As promised, the goats and my shift in accent

As promised to several, I'm posting a recently found video of me (Chels) feeding my goats (back in 2005). Kelly J., this is what happens to a backyard covered with several feet of grass and weeds when you put goats in it. Notice my dad had to buy hay because they ate all of the grass and we supplemented with veggies (with apples for dessert).

Notice how SOUTHERN I sound! Jeremy is a bit "sad" that my accent has faded a bit. :O)

San Diego

Went to San Diego for my cousin, James, wedding. We underestimated how warm and sunny San Diego would feel to our Vitamin D deprived, Boston skin in January!
Here's the happy couple, James and Daina, at the sword ceremony.

Posing with my sister.

My oldest cousin, Jason, with wife, Nicki, and girls, Kelly, Taylor, and Morgan. Kelly, their oldest, was the flower girl in my wedding!

I danced with Kelly as she was frustrated that her sisters didn't want to dance with her. I feel your pain Kelly. I husband is too bashful to shake his tail feathers with me!

With my cousin, Jerrod's, wife, Laura, and my mom.

My Uncle Dick, parents cousin, Sally, and my mom. It was great to meet Sally and her husband, Frank, they were career m*ss*onaries in W. Africa. Encouraging to have a conversation with them about where Jeremy and I are, our work in Boston, and being Christians here in the city.

It was WARM and sunny! Can we go back?


At Seal Beach in La Jolla... They are sunbathing!

Apparently, Jeremy caught the 3 of us either looking confused or disgusted by some action of a seal.

This guy or girl is a cutie...taking a snooze.

At an outdoor restaurant in Old Town. Whenever asked where I wanted to eat I would always reply, "anywhere outdoors." It just feels good on your skin to get fresh air!

Nuff said in this photo... USS Midway. There is an F-18 on top. Without saying, you know that a lot of time was spent after this picture walking all around this thing.

Had to have a picture with this beauty. He works on the F-18 engine. So, we have a number of pictures of various parts of the inlets and outlets of the engines...I will not bore you with those. :O)

I was asked to pose here. I don't normally pose at the butt end of a jet. I guess this is to demonstrate the size of the F-14.

My dad and I on the flight deck. Did you know that the flight deck is made of 3 1/2 inch thick reinforced steel. Crazy heavy!

What a Difference a Day Makes!

We got out for our Christmas trip to TX on time... a few hours after the last flake of a 14 inch snowstorm. Take a good at the difference a day makes!

This is pre-trip to the airport. We couldn't wait for the man who removes snow from our driveway to come by... we had to get to the airport as our plane was saying "on time." So, we both got to shoveling. I'm a terrible shoveler. You wouldn't have been able to predict that our plane would be running on time by the road conditions...no mam.

That night our friend Lara was gracious enough to pick us up and house us so Jeremy's folks didn't have to come to Houston that night only to be back early the next morning for their day full of not-so-much fun at MD Anderson. Here is my great buddy Lara and I eating OUTSIDE (in December!) at a super cute cafe the next morning before meeting up with Jeremy's folks. My Boston skin was soaking up that Vitamin D!

Our Neighborhood Visitor

Here are some pictures of our neighborhood visitor from this past weekend. He was maybe 10 feet outside of our dining room window for a couple hours on Saturday.



This guy was intently watching but wisely decided not to get any closer to that hawk!

Baltimore

Two weekends ago we took a super quick trip down to Baltimore to see Jeremy's parents before his dad's surgery (by super quick, we mean drive Friday night overnight, spend all day Saturday in Baltimore, drive back Sunday... Baltimore is 6 1/2 hrs away). Here are some pictures from the trip:

We stayed in the Fells Point neighborhood of Baltimore, which is right by the water. Apparently, this was the 2nd largest immigration point after Ellis Island back in its day (I listened on the ghost tour)... so quite the history. It was beautiful. We stayed in the Admiral Fell Inn, which is apparently one of the most haunted hotels in America (and stunningly beautiful I might add...made affordable by the Johns Hopkins Medical Rate). Nice. Of course on the ghost tour which went through the Inn, they stopped outside our room to tell of a ghost in our room. I didn't see her.
This is what happens when you sit down after staying up all night the night before:

We did some touring in Fells Point (2 different ghost tours, and some walking), but took the water taxi to other areas of Baltimore that we wanted to see. We toured the only surviving Coast Guard ship from Pearl Harbor, and a WWII submarine. Jeremy and his dad had a great time looking at the engines of both which were open for viewing.


In the background of this next one, you can see the coolest B&N ever... the architecture inside was crazy:

Jeremy, his dad, and his mom outside the submarine. Keep his parents in your prayers!

The torpedo area of the sub:

And finally, a picture as to where you end up when you follow the road sign for the "detour" to avoid "major traffic" through NYC. Do detours to avoid major traffic exist in NYC? I'm pretty sure they don't... It was a good sightseeing venture though.

We took a video as well, but our old computer is having trouble with the movie files from Jeremy's new camera.

Girls Weekend in TX

A couple weeks ago, I few down to DFW for my friend Elissa's wedding and also spent some time with my college girlfriends (or as Jeremy says, "the hens").

Here we are... Don't we look all grown up? Notice everyone but me is wearing long sleeves. I think it was a "chilly" morning...just shy of 70 degrees.

So, my friend Elissa got married at the chapel on TCU campus with the reception in Sundance Square in downtown Ft. Worth. Beautiful wedding, her new husband, Larry, seems perfect for her. Congratulations Elissa and Larry! This is the best picture that I got of them...

And the beautiful cakes made by Larry's sister. If you need a cake decorator in Ft. Worth I recommend her!


And my friend Kristen who I hadn't seen since before my wedding. We are really smiley in this picture because her husband, Mike, is really funny...similar personality to Jeremy.

And finally Elissa and I! KXA Big and Little!

Fall Foliage Around Brighton/Brookline

We didn't get up to NH or VT this year to do any leaf peeping...honestly, Jeremy didn't want to go, he felt that the roads would be too crowded given that the foliage was supposed to be "very good" this year. Alas, we did take some pictures around our area of town. Many of these were taken on Halloween, so the foliage is considered a bit "past peak," but still beautiful! Here goes:



This house is on the road on which we frequently walk the dogs (just up the street from where we live) it is my favorite...

Walking through leaf piles...

Look at the size of these leaves!


The next two photos are from just a couple streets away from our own (again on the dog walking route). Breaks between houses and trees produce views of Harvard and the Cambridge area.


A posting of our Halloween costumes to come soon.

Franconia Notch

Jeremy and his buddy Nick went hiking last weekend in Franconia Notch in NH. From what I've been told, it was a nine mile hike... many parts which included hiking and climbing over boulders. So, we are sharing these as it is humerous, shocking, and sad to note the temperature difference from the beginning of the hike to the summit. And the pictures are beautiful as well! Enjoy.
Notice the clothing at the outset of the hike...

And then, the layering began...

This is the best that Jeremy could do to document the wind.

Whoa! Frost. 6" or so on this bush.

Beauty!




Enjoying a snack!