Practice Summer

This was a fantastic practice summer weekend! Look how happy Raf was:

We rode our bikes to Keagan's with Haylie and Heard on Friday night. Heard had a little photo shoot. Some of his snaps:

Whatever that is, it doesn't look like I want it!

Cool angle...

Isn't he charming?

He thinks so.

Heard was sad when I took the camera back...

And then picture ruining became a theme.

Good work, Raf. This was before he almost got in a fight in line... Here's a cute one of the boys though:

Love.

On Saturday, Haylie and I spent the afternoon on the beach. It was fantastic, despite the lady bug bites. We went to the Psimas' afterward for dinner and some smores (Brynn and Ryan were camping out for the night).

Special guest:

More shots that do not include me with my eyes closed (thanks, KAREN!):

And finally, my favorite shot of the night, which I call, "That's what she said."

Lovely!

We spent Sunday at the beach again (me and Raf this time) and got a little toasted, but all in all this was an excellent preview of summer. We are pumped. To PA for the weekend now.... yah!

Crush Fest 2010 (or 2009 if you check Haylie's shirt)

So last Friday night started innocently enough, with just a couple of kids having a good time at the Lucky Oyster. It was a long week and I had already enjoyed some time with my fellow newbie GRTs so I was happy to continue the party. Things quickly accelerated to slightly ridiculous, though, when we discovered that we were, in fact, in the presence of celebrity. Behold: Fireman Chris.

He is pictured here with the love of his life, the one he never wants to be without. We spent the night in awe of him. Case in point:

... that is until we spotted this fine speciman:

 Whew. She was something.

So anyway, Saturday I had class (last one!) and we went out in Town(e) Center to Keagan's with Haylie, Heard, and Jill. The night was pretty mellow because we fully preparing for Crush (and Cruiser) Fest 2010.

We love Waterman's.

You have never seen so many bikes in your life. Greg would be disgusted. (Yeah, I said it.)

So we soon discovered the new love of my life: the Ruby Red Crush. I am not the biggest fan of grapefruit, but this thing is ridiculous. I'm pretty sure I could drink these things every second of the rest of my life. It's gonna be a good summer, Tater.

The weather was kind of crap at first (this mess was caused by free BBQ and extreme winds), but things slowly got a little crazy as the sun came out and about 4 billion people arrived. Luckily, Haylie snagged a Crush Fest T-shirt:

This bargain hunter is truly my friend soul mate. She saved $6(ish) by purchasing a 2009 shirt. We're pretending we've been going from the beginning. Shhh... don't tell. 

Crush Fest 2010 = A Festivus for the Rest of Us.

A final note: Meet the REAL new and true love of my life:

This thing rocks my world.

Uncle Nut turns 26

The Birthday Blog

Yesterday my little Raftery turned 26, officially making us the same age for another 4 months, at which point the public old jokes start up again. Early in the week, his gift from me arrived and he convinced me to let him open it early:

We decided to record a video of Maddy's reaction, but we were disappointed that she did not find it at all unusual that he was dressed as green man. Sigh. His second gift was an "Always Sunny" shirt, from the "Kitten Mitten" episode, partially shown here:

Anyway, Saturday rolled around and we began the day by going to Doc Taylor's for breakfast, then went to the Sugar Plum to pick up the cake. I couldn't find a picture of the exact one, but here's a similar one and the description below. This is the cake we are planning to have for our wedding and used Raf's birthday as an opportunity to try it out:

"Bailey's Chocolate Cake: 4 split layers of chocolate cake filled with Bailey's Irish Cream flavored mousse, iced with Bailey's flavored chocolate butter cream and garnished with white chocolate curls."

Delicious. We brought the cake home, then went out to get Raftery a bike. A special thanks to Janet and Bill for our brand-new beach cruisers:

Not a great shot, but you get the idea. And yes, the bikes are in the living room until we are able to get some hooks to hang them in the shed. Luckily, we got the bikes just in time for "Bike Week":

Wrong kind, though.

Raf rode his bike to Karen and Ryan's and we hung out for awhile. They got him a super cool new toy, a cooking torch. You might want to think he is hoping to make me some creme brulee, but in fact, he just wants a more efficient way to melt cheese. (And I think he likes to play with fire.)

Pretty cool, huh? Thanks, Karen and Ryan. I'm gonna have some delicious meals now!

Next, we rode our bikes to Awful Arthur's to watch the Yankee game, eat some shrimp and get some drinks. Luckily, the Yankees won so the day was not ruined. We headed to Waterman's next:

We're thinking about having the rehearsal dinner here, so decided to try it out for dinner. Despite Ryan's freak flash of sickness:

... it was really fun. The girls were so behaved and the food was fantastic. Proof:

Attractive, huh? Some other shots:

Those are some beautiful people! 

We headed back to our place for cake and some hanging. Camryn spent the entire time rolling around on the carpet:

Too cute!

Raftery was not as keen on me taking pictures of him:

We then watched some "Team America" to top off an excellent day. The birthday boy is back to work today. In the meantime, for those of you who were concerned about our ailing vacuum, here is an update from Bill, the vacuum doctor:

"Your favorite vacuum cleaner was admitted last nite and underwent emergency arthropic surgery to correct a complete infarction of its main hose. It suffered an arrest during surgery and was difibrillated and was sucessfully converted to normal function. Pathology of the blockage showed some wood, some dog, but mostly cat. It is resting comfortably and can be discharged after work tomorrow."

Thank goodness.

Raftery's Birthday Card