Hello from the Camper of the Month!

Hello, my name is Griffey.  You may have heard of me.  Charlie and Katie are my humans - they sometimes write about me on their little blog here.  I get to post today, though!

If you haven't heard, I'm kind of a big deal out here in New Jersey Land.  I am currently camper of the month.  Well, actually, I'm not any more.  I was for the month of February, but now some other dog named Hanz is camper of the month for March.  I think Hanz stuffed the ballot box!  At least they made an extra-special day just for me for February, though!  That makes me happy.

My best friend is Teddy.  Teddy is a beagle mix, and he barks at everybody all day!  He is so fun!  But he is not camper of the month.  Today he saw my daddy come in to pick me up - and he barked at my daddy!  So I barked, too!  Everybody was so happy!

My mommy said I have a little sibling on the way in July.  I don't know about that - she said the stork is bringing it.  I hope I don't get less attention.  If the baby isn't nice to me, maybe I can chase the stork away!  But, I think maybe I will like my little brother or sister and make sure he or she is safe.  So I will bark at you if you come near my new buddy!

OK, I am tired now after a long day and all the responsibilities of camper of the month.  I'm going to bed now!

Visit from Charlie's Parents

The weekend of January 28th, Charlie's parents Leslie and Tom came to visit us.  They flew into Newark on Thursday afternoon and Charlie picked them up from the airport.   After settling in, the four of us went to dinner at a new (well new to us) Italian place in nearby Allendale called Meza Luna.  We all enjoyed our meals and came back to our house to play the card game Wizard.  On Friday, Tom and Leslie relaxed at our house with Griffey while Katie had to work the whole day and Charlie worked a half day. He came home for lunch and brought his parents to our favorite bagel shop in Ramsey-Goldberg's Bagels.  Friday evening we had made reservations at a restaurant called Half Moon in Dobbs Ferry, New York which is about 20 miles north of Manhattan.  Coming from our place we took the Tappan Zee Bridge and through the historic Hudson Valley of New York.  In distance, we could see the Manhattan skyline and restaurant had a great patio on the river unfortunately it was too cold to use it.  We tried the duck nachos for an appetizer which was really good and had a steaks for dinner.

On Saturday,  we went into the city for lunch and to see the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  For lunch, we chose a really cute French restaurant called Orsay on the Upper East Side.  The restaurant was delicious and only a few blocks from the Museum.

After lunch, we walked over to the Museum, which is enormous....good thing we wore comfortable shoes.  There was so much to see, so we tried to get a sampling of as much as we could.  The two must sees was the baseball card exhibit (for Charlie...I think this was the only reason he came to an art museum) and the Fabrege collection (for Leslie).   The baseball card exhibit was on a short wall and comes from a collection that was donated from Jefferson Burdick who had over 30,000 baseball cards and the Museum rotates the cards into a much more managable exhibit.  During January, there were 50 cards showcased for the "Breaking the Color Barrier in Major League Baseball" theme.   The Fabrege was also a small exhibit but Leslie really enjoyed it.  Fabrege comes from a Russian jeweler who made very intricate jewelry and most famously the intricate Fabrege eggs that were made for Russian royalty in the early 1900's.  Some other interesting exhibits we saw included the Arms and Armor exhibit, the Revolutionary War artwork and the classic European masters such as Degas, Monet and Picasso.

After wearing ourselves out all over the museum, we walk by Central Park and then took the train from Penn Station back to Ramsey.  We all went to get pizza at our favorite pizza place - Kinchley's.

Sunday we all relaxed around the house - and again got some food from Goldberg's.  Tom and Leslie helped us take down our Christmas tree and decorations.  It was a great weekend spending time with Tom and Leslie!.

Ultrasound Pics and what we've done so far in 2012

Since the New Year we havn't done too much, other than quite a bit of work (Charlie had to go to Dallas for work) and Katie has been sleeping a lot.  In fact, Katie managed to sleep through most all of the college bowl games while still winning her office College Bowl Pick 'em Pool.  We also watched the Bengals disappointing playoff game at our friend Brian and Adrienne's house in Somers, where they got beat up pretty bad in the 2nd half against Houston.  We brought Griffey over with us - and he did pretty well being around their 2+ month old baby.  Actually, he was much more concerned with the cats in the basement!

