Ocean City Trip PHOTO UPDATE

Here are some new photos from our recent trip to Ocean City courtesy of Erin and Nathan Spahr. We've got some great shots of our nephew Nathan and his younger brother Tate "tater tot". There are a few labeled 'Photos by Nathan' taken when Nathan decided he wanted to play photographer. I dont think a professional could have captured more candid moments ;) - good job Nathan!!

Ocean City - Spahr Family Trip

September 2008 - Now that Steph is officially barred from flying, we have taken to the ground for our road trips :). We joined the whole Spahr clan for our annual Ocean City beach trip in the middle of September and had a great time. Our Spahr mom heads to the beach once a week every year, a tradition that has continued since before we were born.

On this particular trip, we were joined by more people than we've had in years. My dad and my stephmother, our Uncle Pat (check out his website www.tenthousandjoys.com - he owns a cool little shop in downtown Frederick) and his girlfriend Rhonda, our sister Robin, our brother TJ and his wife Erin, and their 2 sons (our nephews) Nathan and Tate. These kids are awesome and you can get a peak of them throughout the photos in the above slide show.

While Steph and I were only there for 3 days, we packed in a ton of adventures. We got to check out Sunfest, we got a Jet Ski AND a conversion van stuck in the water- which took an Explorer to get out, and we found the Notre Dame game on at the local Green Turtle. Weather was perfect and Junior got a sneak preview of the ocean. Another perfect weekend with the perfect wife...

Living the dream... Danny

Pregnancy Update : Counting down til Nov. 8th!

Hey Everyone!



I realize we are now a few weeks behind on the blog and we will work to catch up over the next week or two on some of the fun things we have been up to like a trip to the beach with the Spahrs and a great wedding in NJ!!



But thought I would share a wonderful pic of me courtesy of Danny (ok not wonderful but you can get the idea of why I am having some sleeping troubles)..



Also we had a sono today and all news to date is great.. We even could see that Junior already has hair! The heart rate is normal, you could see him practicing breathing and all the organ measurements are great... the only small issue (if you want to consider it an issue) is he is BIG baby! They are already estimating him at 6 and half pounds and if I go to full term he could be well over 9 lbs.. I am still trying to figure out exactly how he is going to get out ;)

Shea and Yankee Stadiums

Sept. 13, 2008 -Two National Monuments are set to be tore down after the end of the baseball season so Steph set up an awesome trip for us to catch a baseball game at both Shea Stadium and Yankee Stadium. What a cool experience - There is over 120 years of baseball history packed into these 2 stadiums from 2 franchises that have been the cornerstone of America's pasttime. We will at least be able to tell our kids that we saw a ballgame at each.

The trip itself was adventourous, as it always is with Steph :).

The area around Shea is quite interesting - We stayed in Chinatown, within walking distance to the Stadium, which we figured would allow us to watch some college football at the local bar before the game. Hmm, well, no bars anywhere within a 5 mile radius of Shea for starters, and second, it really was China. I almost thought i might need a Passport to get into the stadium. Ok, not that bad, but still a trip.

The area around Yankee stadium was a little more accomodating as far as bars. We were able to catch some NFL football before heading into the stadium at which time we proceeded to fry under the ridiculous heat. Poor pregnant steph must have been even more uncomfortable than me! But, as everyone knows, Steph is a trooper and sucked it up until we headed out for the drive home.

Looking forwarded to heading back next year to see what $1.3 Billion dollars can build (the cost of the new Yankee Stadium)...

Living the Dream... Danny

Baby BBQ vs. Hurricane Hannah!

So after a month or two of my parents planning this party with the goal of having a big outside BBQ with lots of games.. we get these reports of Hurricane Hannah arriving at the same exact time as the party..

However, after many discussions with my parents about changing the date we determined we had to go ahead with the original plan.. Of course the morning of the party the news is reporting people should not venture outside unless necessary and there will be lots of rain and huge wind gusts up to 50 MPH.. so the option was give it a go or cancel..

I am so happy to say we gave it a go.. and what a party it was. At times, I am almost overwhelmed at the good friends Danny and I have. We had over 50 people show up including Katie flying in from Chicago, Jen coming down from the Big Apple and both Kirsty and Melissa making the drive in from Jersey... And as a bonus the weather cleared up enough to allow us to go outside and even get a competitive game of Cornhole or "Bags" going.. Some of the highlights were definitely the six pack of Miller lite with bottle nipples, a "cake" made of diapers and an embroidered outfit for Junior with Dan's nickname "D-Unit" on the hat and sweatshirt. Some of the more practical were a bag full of J&J products plus all the fun Pooh stuff for the nursery - hope "Junior" likes Pooh :)

Thanks again to all of you for a day we won't forget! love you all! I will try and get a few more pics from my parents.. as I realize we just did not take very many!

Seattle and Portland Adventure

Click on the photo for the full album

Another 2 states down, 20 more to go! Steph and I just arrived back from a great trip to the Northwest. We were led out to the furthest corner of the continental US for a wedding in Portland for Stephanie Trautman, a good friend and roomate of Steph's from Notre Dame. Since we had to go out for the wedding on Saturday we said, hey, why not just take 3 more days and head to Seattle as well? Sounded good to me so off to Seattle we went. We arrive Wednesday at around 11:00am just in time to catch the mighty Seattle Mariners (that's a joke for anyone who doesn't know baseball) battle the Twins. We got to see a great game and another cool stadium.

We spent the next 2 days touring the city. We visited the famous Pike Place Fish Market, the original Starbucks, checked out the Seattle Music Experience, and took a boat tour around the bay which offered awesome views of the city. Of course we hit a few local Brew Pubs (Steph is a trooper) and sampled the local cuisine. (Click on the photo above for all the pics!)

From there we headed to Portland where we found one of the coolest resorts on the planet! McMenamins Edgefield had a beer garden, brewery, winery, concert pavilion, and 20 hole golf course all within walking distance of each other. Talk about all of life's basic necessities!!! If you are ever in Portland, this is one place you gotta check out. (we found out later that this was one of 60 bars, resorts, breweries that 2 brothers own throughout Oregon and Washington - probably not stuggling to get by).

The wedding ceremony was beautiful (held at an outside Grotto - check out the pics) and the reception was a blast. Free drinks, lots of food, and lots of woman... what more could you want, life is good! :)

-Danny

Another Doc Appt (and my last international Trip..)

Thought I would let you all know that I had another docs appt today and all is well.. except the baby is BIG!! Based on today's sonogram they reconfirmed what Luci said - that this baby is the size of a baby at 30 weeks and 4 days (or due date of Oct. 26th) and not the 28 weeks that I am currently supposed to be at... After much discussion, the doc agreed to move up my first established due date of Nov 12 to Nov. 8th.. but thinks it will just be a big baby (especially based on the fact I was more than 9 lbs when I was born and we know the Spahrs have slightly larger heads :) I will have another sonogram at 35 or 36 weeks just to check on his size at that point. But nothing to worry about :) He did kick all last night which was quite a fun night sleeping..

I am off to Germany tomorrow.. wish me luck on the flights..