Red, White and Blue

This picture says enough on its own:

February in Florida

This past February, we took advantage of a deal on Southwest Airlines to escape to Tampa for a long weekend. Why Tampa - it was the cheapest and warmest place where we could get a deal! We went with no plans or expectations, and we were more than pleasantly surprised.

We arrived early Friday morning, rented our car, changed out of our winter clothes and headed towards the beach in Clearwater. We took a beautiful drive from across the bay to Clearwater and down an oceanfront drive toward St. Petersburg. Somewhere along the way we stop for a lovely walk on the beach before exploring the pier at St. Petersburg. That night, we took a chance on a Charley's Steakhouse, which was next door to our hotel. We still talk about the dinner!

View of St. Petersburg from the Pier. I keep meaning to investigate getting a better camera and having Emily teach me how to use it. As you can see by this excellent photograph, I have yet to get around to it.

First attempt at self-portrait over the weekend. Traveling as a couple is wonderful, until you try to take photos of yourself!

One of my favorite photos from the weekend. Why is it that colors seem brighter in Florida? Or other lovely, warm places by the ocean??

Saturday, we woke bright and early to drive to Disney World! I tell you what - Disney World, in February, with no kids - that's the way to do it! No long lines, no crying, and lots of time to maximize the Fast Pass and ride Space Mountain five times.

Apparently these pictures are posting themselves in the order of their choosing. Not sure why, so let's start with the last first and proceed in no particular order. This is my favorite shot, the castle changed colors every few minutes after dusk.

Hands down, worst ride every. Ridiculous line, lots of criers, and disappointing ride - they seemed so much more fun when driving wasn't something you could do every day. Upside of the ride was a cute picture!

Obligatory first picture of the day. Matt couldn't see why I wanted to take a picture so much, and certainly wasn't going to wait until next year for us to earn our spot to take a picture in front it. Instead I had to settle for the best shot I could get - there's only one kid in this one :)

Is it just me, or does Cinderella's castle seem a whole lot smaller as an adult than it did as a kid?!?

Ready to start our day of riding roller coasters. By the way, if you are wondering why we packed only long sleeves and pants - we were too!

Sunday we were exhausted and slept the latest that either of us has slept in years. We explored downtown Tampa, and walked around University of Tampa and the small channel, where, based on the handsome graffiti work of rowers, it was clear that lots of universities visit the area for spring break training.

One of the better self-portraits we attempted that weekend.

View across the channel of University of Tampa.

Photo of Sigma Chi graffiti for David, along with only a few of the many rowing tags.

All in all, it was a wonderful trip that we hope to replicate this winter!

More than a year...

It has been well over a year since our last post. In fact, the last entry was posted days prior to me starting my job as a family law attorney full-time. I suppose time does fly. As the days were filled with work, rather than leisure I found myself with little time to commit to blogging; however, I find myself wanting to make it part of my life again.

That said, I am not exactly sure what I hope to do with the blog. I guess I hope to share some of the things that we do and see here in Philadelphia, along with our adventures outside the area. It will include updates of Matt's rowing or Buddy's latest antics. Personally, I think I may share favorite recipes or latest projects.

If anyone has specific requests, feel free to shoot them our way.

Houdini Needs a Bath

I'll let the title, pictures and videos speak for themselves. Enjoy!

Some Picture Updates

Obviously, we've been slacking for a the last couple months. Hopefully, we'll do better now that warm weather is arriving. I find that we don't take nearly as many pictures during the bleary winter months. I'll cut to the chase and share some pictures. They include pictures of Buddy in our huge amounts of snow, my Valentine's day piece de resistance, and a wonderful visit from Nancy and Linda.

It was impossible to capture just how much snow there actually was, but our backyard looked like this for much of the winter.


See how deep Buddy is!! He loved it. He would leap and bound around the yard and make himself absolutely exhausted.


I wish he would learn how to take out the trash, rather than simply chew on the lid that was already broken.


Yes, this is my masterpiece! Ok, so I know I have a long way to go, but I thought it was a pretty good first attempt!


This is the view of the city and the Art Museum from Vesper Boat Club's balcony.


Is it just coincidence that they are standing identically, or is it in the blood?!?


Reverse view, from the Art Museum towards Boathouse Row.


After much persuasion, they finally joined in for the obligatory Rocky picture.


I think the picture says it all!


It's pretty much guaranteed that if you visit us, we are visiting the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall. I have to say though, if you don't visit us in the first year (before July), then you may not get to go with us because I think we have nearly reached our max!!!


One of Buddy's favorite ways to sit. I call it the wheelbarrow.


Bud sends his love. He is moments away from giving kisses!

seeing if i can do this from my phone

Snow Here, Snow There, Snow Everywhere

We left Chicago expecting to enjoy a milder winter, and, in truth, it is milder. However, the snow has been unbelievable this winter. Philly certainly is warmer and less windy than Chicago, but the amount of snow that we have received at one time has been unparalleled to anything we saw while in Chicago. In December, when mom and Emily were visiting, the city got 24 inches of snow in a little over 24 hours. This past weekend, we got 28 inches (though not quite that much at our house). Tonight and tomorrow the weather gurus are expecting that we will get another 12-18 inches. I've never seen anything like it. We certainly never had this kind of snow while I was growing up! We love the snow, and we would love it even more if we had a driveway. Parallel parking is even more obnoxious when you have to fight over parking spaces. Everyone in the neighborhood has been using chairs and the like to save parking spots (hopefully I'll get some pictures to share). Someone had the nerve to move our cardboard boxes today. Obviously they didn't read the news article about people getting killed for moving "dibs" articles! Not that I'd go that far, but I did think about printing out the article to put on their windshield.

Buddy is definitely a huge fan of the snow. He plows through it, and digs his head in. We still can't figure out why he burrows his head in the snow. He jumps and leaps and runs in circles. He doesn't know what to do with himself because he is having so much fun.

Here are some pictures from various snowfalls this winter:

Buddy loves to leave his mark, and the footprints demonstrate how much he loves to explore.

Who needs a milk mustache when you can have a snow mustache!

As you'll be able to see below as well, Buddy loves to play chase, especially in the snow.