Visit to Chesapeake Bay

Week of November 6th - Chesapeake Bay

After 2 straight weekends of Big Ten football, we had one more weekend of travel planned. This was a trip down memory lane for Charlie - we made the 4-hour drive to his grandmother's house in St. Michael's , Maryland (an hour or so outside of Baltimore, on the Atlantic Coast). Charlie hadn't been to "Sei Han So" (the name of the house built over 30 years ago when Charlie's grandparents returned to America from Japan) in over a decade.  Charlie retold many stories of all the fun that the entire Mowry clan had during their family reunions...which included climbing the tree in the backyard, crabbing off the dock in the back, Charlie's rendition of the "Star Spangled Banner" prior to a croquet tournament, and the kids being enthralled by the infamous "evil lady" (an antique japanese bronze statue that stands at the top of the stairs).

St. Michael's is a small town located on the Chesapeake Bay with an adorable shopping district and a long history of fishing.  On Saturday, we had lunch at The Tilghman Island Inn which had great views of the entire Bay.  The weekend that we visited we were lucky enough to be in town for the Annual Oyster Festival which included lots of exhibits describing the area's oyster industry and local music and food.  Katie tried her first oyster on the half shell, shucked right in front of us!  It might be her last...very slimy.

On Sunday, we helped Grandma Dorothy pick the persimmons from the Japanese tree that she planted many years ago.  We all took some of the japanese fruit that sort of look like orange tomatoes, persimmons, home to try once they ripened.

It was a great trip reminiscing about old times and enjoying Grandma Dorothy's beautiful house and the views of the Chesapeake Bay.

October College Football Weekends

Weekend of Oct 23rd - OSU
Weekend of Oct 31st - Penn State

Purdue @ Ohio State

I was having some major Columbus withdrawal symptoms, so for the weekend of October 23rd we planned a visit back to Columbus for a good old-fashioned mid-western college football weekend.  There are many great things about living in New Jersey... but their lack of enthusiasm for college football is not one of them.  Charlie has already banned several restaurants from our repertoire because they either didn't have the Michigan game on their TV's (no Big Ten Network) or they refused to turn all 20 of their TV's from Yankees to college football.  So we were very excited to come back to the holy grail of college football - Columbus, Ohio, where the Buckeyes were hosting the Purdue Boilermakers.

We arrived in late Friday evening, Saturday morning we woke up early and headed to the Varsity Club and started our all day-long party with various friends and former co-workers from Columbus. When most of them headed into the game, we walked from Varsity Club to a tailgate with some of Charlie's friends. Purdue's bus to Columbus must have been late in arriving, because in the 20 minutes it took to walk to the tailgate, Ohio State had already scored 28 points. We ended up watching very little of the 49 point shutout, but had a great time playing Cornhole and hanging out with Charlie's fraternity brothers.

We stayed until Monday morning, watching another Bengals loss with some Columbus friends, and then  got a chance to hang out with Katie's girls from our KPMG starting class.

Michigan @ Penn State
The next weekend, we made another college football trip. This time, we drove down to Happy Valley with our friends Brian and Adrienne. This was our first time ever at Penn State, and we had a great time. We went out on campus and Friday night went to a bar to see an 80's cover band - "Velveeta". Luckily this was a night game - so we didn't even have to get up that early Saturday. By 11 AM, though, we were tailgating a few blocks away from Beaver Stadium. We had a great time with Brian's friends, playing Beer Pong all afternoon long against various members of the "Thundersharks".

We scalped tickets to the 8 PM game against Michigan. This was Charlie's first live Michigan game since the 2006 OSU-Michigan game, otherwise known as "the #1-#2 game". Unfortunately, Penn State jumped out to a big early lead and Charlie had to endure another Michigan loss, 41-31 (he is now 2-2 seeing Michigan live). This was, however, Joe Paterno's 399th career victory, and Charlie got to discuss a mutual hatred of Ohio State with the many Penn State fans we met. The Stadium was a very cool experience; we'd recommend it as a great road trip for any Big Ten fans out there.

Postseason Cincinnati baseball - Weekend of October 9th

Posted by Katie
We waited 15 years for the Cincinnati Reds to make the post-season playoffs and they finally made it the first year we did not live in Ohio (go figure!)  So of course Charlie traveled back to Ohio for a sports-filled weekend. He will fill you in on the details below - but he went to 3 sporting events in 2 days and probably watched other games on TV.

While Charlie was away, I went into the City for one of my best friend's from college, Maggie's, birthday dinner.  Her entire family came into town from DC and we had a great dinner at the Red Eye Grill on 7th Ave, which was about 4 blocks from Times Square.  After dinner we stopped at an Irish Bar, but unfortunately turning 30 is nothing like turning 21...after a few drinks we were all tired and I had to catch the train back to Ramsey to let our dog out...oh how things have changed.   It was great spending time with Maggie and her family though and reminiscing about our college years.

