Parma, Modena, and Bologna

This was a nice little weekend. We left early Saturday morning in the new Ford C-Max. This car will make for much nicer weekend trips! Wider back seat, more leg room, bigger trunk area, better mileage, and cheaper diesel fuel. This time Cynthia was in town for work so she came along on the trip.

Parma
We drove up to Parma first to walk around and have lunch. We walked the main street and there were many little food shops and a market in full swing (looked mostly like clothes and shoes). We walked far enough and found the grassy area. We figured we would eat a picnic style lunch with some food from some of the bars across the street. We had pizza, pastries, and a few other random things. It was pretty good. After lunch we started our walking tour of the town. Unfortunately, most churches and sites had closed for siesta (usually doesn't happen) so we have only outside pictures of most places. We ventured over to the large park across the river before stopping in at a couple stores for gelato and cheese. It is Parma!

Pictures from Parma

Modena
We then drove about half an hour to Modena, hoping that Nolan would get a quick nap. Of course he didn't fall asleep until we were almost there, but he is a trooper and the quick nap was good enough. We didn't want to spend too much time here as we still had to drive to Bologna to get checked in for the night. We walked down the main street and checked out some little shops and were once again disappointed by a closed tower. We walked around the square, took some photos and then realized we could go in the church! This was a nice, big one made of brick. We walked around for quite a while then figured we should get a move on. Of course on our way to the car we stopped in and bought some balsamic vinegar!

Pictures from Modena

Bologna
We drove our 40 minutes to Bologna so we could get checked in, sit for a few minutes, then find some dinner. The Zanhotel Europa is a pretty good deal! Deeply discounted on the web, a decent breakfast, and pretty nice rooms! We were recommended to eat at Ristorante Bolognese. While we got a pretty good taste of local food here, their desserts were not good. At this point we realized the US v Ghana game had just started, so we got back to the hotel to relax and watch some soccer.

The next morning we walked to the city center and checked out the sites. We wanted to get them in before lunch/siesta. This town is known for it's two towers, both of which are leaning. We climbed the large tower (Asinelli) as the smaller one is under construction. This was quite a hike with a little guy on my back! But the view was great and I attempted some panoramic shots. From there we went back to the piazza to check out the church and were delighted to see such a wonderful fountain outside! (Check out the pictures) The church was in service but we were allowed to stand in the back. It was pretty nice to witness part of the service, although it seemed pretty much like a catholic service in the states. We walked the streets for a while until lunch. I saw a sign for Trattoria Pizzeria La Mela, which means pizza but we can sit down inside. The pizzas were decent and there was a wide selection. After this the heat picked up outside, and everything closed, so we got on the road back home (with a stop at Ikea in Florence, of course)!

Pictures from Bologna

Owning a GPS

Now that I am a co-owner of a Nuvi, and living in Europe, I am very interested in POIs. But, I have found very little explanation to the different options I have in the way of speed cameras, and sites that provide the data for free.

What is the difference between Mobile Cameras and other things? Why does the speed limit shown by a camera on the display many times seem to be less than the speed limit on the road?

What are some good sites for getting up to date information for free? I have found gps-data-team.com and while they claim most "safety" data is free, I can download very little for free.

My favorite POI so far? ZTLs!

Please leave your comments!

Our First Few Weeks

We have been in Italia for almost three weeks now. It has taken some time to get settled, but we are close. We have also been on a couple more trips.

Cinque Terre
Back in 2006, Kacey and I visited Cinque Terre during our trip to Italy, but it was the off season and there was not much open. So this time we all set up our base camp in La Spezia on Friday night and on Saturday morning took the train to Riomaggiore (the southern most town). That Friday night we arrived late in La Spezia and after some traffic and hotel mix-ups, we headed out for a late dinner. While most things seemed closed, we finally found Antica Trattoria. The food was good but it was late by time we were done, so we headed off to bed.

After our quick morning train ride to Riomaggiore, we hiked the ridge from Riomaggiore to Manarola (Lover's Lane) and walked around Manarola for a bit. We then hiked the ridge some more to Corniglia. We ate lunch in Corniglia, and prepared for our mountain hike to Vernazza. This was a pretty good hike with some nice views. We rested in Vernazza by the water for an hour or so, ate some gelato, and then took the train to Monterosso. We walked around Monterosso for a while, found the wine and olive oil shop we liked 3.5 years ago (Enoteca Internazionale) and purchased two more bottles of Benza Olive Oil, and ate dinner at Ristorante Via Venti. We barely caught the 8:30 train back to La Spezia and found some gelato to eat while watching the US v England World Cup match.

Pictures from Cinque Terre.

On our way home we bit the beach for a bit in Massa. While the public beach was about the size of 4 beach towels, it was a chance to catch some rays. We ate lunch at a water-side bar and Nolan and I walked around a bit and played at a playground. The cooling of the temperature indicated it was time to go and just as we were getting in the car to leave, the rain started. Perfect timing.

San Gimignano
We traveled here last Saturday for a quick day trip. This was a nice little town, known for it's many towers. We were able to walk up the tallest, Torre Grossa, and snap a few pictures before the fog completely encapsulated the tower. I also took a panoramic shot from the tower.


We ate lunch at Ristorante Perucà. The portions were a little small, even for here, so while we left hungry the food was pretty good. We decided to just walk around the town and avoid the rain as best as possible. We went in and out of many little shops but didn't quite find what we were looking for. We decided to find a place to eat dinner on our drive home, which would go through a few little towns.

Pictures from San Gimignano.

Our drive took us through Colle di Val d'Elsa and as we left town we spotted Il Casato. The sign said Pizzeria (we were all craving pizza) so we stopped without delay. We walked in at 7:10 and they said we could sit and order drinks, but they didn't open until 7:30. After glancing at the menu, we didn't care. It was full of pasta AND pizza! We found it strange that the rather large dining room was full of tables and most of them had reserved signs on them with different names. Between 8:15 and 8:30, we learned why. This was definitely a family-friendly local joint! Lots of big families with kids came here for dinner. So if you are ever in the area and want a good dinner, stop in!

Napoli, Round Two

There were some things I didn't write about during our trip to Napoli, Pompeii, and Vesuvius. Here we go with some more details!

Napoli
I have now uploaded photos of Napoli showing the town. We also took a couple pictures of our Friday night dinner; fried pizza. We thought we were ordering calzones, and while they look just like calzones, they are fried. While they were ok and interesting, they were not traditional pizza that we were hoping to sample while in Napoli. The good thing about dinner: two fried pizzas, a bottle of water and two beers, and the seating charge was 14 euro. I also uploaded some pictures from our Saturday night walk around the beach and waterfront. Their beach isn't much, but they love it.

Pictures from Napoli

Pompeii
I uploaded some videos to Youtube from Pompeii. They show the Forum, the Ampitheatre, and Apollo's Temple.

Pictures from Pompeii

Vesuvius
I created some panoramic shots while hiking up Vesuvius. I have included one in this post and the others are available by searching for the panorama tag.

Pictures from Vesuvius

Buongiorno da Italia!

