Colorado 2008

Yeah! Our first post. First off, we were sad that we were not able to go to the Virginia Trip. Sounds like you guys had a great time. We had fun at Kristin's wedding. Here are some photos of our Colorado Trip.

Ashley and I took a trip to Colorado with Bill, Sue, Sean, and Jack. We stayed with Uncle John and Aunt Wendy. They got a ton of snow the entire week before we got there.


This is the sunrise view from my Uncle and Aunt's house!

Getting ready to go skiing at Breckenridge.

Ashley at Vail, looking on to Blue Sky Basin.


Blue Sky Basin at Vail

Fresh powder at Beaver Creek.

Here is a link to some video clips of our trip:

(copy and paste)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGHbOO9viTA

The first clip is on the front porch of my Uncle and Aunt's house. The second clip is Sean and I skiing China Bowl at Vail. The third and fourth are Ashley skiing Blue Sky Basin at Vail. The fifth is our first run at Beaver Creek.

Ross and I went to the 233rd Marine birthday ball...thank you Natalie for your dress advice. It was an interesting evening. Somehome I always associate dressing up with dancing and fun but this was a very serious evening with a fancy ceremony, speaker and dinner. We did have a nice time talking with the others at our table. It ended up being a good night but not at all what I expected.

Columbus Footy

A few of my favorites pictures from the games in Chicago and Columbus. Ryan and John are superstar players!

The Big Apple!

Hey friends! Erin and I have been trying to find ways to fill the time that we used to spend with you!  Since we had nothing better to do over Labor Day weekend, we decided to jet to the Big Apple.  Ashley and Brent joined us at the last minute.  It was another incredible trip.  

We got a sweet deal on the Empire Hotel on the Upper West Side, just a few steps from Central Park.  Once we were checked in, we spent the morning walking around Central Park before heading to Blondies to catch the Buckeyes game.  Blondies is a great bar on the Upper East Side packed with OSU alums, so it almost felt like we were at home.  That night we went to the Village and our favorite comedy club, The Comedy Cellar.  

Sunday we explored the South Street Seaport for the first time.  Since it's a historic district, it's like a different world down there.  The buildings look out of place when compared to the skyline rising behind them, and there are old sailing ships anchored at the docks.  It was a beautiful day to be in the city!  We spent the evening in Midtown.

After a great Italian dinner, we saw the brand new musical [title of show].  Erin had been watching these guys' YouTube videos for months and knew the show would not disappoint. It was hilarious!  It is a musical about two guys writing a musical about two guys writing a musical.  We headed to the stage door afterwards, but Erin couldn't work up the nerve to talk to the stars, so we just stalked them from afar.  We ended the night with an entire New York cheesecake split between the four of us!

The highlight of the whole weekend was the Brooklyn Pizza Tour that we took on Monday. We hopped on the bus at Union Square Park and headed over the Manhattan Bridge into DUMBO. The picture at the top of the post was taken at our first stop, where we had great views of both the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges--not to mention the Manhattan skyline.  We headed straight to the first pizza place, Grimaldi's, for Brooklyn's best Neapolitan pizza and old-fashioned sodas.  From there we toured a few neighborhoods by bus, getting lots of info from our tour guide, Tony, about growing up in Brooklyn.  

  He also had the inside scoop about some of the infamous Mob hits in Brooklyn.  (Next time we go we are going to take his "Wise Guys" tour about the history of the Mob!)  Tony's favorite pizza is the Sicilian slice served at L& B Spumoni Gardens, so that was the next stop on the tour.  After we totally stuffed ourselves on pizza and spumoni, we walked it off on the boardwalk at Coney Island.  It was a sad day at Coney Island because it was the last day for Astroland; a greedy real estate developer came in the next day to start bulldozing the place.  After the tour we headed straight to the airport to get home to our girls.

Erin was already making a list of things to do next time on the plane!  This is going to get expensive...

Our First Blog Post!!!

Greetings from the best damn city in the world,

We wanted to take a little bit of time to update you guys on our amazingly interesting lives. Just give us a second to think of something worth writing about . . . . Okay. First we'll start with Natalie. Over the summer she went on a mission trip to Mexico and a Youth Convention in San Antonio. She had a really amazing time and somehow ended up committed to even more youth stuff than she was already. This will come in handy to kill all that free time that she had:)

When Nat returned from the SW she started up in private practice. Things started a little slow, but they have really picked up. The thing that she is most excited for in life, other than our vacation next month, is the start of 90210 tonight!

The thing that has been dominating John's life of late is Australian Rules Football with Ryan. With almost six hours of practice each week and a game every two weeks, Natalie has to look at pictures to remember what he looks like. As a side note, Ryan is really playing well. He has been named the best player in one of the games and people have been saying how great he has played.

