maryland

Marie went to Maryland for a week, for a work-related conference. She got to meet up with an old schoolmate from high school, and also her boss from when she was deployed in Afghanistan. Lucky for her, it was also the week of cousin Grace & Ricky's wedding! Paul flew down a few days later. We were delightfully reunited with one of our favorites: blue crabs! We probably ate about 10 each, in one sitting. So delicious. Aside from the food, it's always fun seeing the little ones and playing with them until you win their heart over, and then they forget you the next day. =) As usual, we had a great time with family and friends. Life is beautiful!

Paul wants to keep him...
Congratulations, Grace & Ricky!

NYC

We took a day trip to New York City. There was a tour bus going from work, so we took advantage of the luxury of not having to drive or find parking. The bus ride was about 4.5 hours from the base to NYC, with one rest stop, and we got there just in time for lunch. Some new things since our last visit are pedestrian parks and a hefty fine for honking horns! I think we saw a sign that said $300 for honking your horn! It did seem amazingly quiet when we got to the city. The weather was just right. We had fun walking around, and then we watched the show Hair with a few of our friends. After the show, we walked around a bit more and had dinner at ESPN Zone before heading back home on the bus. We got home just before midnight, just in time for bed!

nice house

We're pretty much done with the major projects to our own home, but there is never a shortage of projects to help with around here. We spent a couple of Saturdays at Bryant's house, with his family and friends. He has been designing and building a 2-story extension to his house, and with the winter quickly approaching, it was about time to get all the walls and the roof up. We really like their set-up. The setting and scenery are so peaceful. Their kids have the ultimate playground, complete with a ropes course in the woods on one side of their house. There is also a creek that is just a walk, or a short ride on the ATV, across a small field and through some woods from the house. Maybe someday we'll look for something similar, somewhere...

Cleveland Rocks!

We drove about 6 hours to Cleveland, Ohio for Cousin Allison & Ron's wedding!

Supposedly, there is a cute picture of these 3 as babies, somewhere.They're next!! Ricky & Grace - 24 October!! =)

We also stopped by the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in downtown Cleveland on the way back home...

There is more to see at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, but unfortunately no pictures allowed past the entryway!

when in rome...

Our friend, Jon, came TDY to Rome for a few days, and we got to share our delicious Wednesday Wings tradition with him--yum! We had fun seeing him at work and hanging out with him at home. Too bad he doesn't live closer, because Paul & Jon were rockin' them beats!We were sad to see him go... Hopefully next time the whole family can come! =)

Mount McCauley

We took a little day trip up to the Adirondacks and rode a chair lift to the top of Mount McCauley. Some people were setting up for a wedding at the top. How neat that all of the guests had to ride the chairlift to get to the top for the wedding! They also had to use the chairlift to get all their decorations up there, but the reception was at the bottom of the hill. It was so green and beautiful, but we are looking forward to going back to the Adirondacks in the fall, when it is more colorful, with red, orange and yellow leaves!

NorCal

We spent the weekend in Northern California to attend our former schoolmate's wedding. Christina and Ryland caught the bouquet and garter at our wedding in 2007, and got engaged the following week! Congratulations, Ryland and Christina! We enjoyed attending the Nuptial Mass and hanging out with all our old friends at the reception.Mom, Dad & Brother Justin were also there, so it was fun spending time with them, as well as our friends from days past!

The Aguas family was nice enough to pick us up from Travis AFB, and then take us to the San Francisco airport the following morning. They took us home to San Jose and spoiled us with some of our favorite foods. We went to Santana Row with the girls, watched a movie (MJ fell asleep) and then woke up early the next morning for our cross-country flight back to NY!

On Parade

We marched in our 2nd parade here in Rome. They have Honor America Days every summer, which include many activities and events that highlight great traditions throughout the city. Last year, after we marched the couple of miles through the city, we went straight home. This year, we decided to walk back (on the sidewalk) most of the route that we marched.

It was really neat seeing all of the different groups that participated in the parade; we'll definitely try to see all of the groups next year!

deck the halls!

...well, a little deck and a little landscaping outside, a little tiling in the hallway and a little of the kitchen wall. this is what's been keeping us busy!

uncle bill came out from long island for a couple of weeks to help us with projects around the house. he brought all of his tools, set up shop, and did most of the work by himself, but every now and then he taught us a few things and let us give him a hand.

the deck...
the hallway... finally, the stinky carpet is gone...

the kitchen backsplash...

a little bit of landscaping in the front...our next door neighbor, henry, took paul and uncle bill on a 2-day adventure to his "land" about 20 miles north of our house. with a dump truck and arctic cat ATV in tow, they went hunting for rocks and brought back about 12,000 pounds of rocks for us to use between our houses.The main project was the deck, but when it rained, he came inside to work on the tiling and some other random fixes that he found along the way. We bought most of the tiling materials last year during home depot's closeout sale, and the decking materials we've been researching and buying ever since we got back home from deployment, with Uncle Bill's guidance. THANK YOU, Uncle Bill!

It's been really busy, but we're looking forward to just relaxing and enjoying everything from here on out. So come visit us!

washington state

We spent the weekend visiting with family in Seattle, Silverdale and Bainbridge Island, Washington. It was great to just relax and catch up with everyone.

Paul is honored to be a Ninong (Godfather) to this sweet baby boy, Jazz.

We also had some time to check out a few new sites that we hadn't been to before.