Well, we made it! We arrived in Siena on Thursday afternoon and were dropped off at our villa. Todd and Dannielle were already here, but sound asleep. We started unpacking a little and then decided to plan a weekend trip!

Friday around lunch we rented a car (we don't have our cars yet) and drove to Napoli (Naples, and for future reference, I will use the Italian spelling as we have no idea why the english renamed their cities). It is about a 4 hour drive. We ate at an Auto Grill along the way (roadside gas and food joint), which was decent. While the GPS helps tremendously, it has a hard time keeping up due to quick road changes and roads very close to one another; it gets confused if you took a turn or not. After a few u-turns on my part, Todd successfully navigated us to our hotel in downtown Napoli. We had booked two rooms for two nights at Hotel San Giorgio via Expedia. Considering the trash hole that is Napoli, this hotel was decent. We walked a bit for some food and also walked around the docks a little before turning in. Pictures from Napoli are here (http://www.chrisandkacey.com/Vacation/Italy-2010/Napoli/)

Saturday we woke up, ate some breakfast at the hotel and drove to Pompeii. Pompeii was quite an experience. Todd had been before so he was able to direct us off the beaten path somewhat. Pictures are coming soon. After about 4,5 hours in Pompeii, we ventured toward Vesuvius in hopes to do the hike, but we were unable to get there in time before it closed. To that end we drove back to Napoli to walk the nicer beach/park area and eat along the sea. We ate at Gusto&Gusto‎; while the house wine was poor, the food was decent again. Pictures from Pompeii are here (http://www.chrisandkacey.com/Vacation/Italy-2010/Pompeii/)

Sunday we decided to attempt the Vesuvius hike again as no one had done it before. Sure enough, we were able to get in! The hike, while not too long, is a bit strenuous. I hiked Nolan up on my back. We also have many pictures of this that I will post soon. The views were beautiful and Vesuvius was steaming just a little bit. At this point, we drove home in hopes to buy some groceries. Pictures from Vesuvius are here (http://www.chrisandkacey.com/Vacation/Italy-2010/Mt-Vesuvius/)

But alas, everything is closed on Sunday afternoons. With no food or car, we were forced to order delivery pizza. It is not the greatest, but in a pinch we will definitely do it again.

Pompeii was high on my list of things to see in Italy, so the trip was great for me. My bottom hurts more from driving than my legs from hiking, but it was worth the trip!

Craziness

So it has been over a week since we left Cambridge. There was much craziness last week. Here is a recap...

Saturday the 15th - I loaded the car and took a load to storage. Kacey packed some more stuff up while I was gone and once home I did some more as well.
Sunday the 16th - I rented a U-Haul 10' truck and took a load of things I could carry by myself. I took many boxes, a desk, and some other things we didn't need around the apartment. The day involved much more packing, too.
Monday the 17th - We had to get everything ready to go on the big truck I was renting Tuesday. The beds, desks, all the big stuff had to go while I had some help on Tuesday, so everything had to get ready.
Tuesday the 18th - This was the day all the big stuff had to go. Cynthia came over and watched Nolan for about an hour so Kacey could get stuff ready with me. Thanks Cynthia! Then Chris Hopkins came over to help me load up all the big stuff. Thanks Chris!!!!! This was a massive task; we had way too much stuff in Cambridge. I want to leave it all in storage when we get back, it is just too much! Once Chris and I got back to Cambridge, we met Kacey, Nolan, and Todd for dinner. Oh, about half way through loading the truck, I realized all the big stuff would not fit, so that meant I was renting another truck on Thursday, the day we were leaving the city. Tuesday night I was able to sleep somewhat on the air mattress, mostly because I was pretty tired.
Wednesday the 19th - Kacey had her final in the morning. Nolan and I did some playing and then daddy got busy packing up all the remaining crap we still had left. I sectioned off an area with the gates and put everything there. While there wasn't too much big things left, there was a lot of small stuff. Wednesday night, I could not sleep.
Thursday the 20th - I picked up the truck and Todd (thanks Todd!) and we loaded up the remaining things. Then I drove them down by myself while Kacey drove our stuff and Todd and his stuff to comcast. Turns out that I returned the truck just after they got back to Central Square. Since I finished so early, I grabbed a sandwich and helped Chris, Todd, and Cynthia load up their things in their truck. We finished around 4:30 so I walked home and started getting the car ready for our drive back to the midwest. Our goal was to leave around 9-10pm and drive until we got tired, then pull off for a quick nap during the night. We grabbed some dinner at The Friendly Toast and went back to finish off the loading. I administered the cat meds around 8 and we spend the next two hours packing, throwing away trash, and saying goodbye. It was kind of sad because this is where Nolan first walked and spent a lot of his life to that point. But by 10:30pm we were on the road. I drove until midnight, then Kacey drove until 2am. We stopped for a 3.5 hour nap at a rest stop in New York somewhere. At 5:30am, I started driving again and we arrived in Ft. Wayne at 5pm Friday. We were done!

We have been doing a lot of visiting while back in the midwest. We started off with my family on Saturday down at my cousin's house in Martinsville. It was a fun day of running with the kids and chatting with family. On Sunday we went to our old church and then had lunch with our old small group. After lunch we had a cookout with the Indy Rose Pikes at Tom & Jenny's house. It was a very fun day!

On Monday we got to visit with my grandparents. We had not seen them since August and probably won't see them again until next June. We had a very nice visit. On Tuesday we had lunch with a couple of Kacey's friends, dinner with Adam and Sarah, and play time at the Charltons house that night. On Wednesday we spent more time with the Charltons after lunch and then had a nice dinner at Adam and Amanda's house. This is where we said our final goodbyes as we were leaving Thursday for Toledo.

Thursday Eric came down and we dropped off the car at my mom's house and loaded up Eric's car with our stuff. We drove to the Fort and Eric spent some time playing with Nolan. It was a nice visit. Then Mike and Maggie met us for dinner and drove us up to Toledo.

In all this madness, Kacey has been dealing with visa issues. We find out Tuesday around lunch if we are allowed to leave for Italy this week. I hope so - I don't want to sit indefinitely and have to change multiple flights at great expense.

So in all our craziness, there are many people who helped make it all possible. Cynthia, Todd, and Chris all saved our butts by helping us move out of the apartment. Karl and Nancy took in our kitties while we are away. Eric gave us a bed AND drove to get us in Indy. Vince and Sharon offered us a bed in Indy for 5 nights. My mom arranged a family get-together and took in our car. Mike and Maggie made us yummy food and came and got us in Ft. Wayne. And a thanks to my little boy who had to live through this, being in a car way too much, and not having toys and not getting the attention he deserves (it made me sad). Thanks to you all!

What Is Going On?

It has been a little hectic around here. But so some day I can look back and reflect on what we did, here we go with an update...

Kacey, of course, has to continue going to class and turning in projects and giving presentations. But now, she is mostly done! Just a few more study sessions and one more final to go!

