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...

June--A Month of "Firsts"

The First day of Summer, which goes hand in hand with our First urban bike ride, the First sighting of baby ducks on the harbor, and Jackie's First tomato....

We also made our First visit to the Aquarium since we moved to Baltimore......

Next, we went to our First summer festival…In Baltimore, we have a different festival every weekend in the summer honoring this group or that group. Our First festival of the summer was the Hon Fest , a kitschy festival to honor the old-school working-women of Baltimore. I don't know about you but I can't think of a better group to honor, except for maybe the new-age working women of Baltimore, including yours truly! :)

Finally, we had the First play date for Ginger and Ernie…