rub-a-dub-dub two kids in the tub!

Last weekend (6/20) our friends Ben, Monica, and their son Mason left Boston for good and moved to Columbus! We are very sad to see them leave, but are very happy for the new opportunities that came their way. We had a great last weekend together and Annie and Mason had lots of fun playing together!

Since my co-blogger has been pretty silent...ahem, ahem... I'll let you in on our last supper. Ribs. Ribs. and more Ribs. Is there anything better, I don't think so. We went to Costco and got three huge racks of them, parboiled them, and then finished them off on the grill... and man was it awesome! Karen also made some potato salad and corn on the cob. Again, what an awesome meal.

This weekend we're super excited for the return of our friends Conor, Carey and Lillie! They left Boston for Chicago almost a year ago, so it'll be great to see them. And the biggest news is Annie's first birthday party is this weekend! We can't believe she's already 1, the time really does fly by. Since there's been so much original content this week... I'm taking the rest of the week off! My summer class starts tonight and with company in town and Annie's birthday this weekend we'll be pretty busy!

Seattle -- part II -- when birds attack

First, how much of a one-trick pony am I? Either you see a few pics, or you see a collage, or this mosaic type thing. They should have some sort of program where you just select your pictures and then it automatically puts them in some sort of cool/creative format. Until then... get used to it...

Part II. Again, Seattle was awesome. A few experiences stick out. On the first morning we were there, we got up early and went out to find a good place for breakfast. Breakfast is by far my favorite meal of the day (and by far Karen's least favorite, but she humors me) and I was determined to find a place with 'local flavor' and not eat in one of the 1000 Starbucks that populate every corner and block downtown. Don't get me wrong, I love Starbucks, but they have those everywhere. We walked and walked, probably for about 45 minutes looking for a place, but then we realized that we were downtown, and if it's anything like Boston, there are no good breakfast places downtown. Also, Seattle is very hilly, so after what seemed like an eternity walking up and down hills we finally spotted a sign that said "Breakfast Lunch Dinner" - done. The place we went to was called "Bernards."

It should have been called "Crapnards." You walk into this place and immediately walk downstairs, entering into a windowless dungeon painted dark green with wood paneling and mirrors all over the walls. That should have been our first cue to turn around and get the heck out of there. But, being tired and hungry, we stayed. The service was about what you could expect... Sassy. I think these two broads (and that really is the best description for these women...) had worked there for most of their lives. There seemed to be two other regulars inside, and another table of mortified tourists walked in midway, we should have warned them... And for some reason I got this farmer's omelet that was supposed to be filled with bacon, potatoes, peppers and tomotoes, but ended being filled with nothing but bacon grizzle. Yum... Needless to say, we ended up eating at Starbucks every morning for the rest of the trip. Which brings me to my next story...

Karen was attacked by birds. You read that right, Karen was attacked by birds walking to Starbucks in downtown Seattle. And not only did they fly at her repeatedly, causing her to run for cover, but they also flew at this other lady while Karen was seeking cover. The whole episode was unbelievable. She was walking down the street, heard the bird sounds, next thing she knows it feels like she was hit with a sandbag from behind, she turns around and just sees the swooping wings as the bird flies back up in preparation for another dive bomb! The whole rest of the weekend we were so paranoid about walking along that street, and the annoying thing was that it happened about a block from our hotel, so we couldn't really avoid it.

What else did we do? We took the ferry out to Bainbridge Island, shopped, walked around, bought some stuff for Annie, and had a nice lunch. We also went to one of the best seafood restaurants, Ray's Boathouse - where we also had the best table in the whole place. It was a great wedding, and a great weekend!

Seattle Roundup

We recently got back from Seattle, where we attended the wedding of one of my good friends from college. We also left AB for the first time... Since we were heading all the way cross country and there wasn't going to be any other family around, we figured it was going to be way too much work to try and bring AB, figure out transportation, adjust sleeping/eating schedules, different time zones, etc. etc. Luckily for us, my parents jumped at the chance to watch Annie.

It was our first time leaving AB for an extended period of time, so it was somewhat traumatic. We definitely called a lot, but only once a day, so I don't think it was that excessive. Every time I spoke to my mom, I got nothing but glowing reports! "She slept until 7am." "She went down with no fuss!" I don't know what happened to Annie, but she was the model child for Magga and Papa. Which definitely made it that much easier for us being so far away. We missed her terribly, but I sure got used to sleeping in!

The wedding was a blast, Seattle was great and you could not ask for better weather! The pics above are from the wedding reception. And if you can believe it, we actually brought our camera! I got to see a lot of friends from college, and we all had a great time.