We started packing little bits a few weeks ago. I also put a deposit down on a storage unit that about 6 people will share. Slowly and surely I would pack a little more each day. Then about a week ago, I started assembling boxes for "real" packing. Kitchen, bathroom, clothes, random junk... you know, stuff that makes your apartment look like you are moving. I took as many boxes as would fit in the car yesterday morning to acquire our storage unit. Today I rented a small U-Haul truck to take boxes, a desk, some tables, and lots of large items that are just in the way and ready to go. Too bad it still looks like we have a ton of crap! Tuesday, the plan is one of Kacey's classmates will come over after class and help me move the items I can't do by myself. TV, bed, couch, three dressers, bookcase, another desk. Then we will also grab a few of his things. So by Tuesday night, our apartment will be naked. Then I will probably have to take a couple car loads Wednesday and Thursday.

That is ok because Thursday night we get in the car with the cats and drive through the night until we reach Indiana! We figure since Kacey is used to staying up until like 1am, she will drive from 9pm-1am. Then we will stop and if I feel up to it, I will drive for a few hours. If we need to stop for some short naps, we have plenty of time to reach Indiana by Friday afternoon. We will be in Indiana for about 5 days. Not much planned yet, just visiting friends and family. Then we get driven to Toledo (our car is staying in Indy, I think), with a stop in F-Dub to visit with Eric, and stay in Toledo until June 1. Then we fly back to Boston, spend the night, then get ready for our flight to Florence on June 2!

It is funny. This is half a brain dump for sharing and half for me to think about how we are going to do this :)

My Red Sox Game at Fenway

While Adam was in town, we hit a Red Sox game at Fenway. While I was not much of a baseball fan growing up, I think I can now call myself a Red Sox fan. So going to Fenway to watch a game was awesome! We went to the May 3, 2010 game versus the Angels, and it was a blowout! This was good for three reasons... 1) We saw a win, 2) we saw a lot of shots go over the green monsta, bringing on lots of cheering and 3) lots of people left early so we were able to move down almost all the way!

Here are the pics we shot:
http://www.chrisandkacey.com/Boston/Red-Sox-Game-2010/

Here is a video I shot before the game started:


And here is a video I shot during the last pitch of the night. Unfortunately, the memory card filled up right as the crowd started reacting. Oh well...


It was an awesome night!

Week of Firsts

This past week was jam packed with some firsts. While Grandma Maggie was visiting, we were given some opportunities to do some new things on the east coast.

Boston Marathon
Monday April 19th was the 114th Boston Marathon. We of course had to check out the action on what was a beautiful day. We debated how to get close to the action and while I wanted to walk the 3 miles to our meet-up point with friends, Kacey wanted to try the T. So we took the red line to Park and switched to the green-C. After waiting 15 min for our train to leave the station, we then waited another 20 trying to move but the traffic was just too bad. We determined it would be faster to walk, so we exited at the next stop and hoofed it.

This turn of events, though, led us right to the finish line, about 3 minutes before the first elite runners got there! We got pictures of some wheelchair finishers, the first woman, and the first man, who also set a course record! After 10 minutes of cheering, we walked further down the course toward Mass Ave and stopped along the way to view more runners. So while we never actually made it to the group we were meeting, we got to see some pretty good action.

www.chrisandkacey.com/Boston/Boston-Marathon-2010/

Martha's Vineyard
I had been wanting to visit Martha's Vineyard at some point and luckily my mother-in-law wanted to as well. On Tuesday we drove down to Fox Hole (near Falmouth) to catch the ferry to Vineyard Haven. It only costs about $15 round trip per person. Once there, we walked around for a few minutes before catching a bus to Edgartown. Most of the island had not really opened up yet for the season, so finding a place for lunch took a bit. We ate lunch at David Ryan's Restaurant. The homemade fries and chips were pretty good. We walked around a bit, took some photos at the water, and caught the bus back to Vineyard Haven. After walking through a few more shops, we caught our boat back to the mainland.

On our way back to Boston, we stopped at Plymouth to see Plymouth Rock. There is a nice little park near by with free 2 hour parking. We walked down the shore line for a while and found Wood's Seafood for dinner.

http://www.chrisandkacey.com/Vacation/NewEngland/MarthasVineyard/

Newport, RI
Each year Sloan holds a Gala, aka MBA Prom. Every other year it is held in Newport, RI. This year, for our 6th wedding anniversary, we went to MBA Prom at Rosecliff Mansion in Newport. Since my mother-in-law was in town, she stayed back in Boston with Nolan. So while Kacey and I have both been away from him for a night, we had never done it together. We stayed at the Inn on Bellevue. It is a nice little place. Before the gala, we walked the Cliff Walk near some of the mansions. We then drove around a few more before returning to prepare for the gala. We toured the mansion once there, enjoyed some really tasty appetizers, ate a decent meal, and danced the night away. Oh, and of course ate some yummy dessert! It was a fun evening. The next morning we drove around with a few friends viewing a few of the parks in the area. Unfortunately due to rain, we didn't get to walk around much. We were also able to stop at the Touro Synagogue. It is the oldest synagogue in the country and a National Historical Site.

http://www.chrisandkacey.com/Vacation/NewEngland/Newport/

My next first... Red Sox game on Monday with my brother!

Fun with Pano

I was looking over some old trip photos and remembered I had not even stitched a photo together from Australia. So I decided to stitch it and now I want to post some of my panos. No, they are not great. Send your tips and thoughts.

Kata Tjuta (The Olgas), Ayers Rock, Australia

Stitched from 7 photos

Mt. Britton Tower, El Yunque, Puerto Rico

Stitched from 20 photos

Yokahu Tower, El Yunque, Puerto Rico

Stitched from 8 photos

Prospect Mountain, Lake George, Adirondacks
Lookout #2

Stitched from 4 photos

Lookout #3

Stitched from 5 photos

Prospect Mountain Summit

Stitched from 4 photos

Buck Mountain, Lake George, Adirondacks
South View from the Summit

Stitched from 6 photos

North View from the Summit

Stitched from 3 photos

West View from the Summit

Stitched from 6 photos

Toddler TV

I know, evil words. We have not really let Nolan watch TV yet (he watches some sports). But, as he is nearing two, and our life is changing, I feel we may need to find a couple good shows for Nolan to watch. While we understand Nolan and he understands us, he is not really putting words together yet. Every baby is different, but our situation is we will be soon living in a country where he will not hear English except from us. So, it is time to find a couple good shows that we can buy on DVD and take with us.

We don't want just any show. We want something relatively simple with hopefully real or animated children. We want him to learn, but the show doesn't need to focus on learning so much that it isn't fun to watch. We mostly want him to hear kids speaking English. Some singing would be nice too.

So far I still love Sesame Street. My friend Matt mentioned that he watches Caillou with his daughter and so far I like this show too. I am looking for recommendations of a few shows that we can take with us (or watch on the SlingBox). Don't hesitate to leave a comment with your thoughts and why!

A Big Step for Nolan

Today Nolan and I were at MIT for an event around lunch. The room we were in had many steps and Nolan wanted to run around. The steps weren't huge, but they weren't tiny steps either. As if he had been doing it for weeks, he quickly and confidently stepped right up them without any help and then turned around and came right down them without any help. I was excited!

