Post-Christmas Fun

We were good boys and girls this year--so good that Santa came to visit us in NC. After opening presents and having a traditional Christmas dinner with the fam, we took advantage of the time off and packed the weekend with a bunch of fun activities.

We went to the movies and went bowling. Congrats, mom, on the 166. That's awesome! The rest of broke 100, but not by much.

Next, we went horseback riding on the world's most gaseous horses! Yuck!!

And of course, we spent some time breaking up cat fights. It doesn't look like the "Christmas Spirit" applies to kitties. (P.S. Allison, thanks for the catnip banana! It's a blast!!).

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

We've spent the month of December shopping, visitng with friends and family and cleaning up messes made by bad little kitties:




We hope your holidays aren't as messy. Have a safe and happy holiday season! Best wishes for a wonderful 2009!!

Jackie and Drew

Aloha!

We skipped out on a summer vacation this year so that we could attend our friend's wedding in Hawaii. We were so glad to be invited-it was a ton of fun and the week in Oahu and Kauai was just what we needed!

We basically went right from the airport to the beach. It was a good move as the weather more-or-less sucked for rest of the trip. We didn't complain though--a rainy day in Hawaii is still better than a sunny day at the office!

Check out this Waikiki sunset!

Dinner at Alan Wong's was fantastic. Too bad the jet lag took over-Jackie nearly fell asleep between the last course and dessert.

The next day, we "adopted" one of the bridesmaid's husband so he didn't have to get his hair and nails done with the rest of the girls. We went to Hanauma Bay to go snorkeling......

We saw all sorts of fish and sea life including Hawaii's beloved Humuhumukununukuapua. Try saying that fast three times! We tried. It took sooooo long to learn how to pronounce Humuhumukununukuapua once that we didn't have time for a leisurely lunch. Thank goodness Drew can multi-task.

We were in a hurry because we had a surfing lesson with Hawaii's best (and most entertaining)surf instructor, Eric. Eric was definitely the best instructor on Waikiki as we all were able to ride the first wave that came our way. Watch out Long Board Champions....here we come!

The end of the day was marked by the sunset wedding ceremony of Joanne and Carl. What a beautiful bride!!!!


The wedding was perfectly short and sweet, which left lots of time for the good stuff:

1. cocktail hour......


2. Appetizers....


3. Dinner.......

4. Wedding Cake...... ....and 5. cheesy wedding dances...

The next morning in Hawaii, it was football time on the mainland so we skipped breakfast and headed to a sports bar to cheer on the Redskins. A 3 hour football game turned into a ridiculous day drinking fest where 4 of us drank 9 pitches of beer. Needless to say we are not 22 anymore so the rest of the day was shot, but we sure had fun (from what we remember!).

We spent our last day on Oahu touring the island's sights and beaches.

First we headed to the Dole Pineapple Plantation.....

Then we made it to the North Shore to check out the surf. The pictures don't do the waves justice...they were HUGE and POWERFUL.

Don't let Drew fool you....he didn't get a baby shark bite in Hawaii....a wave tossed a rock right at his knee. Ouch!

All those waves got our stomachs growling so we headed to one of the North Shore's famous Shrimp Shacks for a delicious bite to eat. We highly recommend the garlic-chili shrimp if you ever make it to Kahuku's. Fantastic!

After lunch, we drove around to Kualoa for some more tranquil waters and some R&R.

The next day, we headed to Kauai, the land of wild chickens and perpetual rains. Good thing we rented a convertible! grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

The trip to Kauai was a true vacation. Jackie got to sit around with a beer and her nose in a book while Drew tended to the kitchen duties. When is our next vacation???

Drew's dinner of lobster tails and filet mignon was good...so good that it was almost food-blog-worthy. Almost. :)

Drew was off the K.P. hook for dessert because we went out for the local favorite..a Hawaiian Shave Ice.

The next day, in between rain showers, we were able to catch a glimpse of Hawaii's Grand Canyon. It was beautiful!

After touring the canyon, we met up with the newlyweds, Joanne and Carl, who were on their honeymoon in Kauai. We all took a boat cruise of the Napali Coast-one of the most picturesque spots on Earth . Too bad we had to turn around early because about 70% of the passengers got sea sick. Yuk!

Towards the end of our trip we took a kayak tour to a hidden waterfall. We got dressed for adventure and were ready to paddle! Does matching water shoes say "Coolest Couple on the Planet" or what???? ha ha

Coldest waterfall ever:

Finally, a few hours before we were to leave for the airport, the sun came out so we finally got to fool around like kids and play in the pool at our hotel.

Our last supper in Hawaii: A World Famous Bubba Burger. Sooooo yummy!

Aloha again, and hope enjoyed the pics!

October turned out to be an interesting month.

It started out with a Girls Night Out at the New Kids on the Block concert in Washington, DC.

Jackie wasn’t a NKOTB fan as a teenager but nonetheless, she had an amazing time rockin’ out at the concert. Was it the music, The Block, or just the massive quantity of beer??? We’ll never know….

Due to an unfortunate incident with running shoes and a make-shift toilet (don’t ask unless you want to vomit!), Jackie hasn’t gone running in over a year, but that didn’t stop us from passing out tootsie rolls to the thousands of runners who ran the Baltimore Marathon on October 11. Keep your fingers crossed that Drew’s torn Achilles is 100% better soon so that he can start training for next year’s Baltimore Marathon.
No October is complete without an Oktoberfest and we picked a great one to attend. It was filled with good food, good beer...

....random drunk guys

....and plenty of outrageous entertainment--women donned in Lederhosen for the guys

....and a beer belly contest for everyone!