Funny story... At the rehearsal dinner, yours truly got into a bit of a heated debate with the groom's brother-in-law. I was having a great time pushing this guy's buttons, because when you make comments like "Someone making $300,000/year can't even afford to raise a family because their tax burden is so high to support all these entitlement programs helping people who don't deserve it." Now, I do consider myself a conservative when it comes to fiscal policy, but I also strongly believe people need support from the government. People who work very hard and meaningfully contribute to society. The guy who makes minimum wage cleaning office buildings, after said jerk making $300K leaves each night, is contributing. And chances are he doesn't have employer sponsored health care. So this guy is one ER trip away from being pushed over the edge. On and on this went, we actually cleared the table twice... I don't like bullies, and I don't like know-it-alls who think they are so smart and can throw around a couple of SAT words to try and intimidate people. In the end this guy gave up first, which I consider a complete victory. But the best part was, the next day I heard he called me a "flaming liberal." Hilarious... I guess that's what happens when you're stacked next to a fascist.

Part II tomorrow...

Goodbye Moto, Hello iPhone!

Oh snap! After a very successful first Mother's Day, the pressure was on and Karen hit the ball out of the park! For my first Father's Day... in addition to a day of fantastic food -- I got the brand spanking new 3GS iPhone!

Well, technically I will have it later this week after we iron out some kinks with AT&T. Namely they need to slapped around after giving Karen the 'business' last week, let me explain. About a year-ish ago, I guess last November, we combined our cell phone plans from Verizon and AT&T into a family plan through AT&T, which was my provider. In the process we both got new phones and shaved off $50/month from our cell bill. Karen got the Blackberry she wanted, and I hardly use my phone and got what I thought would be a decent phone, see below:

But it stinks with a capital STINK. First, the operating system is annoying and the front keys inadvertently get pushed all the time even though the phone is supposed to be 'locked' and the key pad is sooo small that it takes hours to type out simple text messages. It's so annoying that I usually just revert to sending IMs through my work blackberry and bypassing my craptastic phone. So basically it royally stinks, I hate it, and not to mention, people make fun of it. So knowing this, and also everytime I see an iPhone commercial I'm just amazed and what it can do, Karen bought me this awesome phone!

However, before I can enjoy my iPhone, we need to have a little sitdown with AT&T. The first issue was that Karen was not listed on the account, so she couldn't upgrade my phone. But under the guise of receiving a discount since she works for BofA, she got me to call and add her to the account without arousing my suspicion. However, I apparently spoke to some dolt on the phone and her name was never listed. The next issue was that I was not eligible for an upgrade, so they tried to charge us the full price, which is twice the price for new customers. So after going back and forth with them, she just decided to open a new account to get the new pricing, and then we will have to figure out how to combine the phones under our plan, ditch the old phone and new plan she just opened... all without incurring any excessive fees. Sounds like a challenge. Those of you that know me know how much I like this sort of thing, so I'll keep you posted how this all turns out... To be continued (and in less than a month, I promise!)...

***UPDATE (6/22)

After a very lengthy phone call with customer service, I think everything is going to work out (knock on wood). Here is the result: 1) I have to go to the store and upgrade my phone to the iPhone, where I will pay the full price, 2) Customer service will then credit me the difference to my account, 3) Karen has to go to the store and cancel the iPhone she ordered along with the account she setup, and 4) We both go to the store and get the account under her name, and then we can finally get the discount for her working at BoA.

Now... if this works all according to plan it will be a minor miracle, so cross your fingers!

MIA?

Man, where does the time go? It seems like just yesterday it was Mother's Day and I was current on blog postings! We've been pretty busy, and we've also been pretty consistent in not bringing our camera anywhere we go, so that's the main reason for the lack of postings lately. Let's get caught up, starting at Memorial Day (you'll just have to forever wonder what we did the weekend of May 16th...).

For Memorial Day we went to BF (Beaver Falls, for you non-NYers). Leslie and her family and the boys, Jake and Jordan, were all home. The drive to BF from Beantown is around 5hrs, all depending on how many times you stop, traffic etc. We decided that instead of leaving Friday night we'd leave first thing Saturday morning. The trip was great, good weather, and minimal fuss by AB. She's a solid road-warrior at the tender age of 11 mos. It always amazes me all the things and places we go and she has just gotten so good at adjusting and rolling with the punches - making everything so much easier for us. I'm trying to remember if there were any issues, and nothing is really leaping to mind. One thing is... My love of the Southern Chicken sandwich at McDonald's. It is the best thing ever. Seriously. It's just a breaded piece of chicken fried on a bun with 3 slices of pickles. That's it, no ketchup, mayonnaise, nothing. And it's unbelievable. If you haven't tried it yet, you should. And if you're really feeling like letting loose, wash it down with a vanilla shake...