Life Insurance... Yeah

I am so happy to be working on this... we need to update our life insurance. I currently have a whole life plan I am going to do away with. We are going to get two term plans that we can adjust as needed. We have looked in to a few big name companies so far.

How have you, random readers of this blog, picked a company? What gotchas should we look out for? Don't hesitate to comment!

Spring Break in Puerto Rico

This past week we spent 5 days in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Those of you that know me well, yes, I ate my words and went there for vacation. That just tells you how good the deal was we found. For those who have no idea what I am talking about, I spent a lot of time there for work a couple years back. So while it is nice knowing where to go and where to eat and how to get around your vacation spot, there are certain things about the place I wanted to avoid, including thoughts of work.

We got direct flights on JetBlue, which sweetened the deal. This was my first time on JetBlue and I was pleased with them. Free first bag and no first class, so no lines of people wanting an upgrade. They do have expanded leg room rows, but they don't give them away, even at the last minute. So again less clutter. The regular rows have a decent amount of space, so traveling with an infant wasn't too bad. They don't, however, have family rows like some airlines have (i.e. you call the airline after booking and can get better seats). Each seat has an entertainment screen and XM radio, so bonus. And, free snacks and drinks, with which they are not stingy. Lastly, they take your drink order and bring it out on trays, so they keep the isles clear. So, enough of my JetBlue review.

We picked up our rental car, which even for Puerto Rico took a while, but oh well. We got a compact SUV for $85 for the week, another bonus to the deal. We stopped by the Pueblo to get some fruit and snacks for the room and it gave me a chance to show Kacey where I used to hang out and live while there for work.

Travelocity gave us a sweet deal at the Conrad. That's right. And since we are Hilton Gold, that means a free room upgrade and free breakfast. So, my expectations were pretty high of this place, even for Puerto Rico. Well, we were a little wrong. This is not a super nice hotel, but I don't want to spend my time writing about the things wrong with the hotel. If you really want to know, ask me. Just know that a fancy name and a decent location do not a nice hotel make.

The first afternoon we were there we hit the pool and the beach. We enjoyed the slide very much and also the little dolphins that spout water in to the pool. They also had a salt water pool, but it was too deep and us to take Nolan in. We walked down the Condado strip and ate dinner at Café del Angel. Our goal when traveling is to generally find the best values; so good food not marked up because of the location. We succeeded here.

Our first full day we went to visit the forts in Old San Juan. They are part of the National Park Service (one of my favorite things), so Nolan was able to get his National Parks Passport stamped twice more. We first visited Castillo San Cristóbal, the eastern most part of the fortress. We walked through the tunnels and up to the top for a view of San Juan and Old San Juan. We then ventured west to El Morro. There were a few people out flying kites on the lawn of El Morro (I have pictures from 5 years ago when many more were out). We decided to eat some lunch before our tour of the fortress. We had a small list of possible places and ended up at La Bombonera. This was a decent lunch stop and I recommend it. We walked back over to the fort and walked around a bit. We went all the way down right as a cruise ship was coming through the channel, so check out our pictures for that. Then on our way up Kacey took the circular stairs. By this time Nolan was starting to get sleepy so we walked to the car and drove back to the hotel. Then, it was pool time again! For dinner that night we ate at Hacienda Don Jose just down the street from the hotel. This is another good value place right on the ocean.

Dinner at Don Jose

On Tuesday it was time for the rainforest, El Yunque. I had been there 5 years ago on my first trip to the island but Kacey loves a good rainforest too. We decided not to do the El Yunque peak trip as we didn't take the baby backpack. We hiked down to La Mina Falls and Nolan played in the rocks for a bit. We then hiked up to Mt. Britton Lookout Tower. Both of these walks are pretty easy, but the first one does have a lot of steps. Nolan fell asleep being held on the way down from Mt. Britton so when we got to Yokahu Tower, Kacey and I took turns walking up for the view (so two sets of pictures). After our two trails in the rainforest, we drove by Lilly del Caribe in Carolina so Kacey could see the plants there. We then hit Lupi's for dinner, a place I visited a few times during my stays to the island. We sat outside and Nolan watched all the people and trucks go by. If you are staying near Isla Verde, try Lupi's.

Wednesday was pool and beach day. At this point I was having trouble relaxing (what's new) so I was looking forward to not doing anything except play with Nolan and Kacey. For lunch we walked over to Waykiki and due to their lunch specials, we got a good deal and some pretty good food. I don't think their dinners would have been such great deals, though. After Nolan got a quick nap, it was back to the beach. We did some high speed continuous shooting with the Nikon of us coming down the slide with Nolan. We also did a video now on my youtube channel. For dinner that night we met up with the Deacons at Yerba Buena Cafe. The food here was good, but just a little pricey for us (it was ok for one dinner, though). After some nice conversation with friends, we walked home to start packing.

Thursday we flew home after some breakfast. A travel note for those of you who have never flown through SJU, GO EARLY. Ticket lines are insane here, mostly because the locals show up right before their flight and then get to cut line, backing up the lines for everyone else (this is why being American Gold is nice, but we didn't fly AA). The security lines on the other hand are not that bad.

So we made it home with all our stuff, hopefully just a little more relaxed, and maybe a touch less pale.

Pictures can be found here.

Might Get A Netbook

I am thinking about getting a netbook to take to Italy with us. As the tablet we currently have will serve as TV, internet, movies, thesis writing, and phone for us, it might serve us well to have another option. I don't want to spend much money and don't need too many options as it is really a backup. (Yes, I know there is no on-board optical drive).

The Dell Mini 10 looks good, but there are a few options available in terms of video chipset and processor. I have not yet been able to find good reviews of whether these options really matter. I also like the price point.

The Toshiba looks promising as I have found a few deals online for their machine. It also appears to be upgradeable to 2 GB of RAM.

Both the Acer and Asus websites don't quite cooperate with how I want my information, so after a couple attempts, I just don't know about them. I am interested in an Eee PC, though, as this seems to be one of their better markets.

What about you? Do you have one of these? Advice on chipsets?

Week One of "Knowing"

So it has been about a week since we found out we are moving to Italy. So far we have meet with the 2 other students that will be living in the same city and met with the student who was there last year. We have all started talking about ideas for moving and living there. We have also started talking with all the other students who will be in Europe to determine where all we should travel. The list is probably too large...

I have also started my Italian lessons. I think the partner company will probably pay for Kacey to learn some Italian, so I am on my own. I have Pimsleur Italian. I have 90 30 minute sessions to get through. My goal is to do one every day during Nolan's nap. But as you can tell, there is no way I will be done before we leave, but it should definitely out! I have already done 3 lessons and can effectively say "I do not understand Italian", along with a few other phrases. I hope I can keep on task.

Finally on a Nolan note, last night he threw up for the first time. I mean he spit up when little, but he has never thrown up. It just so happened to be the night we had people over for dinner and he threw up four times. It wasn't violent or bile, but it still made him cry. He seems fine today and is slowly starting to eat some food. Check mark for another first for us!

