Whale Watch

August 29th

While looking for ocean things to do, I came across some Whale Watch websites.  There was one right out of Rye, NH, only a half an hour from here!  We got our reservations and were ready to go!  I was a bit worried about sea-sickness, but we took our dramamine and were off.

This was a 4-5 hours trip into the open waters.  We got the perfect seats in the back right corner of the boat ... enough to keep the wind and splashes off and have the least amount of motion.  After almost an hour of being out on the water, (and a few sick people invading our area on the back of the boat!) they announced that our first whale had been spotted!  The cool news is that it was a Fin Whale - second largest whale AND second largest living animal to the Blue Whale, growing up to 88 ft. long!! -- the bummer was that it comes up only a few times for air before making a deep, long dive again - which doesn't offer too much viewing time. 

We did see 6 total Fin Whales, which was amazing.  But we didn't see any other types on this venture.  We'll have to go back (and Angie says she's up for a watch with us) and hope to see some others, along with some sharks.  This was a trip that was worth the 5 hours out in the open water!

The Great Outdoors ... NH & Maine

Since we live in a place that encourages outdoor discovery without even trying, we have done some different nature walks since moving.

We checked out Bear Brook State Park up the road.  The trails were nice - not as exciting for hiking as they will be for mountain biking - so we can't wait for next spring to get up there with our bikes.



We also took a drive up to Ogunquit Maine to walk a trail called Marginal Way. We walked it from Perkins Cove up to Ogunquit Beach, where the trail runs right along the coastline. It was nice to spend some time along the water on such a great day.

Aaron in Texas / Sheila in Vermont ... again

August 20th-27th

While Aaron *still* had time off, he decided to make a trip home to League City, TX.  I, again, decided to spend time up in Vermont (it's just too easy to get home now!)

Aaron spent some quality time with his dad and brother, Jesse.  
He and his dad drove up to the Shiner Bock Brewery in Shiner, Texas (where they've been before and just love it).

After that, they headed up to Jesse's place in Austin where they hung out a bit and then hit Schlitterbahn Waterpark the next day.  I guess they had a blast acting like kids for a day!

My week was a good one too - I got to spend more time with Shelley, Tyler, Tori & Trey. He grows SO fast!

This time, I also made my way up to St. Albans to spend time seeing people up there. Kristy and I spent a day having fun with blueberry picking and wine tasting!  

I also hung out with Anna & Matthew for an afternoon of cree-mees and playing down at the lake. Those two are such little clowns.

Another fun trip home - with a short drive there and back!

Shawn & Kristy's Visit to NH

August 14th - August 17th

Our first official visitors in New Hampshire were Shawn & Kristy.  We didn't have any set plans, but enjoyed a great day at Hampton Beach where we had lunch, sat out in the sand and sun for a bit and then hit up the arcade!


The next day, we hit the Anheuser-Busch Brewery just down the road in Merrimack - this was a great free tour with two free beer samples ... though Shawn stuck with the pretzels!  They also have stables with their famous Clydesdales, so we checked them out as well.




Other than that, the weekend included some late night ice cream cravings, some movies, and Shawn quoting 300 many, many times!

It was a fun weekend.

Aaron in California / Sheila in Vermont

August 6th - August 12th

With Aaron's 5 weeks off between jobs, he decided to make a trip out to San Diego to visit his friend, Jason.  Since he was going to be gone, I headed up to Vermont to meet Trey and help Shelley and Tyler out a bit.

Aaron had a GREAT time in Cali - he and Jason hiked early in the mornings.  He had a relaxing trip and can't wait to move there now. ;)




I had a fun spending time with the newly expanded Smith family.  Trey changed even over the short week I was there.

Back to NY for the Schwartz Wedding

August 3rd - August 4th

After a week of unpacking and settling into NH, we did head back into NY for a friend's wedding. This was my old co-worker, Matt's wedding. He "hired" me to make their wedding stationery and I will be "hiring" him to work on a website for me!


We had a great time at the wedding in Poughkeepsie, NY. In addition to celebrating with Matt & Shana, we had fun with my old boss Alex and his wife Cheryl, and my old co-workers Phil & Rasheed.

THE MOVE TO NH!!!

Week of July 27th

The move has happened and it took only a week to settle in.  Luckily, we have a garage again, which is acting as storage for all of the stuff we chose not to unpack into our (hopefully) short-term housing here.  We've signed a 6-month lease, but may to renew once, as we search for a house!  It's nice to have more space - even though I'm not getting a chance to decorate.  It'll do for now, as we discover NH and prepare for winter-living again!

Spuds Trip to NY / Saying Goodbye to NY Friends

July 24th - July 26th

Well, while Aaron and I had become accustomed to and happy with the New Hampshire move, Spuds was sad.  He wanted to make one more trip into NYC while he had a free (close) place to stay.  I rode back from Vermont with him and his friend Ricky.  This was our last few days to pack up the apartment, work more on some of the wedding jobs I had to get done, and for us say good bye to some of our friends and old co-workers.

Aaron, Spuds, Ricky and I met up with my old boss, Alex, and my old co-worker, Matt at our usual meeting spot - Lazy Boy Saloon in White Plains.  We had some good beers, some good greasy foods and some good laughs. I'll miss our little gatherings here.


Friday - Spuds and Rickey headed into the city while Aaron and I stayed home to continue the horrible task of packing up our years of accrued possessions. (How did we ever live in only 500 sq. ft.????) Later in the day, we headed into the city to meet up with some of Aaron's old co-workers and their wives. Spuds and Ricky also met up with us here at the Boat Basin.

