What a great week! Last week our friends, the Richardsons, from California came for a visit. As part of a longer trip on the East Coast, during which they visited various historical sights from Virginia to Boston, they decided they couldn't resist a stop in the Big Apple to visit us - and we're so glad! Before we got married, Susan spent quite a bit of time at the Richardson house and this visit definitely reminded Susan of how much she enjoyed their company. The kids will all be in high school next year and it was amazing to reminisce about going to watch basketball games when the youngest was in 2nd grade! As Preston was quick to remind me - I really am getting old! It was fun talking with the kids about the highlights of this trip and their latest school experiences; helpful talking with Karen about life and tips for household management; and great talking with Kent getting caught up on the latest news regarding the building project at our old church. It was also a huge blessing having the family here as the girls volunteered to help in the kitchen and Kent cleaned out the screen in our bathroom faucet and increased the quality of life for our neighbors buy purchasing and installing felt for the bottom of our kitchen chairs! We're so glad that our apartment is big enough to allow a family of 5 to visit without it being too squished.

On Friday we went to the city so the girls could do some shopping in Manhattan (I think more for bragging rights at school than anything else!) and then to meet up with Ivan and go to dinner. The girls found some great Tees for school and Karen bought flip flops for me and her. Then, we headed to Ivan's office. Our original plan was to walk to a Puerto Rican restaurant about 15 minutes away. However, by the time Ivan came down, it was pouring rain. Now, I've seen some storms in my life, but it has been a very long time since I've been in such a torrential downpour. We were ill-prepared for the weather (Karen had an umbrella, Kent had a jacket with a hood, and Kailey had a poncho) so we quickly changed our plans to only walk 5 minutes to the Olive Garden. Kent bought two more umbrellas on the way, but we were still soaking wet by the time we arrived. The wait was supposedly an hour, so some of us went to the bathroom to try to dry off. Someone had the fabulous idea to change into the new, dry clothes and flip flops that had just been purchased and it made for a much more comfortable evening. We had a great time eating yummy food (those breadsticks are killer!) and by the time we left the rain had stopped and the sunset was beautiful. We got to go back to Ivan's office and get some great views of the city at night from the upper floors.

We all took some photos, but I can't find my cord to download mine from the camera, so maybe I'll get to add some to this post later or they'll pop up as a Facebook album sooner or later.

Labels: Food, NY

We got back from the cruise yesterday morning and had enjoyed our vacation so much that we didn't want it to end. As a result, we decided that instead of unpacking, we should go to a Mets game! For all of you Dodgers fans out there, don't take for granted how inexpensive tickets are to go see your team play at home. Apparently baseball is huge out here (there's the Yankees and Mets teams across the river from each other as well as the minor league teams not far away) so tickets are quite expensive. The cheap seats are over $20 a piece! We bit the bullet and bought them (although we made a trip to the stadium to buy them in person to save the extra $24 they tack onto the price if you buy them online - what a rip off!) We were excited about the game and also about the promo item - the Mets cap courtesy of Nathan's.

We packed all sorts of snacks to avoid the temptation of purchasing hot dogs at the field and the sky was looking threatening so we also packed a blanket, sweatshirts, jackets, and gloves. It's a good thing we did, because it didn't take long before we were quite cold sitting in our seats. One positive thing we found about the "nose bleed" seats was that they were under an overhang of the roof. It was drizzling by the time the game started and the rain continued to fall until the game was delayed due to the rain in the top of the 8th inning. We were relatively dry and warm in our cheap seats, but the 75 minute delay was still a bit too much for us to handle. It was already after 9pm and we needed to get some things done, so we decided that we had our money's worth of baseball and headed home before the Mets lost 3-1 to Tampa Bay.

Labels: NY

We just got back from our very first cruise! It was wonderful! Okay, in the interest of full disclosure, Susan has been on a cruise before. Her family went to Alaska when she was in 8th grade. That was a fun cruise as we did all of the kids activities and ran around like crazy and ate all sorts of food that we wouldn't get at home, but this cruise was very different and even more enjoyable.