Posted by Charlie
Yes, it was quite the sports weekend. I flew into Columbus Wednesday night. I stayed at my friend Bryan's house, and watched the Reds first playoff game in 15 years on TV (they played in Philadelphia). Naturally, their triumphant return to the playoffs was spectacular for the other team - Roy Halladay of the Phillies no-hit the Reds; only the 2nd no-hitter in playoff history. I watched game 2 on Friday with my parents - only to see the Reds blow a 4-0 lead! At least I got to watch it at Buffalo Wings & Rings - so I got my Cincinnati food fix!

Speaking of Cincinnati food traditions - I had some Gold Star and we had 80% of the Cincy Mowry household visit Abby at Cassano's (which is technically Dayton I guess). Only Peter was missing.

On Saturday, I went to the UC-Miami football game at Nippert Stadium with friends Bryan, Jeff and Derrick. The game turned into a 45-3 drubbing of my alma mater, the Redhawks. I followed that with a trip with Bryan to the Bengals game the next afternoon, which they lost 24-21 after blowing a 7-point lead with 2 minutes to go.

That night, I went to the Reds first HOME playoff game in 15 years with friends Scott, Gary and Heidi. To cap off my weekend, the Reds lost 2-0. Add to the fact that Michigan lost that weekend, and I watched my favorite teams go a combined 0-6. But it was a good weekend; to see the Reds host a playoff game was really cool, and I got a chance to see alot of family and friends!

Here are some of the pictures from the sporting events.

Visit from the Carico's

The weekend of September 25th, my parents came to visit us.  They took the long 10 hour drive and split it up by stopping a few days in Lexington, Virginia...which I think is their new favorite vacation spot.  They tell us that it is a really cute town with lots of history.  While they were there, they saw the Virginia Military Institute and Stonewall Jackson's House. They arrived to our place Thursday evening and the first night we just relaxed, went to our favorite bar and grill called The Office and then stopped to show them our favorite Ice Cream store in our town.  The owner kinda reminds me of one of the characters on Happy Days and he has come to recognize Charlie and I as regulars!

On Friday, we all got up very early to go see the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.  We got a little lost, but we eventually found the Liberty State Park in Jersey City where the Ferry takes you to the Big Lady!  The ferry first stops at Ellis Island which was really neat for my mom to see because her favorite grandmother, whom I am named after, came through Ellis Island.  It is a really neat experience going through the Ellis Island building where so many people came through to start their lives in America.  It really makes you thankful for your ancestors who made the long and difficult journey to America.  The museum at Ellis Island is really big...you could spend a whole day there and I would definitely recommend everyone to visit Ellis Island if you have never been.  Next stop on the Ferry was The Statue of Liberty.  We were getting tired and hungry at this point so we took a few pictures and Charlie and I walked up inside the Statue to the top of the platform which is basically at the Lady's feet.  It was really neat though because you could see inside the statue.  We didn't go all the way up to the crown because apparently they only let a certain number of people up there during the day and the tickets sell out months in advance.

Next, we went into the City and took a taxi cab to Lombardi's Pizza in Little Italy.  After having a late lunch, we needed to head back to Jersey to pick up our dog from day-care before they closed, so we sort of ran out of time to do much else sight-seeing in the City.

Saturday we were exhausted and slept in.  During the day my mom and I went to a pumpkin patch and picked out pumpkins and a cornstalk and some fall harvest decorations for the house.  She helped me clean up the front yard and we planted some mums and put out the recently bought fall decorations.  The front of the house looks really cute now and all decked out for Halloween and Thanksgiving.

On Saturday evening, Charlie and my dad went to the Yankees vs Red Sox game at the new Yankee Stadium.  My dad seemed to enjoy the game and seeing the new stadium and then they met my mom and I for dinner at The Olive Garden.

On Sunday, we went on a drive up to Bear Mountain New York, which is about a 40 minute drive from our house.  It is amazing how close we are to the big City but then also so close to the Mountains.  The drive up to Bear Mountain was really pretty.  There is an old lodge on one side of the mountain, but it is closed for renovations.  The outside of the lodge reminded me of the one that they stay at in Dirty Dancing.  It looked like this lodge had a ton of work left to get it up and running, so it doesn't look like it will be open any time soon.

Sunday night, Charlie fired up the grill and we had burgers and cheesy potato casserole.

Monday morning, Charlie and I both had to go to work, so my parents took their time packing up and helped us out by doing a couple of last minute errands/repairs to the house and then they started their drive back to Ohio.

It was great having them visit and we really enjoyed showing them our town and New York City.

Coming out of Retirement....

Like Charlie said in the last post, we have been very busy.....and quite a lot has happened in the latter part of August and beginning of September.

