A few weeks ago we flew out to Portland to spend some time with our friends Bonney and Patrick, to meet their new son Calvin and of course visit their older son Rowan. We had a laid back visit hanging out with the kids, venturing out a bit in Portland – hitting a few shops, a few parks, etc. Rowan is a great little guy with tons to say. And Calvin seems to be pretty easy going. He basically oscillated between eating and sleeping and was quite accommodating to our eating out by sleeping through entire meals without stirring. It had been quite sometime (more than 8 yrs) since Aaron had been back to Portland and the city has become quite a foodie paradise since then – so we spent much of the visit hitting as many of the eating highlights as we could pack in. Bonney and Patrick laid out a pretty ambitious tour – including food carts, charming cafes, packed, out of the way places and downtown-city restaurants. And I have to admit, the food did live up to the hype. It was a great visit and we hope to see them again soon.

We recently spent a fun and relaxing week on the island of Nantucket with our good friends Bonney and Patrick and their son Rowan. We rented a house on the beach and took advantage of the beautiful autumn weather. We spent lots of time outside on the back deck, down on the beach, exploring the island and took a hike in Squam Swamp. Aaron brought his kites and flew on the beach a couple of days. We windowed shopped (everything on Nantucket was island priced, which means it cost at least 20% more than usual), read books, played games and ran around with Rowan. We also visited a windmill on the island that was built in 1745 and is still used to mill corn. The island was beautiful, almost all the houses were covered with weathered shingles and no matter where you went the sea was never too far away. It was a lovely vacation and great to have the time with Bonney and Patrick, and Rowan.

A few weekends ago, Aaron and I met up with Bonney and Rowan in New York City. The weather was fantastic, and we spent a lot of the weekend walking around the city together. We visited the USS Intrepid, a decommissioned World War II aircraft carrier that is the permanent home of the Sea-Air-Space Museum. The flight deck of the carrier was filled with a variety of planes and helicopters. The carrier itself was amazing to see in person – we really enjoyed ourselves. We also visited Central Park, The Highline and of course did plenty of eating. My favorite meal of the weekend was at Kyo Chon, a Korean fried chicken restaurant – yum. We also ate Thai, Austrian (food truck) and a couple of good brunches. Oh and a thanks to Aaron who helped me label all the photos from the Intrepid – it’s amazing (and a little weird) to me that he can identify all the military planes and helicopters by name – but he did it quite easily.

In mid-April Aaron and I traveled to Niagara Falls (for the first time) to meet up with some friends at an annual board-gaming convention: The Gathering. It was still a bit cold in Niagara Falls and the weather was fairly gray, but we did venture out to see the falls, both from the American side and Canadian side. We also obviously played games and spent time with Bonney, Patrick and their 10-month old son Rowan. It’s clear the area has not fared well through the recent economic downturn – there we lots of empty store fronts and closed businesses. It was a bit sad to see the area depressed. We are hoping that some of it can be attributed to the fact that it was still the “off season” – but we did our best to invest a bit locally – with a little research we found some great restaurants and did some remarkably good eating. The above photo is of Bonney and Aaron on the Canadian side of the falls. It wasn’t raining, the falls just kicked up an incredible amount of mist. Click on their photo to see our other pictures from the trip.

At the very end of March, I took a fabulous vacation to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico with my good friends Bonney, Laura and Courtney. The four of us first spent time together last spring for Bonney’s baby shower and we enjoyed each other so much we have decided to try to make it an annual event. We stayed at the Pueblo Bonito Pacifica Resort and it was beautiful. We spent most of our time by the pool – reading, lounging, swimming and enjoying frozen beverages. We did venture into town one day. First we went on an “intimate experience” whale watch – which meant we went out on these little rubber zodiac boats and that was a pretty fantastic tour. Later that day we had a delicious lunch at a local restaurant called Mi Casa, and did a little shopping before returning to the hotel. Laura arranged the entire trip, she travels to Mexico often for work, and hooked us up in every way – she also speaks fluent Spanish – and made the entire trip seamless for all of us. Needless to say it was a great time and we were all sorry when it was time to head home. Click on the above photo of the four of us in front of the famous Cabo San Lucas Arch to see the full album of photos (including some of Laura’s and Courtney’s pics) from our adventure.

Long time family friend (and Joe’s brother), Jami married his girlfriend Jen in Topsfield this past October. The whole family attended and we had a great time celebrating their day. The wedding and reception were both at the Willowdale Estate in Topsfield, a beautiful field-stone mansion built back in 1901 and grounds with gardens and trees in every direction. Joe, who was the best man, made a very sweet toast that brought a tear to many an eye. Jami and Peter and James grew up together and have been friends since elementary school – so it was surreal to be at his wedding. We were all excited for the couple and honored to be there. We wish them a long and happy life together.

Aaron and I drove up to Ogunquit Maine for a long weekend visit with Bonney and Patrick and to meet their baby boy Rowan. We stayed at The Dunes, this old-school style, cottage hotel right on the ocean. We had a great couple of days of relaxing, spending time outside and enjoying Ogunquit. On our last night together, the tide’s timing was in our favor and we were able to walk across the shallow river (blankets, gear and Rowan carried above the water line :) to the beach and enjoyed a sunset picnic dinner. It was too short a visit, but great to have the time together and the chance to meet the boy we had been hearing about for months. Click on the family photo above to see the pictures from the weekend.

Shortly after I returned from the Florida Keys, I flew out to Portland, Oregon for Bonney’s west coast baby shower. She asked Laura and Courtney (friends of hers from college) and me to fly out a few days early for a little get away to the coast before the shower. After we all arrived in Portland we drove to a little coastal town called Manzanita where we stayed in a great cabin that was walking distance to the beach. We watched movies, shopped, walked on the beach and just relaxed. It was great! We all had a great time together, but felt it was much too short. Above is a photo of the four of us outside our cabin. After a couple of days, we headed back to Portland for Bonney’s shower that was being held at her house and co-hosted by her niece and a friend from soccer.

In late February Aaron and I spent a weekend in New York to a) celebrate Aaron’s Birthday, b) to visit with Bonney and c) so that Sarah could attend Bonney’s east coast (that’s right there was a west coast one too) baby shower. We had a great weekend with lots of city walks and lots of good eating. Bonney introduced us to The Highline – a public park that has been built on an elevated rail structure (carried a freight train from the 1930s – the 1980s) in Manhattan’s West Side. We ate at Shun Lee Palace, City Bakery, Katz’s Deli and Artisanal – not too bad for just a weekend. And Sarah joined Bonney’s family and friends at a celebration for the baby we now know as Rowan.

In October last year Aaron and I took a much needed vacation and traveled out west to Orcas Island off of the coast of Washington State. We took a trip to Orcas Island over the summer of 2008 and liked it so much we decided to go back. Again, we flew out to Seattle, met up with Bonney and Patrick and made our way out via ferry to the San Juan Islands. We rented the same house as the year before and quickly settled back in. It was a little cooler than our last visit – so we wore fleeces rather than tee shirts – but we loved it just the same. We played games, read books, had delicious food both that we made and out at restaurants, explored the island – and relaxed. Having enjoyed the same house two years in a row, I think we are all starting to delude ourselves that it’s ours…