We had a great time, and my parents put together a fun picnic on Saturday. Annie had tons of fun playing with her cousins and seeing lots of relatives. And of course there was tons of food. I don't know how many people my parents were expecting, but if they were planning on everyone having a hamburger, I'd say they were anticipating 75. No joke. There were so many hamburgers left over, and for the rest of the weekend I swear all any one had for a snack was a burger. I think Jake and Jordan ended up taking the rest back to VT with them, and two weeks later I bet there's still a few in their refrigerator (I'm not going to speculate whether that's because there were so many of them or their fridge may not be cleaned out on a regular basis...).

We headed back to Boston Monday and the trip took a little longer, but relatively painless.

This past weekend we were in Dayton for a quick visit. Our niece Bea was getting baptized. We flew out Saturday morning and had probably the most hassle-incident-free trip. Our flight left at 9am, so we figured we should leave our house around 7 to give us ample time to drive to the airport (15min), park, grab the shuttle to the terminal, check-in and clear security. We left at 7:05am, and were at the gate waiting at 7:40am. Unbelievableably quick, but now what? Annie can only sit still on your lap for so long, and we were so paranoid about depleting that goodwill, or "sitwill" - that we broke down and let her crawl all over the floor. Gross. But I guess after she's thrown her pacifier on the floor 5 times and you keep giving it to her, what's a little more? Plus I'm pretty sure that I read in the NYT that kids have been raised in too sterile environments and little dirt never hurt anyone...

And one thing we've learned from travelling with an infant is that you can pretty much get anything by airport security. And by anything I mean liquids that you don't even have to take out of your bag and deal with that hassle! Numerous times we'll hear "Bag Check!" and then see the security guards look at us, see Annie, and then just wave us through. Awesome.

Side note -- What wasn't so awesome? While I was boarding our return flight home Sunday there was a TSA screener in the breezeway who took me to the side, and then patted me down. And I do mean patted me down. Really? After I've cleared security already, you're going to pull me off to the side and pat me down while everyone else is walking by? Boy was that fun. "Now I'm going to pat your backside." Thanks. I felt like I should've tipped the guy, but that's another story.

The weather in Dayton was beautiful the whole weekend, and Larry and Alex have a great house to spread out in. The Drummy's came down, and we all had a lot of fun. Bea did a great job during the baptism, never once letting out a peep. And in case you haven't heard, yours truly is the Godfather. During the ceremony Karen's grandfather said to me, "Are you the godfather?" I replied "yes" and then he said "Like in the book" and I said "Right, so you better not step out of line!"

After the baptism we went back and had a delicious brunch and all had a great time! I'll post some pics after we get them from Larry and Alex... You know, because we didn't bring our camera. Every time I write that, in my head it sounds like a tag line that the audience yells out, "Because you didn't bring your camera!" Followed by a laugh track. Yeah, that's just a small taste of what's happening inside my head at any given moment. Tag lines and laugh tracks...

The flight home was a different story. So after being frisked we settled in, gave Annie her bottle and she went right to sleep, awesome. What else was so awesome? On a really packed flight, Karen and I had the row to ourselves! Priceless. Not so priceless? The turbulence. I'd say on a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being the worst, that it was probably only a 5, but it lasted forever... jacking it up to a high 6. Not to mention that it was super windy in Boston, so when we were landing you could feel the plane swaying side-to-side. Couple that with the fact that we were exhausted and it was after 10pm, and it was not pleasant. But obviously we made it home and can't wait for a week home!

Mother's day motherload...

I'm happy to report we had a great first Mother's Day, and to quote Karen, "This is the best Mother's Day ever!" She said that at 7 am, so the day started out pretty good if you ask me. I had been thinking about this for weeks... What to do, how to make the day special, and the pressure was definitely starting to get to me. I was leaning in two directions and with each one thinking that throwing some cash behind my idea would definitely help!

