Happy Father's Day!

The kids and I were lucky enough to celebrate Father's Day with two of the best.  We spent at week at Pine Grove Furnace State Park -- swimming, biking, hiking, climbing, campfire-ing.



For Father's Day, the kids and I gave these two a few hours to read books in the shade.

Union Beach Day Trip

Alma and I were thinking of trekking down to North Carolina to join my parents at a vacation house for a week.  However, after a lot of back and forth (analysis paralysis, for sure), I decided that I wasn't quite up to the 9.5 hour drive that it would take to make it down there.  Instead Joshua, Alma and I drove out to the Jersey Shore for the day.  Playing in the sand, watching seagulls and getting lungs full of fresh air was just what we all needed.  What a great day!

Vacation Wrap Up

We were lucky enough to have three straight weeks of vacation this summer.  Well, one week of "workcation" followed by one week of "memorialization" before a week of actual vacation.

Our first week was spent in Applegate, CA (near Sacramento) for Joshua's work conference.  The overarching organization that Joshua, through CUNA, works with, People Improving Communities through Organizing (PICO), is an international non-profit that encourages the employees to bring their families to the yearly week-long work conference.  I've been wanting to attend for years but this is the first time that the trip didn't interfere with my own employment.  Alma and I spent our days playing with the other 40+ kids in attendance and enjoying the beautiful Jesuit retreat center where the conference was held.  And, at night, Joshua and I would hang out on the patio overlooking the pond and share a crossword puzzle.

Sadly, Joshua's grandmother passed at the beginning of June, so we spent the next week with his family celebrating her life.  While it was a sad event, it was so nice to have some time with the Chisholm clan when we had not been planning a visit with them for this summer.  We were able to spend a day at Santa Monica beach (photo of Alma and me was snapped by Hayden!), some time in the backyard shooting cans with a BB gun, and Alma had plenty of time idolizing her cousin Hayden.

After a wild trip home -- three days of delayed flights, car rides interrupted with me getting sick on the side of the road (yes, that happened more than once), an eventual red-eye flight home with an overly tired toddler -- we were home for 20 hours before leaving for a trip up to the Adirondacks for a week of relaxing with Kate, Neal (a.k.a. Uncle Fun), their pup Rio and our dog Simon.  It was a week composed of all the greatest things: best friends (even Simon had his best friend), delicious food, and an amazing house right on Lake Paradox.  We spent days hiking, napping, watching the dogs swim until near-drowning fatigue and our nights were long games of Kate beating us at Settlers of Catan.

North Carolina

Our week-long vacation on the Outter Banks of North Carolina with my family was great.  We are so busy with packing for our move, I'll just give you a little taste of our trip via photos.  Enjoy!

Lots of Free Time

My Project H.O.M.E. internship ended at the beginning of this month. I'm so delighted that I had the opportunity to work at such a great organization and on such an interesting project. This has been such a great summer of exploring the subject of homelessness in Philadelphia. My supervisor was, by far, one of the most dynamic, intelligent and positive supervisors I have ever encountered.

Because the internship was sponsored by the Samuel S. Fels Foundation and those internships only last 10 weeks, I am now a stay-at-home expectant mother. It's great to have this time to get things together for the coming baby. Although, I'm feeling so energized days and was just started to get on a roll with regard to working full-time, it is a shame to not be putting my new degree to use in a non-profit environment.

To celebrate the upcoming babe and get some much-needed time together, my mom and I went to a B&B in Ventnor, New Jersey, a nice little beach town, for a few days last week. It was nice to be by the ocean, eat lots of good food and have lots of long talks. My mom is great and I really treasure my time with her. We also ventured up to Staten Island to see my grandmother and my cousin Michael's new baby, which was fun.

Last weekend, once we returned from the beach, I got to spend a morning with my three roommates from college -- Donna, Heather and Amanda -- and Amanda's new baby. They are such supportive and wonderful women. It is always so great to see them.


In two weeks, Joshua and I have another prenatal appointment and ultrasound scheduled. I will give a full pregnancy update then. (For those who cannot wait, the report thus-far would be as follows: All is well!)

Elk Lake with the Chisholms

We just returned from a week-long adventure-cation with Joshua's family in Central Oregon. We stayed in a cabin along Elk Lake and spent the week hiking, swimming, fishing, eating good foods, watching a campfire every night and enjoying lots of family time. Needless to say, it was great!

Having time with 4 year-old Hayden was great. Here he is hopping around the cabin with a balloon hat Joshua made for him.
The family also threw us a surprise baby shower. Their gifts were so thoughtful and sweet ... although the idea that we will have an actual baby to put inside the clothing is still a little more than overwhelming.
The party decorations included a pinata, which provided an evening of entertainment as we tried to hit it with rocks. We decided that it would be more interesting (and it ended up being more challenging) than stringing it up and beating it with a stick.

We are already planning on doing this trip again ... summer 2012, anyone?!

Lunar Eclipse, Javelinas, and Long Titles

Before I head into my last semester of grad school, I am attempting to take a restful winter break: a week of snowshoeing, two days of home repairs, a week in Tucson visiting my best friend and a week prepping for the upcoming semester.

After our snowshoeing trip, I decided to fix one of the kitchen walls (cigarette smoke from the neighbors has been seeping into our house - yuck!) and repaint the kitchen from yellow rain slicker (a little too bright) to lunar eclipse, a pale grey/silver color. It looks neat and makes everything else in the room pop; as opposed to the rest of the house, where the walls tend to pop with color and the decorations are merely a distraction. Once the kitchen is done, I will post photos.