Italy, It's Official!

It is pretty much officially official... we are moving to Italy! Kacey has landed an internship with Novartis in Siena, Italy (near Florence). For years we searched for a means within Lilly to get an overseas assignment, but it just never worked out. And now we have the opportunity of a lifetime to live in one of our favorite places ever visited for 7 months! Logistics and planning are going to be tiring and stressful; I am not even going to start listing things here. But we are looking forward to learning Italian and living in a new culture.

We are also looking forward to visiting some European cities as weekend trips that we normally would not get to see. This list has also been started too. (If you have any recommendations, definitely let us know!!) On the list so far: Moscow, Prague, Berlin, London, Glasgow, Dublin, somewhere in northern Africa, Paris, Budapest, Basel, and Warsaw.

We have no idea how big our studio/apartment may or may not be. Hopefully we have room for an air mattress as we hope to get at least a couple visitors. Of course Kacey's parents are up for visiting Italy again. We are hoping we can convince my mom, with the aid of lots of medication, to get on a plane (I am already looking in to non-stop flights to Rome for her). If you are *seriously* interested in visiting with a potential free place to stay, just let us know!

Anyway, I am sure that we will be posting information along the way as we figure out details.

Web Hosting Fun

I just wanted to get a little information out there to anyone looking for some web hosting. I have been with ipower (or ipowerweb) for almost 5 years. Their price is ok and their service is bad, so just hope nothing goes wrong (even though something goes wrong almost every year). Even though they have given me 150GB of space, if you use more than 25GB, you are in violation of their newly revised Terms of Service, and they start deleting files. This may be the last year for chrisandkacey.com as I am about done with them and will transfer all pictures to Flickr. I have already had to move all my videos to my youtube channel.

Happenings

I write this for you, but mostly for me - to someday remember what life was like here.

Nolan is doing great. We started playgroup back up this week at MIT. It is volunteer ran and this semester I am helping run it. Mostly, I just lug the toys around for the kids, but I am glad to help.

I believe Nolan really understands shapes and colors. We have a couple different books where he can point out shapes and colors (probably half memorization and half learning). He can only say a couple colors, but he can say most of the shapes. I think he is finally starting to learn the number three. He can't quite say it properly, but he is getting close. I frequently count to five with him as I figure the next step shouldn't be four but five. Also, I believe Nolan's first real two syllable word is pasta. For a week or so now whenever you ask him what he wants to eat, he says pasta. Even for breakfast. He got a set of little pots and pans and he likes to make pasta in them! And lastly to add to this long, rambling paragraph, Nolan will now shrug his shoulders with his hands up if he doesn't know something, it is really cute!

This week we should find out where we will be moving this summer. Where ever it is, it is going to be a planning nightmare. We have to find a home for all our stuff, our car, and our cats. We are really, really hoping we can find a student in town who might cat sit for us (if you are reading this, we will pay for food and litter!!!). As for the car, I still don't know if I will drive it back to the midwest or find a cheap place here. A storage unit just for our stuff will probably run us $150/month if we are lucky.

We are also trying to determine if we should do something for spring break. We have considered many things, but don't want to spend too much money. Everything from renting on RV out west to the US Virgin Islands. I guess we will see what deals pop up first! Any suggestions???

Nolan is Eighteen Months Old!

Well, we are a couple weeks late, but we were out of town. Here we go!

21.9 lbs
32.25 inches tall
He has been working on eating with a fork and is getting better at it.
He can count to two! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2h1ij4QtJk)
We are working on colors still. Sometimes we think he gets it, and sometimes it seems like he doesn't.

So yeah, he is still a light weight. And we are not sure why as he is a good eater, he just doesn't eat much pre-packaged food, milk, or meat (he is also a very active boy and mommy is small). The doctor has given us some ideas for more calcium, iron, and fat intake, so I will be working on those over the next few weeks. Ideas include bok choy, green beans, more butter, organic chicken breast, creamy peanut butter, and more cow's milk. We also learned that one of his favorite veggies, cucumbers, doesn't do much for him right now.

December pictures are posted (http://www.chrisandkacey.com/Nolan/December2009/)

Food

So the title of this post is a little wide-open, but it is what I want to discuss. Nolan is getting to an age where I feel he needs more variety in his diet (I can tell when he is tired of eating something). For quite some time, he ate chick peas every day for lunch along with one or two veggies, some fruit, and a piece of multi-grain bread. Dinner is not too bad as Kacey usually whips up something consisting of either pasta or tortillas.

I have tried grilled cheese which he will eat if the cheese is melted enough but the bread not too crispy (fun for daddy as Nolan doesn't like unmelted cheese, crazy boy!). I haven't tried peanut butter and jelly for him yet as we only have crunchy peanut butter. I haven't given him lunch meat yet out of fear of foodborne illness. What other healthy ways do folks out there get protein and grains for their kids? Nolan also doesn't really like eggs and that is ok as we don't really cook with them or buy them frequently. I am considering buying fresh, organic chicken breast from the store down the street that sells it for Nolan and I to eat at lunch.

Christmas 2009 Road Trip

We started our journey on Wednesday December 16th in the afternoon as to try to break up the 12 hour trek to Toledo in to two chunks. Our plan was to drive I-90 until we got tired. Around Rochester, the lake-effect snow kicked in and we had to get off the interstate. We stayed at a little roadside hotel for the night and got to Toledo the next day just after lunch.

There was much food to be eaten at the Fetcho house. Haluski, pierogies, ham, kiffles, lasagna, and much more. We also took a trip to Wren, OH to have Christmas with the Snyders. It was great to see everyone!

On the 26th we drove to Indy and our first order of business was to stop and greet my niece Leah Kate! (http://www.chrisandkacey.com/Family/Leah/) She is such a cutie and I loved getting to see her. The next day we spent the afternoon at my cousin Jason's house and had some good times and good food.

Pictures from Christmas can be found here. (http://www.chrisandkacey.com/ChrisKacey/Holidays/Christmas-2009/)

We spent the following week visiting a few friends and family. We also visited our friends at church and went out for lunch with them; it was great to see them all! January 3rd, Kacey hoped on a plane to join her classmates for a two week plant trip visiting partner companies for her school program. This meant I was a single dad for two weeks. I was able to stay at my grandparents house in Martinsville, so we had a real house with space to stay in. My brother Matt took Nolan and I to the Children's Museum for our Christmas present; it was lots of fun! Nolan ran around and saw many things. Matt and I played with a few things too. I spent time with my mom most nights which I know she loved, and Nolan had lots of fun spending time with grandma. I visited some friends for playtime with Nolan and each visit was great to catch up and let Nolan play.

On our way home we stopped in Ithaca, NY to visit Kacey's aunt, uncle and cousin. We did not get to see them at Thanksgiving or Christmas, and we have never been to their house. It was a fast, but good trip. We also got a very fast visual tour of Cornell where Kacey's uncle is a professor.

All in all, it was a good trip. Many thanks to Chas for helping watch our cats!!!

