Brian's Charter Boat Fishing Adventures

Brian and Kevin had adventures of fthe coast of MA on a charter boat fishing trip at the end of August.

They caught Blue Fish and Stripers and then Brian's friend LaCrosse grilled up the delicous fish and we feasted.  It was fantastic. 

2010-08-21 Grammy's 90th party

click here for Party Pictures!
It was a wonderful time celebrating Grammy's 90th birthday with everyone!
She was so happy and kept saying how lucky she was to have such a caring and loving big family. She truly loved seeing everyone. I'm sure she will be thinking about the day and talking about the party for a while.
She has a special attachment to the Red Lion Inn, so it was a fitting location to honor her and her 90 wonderful years.
And, we missed the family members that were unable to attend. Next time!

For those that were stuck in the lovely airshow traffic which delayed arrival by at least a couple hours, we could not be more sorry. Ugh! We are just glad everyone arrived safe and sound.

From Grammy, THANK YOU!

Pets are smarter than their owners

Well, the cats were trying to tell us something for a long time. We often wondered why they would go into the pink Living Room and just stare at the electrical outlet. Well, we found the answer buried in the wall this morning. Can you guess? We found a family of mice! Adorable? I think not. Turns out our electrical box is attached to the house by a piece of wood on the outside of the house on this wall. Overtime, the wood widdled away and mice found a home inside. When we removed the electrical outlet cover, we saw this cute family. And, at 3:30 this afternoon, an exterminator will come and find the mice a new home. We anticipate this will be the last time the room is pink as we will be forced into renovation---not a bad thing or a complaint; just a little motivation I guess. Lovely story, huh?!

Durian Tasting

Well, Brian has finally tasted Durian! His mom brought some over for the adventurous tasting. Even Allison and Nancy tasted it---brave girls! Honestly, it wasn't THAT bad. Brian attempted to make a coconut smoothie with it, but it didn't really taste fantastic. Mission accomplished though!

Swimming

Caitlyn loves swimming with her froggy in our pool! We've had some great weather for it too.

4th of July Wedding Weekend in NYC

On July 3rd we headed to Hell's Kitchen for Brian's cousin Jeff's wedding.  Jeff and Michelle planned a gorgeous ceremony in Central Park followed by a lovely reception at the Central Park Boathouse.  It was a great time....and perfect weather.

Here are some pictures and of course, we took pictures of our hotel room too....we don't get out that much, so hotel rooms are exciting these days...he he!  Hotel was fantastic....a most excellent rooftop bar that we checked out during last call.

Allison was also able to use the Seattle Weekender, the latest addition to the collection of Madison Handbags (her fantastic second job).  www.madisonhandbags.net/AllisonFuller

Pictures:  http://picasaweb.google.com/allisonm129/20100703ValentyWedding?authkey=Gv1sRgCKDOyPTs8YOSLw&feat=directlink

Peonies!

Photos:  Peonies Progressing

A nice "little" Sunday project!

We decided to replace the deck stairs after getting some helpful feedback from guests at our pool party on Saturday!

Of course it turned out to be a bit more of a hassle than we anticipated as the deck was built in the late 70's and therefore, the paint that covered the screws made it hard to find the screws.  And, then the champion wood cutter at Lowe's did not cut our boards 3 feet exactly. 
But, we did it!

Enjoy the before and after photo album!

Before:

After:

05-31-2010 Peonies progress

2010-05-30 peonies

Photo Album
Peonies were discovered in the backyard....don't remember them from last year, but perhaps they were there!
Anyway, it's exciting to watch them bloom.

our house

Stay-cation update....finally!

We were on vacation and stayed at home in the middle of May and got a bunch of things done around the house.  We are proud to have replaced the screen door to the basement from the pool and planted some annuals around the yard.
Photos: New screen door and flowers planted
BEFORE:

AFTER:

The Boat has arrived!

Now that we have the new Xterra, we can tow a boat! So, Brian brought his neglected boat and trailer over from his mom's house. It's been a long time since we had a vehicle with a hitch and were able to use the boat. Let the fishing begin!

The first to go in the pool!

We had some ducks visit our pool....Bailey really wanted to jump in and retrieve them!

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day!  Surprise:  LOBSTERS!
Photos:  http://picasaweb.google.com/allisonm129/20100506BoatMotherSDay?feat=directlink

Mother's Day!

 Kevin teasing the lobster!

Bailey is very curious about these fun guys crawling all over the floor!

2010-05-05 tulips

Albany Tulip Photos

Downy Woodpecker....or so I think he's called!

2010-04-03 yard work

Finally, thanks to Kevin, we can see the bushes as separate from one another!  Hours and hours of work with Kevin and Brian's brother AJ---thank you guys!

PHotos:  http://picasaweb.google.com/allisonm129/20100403YardWork?feat=directlink

Pumpkin loves the comfy snuggle blanket!

New Deck furniture assembled!

Brian and Kevin found this wonderful deck furniture on clearance at the end of last summer.

A very snowy day...or is it just gonna melt?

These first couple of photos show the snowy backyard at 8am after we spent over an hour clearing the driveway and front walkway.
Pics:  http://picasaweb.google.com/allisonm129/20100224SnowyDay8am?feat=directlink

By 11am, the snow was still falling pretty heavily and it didn't seem smart to go out again to snowblow the driveway until the snow finished falling.
Pics:  http://picasaweb.google.com/allisonm129/201002241130amSnow?feat=directlink

By 2pm, not only had the snow stopped falling, but the temperature went up to 40 degrees and everything started to rapidly melt. Snowblowing the driveway this time was very difficult because the snow was so wet and heavy it kept clogging the snowblower. Yikes! So, it became necessary to shovel instead. This has been one crazy snowy day!
Pics: http://picasaweb.google.com/allisonm129/20100224SnowBy2pm?feat=directlink

Put up some new blinds and drapes in the Dining Room. Went with a sage that has a shimmer to it. Insulated, of course....if you have been to the house this winter, you will know that it is a little chilly!
Eventually we need to rip down this awful wallpaper border (not our style at all!) and paint the walls and trim. For some reason the sellers thought pink trim around the doors and windows was smart. No, it wasn't.  Long term goal is to convert this room into a study/play room and convert the Pink Living Room into a dining room.  Money and time are the recipe for accomplishing such goals.
Anyway, Bailey says "HI"...he loves to help out with these projects!

The Bread Maker

http://picasaweb.google.com/allisonm129/2010025BreadMaker?feat=directlink

Our new breadmaker.  So, we went and gathered two jars of coins to take to the grocery store to use in the Coin Star machine.  We selected the option to get a gift card to Amazon.com rather than getting cash in order to get 100% of our money.  (apparently when you select "cash", you lose a percentage as a fee for using the machine).  So, we must have had a lot of quarters because we had over $170 by the end!  woohoo!  And, this beautiful loaf of bread is one of many more to come from our wonderful new bread maker.  Delicious!

Happy Birthday!!

Wearing some birthday presents:  New grey cashmere sweater and new purple fleece (all designed to keep me warm in the house!!) and new necklace.  So fun!

Had a wonderful time celebrating my birthday with family!Photos:http://picasaweb.google.com/allisonm129/20100131Allisons33rdBday?feat=directlink