First and foremost, I have finally come out of retirement.  I left my job at AEP alittle over 3 months ago and luckily got a pretty nice severance package to tide me over during my job search.  After a long job search, I finally found a good fit for me....I accepted a job at Toys R Us Headquarters in their financial reporting department....yep I basically play with toys all day...ha ha..just joking....it is the same old accounting stuff I have been doing but the company is really neat and there really are toys in every one's cubes and offices.   I started my job on August 23rd and have been working for almost a month now...whew I almost forgot what pushing the big wheel was like....although Griffey would have much preferrred for me to stay at home with him, I am glad I found a position at a cool company.

We have settled into a pretty nice routine...Monday, Tuesday and Thursday Griffey stays at home in his cage and we found a lovely dog-walker who calls herself "The Fury Godmother".   We are working up to Griffey letting the Fury Godmother actually take him on a walk, but for now she just comes and lets him run around in the back-yard for a break during the day.  On Wednesdays, I bring Griffey to Doggie Day-care in the morning and Charlie picks him up in the evening...and he is exhausted from playing all day.  They always send a report card home with him that praises how well of a dog he is and likes to play with all the dogs...we are such proud parents...ha ha!

And then on Fridays, Charlie usually comes home for lunch to let Griffey out.

Weekends have been busy as well.  The weekend of August 28th, we purchased tickets to the Barclay's PGA Golf Tournament which was right down the road from us in Ridgewood, NJ.   It was a nice tournament and a nail-biting finish with Matt Kuchar winning in a play-off finish.

The next weekend was Labor Day weekend and Charlie went to Chicago for friend's wedding.  I really wanted to come along, but I was leaving for my girls weekend in Vegas on the following Wednesday.

My first night in Vegas I stayed with one of my high-school friends who actually lives in Vegas in the suburbs and works as a nurse.  All of my college friends arrived on Thursday and we partied all weekend celebrating our 30th birthdays and trying to pretend like we were still in college.  It was a fabulous weekend with my college friends but after staying out till 5am dancing...I think we all realized we are not in college anymore.

The month of August...

Seems to have flown by! We've been busy, but not everything is always super newsworthy I guess. One benefit of living near NYC is that it's just a little bit more of a tourist attraction than Columbus, Ohio was. So we have had quite a few friends come into town to visit. The first weekend in August, Katie's college friend Shannon came in for a wedding and spent the other night hanging out with Katie. So she was our first non-family visitor. Hopefully the newly-set-up guest room can attract more visitors, though Griffey was again quite skittish in sensing that a "stranger" was in the room next door. We'll have to work on that...

The weekend after that, we both had college friends in town - Katie's friend Maggie and Charlie's friend Ryan were visiting the city that never sleeps, and our friend from Hoboken joined us all out for a Friday night. When I guess we should have been sleeping, we instead visited a Japanese Karaoke Establishment. No, we didn't learn a new language overnight - apparently this and a couple other karaoke bars have rooms where a group of 4-8 can sing without the embarrassment of a whole bar hearing you. Since the latter option was also available, Katie decided to teach the room how to sing her favorite - "Darlin'" by David Allen Coe. Other than that, last week Charlie had a week off work and visited home in Cincinnati and spent a weekend golf trip with Columbus friends in Oglebay West Virginia.

Back to our pooch, this is Griffey smelling the flowers Charlie got Katie for her actual 30th birthday (as mentioned in a previous post, we celebrated the weekend before). Griffey thought the flowers smelled lovely and didn't understand why he wasn't allowed to eat them. Also, he decided that it would be fun to chase a frog in our back yard - directly into our algae-covered pond! Wish we had a picture of that!

Finally, for the more important news - Katie went finished off her interviewing process by landing her top choice, a job in financial reporting at a certain retail toy store. She's very excited, and we're happy to be back to a dual-income family! Griffey, however, is a bit nervous, as he was getting used to one of us being home. However, he is making fast friends at the local doggy day care, where he spends the day a couple of times a week.

Soon we're off to more travels - a friend's wedding in Chicago for Charlie over Labor Day and a girls' trip to Vegas for Katie and her friends.

The Big 3-0

The weekend of July 31st was my last weekend of my twenties because the following Thursday on August 5th I turned 30.  Charlie took me on a very romantic and relaxing carriage ride through Central Park (something I have always wanted to do) and then we went to Bobby Van's Steakhouse near Central Park....Charlie got one of the biggest steaks we had ever seen and overall it was a delicious dinner topped off with New York style cheesecake.  After dinner, we walked to McGee's pub which is the original McClarin's Pub from the TV show "How I Met Your Mother" which is my favorite show.   The bar doesn't really look much like the one on the TV show but apparently it is where the 2 writers use to come and the show is loosely based on their lives.  It was a wonderful Saturday in the city celebrating the end of my twenties with my wonderful husband.  In September, I have a girls-weekend planned in Vegas with my college roommates to celebrate all of our 30th birthday's in style.