Back Home

We are finally back home after almost 5 weeks of being gone. So this is a lame post saying I will write some real posts later this week.

Getting Ready

We are getting ready for a long trek home and that takes a lot of planning with cats and kids. So, it has been a little busy. We all had a good Thanksgiving in Bethlehem with family.

I am hoping to work on creating a Christmas card soon as I would like to send them out before we leave. I will be creating my own and the most difficult part is creating a good scene; I am not creative enough for that (and lighting sources are bad).

Nolan is doing great! We experienced our first burn when Nolan was sneaky and grabbed the flat iron. Luckily he only touched it with a small part of his middle and ring fingers on his left hand. Although he cried for a couple hours, he is doing very good now and now knows the word band-aid. He also knows his name. I think he also tries to say it, but he only really says the first syllable of words now. He can also help us read books to him now! I am still working with him to learn colors and to count to two. His pictures from November are posted on our site (www.chrisandkacey.com/Nolan) and you can see that he loves to show off his big smile.

I probably won't be able to post much until later in January so have a Merry Christmas!

PC Remote Access

I am looking for recommendations for free remote access programs to use while I am back in Indiana over Christmas. I really only need file access, but can get by with desktop access only. For years I used Avvenu, but that was taken away last year, and I haven't needed anything since then.

I have used VNC in the past, but only inside my firewall. I have also heard good things about LogMeIn, but no real details. I currently use Windows Remote desktop within our home network.

Anything else you use I should consider? Any schemes through firewalls you have found secure and easy?

The Little Guy

Nolan is 16 months old. I wanted to capture/share what he has been up to. By the way, he is 21 lbs and 31 in.

We read many, many books. It is getting old because I now have them all memorized, but I will keep reading them as long as he keeps bringing them to me. (Secret decoded message, no toys for Christmas, just books). He can point out some new things. He knows most of his body parts (eyes, ears, nose, mouth, teeth, tongue, knees, hands, fingers, toes). He can now point out some shapes (circle, square, heart, diamond, triangle). We are working on colors now. Hopefully he will be able to do it by Christmas. We are also working on counting. He knows one, but I don't think he understands two yet.

He has also gotten good at balancing on my back for horsey time; he doesn't have to hold on anymore. It is hard for me as it feels like he is going to fall most of the time, but he doesn't fall. He can now climb up on the chairs and couch. The problem is he doesn't quite understand that falling will hurt. He can get down safely, but occasionally goes over the side.

Lastly, we finally bought him a toothbrush. Here is a picture of him learning and having fun with it.



Also, check out my YouTube channel for videos (http://www.youtube.com/phillipsrhit/). I uploaded him playing at the park last week.

Halloween Activities

This year turned out to be more than we imagined with Halloween. While missing Fall Festival at CGPC is a let down, there turned out to be 4 different free activities for us at MIT. I was going to write up what we did with pictures, but Kacey already did it. So, I am going to be lazy and just direct you to her post.

http://kaco1.tumblr.com/post/230359953/nolans-halloween-at-mit

All of our Halloween pictures are already posted at www.chrisandkacey.com in the Nolan section.

Are You Prepared? Keep Your Family Safe!

This past Saturday night at about midnight, the file alarm went off in our apartment building. Being a fairly new building, the alarm system here is top notch. We instantly knew it was a fire alarm, but living in houses our whole life, we both had the feeling that the whole thing was false. Why is this? In an apartment fire, chances are you can't see fire or smoke immediately. This is different from a house fire where you know instantly. So, we did some things wrong! (e.g. no coats or shoes)

On a side note, after the fire department cleared the building, Kacey worked to get Nolan back to sleep. Unfortunately, about 60 seconds after he fell asleep, the alarm went off again!

So the next morning, I realized we definitely failed the fire alarm. It was time for a plan and here is what I did. I started a small list of things we should and can easily grab. I realized that most of the things are in the diaper bag (basically provisions for the baby). Then the standard things for leaving- keys, wallet, phone. Additionally, while we have a fire extinguisher in our apartment, I didn't grab it during the alarm; in the future I will always carry it out with us. Lastly, Kacey and I discussed what we do with the cats. While we figured out a plan that varies based on who is home and where the fire is, I won't go in to details here. Email me for our decisions.

The next thing I did was talk to my bro-in-law Eric, a fireman, (thanks Eric!) about his experiences with apartment fires. After describing our building to him he confirmed that we are pretty good here. He mentioned that it is ok to lock your door behind you if you are unsure if there is really a fire. He also mentioned that our fire extinguisher should not be stored in the kitchen if it is our only one. So until we get a second one for the bedroom (so we can fight our way out if needed), it is moved out of the kitchen. He reiterated keys, wallet, phone, and provisions for a baby for 3-12 hours.

We now have a sign posted by our door with these items written down in marker:
- Keys, wallet, phone
- Diaper bag
- Shoes & coats
- Extinguisher

While readers may find this list very obvious, if you are in a new house or apartment, or have never thought about your fire escape plan, and have 30 seconds to react in the middle of the night, this quick exercise may prove to be extremely helpful in the future.

Some other things for you all to think about. Did you know that most smoke detectors only last 7-10 years? Consumer Reports just did an article about choosing good replacements if you think yours are too old (date should be stamped in to each one). Also, carbon monoxide detectors help you where you can't help yourself by detecting deadly odorless fumes. How many fire extinguishers do you have? If you say none, please go buy one today. If you say 1, think about where it is and where you may be during a fire. Lastly, get a fire safe! After years of putting it off, we finally bought one in March. It was less than $100 and holds passports, titles, SS cards, birth certificates, and backup DVDs I make every month or two from the computer. It is an easy thing to put off, so please consider getting one soon!

If you have specific questions, don't hesitate to ask a fire fighter. They love to help, that is why they do it!

Tumble Gym and other Goings On

Today I took Nolan to the tumble gym, Together in Motion. He of course loved it. He ran around for about 90 minutes non stop, kicked balls, and climbed on equipment. And, it was only $5. I will definitely be taking him every week now. Here are a couple pictures and a video.

I climbed up!

In the tunnel!

Nolan has also been doing some other fun things. He can now give me 5! Kinda fun. He also has two molars in and probably another one or two on the way. His hand was the only thing that could reach his gums that far back, so his hands spent a few days in the back of his mouth. He understands many words and can point out many things. I am currently working on pointing out shapes with him. He can moo like a cow and roar like a lion. We are now on a new nap schedule; he goes down around 1:30-2pm and sleeps for 2 hours or so. I think he understands yes and no better, but he still doesn't always listen to no.

I try to get him to a park once or twice a week, at least while the weather still permits. A couple of times now we have stopped at the Royal Pastry Shop before the park to pick up a snack for after play time. Nolan loves the fig bars (easy to eat, not too messy, only $1)!

Nolan The Goof

Nolan is being quite silly lately! Here are some pics and a short video of what he has been doing the past couple weeks. There is also another climbing video.

His "No No No" dance


Climbing in his high chair


Playing peek-a-boo




New method for eating cheerios


Just give me my pizza already!