Other than being fairly tired, Katie has been feeling pretty good.  This week she said goodbye to the first trimester and entered the 14th week.  Charlie came with to the 13th week appointment and got to see the baby on the ultrasound screen for the first time.  It was amazing.  The doctor measured all sorts of things to gauge if the baby was on track and everything measured just right.  The baby seemed very comfortable in there and started to wave its arms around to say hi to us.  The next 6 months are going to fly by, and although we have lots to prepare before his/her arrival, we can't wait for the baby to get here!

I'm not showing too much yet, but I have noticed a small baby bump starting to form. 

Christmas in Ohio #3 - Eaton & Columbus

On Friday the 30th, we headed to Eaton to see Katie's parents.  Katie requested that her old favorite meal be made - Beef and Noodles.  We opened some presents with Katie's parents and just relaxed.  Griffey loves their house because they have a loft where he can run up and down the stairs and look out over the whole house.  Saturday morning, Katie's mom made a big Carico style breakfast with eggs and biscuits and gravy, which is always delicious.  Bob added something new to his holiday decorations this year.... a large Frosty Snowman which he attached to the 2nd Story windows.  I think he wants to be like Tim Allen from the movie, "Christmas with the Kranks".   It was cute and here's hoping that the rest of the neighborhood catches on.

After brunch we headed to Columbus to spend New Year's Eve with some friends, but Griffey stayed back in Eaton with Grandma and Grandpa Carico.

We first went to Charlie's good friend, Jon's parent's house in Dublin for dinner and drinks - well no drinks for Katie, who is now an excellent designated driver.  Jon recently got married back in July at Annapolis, so it was fun catching up with him and his new wife, Lindsey.  After dinner, Katie drove us to one of their fraternity brother's houses also in Dublin and we stayed there to say hello.  One of Charlie's friends just got engaged - they are not only a "Miami Merger" like us, but are also a merger from the 2001 Summer Business in Europe trip!

Next stop was Katie's friend's house also in Dublin (the one in Ohio) - lucky for us, so many people live in Dublin.  Several of Katie's old roommates were there along with husbands and 2 new babies.

Katie announced our big news and started to realize that New Year Eve is not quite the same sober.  Charlie, on the other hand, did not make that realization.  One of our friends who already knew about our announcement brought Katie an O'Douls Non-alcoholic beer to make the holiday seem more festive.  However, Katie determined that beer without the alcohol is just gross.  It was a very fun evening catching up with old friends from college and playing games.

The next day was New Year's Day, however, there were no college bowl games because it was an NFL Sunday.  We watched the 1st half of the Bengals game at a bar with some friends, then Katie's parents dropped Griffey off before we hit the road back to Jersey. We listened to the 2nd half of the game, which was a bummer because they lost.  But after some other team's misfortune, the Bengals got to back into the Playoffs anyways.

This year returning to Jersey was quite different, there was a little bit of snow on the drive thru Pennsylvania but nothing like last year when we returned to 20 inches of snow.  All in all, it was a fun trip back to Ohio for the holidays!

Christmas in Ohio Post #2 - Cincinnati Christmas, Cincinnati eats!

After our big announcement on Christmas Eve, we also had a very nice Christmas at the Mowry's house.  We woke up to the typical quiche breakfast and then went to the family room to open presents.  We were excited to give some of our New York City-themed presents we'd picked up in our trip to the city the week before.  Griffey sat with us while we opened presents, but he was nervous and spent most of the time lying warmly between his Mommy and Daddy.

Charlie, Abby, Grumpa and Tom played Wizard while Katie and Grandma Dorothy napped.  Leslie prepared an afternoon Beef Tenderloin dinner that was excellent.  After dinner, we made an initial failed attempt to go to a movie - but a second try at the Springdale theater was successful.  We saw the 2nd Sherlock Holmes movie with Robert Downey, Jr., and we all agreed it was a good movie, but not as good as the first one.  Too much action, not quite as much of the detective work that Sherlock Holmes is known for.  Elementary, my dear Watson!

Charlie slept in the basement on a couple of different nights for old times sake to hang out with his old dog, Homer.  Homer is almost 16 years old, can't see or hear very well, and no longer believes he needs wait to get taken outside if he has to go to the bathroom.  But he can still sniff out the nearest treat and was happy to "see" Charlie.

While in Cincinnati, we made our rounds to many of our typical Cincinnati favorites, and also tried a few new ones.  The two new ones were places we'd heard about on one of our favorite shows - Man vs. Food, which is on the travel channel and follows a food fanatic around to different cities.  The host usually visits three restaurants, and one involves an eating challenge.  We went to the two restaurants that didn't involve the challenge from his Cincinnati stop.

