East Bay Bike Ridin'

Recently, the city has reopened the nearby Fox Point entry to the East Bay bike path - a 16 mile trail between East Providence and Bristol, RI. Tony and I decided to check it out on a nice summer evening after work. Here we are (notice the new helmets):

Memorial Day = New York Tour!

Tony and I headed to my native land this Memorial Day - primarily, for the wedding of my Haver-friend Sarah Hanck, and secondly for mini visits with both our buddies Jeremy and Tanveer and my family out on the island. So you can imagine this was a fun filled 3 day weekend!

We headed down friday evening, had a wonderful home cooked Indian meal at Jeremy and Tanveer's ( who graciously hosted us for the NYC portion of our tour); then Tony, Tanveer and I went on a roller blading tour of the west side of Manhattan - poor Jeremy had to work : ( We bladed down Riverside Park from 73th Street all the way to Battery Park - it was great! Then we stopped for a nice lunch in the village before heading up to Central Park. By then it was time to get ready for the big Brooklyn bash. We headed down to Frank's Spuntino in Brooklyn for a beautiful outdoor wedding reception for Sarah and Brian. It was wonderful to see them both and catch up with some Haverford buddies.

Then, after a nice Sunday breakfast with J+T we jumped in the car and headed to "The Island". This is where we found my parents and brother knee deep in kitchen renovation. (My brother recently finished making a complete set of kitchen cabinets for my parents - they are BEAUTIFUL - and he is helping with the demolition and installation.) Stay tuned for pics from the completed room. Then we had a nice birthday dinner (for Tony) at my grandparents' house Sunday night complete with birthday cake. Here are a few pics from this whirlwind trip.

Me and Tanveer sitting in a sculpture in Riverside Park on our rollerblading trek.

Riverside Park

Takin' a break to look at the view.

Battery Park.

Flowers in Battery Park

Central Park

The Central Park Wizard: Blackwolf the Dragonmaster (don't ask)

More Performers: Pink Angel and Thoth ( REALLY, don't ask)

Remote control boat pond with the Upper East Side in the background.

Tony and I at the top of the Central Park Castle.
The Great Lawn is in the background.

Waiting in line for the Port Jeff Ferry.

Our chariot to Bridgeport arrives!

Port Jefferson Harbor.

Letterboxing in Lincoln Woods

We were lucky enough to have Mary and John down for Mother's Day weekend. So what better gift for our little Mother, but a letterboxing adventure! (For those of you who don't know, Mary is a HUGE letterboxing fanatic). We also took this opportunity to explore a part of Rhode Island we had not yet seen: Lincoln Woods, a RI State Park right outside of Providence. It's literally a 15 minute ride from our house, but you couldn't feel further from the city. Check out the pics.

Mary and I pose for a photo at the start of our hike.

There is a large pond in the center of the park.
It was very pretty - though the gnats were is full bloom. Ack!

Some interesting moss...

Can you spot the 2 letterboxers in this picture....

April Weekend Away: Portland, ME

So this posting is little belated - but better late than never! So Tony had a week off in April - but since Lizzie had to work, we were restricted to a weekend trip. Destination: Portland, ME. Though many may think the western Portland (OR) is more 'en vogue' - we were really pleased at how cool it's eastern sister was. We pampered ourselves with a "fancy" hotel (no hostels here!), ate some great meals (The Farmer's Table), and visited with a long lost RPCV buddy of Tony's (Justin Weiss).... oh, and on the way back to RI we did succumb to the outlets - it's just to good to pass up!

So Saturday morning we headed out to explore the Harbor district.

Searching for sustainance we chanced upon The Standard Bakery - an apparent hot spot.
( We are so in "the know" )

There we had the most incredibly naughty breakfast treats

- this is the "Morning Bun" I had.. hmmm

Above is the sign of a great restaurant we had dessert at with Justin.

Sunday morning we grabbed our coffees and strolled around the

northeast part of Portland, by the beach.

The tidal pool on the beach.

In the parking lot of the outlets I show off my "Lobster Claw".
(aka: very sunburned arm)

More Bathroom Progress

So, we continued our bathroom "March Madness", and have made great strides. Our accomplishments thus far include: sheet-rocking the hole in the wall; painting the walls; installation of the sink and vanity; installation of the medicine cabinet and over the toilet cabinet; and mounting toilet paper and towel racks. The only remaining tasks are mounting the light ( to be put above the medicine cabinet) and the baseboard molding. So not too shabby for a month's work! Here are the photos....

The remaining hole in the walls after the moving of the pipes.

"Plumber Jim" came over for one last installment

of DYI instruction: Sheet rock repair.

Here's Tony screwing in the patch.

Ah, the finished product.

The sink is mounted! Hook up the water!

Finally, a working sink!
No more brushing teeth in the kitchen : )

Isn't it pretty?

Tony hard at work with the screwdriver.

The finish product!

Woo-hoo!

Stayed tuned for the completely finished bathroom---new hand towels and all : )

An Icy Trip to Sugarbush

Not such great skiing (50 degree weather followed by 20 degree weather makes for a VERY icy mountain!).. but a great visit with the Deerfield and Gemignani clans at Miguel's Stowe Away was an excellent end to a chilly, icy day.

Warming up at the outdoor fire pit.

Tony and Mom.

Liz, Mom and Dad Deerfield.

Liz and Mom.