As we were enjoying the cruise we often stopped to ask each other why didn't we go on a cruise for our honeymoon?! We left on Thursday, June 11 from Brooklyn on the Caribbean Princess (a Princess Cruises ship). Ivan worked a half-day and we went directly to the port from his office. We packed light and were able to directly board without waiting in very many lines at all. Our 9-day cruise was scheduled to make stops in Bermuda (West End), Puerto Rico (San Juan), U.S. Virgin Islands (St. Thomas), and Caicos Island (Grand Turk) with 2 days at sea getting to and from the Caribbean. One of the great things about the cruise was that we were able to unpack our bags once and not have to worry about changing hotels every few days and it really didn't work out to be much more expensive per day than our honeymoon was (including food - so maybe it was even cheaper!!).

We totally lucked out on our cabin: we paid for the cheapest interior cabin, but ended up in a partially obstructed ocean view cabin (a full 30 square feet larger and with a gorgeous view). We were directly on the bow of the ship which helped with the view, but did seem to be a bit of a rougher ride than closer to the middle of the ship. Thankfully, neither of us got sea sick and we thoroughly enjoyed our cabin.

We were determined to manage our eating to minimize the weight gain and started out great: going to the gym twice a day and eating frequent, small, healthy meals. We "splurged" at afternoon tea, eating sandwiches and desserts, but decided that it was early enough in the day that we could work off those calories. At dinner we limited ourselves to the "healthy" choices or, if we ordered something that wasn't so healthy we would eat no more than half of it (we tried asking for half of a portion to avoid wasting food, but our waiter told us not to worry about it - so we didn't). By the end of the trip we let our guard down a bit, went to the gym less often, and ate food that we would have scoffed at during the first few days, but we still managed to put on less than 5 lbs each (hurrah!).

During the sea days we made a point to attend the ballroom dance lessons and now can hold our own at dancing the Salsa, Merengue, Cha Cha, and Waltz (although we have to practice or else we forget everything!) Unfortunately, they only teach three moves per dance, so our repertoire is rather limited, but it's still fun to be able to find a song on YouTube and dance to it!

At our first port (Bermuda), we paid for an excursion on a glass bottom boat to see a ship wreck and then snorkel and that was a lot of fun. It was a cloudy day and rained a bit while we were in the water, but it wasn't cold and since we were wet anyways, the extra water didn't bother us. We also went to Hamilton to see the city, but didn't have much time and weren't too impressed with seeing the city. There were a large number of "Tall Boats" (the old fashioned full-rigging sail boats) that were preparing for a transatlantic voyage, so those were pretty neat to see.

On the cruise, there was a lot of photography so we decided we should have brought more clothes so we could have more variety in the photos we could purchase, so in San Juan we decided to do some clothes shopping. We also did the AAA Walking Tour of Old San Juan including a visit to El Morro, La Forteleza, and many Plazas. It was a very warm and sunny day, so we didn't last very many hours out in the sun before heading back to the ship for a late lunch.

Our third port was St. Thomas. Susan had done some research and learned that the most appealing shore excursion was a driving tour of the best spots on the island. Rather than book that tour, we found a taxi bus to take us around for less than 50% what we would have paid on board. Unfortunately, it was miserable weather and we didn't get many good photos from the lookout points. However, when we did get glimpses of the water, we were absolutely astounded by how many different shades of blue it was. It was incredible.

Our final port was Grand Turk. We had wanted to book another snorkeling excursion, but balked at the price so instead we went ashore and rented snorkels for $10 a piece (mental note, next time buy a snorkel at home and bring it with you) rather than spending $80 a piece for an official excursion. The water, for the most part was warm and rather shallow and there were a surprising number of fish to look at, although no coral. Perhaps we would have seen more interesting things on an expensive excursion, but we definitely got our money's worth on the beach and enjoyed sitting around and reading a book in between snorkeling.

On the last two sea days we were very ready to just relax. One morning we sat on deck and watched a movie by the pool. Although we were very diligent to apply sun block, we missed a few spots and are now burnt to a crisp in a strange pattern (a few spots on our arms and legs including all of Susan's neck). Hopefully it's not severe enough to start peeling, but we're also glad that we didn't get sunburnt earlier on the trip.