The first was on Monday for lunch down at Newport on the Levee in Northern Kentucky.  The restaurant was the relatively new Tom & Chee, which is a grilled cheese specialist.  The restaurant serves all different takes on Grilled Cheese.  The menu includes make-your-own grilled cheese sandwiches and plenty of specific house specials.  Katie got a half BLT without the lettuce with a side of soup, while Charlie went with the "Armagoetta".  This was one of the two sandwiches they'd highlighted on the Man v. Food show, and it had Goetta (a Cincinnati sausage specialty with steel cut oats) and hot peppers mixed with a few different types of cheese.  We also got a "dessert" grilled cheese.  They have a number of these that feature a donut as the "bread" part, and the blueberry bleu cheese was the one shown on the TV show.  We don't like bleu cheese, so we shared the smores one.  It had just what it sounds like - graham crackers, chocolate, and a marshmallow flavored mascarapone cheese.  Yummy!

The next day for lunch, we tried an old favorite - a Cincinnati chili restaurant we'd not been to before.  While Cincinnati is known for its distinct chili parlors, most of the restaurants are chains, led by Skyline, Gold Star, and to a lesser extent, Empress chili (which was the first of these restaurants).  But there are a few stand-alone parlors around, and Camp Washington Chili is a new one - for us.  The parlor has been serving chili for over 60 years, and is on it's second building in the Camp Washington area near Clifton.  The food was as you'd expect for Cincinnati chili - tasty.  They also have a good selection of deli sandwiches, which is different from the chain restaurants.

The traditional Cincy/Ohio/Midwest restaurants we'd had plenty of times before included:

• Penn Station for lunch on the way down to Cincinnati Christmas Eve
• LaRosa's, the famous Cincinnati pizzeria, on Monday night after Christmas
• Buffalo Wings and Rings (there's a new one in Finneytown) with Charlie's dad on Tuesday night
• Quaker Steak and Lube with Charlie's friend Craig and his wife Mandy on Wednesday for lunch - who is expecting twins!
• Hofbrahaus, the German transplant in Newport, with our friends Brian and Adrienne - who just had their first baby (this is becoming a theme)
• Tai's Asian Bistro - the best take out chinese takeout food ever - on a Thursday trip to Columbus
• Gold Star Chili on Friday lunch for our second Cincinnati chili fix   

Charlie decided the only things missing were Montgomery Inn (can't do everything) and Skyline Chili (3 meals with Cincinnati chili are plenty)!

Christmas in Ohio post #1 - A big announcement on Christmas Eve!!!

We came home to Ohio for the holidays on Christmas Eve and stayed in Ohio until New Year's Day.  We actually left New Jersey in the afternoon on the 23rd and finished half of the drive (with dog in tow) before staying in a hotel in Youngstown that night.  Griffey did well in the hotel - only a little bit of barking when he heard some people out in the hallway.

We finished the drive the morning of Christmas Eve, and got to Charlie's parents house in Cincinnati just in time to listen to the 2nd half of the Bengals win over Arizona that put them in the lead for the last playoff spot.  Who Dey!  Unfortunately, though they did make the playoffs, they got destroyed yesterday in Houston and are done for the season.

Christmas Eve at first consisted of our usual traditions at the Mowry household.  Katie's parents came down from Eaton and we went to the Wyoming Presbyterian Church for 5:00 service.  This was the church we were married in, and we always enjoy going there to see the yearly Christmas pageant.  After that, we come back as Charlie's mom finishes up on a Christmas Eve meal.

This year, we had a surprise for our family.  Charlie ordered teddy bears delivered to his parents' house, and both our parents, Charlie's sister, and Charlie's Grandma and Grandpa all got to open a present with a bear.  Depending on the family member, they got a bear with something like this on its T-shirt:

That's right - Katie's pregnant (if you're reading this blog, you likely know by now)!  Baby Mowry will be making his or her debut in July 2012.  It was fun to see who figured it out first (Charlie's sister, Abby had the most blatant t-shirt, so it was between her and Charlie's Dad) or who had the biggest reaction (the two Moms).  But this was a perfect time to announce our big news, and it made for a great memory and a great holiday atmosphere that night!

Another big - Go Blue!!!

It wasn't pretty and Virginia Tech sure acted like they didn't want to win it at times - but Michigan won a BCS bowl this season* to finish 11-2 and look really good for next year.

*during a season that saw the team down south post a losing season, forfeit all of last year's wins and get told they won't play for a bowl game next year...