Thanksgiving in Nebraska

While this may not seem like the typical Thanksgiving weekend picture, we did find ourselves playing hunting video games with the Millers that weekend. They are fierce competitors, each and every one of them. Even Donna took a turn shooting deer and elk and "critters."

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with the Millers in their new Lincoln home. All of the siblings were together for the first time since our wedding in 2006! Hopefully that trend will change in 2008!

Here we are with Russ's brother, Rob, and his fiance, Stacey. It was great to have a beer at Yia Yias again and revisit the old college stomping grounds.

American Freaking Gladiators!

I was flipping through the chanels the other day and found myself captivated by a marathon of American Gladiators on ESPN clasics. Man I loved that show as a kid! I looked forward to Sunday mornings with Nitro, Turbo, Siren, and Lace roughing up some comically smaller chumps on the gauntlet.

And now I hear they are bringing it back. Somehow I don't imagine it'll be the same. With or without the hulkster..

Eagles v. Giants

Rachel, wonderful wife she is, teamed up with our friend Carol to get her husband, Pieter and I tickets to an Eagles game. We decided to get our moneys worth by going down and tailgating in the parking lot, Wisconsin-style. We cooked up some beer-italian sausages (no brats to be found in philly).

Lagers and Brats = good. Lagers and brats before a football game = great.

Our seats were great, we had an excellent view of the game. It was definitely cold and damp, but that just completed the ambiance.

Jamaica

In honor of our friend Jeff's 25th birthday (honestly!), we joined him and eight other friends for a week in Negril, Jamaica. What better way to celebrate your birthday than with some of your closest friends in the Caribbean islands? We had a wonderful time, despite what must have been 10" or more of rainfall that week! We stayed a block away from the 7-mile beach, one of the biggest tourist attractions on the island. There are a few big all-inclusive resorts, but most of the beach is lined with restaurants and bars, like the ones advertizing in the photo above. We had about two sunny days, which we spent on the beach. The water is perfect -- you can walk out about as far as the ropes and the water is crystal clear.

When it was raining or cloudy, we spent time at the Freedom Villa, our accommodations, playing cards, reading, and chatting with everyone. Jeff has stayed at the villa before and has befriended the managers, John and Anita. They also give tours of tourist attractions around the island, and we made several day trip tours with them. Our first was to the Manfield Falls, where we did a riverwalk through a series of small waterfalls. The second was to the Black River and Appleton Rum Distillery. It poured rain partway through the Black River tour, but the tour guide still managed to entice a few crocodiles to approach the boat (a snack helped). Here's a view of the river, with red mangrove trees that grow "roots" from their branches to drink from the river:

But we didn't mind the rain much, right Jeff?

The rest of the week was full of relaxation, for both Russell...

...and Rachel.


We'd love to return to Jamaica again and enjoy the beautiful beaches, eat the amazing food, and see the sites again soon. I'm sure we only scratched the surface of what Jamaica has to offer. Maybe for Russ's 25th birthday...

Hiking in the Poconos

The beautiful Pocono Mountains, just a few hour's drive north of Philadelphia, was the setting for a weekend of camping and hiking with our friends Pieter and Carol in late September. The leaves were just beginning to change color. Above and below are scenes from the more gentle of the two hikes we did, at the Hickory Run State Park in the Lehigh Valley. There were a few small waterfalls on this hike.









The second hike, the Glen Onoko Falls Trail, definitely raised our heart rates more, but luckily it was not as treacherous as the sign warned:











It definitely was a challenge! We resorted to scrambling up sides of the mountain, almost rock climbing in places, when we lost the trail. Luckily, we only met one very timid and small snake and no one had to be air-lifted from the gorge.
















And we were rewarded with views like in the picture below, taken from atop the waterfall in the above picture.









We're hoping to make the hike again in October, once the leaves have turned colors more. It's worth the view!

Nebraska!!!

Well, my parents succumbed to the internal pull back to Nebraska and have moved into a new house outside of Lincoln. We made it back there recently to check out the new house, celebrate my Grandmother's 90th birthday!, and catch the Nebraska vs. USC game. Well, the first two were great.

Rachel and I got a chance to hang out with my friend Jeff and her Cousin Melissa in Lincoln (just another perk of having the family back in Lincoln). Jeff is managing a thriving import business (I'm pushing for a little exporting but I don't think he's in to it). He recently got back from a trip from Nepal where he has set up a factory.

Melissa and Rachel chatted up a storm as well, but I didn't hear any of it. I'll leave her to tell that story another time.

Rachel and I had excellent seats at the game, 50 yard line and only about 10 rows from the USC bench.

There was a brief moment when we all thought NE would win the game. Then the second quarter hit. Then the third. Then the fourth. The game was great though.

The next day we had the celebration for my Grandmother. 90 candles is a lot, but she got them all out!

Grounded in Philly

As new transplants in the Philadelphia region, we've been looking forward to any chance to visit family and friends in the good ole' Midwest. And the final wedding in a three-year wedding spree of friends and colleagues in Madison, Wisconsin (where we just moved from), was the perfect opportunity to see as many friends as possible. The wedding of our friends Carol and Mark was drawing friends from as far as California and several friends were moving away from Madison shortly after the wedding. Attending the wedding was the best chance to see as many of these friends as possible in one place, at one time. We weren't going to miss it for the world. We made sure our wedding attire was properly dry cleaned, purchased a wide array of personal hygiene products in small, airline-approved 3.4-oz, bottles, and packed our bag for the weekend.

Fast forward to midnight Friday. After 8 hours of waiting in the decrepid Philadelphia airport, a short period during which the airport was closed to all air traffic, and numerous announcements of half-hour, hour, and four-hour delays in our departure time, the good people at United Airlines decided to cancel our flight. We were left stranded in our new hometown.

During the 45-minute taxi ride through south Philly (my first experience of a taxi driver immediately locking the doors after exiting the highway), we debated how we would get through the weekend, knowing that our friends were all together enjoying our favorite dive bars and badly dancing to wedding music without us. We decided to do the only thing we could under such circumstances: celebrate.

The following night we prepared a lovely three-course meal, donned our wedding garb, popped open the champagne, and celebrated our friends' wedding in our own small way. The steak was perfectly done, the mood intimate, and the centerpieces breathtaking. My favorite aspect of the event was the venue, which sported a lovely view of downtown Philadelphia. So romantic.

Classic wedding music was played, some people in the room did "get down," and the bride and groom were toasted. May they always be surrounded by friends and family who love them, even from across the country.