12th losing season

As summer finally ends (and thank goodness because it was the hottest summer on record here in Baltimore), we also said goodbye to another baseball season, and unfortunately the 12th losing season in a row for the Orioles (we got it next year!). Even though we had to watch another bad season by the Orioles, we went to one of our last games in style when we got tickets to sit in the Governor's box right behind home plate. Here are some of the highlights of our day.

Outside of the skybox

The tickets that got us to club level



In the sky box, with beautiful Camden Yards behind us.

Our view of the game

Another shot

Tyler enjoying some of the grub that they fed us.

And it must have been fate for us to sit there because right outside the door was the jersey of the greatest third baseman to ever play the game!

Definitely ready for some football

With the Orioles having another not so stellar season, we have both been looking forward to football. And maybe I can't blame it all on the Orioles, it could be the record breaking summer we had and we want the cooler weather, or even the fact we are ready for some tailgates that include friendly games of cornhole and finally getting the chance to use our firepit. Well whatever it is, we are ready to watch the Washington Huskies on Saturdays and Baltimore Ravens on Sundays!

With all that being said, the first Ravens home game is not until the end of September. So while we were ready for them, they weren't coming down to Baltimore for a little while. Also, we were unable to get to training camp because it is an hour outside of the city, and typically Monday-Friday while we are at work. However... the Ravens brought one training camp session down to M&T Bank stadium on a Saturday, so we walked down and got to take in a day of football.

The Ravens opened the stadium to fans, so we could sit wherever we wanted. We were able to make it about 8 rows back to watch Baltimore QB Joe Flacco warm up on the sidelines. (And for those of you in Seattle, that is in fact Jim Zorn to the left of Flacco in the white shirt and black shorts. Brought on as Baltimore QB coach)

My personal favorite Raven, Todd Heap. A Pac-10 product out of Arizona State. Can't wait to hear the Heap chants this fall!

Offensive line drills. Tyler used this practice as a chance to get soem drills for his Lansdowne High team.

QB huddle. Troy Smith out of Ohio State and a Heisman Trophy winner, Joe Flacco who is probably the first franchise quaterback in team history, and Mark Bulger.

After individual drills, the team also ran some inter-squad drills.

Team huddle at the end of the three hour practice.

Number 74, Michael Oher. Many of you may remember his story that was brought out in the movie The Blindside

Joe Flacco again, still focused after practice ends. Ready to win a Super Bowl in Baltimore!

Self-taken photo. We are getting pretty good at these!

And then a nice couple took a picture for us. It was a great day, and now we are ready for the regular season!

Bahamas Cruise

At the last minute, we decided to book a cruise for our summer vacation. Conveniently enough, there are cruises that go out of Baltimore that go to fabulous places in the Carribean. So we booked a cruise that headed for the Bahamas at the end of July! We had an amazing week, and here are a few pictures of our adventure!

Ready to set sail! After dealing with a broken air conditioner and 100 degree temperatures in Baltimore, we were more than ready for vacation. So we grabbed a welcome cocktail and found our room that had a fabulous balcony view.

Our first stop was in Cape Canaveral, Florida. We decided to go for an airboat ride along the river.

And we did see gators! The dark spot that looks like a log is one of the gators that we saw.

After the boat ride, we got the chance to hold a gator who was rescued from a swamp. He is someone's pet now and this is as big as he is going to get.


Tyler being "eaten" by a gator.

The next stop was Nassau, Bahamas. This was our ship parked at the port in Nassau.

This is apparently a famous lighthouse in Nassau. We were both just so taken aback by how many different shades of blue the water was.

We took a catamaran tour of Nassau, and got to go snorkeling at a reef.

After the snorkeling trip, we went to Senor Frogs for some lunch.

Here we are sitting on the water with our "yards" of Bahama Mamas.

We cleaned up and then headed back out in Nassau. Much to our surprise, everything pretty much closes at about 6pm there, so we found a Hard Rock Cafe and had Bahamian Beer.