Nolan brushing up on his o-chem

Million Dollar Ideas

For years, I have had what I call million dollar ideas. I have no idea if they are actually worth that, I am just putting the idea in context to others. These ideas usually come from frustration of no easier way to do things and I come up with an idea of how to do something better.

Sadly for years, I have also never written any of these down. I also have not tried to build anything in years. Not due to the fact that I can't as I am quite handy, I just loose interest after the idea. I even recall telling friends these ideas occasionally and saying to them "you can have that idea". I realized the other day that something needs to change.

I have now started a method of capturing these ideas. This will prevent me from forgetting as my memory is bad. This also lets me quickly view all ideas in the future to see if any more thoughts come to mind. I may also come up with a method to prototype something.

I have one idea I may try to make in the apartment as it should be easy and not require much building; I don't think this one is worth a million. I have another idea from last year that I still think every working, nursing mom would want to buy. I never prototyped but still want to do so!

Nolan The Climber

Just thought I would post these pictures of the new place I find Nolan a couple times a day.

So, What's Been Going On?

Nolan has been growing and learning a lot lately. I thought I would share a couple things.

The past couple weeks, he absolutely loves reading books! He constantly brings me a book and plops down on my lap. I am to the point that I now make up different stories than what the book says. It does get old, but I always tell myself to never deny him doing fun and positive activities. I have always told myself that and try to make it a rule of us being home together, as I am here for him.

He runs and climbs a lot. The climbing hasn't been too problematic yet, but it will probably get that way soon. He is very close to being able to climb in to situations he can't get out of. I let him learn and show him ways to always "get down safely".

He is able to understand many words we say, especially in relation to his toys and books. We are still working on the word no. We usually only need to use no when he is transitioning from playing by himself to wanting attention, as that is when he starts doing some wrong things.

Lately he sometimes uses this screaming thing to get my attention. He doesn't do it constantly so after he screams a little, I then go to him and tell him he can ask me for help. I have been using the word help a lot lately to encourage him to learn and use it. I use it a lot when we are playing and I help him with a toy.

We have been playing a game similar to hide and seek. I say "I am going to get you!" and chase after him. Or I say "You can't get me!" and he chases after me. This usually makes him laugh a lot.

Nolan also gives hug and kisses to us. I usually try to extend the length of time he wants to do it :) I know he won't do this for too long, so I am just trying to soak it up while the gettin' is good!

So other than Nolan, we are working on planning our visitors coming in October. Kacey's parents are flying out for a few days and then my mom is traveling via train for a few days after that. It should be good times!

Trip to upstate New York and Vermont

On Monday morning (August 24) we left Cambridge and took I-90 all the way to Albany, NY. For the afternoon we headed up to Saratoga Springs and after eating a quick lunch at a random Mexican restaurant (El Mariachi, pretty good and cheap buffet), we stopped by the Saratoga Spa State Park. We were looking to do some hiking and site seeing. Before paying to enter the park we asked the attendant what we should do as we only had a couple hours to hike. She suggested we *not* pay, drive up to the next entrance, and take the nature trails from there. Great!

This is a pretty small park with short trails. What we weren't expecting, though, was the natural springs there. We saw Island Spouter and Geyser.

Island Spouter

After a quick session at the playground, we decided to head to our hotel in Albany to get checked in so we could head downtown to eat dinner. After checking in, Nolan and I went for a quick dip in the pool so he could splash around and use up some energy.

We then headed downtown Albany for site seeing and dinner. You would not guess that this was the capital except for that there are a couple tall buildings. We got downtown around 5:30 and it had already pretty much shut down. We searched for a place to eat dinner and happened across Katrinella's Bistro. It was decent (and priced far better than the other two Italian restaurants near by). We talked with the gal that owns the place with her husband; they opened the place earlier this year and have been doing ok so far. I got Ziti Genovese (pesto with marinara sauce added). It was different but good.

Tuesday morning we woke up to head up to Lake George in the Adirondacks. I had previously written down a couple possible hikes, but I wanted, as always, to stop at the Visitors Center and ask the locals. We were directed to drive up Prospect Mountain and then hike Buck Mountain. I also asked for a sandwich recommendation and was told to visit the Sandwich Works. Since Nolan was sleeping, we decided to drive up Prospect Mountain first. As we entered the area I noticed many signs "selling" this drive which I thought strange, we are already on the road to drive to the top. That is when I assumed "Oh, they are going to charge me to drive up". I was right. For $8/car, you drive up ~4 miles with three scenic overlooks along the way. Nolan woke up as we entered the first lookout, so we let him out to run around some. At the top parking lot they have a shuttle you can take to the very top or you can just walk up (not far at all). We walked up, not getting our $8 worth, but it was a nice, quick, steep climb. The weather was good Tuesday so we could see probably almost to Albany.

View from Prospect Mountain looking toward Lake George Village

We headed back in to the village to get sandwiches and get moving to our hike. The sandwiches were not too bad and the price was reasonable considering this is a little tourist town. We drove on to the Buck Mountain trail head near Pilot Knob, about 10-15 minutes north of the village on the east side of the lake. We drove up, ate in the parking lot, and then thought about the climb. We had 3.3 miles up, 2000' ascent, and it was about 1:30. We also realized we didn't fill up all the water bottles. We decided to drive back and stop at the first place that looked like we could get water. Kacey noticed the Post Office and she figured she could get water there, and it worked. So by 2pm, we started a climb up the mountain. The first mile of the trail was easy so I wanted to make good time as I assumed it would get harder. We did the first mile in about 20 minutes but then the grade picked up. This was not a difficult trail (except for maybe the last 5% at the top), but a steady, steep grade. As the forest thinned, I knew we were close. About 90 minutes in to the climb was the last push, a pretty daunting rock face; especially since I am carrying about 30 pounds on my back! My legs were burning on the rocks, but with the end in sight I forced my legs to lift us up. The best map I could find to show the summit is this. This is the Bing Bird's Eye View of the summit rock. There are almost two lookouts here. The first one we sat at for 10 minutes or so while Nolan ran around because it was a great view looking south, and it felt like the top. I knew it wasn't, and another couple on their way down told us it was not much farther to the summit. We decided to ascend and made it to a north and west looking view.

I couldn't resist using this photo of the summit!

It was around 4pm and I was not looking forward to the pain of using unused muscles climbing down with 30 pounds on my back, but I knew we had to get going. We rationed out some water and headed down. We stopped maybe half way to share an apple and that was the only food we really ate on the hike. It took us about 100 minutes to get up and about 80 minutes to get down. I thought this was a very successful hike! Luckily it is almost all shaded until the summit which made it much easier. There are a few creeks to cross so old shoes with good grip should be worn. There are two rock climbing sections toward the top, but they are definitely doable without any rock climbing experience if you take your time.