Leading up to MDay, Karen had said that she didn't want to be "whisked" away anywhere without Annie. No problem. Other than that, not too much guidance. The first idea I had was for all of us to go out for a really nice brunch (original, I know), and she had mentioned in the past that there was a jazz brunch at the Langham Hotel that she had wanted to attend. I called and almost made a reservation when I happened to inquire about the price... $86/per person. What?! So we're spending at least $172 on brunch, not including drinks or tip!!! Yikes! And really, what is brunch but fancy breakfast food that no matter how much you dress it up, it's still mostly flour and egg based, not the most expensive ingredients. Ridic. Cross that off the list. Now I felt some real pressure because I had to come up with something else!

Jewelry. I guess I hadn't really thought of this before, because I don't usually buy Karen jewelry. A) it's not really my cup of tea, and B) I just think that if you're going to buy something that expensive you should just pick it out yourself. But me having the best wife and all, she doesn't normally ask to buy herself jewelry. So I tooled around on the web, found some things I thought she'd like and then headed out. I had decided on this ring I wanted to buy, so I walked into the jeweler and they had it. Coincidentally not only was it the last one, but there had just been another customer looking at it before me who almost bought it, but instead purchased the matching earrings. Now, maybe I'm a bit of a sucker and the sales lady was feeding me a good line- which if she was - it definitely worked so good for her, but that helped reinforce my belief that Karen would really like this ring.

Present done, now what? We have a whole day!! And not only did I need to get a gift, but Annie needed too as well, two gifts! So I took Karen's favorite picture of Annie and had it turned into a "photo panel" from Snapfish (and also ordered extras for the grandmothers). Basically it's like a frameless photo, sort of. I'm explaining this really bad so if you're curious just go to snapfish and look it up!

Back to the whole day thing. I thought that since Karen would love the gifts and she just wanted to spend the day together, that a picnic would be a lot of fun. So on Sunday morning I had planned to head to Whole Foods and pick up stuff that she'd like (and that I normally wouldn't eat...) and then surprise her. Gifts done, day done, relax. Almost...

Alright... now onto Mother's Day. Annie got up pretty early, shocker, so I got up with her and Karen got to sleep in. When Karen got up, Annie immediately gave her the biggest hug, hence Karen's "this is the best Mother's Day ever!" remark. She opened her gifts, and loved them. However a wrench was thrown into the rest of my plans... There were serious winds ripping through the city, and a picnic looked out of the question. So we decided to go downtown instead and went on a nice walk then headed down Newbury St to find a place to eat. Not the easiest feat considering it was Mother's Day, the city was packed, and we didn't have reservations anywhere. But we lucked out, and were able to get right in at this Tappas place we like, Tapeo. It was a lot of fun, and Annie again had a lot of different foods. And afterwards we headed to Ben and Jerry's for some ice cream!

Volvo Ocean Race

We had such a great weekend. Not only was it our first Mother's Day (more on that later) but the weather was awesome and we were downtown a lot. Saturday we headed down to Fan Pier, which is I guess technically is in Southie, but more like downtown, but not really. Anyways, those of you familiar with Boston will know where I'm talking about, and those of you who aren't, it's not that important.

The racers competing in the Volvo Ocean competition, which basically takes place around the world, had stopped in Boston and we wanted to check out the boats. Also they had a lot of different vendors and food things set up, there was supposed to be an Oyster Festival, shocker - we went for the food... But I guess we went too early because the darn ships were out for a race and the oyster fest hadn't begun yet! D'oh! We still had a great time. We found parking no problem (also the sign of a great time waiting to happen!), we got to watch a sail boat race, and we had some decent food while Annie took a nap! All in all it was a really fun day!

Pants on your head?

Hmm... I think someone replaced our 10 month old daughter with a cleaning lady from the 70's! Here's Annie modelling her pants on her head. She's been super silly lately as she crawls everywhere, especially places she's not allowed. Last weekend we had to put up barricades in our living room to try and keep her contained. We've also got the pack-n-play setup, it's become a permanent fixture in our house... And Annie has gotten pretty quick too.

We're all set with this teething thing though. Annie has four top teeth coming in, and the past few weeks have been trying to say the least. Two weekends ago she refused to take naps- all weekend. Last weekend she went back to normal and took great two hour naps both mornings and afternoons, so that was good. What's not so good is that she's been waking up around 3ish each morning. And it's taking longer and longer to get her back down. Karen and I used to sit around and wonder where our good little sleeper went, but in retrospect Annie's never been that good of a sleeper, so we shouldn't be too surprised. And of course you can never be sure really of why Annie is waking up, so you don't know whether you should give her a little tylenol or motrin, or try and soothe her, or get back to sleep training and let her cry it out... Decisions, decisions!

This weekend is Mother's Day, so we're pretty pumped to share our first Mother's Day!