The two guys who tied for first place in the beer belly contest had guts that measured 5 feet 2 inches around. Seriously!!! To make matters even more outrageous, the tiebreaker was a dance off! Unbelievable. Only in America!!!! Ha ha


We spent the next weekend in Philadelphia where we enjoyed the views and attractions.

In honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Philly dyed the “Love Statue Fountain” pink!


What’s Philly without a Cheese Steak? Thanks, Drew for the fabulous photography! Now we all know why Jackie’s “Skinny Jeans” rarely fit. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
Note to self: You could win the beer belly contest if you have another one of these anytine soon!!
We’re skipping Halloween next weekend because we’ll be 30,000 feet above sea level flying back from our Hawaiian vacation, but Ginger and Ernie sure couldn’t pass up the opportunity to dress up for the holiday.

Ok….Ginger couldn’t pass it up…..


Ernie---different story!!

Check out this kitty frown! :(

The Last Little Bit of Summer Fun

With winter on the horizon, we packed the weekends in September full of fun outdoor activities.
First, we went to the Redskins home opener to cheer on Drew’s Favorite Native Americans……
Can you spot The Chief in the Background???? We then went to the bustling metropolis of VA Beach to visit Jackie’s Sister and Brother in law. we had fun but chose the wrong weekend to visit....it was the coldest fall weekend on record! Can you see how unprepared we were for the cold--Drew had to buy a VA Beach Sweatshirt to match Jackie's San Francisco sweatshirt from last summer!

While strolling the boardwalk, we we lucky enough to catch the Virginia Beach Italian Festival which featured the Pizza World Champions. These guys really know how to play with their food!

Looks like Drew's taking lessons on playing with his food from the Pizza World Champions.

After the Italian Fest, Jackie jetted off to Fabulous Las Vegas to work a little………………

Talk about a Monster Truck!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

..........and play a little.


The last outdoor activity was our annual neighborhood Block Party. It was a little soggy but when you’re partying for a good cause, who cares if you’re wet. We went through 22 kegs of beer, 1 pig and a couple hundred burgers and hotdogs all in the name of raising thousands of dollars for the Southeast Youth Academy, a neighborhood non-profit dedicated to supporting teens from Southeast Baltimore.

August Pictures from "The Blogenbaums"

We started out the month super-excited about participating in the Great Urban Race of Washington DC, a digital camera scavenger hunt that Jackie’s sister encouraged us to participate in. We drove down to DC for the big day but after 15 minutes of “Urban Racing,” we decided that the race was A Great Urban Waste of Time so we dropped out, had lunch and went shopping.

Dani, FYI: We’re still kind of mad at you for suggesting that we do this (and for Googling so slow for the 15 minutes we participated!) but we’ll let you make it up to us soon. Just kidding!

The next weekend, we did something we actually wanted to do-We celebrated our wedding anniversary with a quick trip to Mill Run, Pennsyltucky, I mean, Pennsylvania, to visit Frank Lloyd Wright’s Falling Water.

We look rather civilized in this picture but a few seconds before it was snapped, Jackie entertained a group of Japanese tourists by falling off the rock! Whoops……

On the drive to the Middle-of-Nowhere, Pennsylvania, we came across a Wind Farm which was really cool. I’m still on this environmental kick that I started earlier this year so I’ve inserted this video to remind you to Reduce, Reuse and Recycle!! Thanks!

The next two weekends were spent napping by the pool in NC and then hitting the links in WV. Somehow I didn’t have the camera for those escapades, however I did have the camera when I flew south to Sao Paulo, Brazil for a business trip.

Sao Paulo was a really nice city. It was really, really big, but really cool and modern. I’m not sure if I’ll ever go back—the 12 hour flight was dreadful—but seeing the Amazon in the distance from 28,000 feet helped break up the monotony. Can you find the river in the picture?

We closed out the summer with a visit to the Maryland State Fair and then a Crab Feast in Annapolis.

Jackie was disappointed that she didn’t win a blue ribbon in any of the baking events at the fair but she thinks she would have won them all had she actually entered something in the contests. Next year for certain!!

Summer Fun

As a kid, I spent most summers complaining that “there’s nothing to do” and whining “I’m bored” (Sorry, mom!) but Drew and I seemed to solve that problem as adults as we didn’t have a minute to spare in July.

We started out the month by celebrating the 4th with friends. Despite the rain, we had a great time watching the Inner Harbor’s fireworks from our roof-top deck.

We spent the next Saturday celebrating Jackie’s sister’s wedding and Jackie spent Sunday recovering from the worst hangover on record.
The next day, Jackie jumped on a plane to Jamaica to take care of business. Thankfully, she had a few minutes to relax with Bob Marley and rejuvenate with a coconut water from a street vendor.

Drew stayed home and broke up cat fights.

Next, in true Baltimore form, we attended yet another summer street festival, Artscape, the largest free public art festival in the US. There were some really cool art projects and free concerts all day by various artists from Cisco of “The Thong Song” fame, to the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, to Rusted Root. Our favorite art displays were the “Car Art” projects.

Traveling to Jamaica and not going to the beach earlier in the month was a little depressing so we headed to Topsail Island, North Carolina with 6 friends to hang out at the beach for the weekend. We had an awesome time playing in the sand, flying a kite, eating crabs, and just playing around. We wish every weekend was a NC beach weekend!

(Slats: FYI...These crabs were not "Bunk")

We came back to two refreshing sights…1. Ginger taking what seems like her first nap since we got her, and 2. a perfectly ripe cucumber from Jackie’s garden. I don’t know what else anyone could need in life...