Our next stop the next day was in Freeport, Bahamas. We decided to head our seperate ways because Tyler wanted to go scuba diving, and I can not scuba dive.

Not only did he go scuba diving though, he went scuba diving with sharks!

And here is my idea of relaxation... sitting on a beach with a good book watching the ocean.

Our last night on the boat was a formal night for dinner.

And when we would come back from dinner every night, we always found towel animals. Here is one of our favorites from the last night. Two seals!

It was a fabulous week that we didn't want to end! A big thank you to Mama Rogers for dog sitting while we were away!

Summer of Lacrosse

So it has been a super busy summer, and I hope over the next few days to get a couple of updates up for those who are just dying to know what has been going on with us all summer. Well I guess one of the things that kept Tyler busy all summer was lacrosse... as usual! He played in a summer league with guys that graduated from Lansdowne as well as coached at camps with Tom Marachek all over the East Coast. I think for me personally, this was the first summer in almost 20 years where lacrosse wasn't a huge part of my life. I rather enjoyed it!

Here are some photos from Tyler's summer league play this year:

Some of Ty's biggest fans waiting for the game to start

From all the time we play lacrosse with them, I think they secretly wish they could run around on the field with all of the guys.

Ty in the cage

Ready to make a save

Happy birthday Tyler

Throughout this summer, Tyler has been busy working lacrosse camps around the mid-atlantic. I stole him away from that for a little while though to celebrate his 33rd birthday. We spent a quiet night in the house with presents, a homemade dinner and of course ice cream cake to finish the night. Three is Ty's lucky number, so I told him I think that this is going to be a very good year for him!

The birthday boy starting to open his presents. Being "good" and opening the card first.

The first present, the Band of Brothers mini-series on DVD.

This present was a little confusing, but something that Tyler has been asking for. Ty has a tendency of putting his things (keys, phone wallet, etc) throughout the house and then can't find things when he leaves, so I got him a monogrammed leather "catch-all" where he can put his stuff when he comes in the door.


And finally, some Under Armour clothes, Ty's favorite! And Oliver helped in opening up the present too.

The gourmet dinner cooking on the stove, crabcakes and summer squash and zucchini.

And one of Tyler's favorites, my Mom's homemade macaroni and cheese.

Jack sat at the top of the steps while I was cooking and supervised.

Ice cream cake!

No singing, but he made a wish and blew out the candles.

And the birthday boy cutting the cake

June so far...

It's been a busy few weeks in Baltimore that's for sure! Tyler is finishing up the school year and working on grad school classes, and I have been working a lot and also getting some things done around the house. We have stopped to have some fun though, that's for sure. On the 6th, we celebrated my 26th birthday. We went to a brunch in the morning with some of my friends and my mom, then we did some shopping and finally a family dinner and my mom's homemade strawberry shortcake to finish the day. Tyler surprised me that morning as well with not one, but two things of fresh flowers!

The sunflowers he left for me in the living room

And flowers on our dresser in the bedroom

And this past weekend, it was a very sports filled weekend. We went to the Orioles games on Friday and Sunday, and on Saturday of course watched the US World Cup Match. But, in between that we did get the dogs to the groomer, which was much needed with temperatures in Baltimore reaching the mid to upper 90s.

Jack and Oliver in the backseat of my car on the way home from the groomer. They wouldn't sit very still for the photo.

Oliver when we got home looking daper with the new do and the scarf. The scarf did not stay on for long. Tyler said that the dog took it off, but I have other thoughts.

One last project from the weekend... my dad and I went and picked up the curio cabinet that Tyler and his parents got for me for my birthday. I was so excited to get it all set up and display things from the wedding that have been sitting in boxes for the past year and a half. Photo number one has the light inside the cabinet on. The cabinet is six feet tall, so with the railing behind me this was as far as I could zoom out.

Photo number two without the light off. It's hard to see but so far we have the mugs I gave Tyler as a wedding gift on the top shelf, our champagne flutes and cake cutters in the middle, a candle that has our invitation in it on the next shelf down and one of the bridesmaid's bouquets under that!