A Day at the Zoo

The first warm day of the year is always exciting. It's kind of like Christmas when you were 6. So to celebrate a simple blessing like warmth we spent the afternoon at America's oldest animal farm: The Philadelphia Zoo. Toni's favorite was the red Panda, but Ben's partial to the big cats.

Kata also made it up for a night this weekend. Now that she lives in DC we are looking forward to seeing her a lot more!

R & R in Minnesota

This past week I was able to head home to Minnesota for a little R and R. It was nice to spend time with my parents and close friends.

Here are a few pictures from the week.

College Roommates at Becky's Baby Shower


At Cafe Latte with my Mom and In-Laws


To Dinner with High School Friends and our Moms


Celebrating Grandma's 85th Birthday in Rochester


Dinner & Games at Home with my Parents and Judson

The Super Bowl and Indulgences

The guys excited about a play

Since we all know that the Super Bowl is the year's biggest pagan holiday to consumerism (just barely beating out Post Thanksgiving Black Friday), we thought we would give in and worship the gods of Pepsi, Bud Light, Dove Soap, and grotesquely chiseled men in tights.

Here are a few pics of the party we threw.






Coffee and a Super Bowl cake after the game

Friday in DC

Lunch in Georgetown

Ben & I spent an evening in DC last week. It looks like my sister Kata will be living there for a few months while working at the Children's Hospital so we went down to check out her new digs in NW DC. Then we headed south to the so called National Harbor to have dinner with Ben's brother and wife. We were a bit shocked by the sculpture "The Awakening", a five-piece, cast aluminum sculpture more than 70 feet in length and approximately 15 feet at its highest point.

On the docks at the National Harbor


"The Awakening"

Pizza, Games and Dinosaurs

Over the long Martin Luther King weekend our friends Silas and Laura visited us to renew our infamous Rook card game rivalry, mutually complain about the poor life decisions Silas and Ben choose when they pursued graduate studies, and check out Greenwich Village and the dinosaurs in NYC.

Thanks for the visit!

Making our Favorite Margherita Pizza at Home


In the Dinosaur room at The American Museum of Natural History


The typical roof shot with everyone who visits us :)

Je ne sais quo

The Majestic Niagara Falls

After 40 years of immigration from virtually every country, Toronto has realized its promise as a vibrant picture postcard of world culture. In just three days, Toni and I--and our Nordic passport holding friends Jefta and Tate--learned exactly how true this was as we grilled South Korean liver, laughed with an African-Canadian Quebecois comedian, listened to American Jazz music, ordered Baklava in the Greek sector, walked through a hobby farm in the middle of the city, relished Guacamole in north T.O., and ordered French delicacies-- je'voudrais une crêpe anybody?--in trendy Yorkville . Also, we learned that the Canadian side of Niagara Falls are way, way cooler (literally) than the smallish US side. Still, I'd pick Philadelphia over cosmopolitan Toronto any day of the week. There's just something je ne sais quoi about good olde Philly--just as long as I repress my hatred of the local obsession with the cheesesteak sandwich.


Walking the trendy streets of TO


Delicious French Crepes for Lunch (chocolate in our teeth for proof)

Brothers in front of the infamous Rocky Statue

The day we returned from our time in MN we were excited to have Ben's brother John, his wife Stacie and their daughter Elise for a visit. They had been in DC for Christmas and decided to come up to Philly for a short visit.

The day they were here we showed them the historic sites, had some cheese steaks and took them to the famous Philadelphia Zoo.

Thanks for making the trip!