---

My week in Tucson was great. Erica and Greg were exceedingly gracious hosts and excellent tour guides. From fabulous home-cooked meals, interesting conversations, trips to museums/zoos (javelinas!), and rock climbing, it was amazing. They set up the week so selflessly to show me a good time and I really cannot thank them enough for their time and energy. I cannot wait until they visit us in Philly.
To top it off, they have the best and cutest little girl on the planet. My photos do little to capture how incredible sweet Kira is so you will have to check out Erica and Greg's website for better photos.

Lastly, Erica's older sister, Juliet, who also lives in Tucson with her husband and almost-three-year old daughter, gave birth to twin girls while I was in town. Right before I left for Philadelphia, I got to see them and hold "Baby A". So wonderful!

---

Now I am prepping for my last semester. Most of my semester will be spent working on my thesis and looking for full-time employment that I can begin in May when I graduate. I'm also the teaching assistant for the digital mapping course. I was the TA for this course last semester so it will be nice to be familiar with the lab assignments I have to teach. Lastly, I am taking a spatial statistics course, which is very exciting to me.

My thesis title has become something of a joke in the family: Mapping Geographically Weighted Regression: Spatial Nonstationarity in Logistic Models of Drug-Crime Recidivating Juvenile Delinquency. If you want a translation of what that means, ask me in person. It takes a few minutes to explain. I'm still not sure if Joshua has fully grasped it yet. Luckily, I am excited about the topic, so that should count for something even if everyone else thinks it's just nutty ivory-tower babble (which it isn't!).

Christmas Cheer for All to Hear

Once again, we have been blessed with a wonderful Christmas.

Even though we have been married for three Christmas seasons, this is the first year we got a tree. It was so much fun to have more holiday cheer in the house. Luckily the animals did not think that it was indoor plumbing!
We had my folks over for Christmas Eve dinner (seafood!) and went to my brother's house for Christmas Day (more food!). My brother and father enjoyed the lack political correctness of The Onion's Atlas for most of the afternoon. It was nice to be around family for the holiday. Joshua was able to go to Seattle a few weeks ago to enjoy some time with his family. He had a great time ... although none of it was documented because Joshua did not bring the camera with him (no photos, bummer). Unfortunately, I did not tag along this year so that I could afford to go to Arizona mid-month to see Erica, Greg and their newest family member. Moreover, we are planning a week-long vacation to Elk Lake in Oregon with the entire Chisholm/Fujimoto family this upcoming summer.

The day after Christmas, Joshua and I enjoyed one of the many wonderful gifts Joshua gave me: ICE SKATING in Philadelphia on the Delaware Waterfront! I love skating ... and Joshua is getting more used to it. (He's always such a good sport and a quick learner.)On Saturday, we drove up to Schroon Lake (or as Joshua calls it, Schroot Farms) in New York's Adirondacks for some snowshoeing with the dog.

Simon loves the snow more than anything and is enjoying our long daily hikes. He is such a good pup -- hiking off-leash, wearing lots of silly clothing (mainly a bright yellow "horse blanket" that helps us to see him in the snow and also booties that protect his feet), and riding patiently in the car while we look for trail heads.

We haven't had a non-visiting vacation since our honeymoon so this was a much-needed trip for us to recharge, reconnect and remember what trees look like. It has been wonderful.

Sailing

Last weekend: A sailing trip with my pop, my two favorite things!

Here's us going by the Key Bridge (just outside of Baltimore) and the buoy that is used to mark the location of Francis Scott Key's boat when he wrote the national anthem.

Summer Vacation: Seattle!

This past week, we have been enjoying the wonderful family, friends and weather of Seattle. We arrived Saturday night and then our week was as follows:

Sunday - Mass and brunch with the Fujimotos and ... the Cavaliers! Amanda and Lou, New Jersey folks, were on their way to an Alaskan cruise and we were fortunate enough to meet up with them. Mental note: Visit friends who live on the east coast.

Monday - Amy, Hayden, Joshua and I drive to Leavenworth and see Jenelle, my former boss and owner of Mapel Boutique, and set up camp at the Johnny Creek Campground next to the river. It was so nice to see Jenelle -- even though just for a short "hello" visit -- and to see how awesome her store is!

Tuesday - Rock climbing along Icicle Creek. While Joshua and Amy were doing a route, Hayden and I played bulldozers in the dirt and then beauty salon. Hayden's final look was stunning.

Wednesday - Hiking around Leavenworth and then driving back to Seattle. Gosh, what a beautiful place!

Thursday - While Joshua had groomsmen duty (golfing, bbqing, baseball-watching, drinking), Amy, Hayden and I went to the Seattle Sculpture Garden. With a great view of the sound and some neat pieces, it made for a fun day!

That night I got to play soccer and go out to eat with the PuddleJumpers. I miss playing with that team so much. What a great group of folks.

Friday - Sailing on Lake Union with Scott, Joshua, Amy and Hayden and then the wedding rehearsal and dinner.

Saturday - Patrick and Ann's wedding = Fun!

Sunday - Big pancake breakfast at the Fujimotos followed by a walk around Fremont, Dad Watson's and a nap along the canal/in front of Google. Joshua and I got on our plane going back to Philly around 8pm and didn't get into Philly around 10am due to flight delays. Joshua went straight to work because today was the first day of work for a new employee at CCOP.

Overall, a super fun week. Best vacation ever!