The album of our trip to Baltimore is up. I won’t go over everything; you can read more details here. Suffice it to say we had a very good time and Matt will probably win the highly coveted “Husband of the Year” award. A few highlights:

• Surprising Alison for her 30th birthday
• Going to One-Eyed Mike’s and joining their club
• Going to the “Poets & Pirates” concert and watching Big & Rich, Brooks & Dunn, and Kenny Chesney

A big thanks go to Nana for watching Libby while we had fun on the town!

Sorry for the drought of posts over the past few days - we went to a good friend’s wedding in Houston and had a crazy good time. A full album is on the way, but I wanted to post a few images first (click for larger):

Yes, that is a picture of my wife smoking a cigar and our daughter drinking a beer (ok, it’s an empty beer bottle - whatever). Is it me, or does Texas bring out the strange in people?

I have posted an album from this past weekend’s celebration of Grandpa Bud’s 85th birthday. We visited the following:

• Submarine Force Museum: I loved exploring the Nautilus submarine and Libby loved running up and down the hallways
• Mystic Aquarium: Libby loved the beluga whales, sea lion show, and trying to touch the string rays
• Go-Fish: Tasty food (get the scallops!)

Libby and I have returned safely from our trip to the East Coast. We were out there celebrating my grandfather’s 85th birthday.

More pictures to follow. For now here is a picture of Libby perusing a magazine during the flight (no we didn’t buy her a seat - the one next to me was empty):

I finally got around to posting an album for our trip to San Diego. In it you will see the following:

• Playing on the playground
• Hanging out with Libby’s cousins
• A trip to Disney World (including visiting several the princesses)
• Jackson’s karate class
• Avery’s “Gowns and Crowns” 3rd birthday party

Enjoy!

One of my favorite memories from summers in Maine, both recent and from my childhood, is the rocky coastline that our cottage rests next to. At high tide there are lobster boats fetching their traps in the harbor. At low tide there are a thousand small tidal pools, each teaming with marine life and just begging to be explored.

I remember cool foggy mornings when we hunted for mussels among the damp seaweed piles. Afternoon hours were spent building forts with the warmed rocks of the shoreline, erecting crude flags to mark out our newly claimed territory. At night a cool breeze came in as the harbor bell rang it’s mournful tune. It was, and is, simply wonderful.

During recent years, as the family has grown up, kayaking has become our “new” pastime. Tim, my brother-in-law, is quite good and is able to take Sam or Emma with him as he paddles around the harbor. Here is Julie helping to send Tim and Emma off on one of their paddling journeys.

Shannon and Susan were able to spend a few days saying hello to the Pope and taking a lot of architecture pictures. See the album here.

On a side note: You might notice that a few of the pictures originally posted in the Venice album have now been moved to their rightful place (in either Barcelona or Rome/Vatican city).

To begin her long trip European trip Shannon started in Barcelona. She spent most of her time there working, so not a lot of pictures. There was one amazing building she captured at dusk: Casa Batllo, by the great Antoni Gaudi.

This album is a bit late making it’s way online, but I think the pictures are worth the wait! Shannon and her mother Susan were able to explore Venice for about 3 days.

From the sun baked golden buildings to the busy canals it looks like a fantastic and thriving city.

Ever wait forever in a traffic jam, only to find that when you finally get clear there was no apparent reason for it? You might have experienced a phantom traffic jam. William Beaty performs some traffic experiments and talks quite eloquently about how to help the situation.

I distinctly recall my father, while on our annual pilgrimage to the east coast, always did what he called “pacing”. Being a mathematically (and otherwise) intelligent man I think he came to the same conclusion that others have: a smooth flowing line of traffic will move more cars.

So if you find yourself stuck in a jam, try to leave some extra space in front of you - by doing so you will allow your braking to be less severe and thus cause fewer people behind you to spread the wave of stopped traffic backward.