Our First Anniversary

We celebrated our first year of marriage with brunch at Salty's with my parents, welcoming Junior back to Seattle at the Mariners game, steaks at the Metropolitan Grill and a night at a swanky Hotel 1000.

Griffey waving to the fans. (He hit 2 HR's and the M's won. Couldn't have asked for a better outcome!).

We were on the 11th floor of the Hotel 1000, which was also celebrating their one year anniversary in June. We had a great view of the Sound and a room bigger than our apartment.

We were in awe of the bathtub with a faucet opening on the ceiling! Can you see the stream of water?

The view from the room was a great reminder at how beautiful the Northwest is and of how much we miss being home. Only 2.3 more years until we can request to move back...

66 Hot Dogs

Did anyone see the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest today? We decided not to brave the crowd at Coney Island. We stayed home and on ESPN watched Joey Chestnut eat 66 hot dogs (with buns!)to beat 6 time champ Kobayashi. It's unbelievable that a human stomach can hold 66 dogs and it was pretty grotesque to watch. I think it will be a long time before I eat a hot dog.

Happy 4th everyone!

June Homecoming

We just returned from a 9 day visit in Seattle. It was great to be home and Luna was the only reason we came back to Brooklyn. (Okay, I guess we wanted to keep our jobs also). I'm a little jet-lagged and am heading to bed. I'll post Seattle photos in a few days.

Luna did everything she could to keep us from leaving her home alone.

Roses Galore

In order to make the most of our annual membership, we walked through the Brooklyn Botanic Garden (BBG) during the Rose Festival. The rose bushes were in full bloom and there were many wedding parties taking advantage of the colorful backgrounds for their wedding pictures.

Guess he didn't like that one...

Danica, here's the rose I was telling you about. It's yours!

So now we've covered Spring and Summer in the BBG. Stay tuned for Fall and Winter. The Gardens are mostly filled with deciduous trees, so I can't wait to see the yellows, oranges and reds come Fall.

The Fifteen Biter

Ethan's friend Andrew was in town a few weeks ago. We went to lunch at the Brooklyn Diner (in Manhattan), where they have really good burgers with onion "frizzles". Just saying "frizzles" is fun. Anyway, the Diner is also home to something called the Fifteen Bite Hot Dog. Andrew ordered it and as it turned out, it took a lot more than 15 bites to finish it. In fact, it would take 2 people to eat it all up. Andrew did a good job and finished about 3/4 of it and managed to save room for a Jamba Juice afterwards!

Does anyone recognize the familiar face on the billboard behind Ethan and Andrew? Hint: His face is partially covered but the shirt gives it away.

Memorial Day Weekend

Erin M came to visit (and Erin B too) for Ben's wedding. (For those of you who don't know who I'm talking about, we were all Quakers back in high school, Franklin Quakers). We had a lot of fun, and thanks to Erin M, there are lots of photos from the visit. Here are a few:

The view of the park from the roof of the Bryant Park Grill. Ben and Joanna's wedding took place on the rooftop and the reception was inside the swanky restaurant. It was amazing.

The newlyweds

Our neighborhood subway station
Pre-wedding night out with the Franklin crew at Dip, a fondue bar. ( 2 Ben's, 2 Erin's and Elin)

Walk #3 across the Brooklyn Bridge. It's still just as neat as the first time. :)

At Miracle Grill in Park Slope. A little girl at the table next to us took this pic.

Erin found her street right next to City Hall.

During our afternoon in Little Italy, we discovered a place called "Rice to Riches". Our curiousity was sparked and we went inside. It's like a space age Baskin and Robbin's, but instead of selling ice cream, they sell flavored rice pudding. I had the chocolate chip and Ethan had the hazelnut. www.ricetoriches.com We all came to the conclusion that it was fun to try it but too rich. The coolest thing about this place was the flying saucer-like dishes and futuristic utensil.

Key Largo

The weekend of May 19 was Jim and Amy's wedding near Key Largo. The Coconut Palm Inn was rented out entirely to the bride and groom's family and friends. Jim and Amy picked the perfect setting for a wedding weekend. We had so much fun lounging by the pool, walking out on the dock, and celebrating with the newleyweds.

Sunset on Florida Bay

View of the Inn from the private dock




Beachside wedding set-up

Those grey things are manatees swimming in the bay. We also saw dolphins playing in the water.

Ethan and Jim enjoying the sunset.

Minutes before the ceremony...

Mr. and Mrs. Rogers! :)

Thanks to Jim and Amy for picking such a neat place. Ethan and I definately want to go back to the Keys!

Mother's Day/First Communion/Anniversary

May 11-13 was a weekend full of celebrating. Ethan and I drove up to Newport for Madeline's First Communion. It just so happened to fall on Mother's Day weekend and Mark and Erin's 12th wedding anniversary. I got a little camera happy but it was hard not to take lots pics of the nieces and nephew and the pretty scenery.

The Via's
The Leavitt's (minus Erin, who was tending to a mouse problem)

Miss Kira


Graham lounging on a rock

Running through the dandelions

Mark and Erin took us all on a boat cruise around Newport. We learned about mansions, famous people who have lived in them, boats, etc. It was a great day to be on a cruise.

"Cling Rock" ---A house built on a rock in Narragasset Bay only reachable by boat.

Naval Housing at Fort Adams. Not bad, eh?

An America's Cup boat

Hammersmith Farm---JFK wedding reception site and summer house. Now it's a private residence.

Dinner with the adults

Madeline and her first communion cake

First rosary


We had a great time with everyone and we hope to get back up to RI this summer.