(Joe & Solimar)

(Mike & Rosann)

The rest of the weekend was a whirlwind of more packing, teetering piles of boxes and unorganized chaos. Spuds, Ricky and our friend Jeff helped us out and we were *almost* ready for the movers to arrive on Sunday!





Good-bye Tarrytown, New York!!! (We will miss our castle!)

Week in Vermont

July 19th - July 24th

I spent this week in Vermont while Aaron stayed in New York to pack up our apartment.  Some may think this is so wrong - but he's okay with the packing (and I'm not) and I'm okay with UNpacking (and he's not), so it was all okay.

This was also the week Shelley was due, and we were hoping she would have the baby while I was home.  We all know that didn't happen!  We all thought Shelley was small and Selena was already getting big, but this picture proves otherwise!

Selena, Cathryn, Anna, Matthew, Shelley, Tori and I spent a day together. We went to the Vermont Teddy Bear Factory for the tour, where the kids each chose their own stuffed animal to be made. And then it was time for ice cream at the Ben & Jerry's shop on Church Street. We all had a fun time.  

I was also trying to finish up THREE wedding jobs at this time. It was a good time to work on them away from the mess of the half-packed apartment back in Tarrytown!

Quick NH Trip

July 11th - July 12th

We drove up to New Hampshire on a Friday for a quick trip to meet Aaron's future co-worker, see Uncle Pete & Aunt Chris and check out the apartments owned by the same people as our Tarrytown apartment (this allowed us to avoid the penalty costs of breaking our lease early).  

Since Dan, (the future co-worker) hadn't gotten back to Aaron about meeting up before we left town, we didn't print out directions to the office.  He did call once we got on the road and was still up for meeting.  We picked a random exit off of 93 North on our way up to Gilford, and called Dan to let him know we were in town - we had taken the exit about 1/4 mile from the office!  Good guess!  After meeting Dan, he drove us in a giant loop around downtown Manchester and to the Country Club for some drinks.  At this point, Aaron was a bit worried about the new job ...

We headed up to see pete & Chris a bit later than we had hoped, but we made it there!  After a tour of all of their hard work on their house, we enjoyed dinner, then a Wendy's Frosty run, and brunch the next morning.  Quick visit - but glad to know they're only an hour up the road.

We did see Chris Hanson, one of our table-mates from our Honeymoon cruise, for a quick 30 minutes before leaving town!

We saw some apartments, signed a 6-month lease and headed east on 101 to hit Hampton Beach before going back to NY.  Boy, is that some cold water!  

(I think Aaron will fit in here just fine!)

It was only a day and a half, but we met Dan, saw Pete, Chris and Chris AND know we'll have a place to live in Manchester!

4th of July Weekend in VT

We headed up to VT for the July 4th weekend ... had a relaxing time at the house making S'mores over the fire pit, meals outside with the nice weather, and watching the Bay Day race.

Aaron and Spuds have talked about making up a team for years, and this year, they finally did it!  They were team "My Moms Cooks Good" (though in the results posted in the Messenger, it was plain old "My Mom Cooks Good" ... so wrong).  The team did pretty good - Spuds finished the run and Aaron enjoyed the biking and can't wait to get his own road bike.  It was also great to have good weather this year so the whole race could go on.

Aaron and I also took Tori down to the St. Albans fireworks. I haven't been in yeeears, and boy, some things never change (boy, the people you see down there!!) We spoiled Tori with her favorites - Mike & Ikes and orange soda. They put on a good show, and we were smart enough to head back to the car to beat the traffic just before the finale ... that was Tori's favorite.

We also got to meet the new addition to the family - Spuds' puppy Krete!

Senesac Girls Visit to NYC

June 27th - June 29th

The Senesac girls (Selena, Cathryn, Anna, Angela & Gracie) made their annual NYC trip this year - with a couple of additions - Penny and Lauren!  They decided to stay at the Cosmopolitan Hotel in downtown Manhattan this year instead of traveling in on the Metro-North from Tarrytown.  Selena asked me to join them in the city.  

They arrived Friday afternoon - and after enjoying some of the birthday cake they brought for me, we headed down to the hotel via public transportation.  The Metro ride wasn't the tough part - it was getting the girls and all of the luggage through the streets from Grand Central to Penn Station and the subway station there and at Chambers Street ... but we did it!  After dropping the bags, we grabbed a bite to eat, and strolled through downtown a bit along the Hudson River.


Saturday morning, we got in line for the Statue of Liberty - something Aaron and I never even did over the two years we lived right by it.  After standing in line for almost an hour, we got on the boat and headed out.  It was a nice (hot) day and worth the wait - she doesn't seem to big until you get out to it and look up.



After that, we walked by Ground Zero, headed over to Pier 17 to grab some lunch, take in the views of the Brooklyn Bridge (and the waterfalls that were put up along the East River) and stock up on some sugar at the candy store!  And then we were off to Times Square to see the night lights and for the girls to go on the ferris wheel in Toys R Us.  Then we all crashed after the hot and busy day.



Sunday wasn't the greatest weather-wise ... and we ended up in the middle of the Gay Pride Parade on Fifth Avenue!!  But it was a NYC-packed day regardless.  Penny and Lauren went up to the top of the Empire State Building as the rest of us headed to where else but the American Girl store!  After each of the little ones picked out some new outfits and accessories for their dolls, we watched a bit of the parade in the rain as we waited for Penny and Lauren before heading up to FAO Schwartz and Central Park.  We didn't get the weather we hoped for to relax in the park, but we did decide to see the park by riding in the horse-drawn carriages.  That was a new experience for all of us as well.




It was time to head back to Tarrytown - where I went back home to discuss the offers Aaron had been given for the new NH job, and the girls stayed in the nice renovated Double Tree for the night before headed back to VT.

Another weekend in the big city gone by!