Other than that, John has just started school again. His schedule is really light this year, and with an offer for a job next summer, the motivation scale is tilting towards zero.

Greta is doing fabulously. She is seven months old and about seventy pounds. She back-talks like a teenage girl sometimes, but overall is a great dog. She has developed her big dog bark and has all the bad guys in the neighborhood on notice.

We had a great weekend this last weekend. OSU rolled as expected in their game, and we really capitalized on our Monday. We took Greta to Antrim Park to wade in the lake. She thought about swimming at one point, but ended up just walking completely under-water and not really knowing what to do so she turned around. After that, Natalie and I had "Redneck Labor Day Weekend." We went swimming over at Alum Creek Beach. It was a treat for the nose over there. The aroma was some mixture of rotten garbage and gasoline. Even with that great review, it was still a really good time. After that, we went to Hoggy's for dinner and found a really great deal. They have $5 pitchers of beer and 40 cent wings any time any football game is on.

In any event, that was a really long update for you guys. If any of you can make it, we would love for you all to come to our house for the USC game. We will have food and drink and hopefully a great victory over the Trojans (Ohio State is 2-0 when we have had big parties at the house, so we need good attendance).

We miss you guys tons and hope to see you all soon!

Note - The picture at the top is after our first footy game in Cincinnati. Ryan and I are both in the top row in the left half. We won by twenty points.

Rob and Jenny's Wedding in Columbus

Since Jamie is the only one who has posted anything lately, i decided to put something up. I know this was a few months ago but i wanted to share the few pictures i had! Rob and Jenny's wedding was wonderful despite the downpour of rain that day. We all had a really fun time and danced the night away.

Mr. and Mrs. Zink

After what seems like FOREVER...Amy and Kyle have tied the knot and are now living their happily ever after story :) The ceremony was beautiful and went smoothly (except when the pastor called Kyle Kevin during the blessing prayer...but hey- humor is always appreciated at weddings). Then we were off to the reception for good food, great dancing and celebration. I was able to hang out with some of my KD ladies I haven't seen in a few years, which was wonderful. And, most importantly, I got to give the bride and groom a huge hug on their special day. I am not going to lie- the trip was exhausting (we were gone for 48 hours and were driving 22 of them) but I wouldn't have missed this wedding for the world. Congrats!

Meet Lizzie Lemon!

I know I have already sent you some pictures...but I couldn't help adding this pic to our blog. In this picture she is 8 weeks old and about 11 lbs. She will end up being 45-60 lbs! Her coloring is called Liver Roan and she was bred to be an all purpose hunting dog- which means we will have to give her lots of exercise every day. We decided we really liked this breed after staying with Brent's aunt and uncle in Colorado and meeting their GSP. Here is a link about GSP's in case you are interested. http://www.akc.org/breeds/german_shorthaired_pointer/index.cfm

Ross Graduates...again

Ross graduated from ODS in Newport on July 25th. He looked so handsome :) I was so excited to have him back after 5 looooong weeks apart. The ceremony was short and sweet with a speech given from an admiral that was very inspiring. So now, he is officially a Navy Officer. Woowoo!

The Big Move!

We have moved! My mom, Leanna and I packed up the house (or I should say- watched the packers pack up the house) and got on the road to North Carolina ASAP to make it to the closing. While it was weird having people in our house touching and looking at all of our stuff, I was extremely thankful we did not have to do all the packing ourselves. We ended up signing on the house a day later than planned on a Friday (and I had to sign a paragraph for Ross's name a million times) which made it too late to turn the electric on. So, we went to the beach during the weekend to find a breeze. Oh my goodness does Leanna attract the boys...I had to scare a few off who were way too old for her! Finally, on Monday, the electric was turned on and we had our new appliances and stuff delivered. What a relief to have everything come together. After a week vacation with the Fam, Ross and I drove from Newport, RI to NC and settled in. Can't wait for everyone to come visit!

~Jamie

The first graduation

I just had to share this photo...you all look fabulous.

Bitter Sweet...

Hello Friends!

I want to thank you all for being the most wonderful friends. We have treasured our time in Columbus because we have had you to share it with (even those of you who moved to Cleveland prematurely :-)). As I am sure you have guessed, our move to North Carolina is going to be bitter sweet- while we are excited to begin this new chapter of our life, we are sad to leave you, our families, Columbus, and the Buckeyes!

I am sure we will have many trips to visit each other in the future, but I know how our busy schedules get in the way when we are living in the same state, let alone when we are separated by 10-11 driving hours... So, I promise to keep in touch using our blog, calling and emailing as much as possible.

Love to you all! Jamie