For dinner Kacey had found a restaurant online and we wanted to try it, but our appetites were off after the strenuous hike with probably not enough water. We walked around the village a bit and decided to go for it. The Taste of Poland restaurant is not to be missed if you enjoy this type of food ($4 off for mentioning the web site)! The homemade pierogies were fantastic (on par with the Fetcho Christmas celebration) and the homemade polish kielbasa was great! We asked the waitress what technique they use for making their pierogies. She said the family makes about 1000 per week on the weekends using the assembly line method the Fetchos use; and I thought 350 were a lot! They also sell frozen pierogies by the dozen to take home. We then walked around just a little more, long enough to find some ice cream at Nina's Sweet Shoppe‎. It was good!

Wednesday we woke up to start the hour drive to Bennington, VT. I had a couple ideas for trails in the Green Mountains National Forest, but we stopped at the Visitor's Center to ask for their opinion. We picked one hike I had found online - Harmon Hill. We decided to first check out the large war memorial seen driving in to town, get lunch, and then go hike.

Bennington Battle Monument

Bennington Battle Monument was neat. It is the second tallest monument in the country, is the tallest structure in Vermont, is only $2 to ride the elevator up, and has some great views! We then drove in to town to get sandwiches at Izabella's Eatery. I got the Figgie Sandwich; while good it just isn't a lot of food. Kacey's sandwich was so-so. I think other options in town may satisfy better than this place.

We then headed down the road a few miles to the trail head. The trail description indicated that the ascent is immediate, steep, and rocky.

Trying to show the severity of this climb

This is very true. This was daunting, especially with 30 pounds on my back and weak legs from the day before. Part of the way up we heard rain hitting the canopy (this trail is also heavily wooded) and decided to find a weather report before continuing on as rain was supposed to hit later in the day. After reaching Mr. Fetcho (thanks Eric!) for a weather report, we felt it was safe to resume as we had about 3 hours until storms. Once the ascent is finished, the trail is a nice winding and partially muddy walk through the forest.

We made it!

The lookout here is about 45° looking toward Bennington. It was still a nice hike and we got a move on to beat the rain getting out of the forest. Unfortunately along the way, our efforts to keep the Nikon dry resulted in the loss of my beloved lens cap. Luckily the Hoya UV filter is really the lens protector, not the cap. Any suggestions on good, cheap 72mm lens caps?

Once we returned to the car, we changed out of wet clothes and started our drive toward the interstate in Brattleboro. Kacey wanted to go ahead and eat here, so we drove around a bit and happened across the Flat Street Brew Pub and Tap Room. This place, along with several others in Vermont, includes all taxes in the price of items. I personally love this, which is why I mention it. The prices looked very fair and selection adequate. I got the Texas in Vermont burger which had chili and Vermont cheddar cheese; over cooked but good. They sell Berkshire Brewing Company beer at a pretty good rate so I enjoyed a BBC River Ale. I definitely recommend this place if you are passing through!

My last thoughts on this trip are simple. I am glad I got to spend some time in Vermont, and I have now been to every state east of the Mississippi. I still have 8 states left to do and 4-5 I hope to do all in one trip to the northwest some day. The Adirondacks are touristy due to the skiing aspect of the region, but a good time can definitely be had. The rest of the pictures should be up very soon on our web site. Pictures are here.

Break Time!

Kacey has finished her summer semester of LGO. During her week and a half break, I want to catch up on a few things. Like computer backups, system updates, hard drive cleaning, new car battery, taking some photos, apartment cleanup, reviewing the budget, cleaning the car, things like that.

I also decided I want to back up my blog. Blogger provides an export to xml; this is a good start, but I want more. I would like hyperlinks and photos too (or links to photos at least). Anyone out there know how to do this? I looked around some and didn't see an easy answer. Doc or pdf would be great.

We are also thinking of taking a quick trip during this break. We are considering the Adirondacks. Anyone been there and have suggestions? We would want to do some hikes and see some sites and plan to stay to the south near Lake George.

Nolan and More Biking

I won't be doing the monthly update as usual, but I will be posting updates on him occasionally. Nolan got in two more bottom teeth! He cut them right around his 13 month birthday which brings the total up to 8. He has been running around a lot too, and also we have been playing kick ball in the apartment! It is fun! He can point to my ears, nose and mouth when I ask him to do so. He is recognizing a few toys too. If I ask him to get his ball, penguin, or boat, he can go get them. This skill came on in about a week, it was amazing watching him learn!

Yesterday and today he is sick. He probably caught something at the Stone Zoo on Friday. We were only there for maybe 90 minutes and I cleaned his hands a couple times, but oh well. He is being a trooper about it even though he is hot and can't breathe that well due to snot. I wonder who will get sick next...

The Stone Zoo was not that interesting. While we did go when many of the animals were asleep, it just isn't that big or exciting. No pictures of him there, but he did see some antelope-looking animals, wolves, monkeys, birds, llamas, and goats. He also petted a large skink!

Yesterday I biked the Charles River Bike Trail. This trail runs both sides of the river from the Charles River Dam to Watertown. It is a nice ride with good stops on the Boston side, so take the Cambridge side first. It is a shared use trail, so there are runners, walkers, and skaters along the way, and in most places it is wide enough for 2 bikes to easily pass. The trail total is around 17 miles.

Quick Music Review

I haven't done this in a while, but I also haven't purchased much new music lately. Shinedown's latest album, The Sound of Madness, came out in June 2008; I didn't pick it up until earlier this year. I think I missed the release due to other things going on at the time, but I am glad I didn't forget about it. This is really a great album! I have still been listening to it quite a bit. It has a great mix of rock, lyrics, and harmonies. Favorite songs of mine include Second Chance, What A Shame (a truly beautiful song), and Sound of Madness. Give them a listen!

Red is a great Christian band who knows how to rock; and I love that. Their sophomore album, Innocence & Instinct, doesn't disappoint. It's nice to know there are guys out there that are not afraid to rock yet give all the glory to Him. There is a nice cover of Ordinary World by Duran Duran on this album. In my opinion, this album sounds a lot like their previous work and builds very little on End of Silence. I was hoping to see more growth out of Red in this album.

Heard anything lately you think I may like? Let me know!

Biking and Pizza

Two unrelated topics, but both on my mind.

Today I biked about 13 miles. This is roughly what I did. I walked around Pleasure Bay aka Castle Island. There is a small beach here, the Fort, and lots of playground area and pick nick tables. I also rode by Cheers, which is an easy to miss tourist trap. I then headed to the Boston Esplanade. I rode around a bit and headed north up the Charles River to the Charlesbank Playground. There is a good size playground as well as a wading pool. I think I may take Nolan there this week. I then headed over the Charles River Dam and came back home. I have been wanting to bike more, but I don't get to do it much with Nolan as he is too small to come with.

There is a lot of good food in Cambridge. We don't go out to eat that often, especially now, but occasionally we like to get pizza. I am on a quest to find the best pizza around. That means trying many places (of the 189 places that deliver to our apartment, 42 have pizza)! We have already determined that we are ordering pizza tonight, but I am trying to figure out which place to try next. One of these days I may write about the pizza places we have tried, but we have not tried enough places yet. If you are reading and know of a good pie in Cambridge, drop a comment!