Bracing for a Hurricane with some Golf - Aug 27th

The week of August 22nd, we experienced 2 natural disasters for the first time in our lives.  First an earthquake and then a hurricane (well somewhat).  Luckily neither of these disasters resulted in a lot of damage in our area.   The earthquake happened while we were both at work and only lasted for a minute but we could feel our computers shaking.   The chatter at the office lasted longer than the actual earthquake.

On Saturday August 27th, all of New Jersey and New York were getting prepared for Hurricane Irene.  The news stations had non-stop coverage and it was reported that it was the first hurricane to make landfall in New Jersey since 1903.  NYC shut down all the subways in fear of the widespread flooding  which was also reported as the first time the subway system had been shut down since it began operation....which of course meant lots of angry New Yorkers.  Charlie and I decided to hit the grocery along with the rest of the state only to find all the batteries and bottled water sold out.
Luckily, the hurricane didn't cause as much damage as they anticipated and our power conveniently went out at midnight and came back on by morning.  There were several areas in New Jersey that were flooded and it took Katie extra long to get to work on Monday due to flooded roads but we didn't hear of much else damage.

This same weekend we had tickets to the Barclay's Golf Tournament.  Charlie took his friend Brian on Friday and I was suppose to go on Saturday. The hurricane hadn't arrived yet on Saturday but there was a steady rain so Katie decided to play it safe and stay home with the dog and Charlie went by himself.  They shortened the tournament to only 54 holes and wrapped the tournament up on Saturday due to the looming hurricane.  Charlie went down - and was allowed to bring his phone, so he snapped a few pictures.  Tall Texan Dustin Johnson took home the trophy, beating out Matt Kuchar and Vijay Singh.

Back to the Midwest - weekend of August 13th, 2011

First - congratulations to our friends Bryan and Kristen for the birth of their first kid - "Baby Bill", earlier today!!!  Also, Charlie says congrats to Michigan for officially having a better record than Ohio State!

Now, back to updating our blog, which is currently about a month behind - we are trying to catch up :)

After our weekend at Coney Island, we both had separate scheduled trips to the Midwest.  Charlie was going on one of his 2 golf trips for the summer.  This one is an annual trip set up by one of his former co-workers from Columbus.  Every year they go to Wheeling, West Virginia, to Oglebay Resort, which has 2 nice courses designed by Arnold Palmer and Robert Trent Jones.  It's a good opportunity for Charlie to see some friends from work that he doesn't see as much since our move.  Unfortunately, Charlie's golf game is not up to par these days, but he did manage to win a little money in the Wheeling casino!

Katie also re-connected with some Columbus friends; she went back for a baby shower for two of her college friends, Cathy and Lisa...

I first got to see some of my old KPMG friends at lunch on Saturday, which I was really excited for Plank's Pizza - our Columbus favorite which is hands-down better than any New York pizza that I have tried (Charlie was extremely jealous to see this picture).  We had a great afternoon catching up with each other.

See, this is what happens when you're a month behind - Kristen is still pregnant in this photo - we are no longer accurate!  Congrats again!

The baby shower started around 4pm at Lisa's house and was a lot of fun seeing some of my college friends and anticipating the 2 newest babies to come to my college girlfriends.  The husbands were also invited (Charlie was upset that he couldn't join) to the shower, so we kept the girly-shower stuff to a minimum and just had a fun barbeque in the back-yard.  On Sunday, we hit another one of my Ohio favorites - Bob Evans! - and then I headed to the airport.  I had a layover in Detroit and when I landed in Detroit, then I discovered that my flight to White Plains had been cancelled so I was stuck in Detroit over-night....ugh!   Delta put me up in a crappy hotel right by the airport and gave me $12 in meal vouchers. I finally got home to Jersey Monday morning.

(don't worry this was just sparkling cider for the prego's)

We made the boys play a game where they had to chug beer out of a baby bottle as fast as they could...pretty funny!

Labrynth Ladies - Lisa, myself, Emily and Cathy and the newest Labrynth Lady - Vivienne...so cute!