Our highlights were definitely the dining experience and the dancing on board as well as the snorkeling opportunities ashore. We hope to take another cruise in the not-too-distant future.

For more photos, log into Facebook (they will be posted in the next few days).

Labels: Cruise, NY, Summary

Another few busy weeks have gone by. A few days after Papa Viktor left, some friends from California came for a visit (JK and Ira). They were on the East Coast for a conference and were able to stay a few days extra. They also celebrated their anniversary while they were here, so on Friday evening they went to Manhattan. On Saturday, Ivan and Susan went to Mike and Prospera's wedding. It was our first New York wedding/reception. We had no idea what we were in for! Most of the weddings we've attended have been for college friends in California, where it's usually a punch and cake reception that lasts for a few hours. This was a full on crazy expensive reception and we had a blast. It started with appetizers (which were so extensive we thought it was the whole meal). Then, we moved into the dining room where the wedding party was announced. There was a DJ playing music and the couple had their first dance. Then came the four course meal with dancing interspersed. Ivan and I enjoyed a few slow dances and tried to swing dance to a few numbers. We decided we need to take some dancing lessons so that we can feel less foolish next time! But we had a lot of fun.

After the reception, we decided to join JK and Ira in the city for a bite to eat. Ivan showed them his office and took them up to the 33rd floor, where there's a great view of Manhattan. Then, we went to a Sushi restaurant. Usually, Susan is afraid of sushi, but she ordered a few California rolls (ie no raw seafood) and they were quite tasty. We drove the Sheas to the airport on Sunday.

The following week was Susan's birthday and Memorial Day weekend. We went out to a Mexican restaurant in Manhattan for Susan's birthday dinner and then Ivan had a few days off, so we went to Boston, MA. We had a great time, although we were sort of hoping that Susan would be able to meet with some people at MIT to discuss research ideas, but since it was a holiday weekend, no one was around. So we just enjoyed watching the scullers on the Charles River, walking around Cambridge, and looking at Harvard. The Mets were playing the Red Sox while we were there and we debated going to a game, but it was cold and rainy, so we opted not to. We did, however, make it out to the JFK Presidential Library, which is only a few miles from the city. It was pretty interesting and made for a good half day trip.


Basically as soon as we got back from Massachusetts, Susan turned around and went to New Mexico to hang out with Claire for her birthday. What many people don't realize is that Memorial Day is actually on May 30, but it's observed on the last Monday in May. Well, Claire's birthday is on Memorial Day, but the rest of the nation observed her birthday on Monday, so we decided that she needed to celebrate her birthday every day that week. Susan learned how to play "Happy Birthday" on the guitar and so she played it and gave her a present every night that week. Our cousin, Shelley, also came out from Ohio to celebrate Claire's birthday with her, so we had fun together. On Friday we went up to the top of Sandia Peak and then went to the Petroglyph National Monument. It was a lot of walking and it was a hot day, but we had a lot of fun. On Saturday we took a trip to Santa Fe to see the capitol. It wasn't as exciting as we had expected - Albuquerque is a much larger and more interesting than Santa Fe, but now we can say we've been to the capitol. After we got back from Santa Fe, we went to see "Up" in the movie theater. What a sad movie! It's a tear-jerker: cute, but very sad. After the movie we went out for Claire's birthday dinner to an award-winning barbeque place. Wow! That was good food! We split a sampler meal so we could try three different kinds of meat. We then went back and bought a pound of the best stuff and took it home. We watched a movie and ate some fabulous Strawberry dessert, which we made last time we were all at Claire's house (in NJ).

Susan left on Sunday to fly back to Boston, where she had finally set up a meeting to discuss research ideas with a professor at Southampton University who was in Boston for a few days for some board of directors meetings. It was a productive meeting and hopefully will lead to some concrete progress in her PhD.

Susan took the train home and is ready to return to a less hectic schedule soon.

Labels: NY, Quick Trip, Summary