Travels

It’s been a while since we blogged and an update is long overdue. The highlight of the last few weeks is that Katie had a week of vacation and I was able to take a few days off work and we were able to get away and relax for a little while. The vacation coincided nicely with our second wedding anniversary (amazing how time flies!). Well almost nicely, I had my mid-term for my class that night, but the following night we headed down to Newport. We got a great deal on a hotel through Priceline (although not as good as the $25/night at “church camp” the year before). The rain held off and we had a nice day to journey along the Cliff Walk and to go to the Vanderbilt’s mansion – The Breakers. The place was amazing, like a European Palace. For food we had a record of 2-1-1. 2 great places, 1 terrible and one OK. The OK place was a Paris Crêperie. The coffee and atmosphere was great, but crepes not so much (especially compared to our crêperie here in Brookline!). Dinner was terrible. I ordered linguini with meatballs and sausage. Who knew it was possible to go so wrong! Every part was bad, right down to the mushy-hot-dog-like sausage. The good news is it was so bad I ended up not eating much and saving room for a great chocolate fondue dessert down the street. After Newport we headed to New Haven to visit Nick and Beth and then Jill. It was great seeing them all, and with Jill we had dinner in the Italian district which redeemed the dinner from the night before! The rest of the week we spent in NJ enjoying good times with family and friends over meals, coffee and the such. We headed back Sunday morning (through rather disappointing foliage) and was back in time for the afternoon service at our church to see our new pastor the Reverend Michael Keller ordained and to hear his father give an excellent sermon on the “secret” to successful ministry – a humble and broken spirit.

Some pics:

That's a half smile by me. Happy to be on vacation, but how can you mess up linguini!

Us on the Cliff Walk

View from the Cliff Walk

Enjoying year two!

Aunt Katie and Jillian

Hanging with the fam on the Delaware

So that’s a snap shot of our time away. Katie is entering probably the best month of the year right now with all weekends off until (and including) the weekend before thanksgiving. She’s enjoying the more relaxed schedule – even taking knitting back up! Our neighborhood was hopping yesterday with trick-or-treaters, marking the opening of the two-month eating season! Speaking of, I think it's time for me go grab a chocolate chip cookie (it's great having Katie's schedule a little more free!!)...