Katie's Birthday - August 5th, 2011

After we got back from vacation in Cayman, we still wanted to take advantage of the summer.  The last weekend in July, Charlie went to Dewey Beach in Delaware for one of his college friend's bachelor parties.  It was a fun weekend where he was able to see a lot of friends from Chicago and Ohio that he doesn't see as much now that we live on the East Coast.  Katie spent some relaxing time in Ramsey with Griffey.

The following weekend was Katie's birthday and we went to Coney Island to celebrate. Though Charlie had been to Brooklyn for a minor league baseball game a long time ago, this was our first time visiting the famous Coney Island.  Our first stop was for lunch at Nathan's Famous Hot Dogs where the July 4th hot dog eating contest takes place.  We didn't want to have a stomach ache when we went on the rides, so we only had one hotdog each.  But if you've ever had a "Nathan's famous" dog - one is certainly a treat.  They are easily the best hot dogs we've ever had.

Prior to heading to Coney Island, we did a little research and discovered that Coney Island is very different from most amusement parks because the park is broken up into sections that are owned by separate companies.  At places like Cedar Point and Disney World, you pay one admission and all the rides are owned by the same company.  At Coney Island, you buy separate tickets for each section of rides.  It seemed like the oldest part of the park is owned by Deno's Wonder Wheel which is also the main attraction in this section of the park.  The Wonder Wheel has been a New York landmark since 1920 and is very unique because it has 2 levels of of carts, the first level swings back and forth in the inner circle and the second level stays still while going around on the outside level.  We took the second level to get the highest view from the top.

Next, we stopped on the Spook-a-Rama, which seemed like a really old "scary" ride.  Only 2 people fit in a cart that rolls around to various scary scenes.  Even Katie didn't think it was that scary - but it was fun as it's clearly got some history to it.

We saw the famous fortune telling Zoltar machine from the movie Big.  I am sorry to say that we didn't test it out, so we cannot attest to weather it really works.

The next part of the park seemed newer with more modern rides.  This part of the park is owned by Luna Park.  Charlie convinced Katie to go on the Soaring Eagle roller coaster and the Sling Shot, both of which she closed her eyes.  The Sling Shot is exactly like it sounds - you are sitting in a ball between two pillars connected by bungie cords - and then they slingshot you high up into the air!  After the Sling Shot, Katie was officially done with rides for the day, and Charlie went on the Zenobio ride by himself.

After all the rides, we walked along the boardwalk and stop in a couple of the bars.

It just so happens that the weekend of Katie's birthday is also the weekend of the annual sand building contest.  Charlie and I didn't enter the contest but we did view all the entries and was very impressed by how extravagant some of the sand castles were.

On our way out of the park, we purchased an order of deep fried oreos to share! Yum!
What a fun birthday!

Cayman #4 - final days in vacation (July 21-22)

Sarah and John had to leave on Wednesday morning, so we were down to just 2 couples.  We relaxed by the pool some more and then Gary, Heidi and Charlie and I took a sunset caterman cruise to Rum Point for dinner.  The views were amazing and we filled up on lots of food and drinks.

Thursday morning, we met Gary and Heidi for brunch across the street at a place called Eats Cafe, then they had to catch their flight home.  Charlie and I decided to go visit the Turtle Farm and Hell at the North part of 7-mile beach.  These are 2 of the popular tourist attractions on the island.  The turtle farm is called Boatswain's Beach - it's kind of like an aquatic zoo where they raise giant turtles.  The big thing is you get to pet and pick up the turtles.  Hell is basically this small little section of the island with lots of black rocks where nothing grows.  It is has a small little gift shop where you can buy post-cards and have them post-marked from Hell.  We sent one to my parents and apparently the mail service is really slow coming from Hell...took about 15 days to arrive to Ohio.

(the guy that owns the property called Hell puts these little wooden figures of the devil in the rocks) 

We got to the turtle farm with only about an hour to look around before it closed, but it was enough time to pick up all the turtles we could.

After the turtle farm, we walked around some shops near our hotel and went to dinner at Hemingways, another great restaurant with nice sunset views.  We were a little "fished out", so Katie got the BBQ pork and Charlie got the duck.  Both were great - so there's another one we'd recommend!

Friday morning we squeezed in our last few hours at the pool and then packed up and headed to the airport.  We arrived back in Newark, New Jersey to record-breaking heat on the East Coast.  It was a great trip with 2 really fun couples and we all agreed we would love to go back again.

Cayman Islands post #3 (July19-20)

On Tuesday, Sarah and John had a another scuba dive planned and Gary and Heidi and Charlie and I went on a snorkel excursion.  One of the most recognizable things to do on Grand Cayman is to visit "Sting Ray City".  Sting Ray City is a small sand-bar area off the shore where hundreds of Sting-rays hang out and wait to swim with the tourists and the free food that said tourists bring with them. Our excursion first brought us snorkeling to a coral reef about 20 minutes off the shore.  It was good to do the snorkeling first - it was decent snorkeling where you were fairly close to the fish.  And it made visiting the sting rays even more fun.  The pictures didn't turn out as well from that trip - but the highlight was when one of the tour guides played with an eel.

Then is was off to see the sting rays - the highlight of the trip.  The boat crew members gave a short lesson on sting rays and how they are misunderstood creatures.  Really they are quite docile and can be touched and fed.  Because Sting Ray City is located on a sand-bar, everyone can stand because the water is only a couple feet deep.

Charlie jumped right in because he had been there before...

...but Katie and Heidi were a little apprehensive of these large sting-rays coming right up to us.

Eventually, Charlie and the tour guide got Katie to hold the sting ray...

And everyone else got in the fun, too.

If you ever go - we would recommend Moby Dick Tours.  The 3 tour guides really know how to make the trip fun, and are very helpful.  The combination of snorkeling first and the knowledge they have, along with the best price we'd found - it's the best option.

After the snorkel trip, we went back to Rackham's - where we'd jumped off the dock the night before - but this time for lunch.  The guys at Moby Dick recommended the place, and we got 10% off for saying that's why we came.  Too bad we didn't find it for dinner the night before - the food was really good!  They are said to have the best fish and chips on the island, and we'd agree with that assessment.  Their fried grouper sandwich was also really good.  Retracing our steps, we went back to Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville after lunch for drinks and some more trips down the water slide.

Tuesday evening, we all made separate dinner plans to have a little time alone.  Sarah and John were celebrating their 3rd wedding anniversary.  Charlie and I made reservations at a local Italian place called Ristorante Pappagallo and as you can see from the pictures it was perfect for a romantic dinner and our meals were delicious.  This is another one we'd recommend - it's at the very North tip of 7-mile beach and requires a cab ride.  But it was worth it!

After dinner, we met up with Sarah and John at Calico Jack's, a tiki bar on the ocean just a few blocks down from our hotel.  It was "Jam Night", which is kinda like open mic night, with a band that acts as the host.  Some were better than others, but it was a lot of fun listening to some local talent.  There was one guy in particular that rocked the place - he looked like a shorter version of Manny Pacquiao and was incredible on the electric guitar.

We didn't get a very good picture of him...but here he is:

We walked along the beach back to the hotel and said good-bye to Sarah and John because they were heading home the next day.

Wednesday, we relaxed by the pool some more and then Gary and Heidi and Charlie and I took a sunset caterman cruise to Rum Point for dinner.  The views were amazing and we filled up on lots of food and drinks.

Thursday morning, we met Gary and Heidi for breakfast and then they had to catch their flight home.  Charlie and I decided to go visit the turtle farm and Hell, which are 2 of the popular tourist attractions on the island.  Hell is basically this small little section of the island with lots of black rocks where nothing grows.  It is has a small little gift shop where you can buy post-cards and have them post-marked from Hell.  We sent one to my parents and apparently the mail service is really slow coming from Hell...took about 15 days to arrive to Ohio.

(the guy that owns the property called Hell puts these little wooden figures of the devil in the rocks) 

We got to the turtle farm with only about an hour to look around before it closed, but it was enough time to pick up all the turtles we could.

After the turtle farm, we walked around some shops near our hotel and went to dinner at Hemingways, another great restaurant with nice sunset views.

Friday morning we squeezed in our last few hours at the pool and then packed up and headed to the airport.  We arrived back in Newark, New Jersey to record breaking heat on the East Coast.  It was a great trip with 2 really fun couples and we all agreed we would love to go back again.