February 10, 2005
Happy Birthday Karen!
Today is Karen's 28th Birthday (she's the one on the right)
Happy Birthday to YOU!
Happy Birthday to YOU!
Happy Birthday to Karen...
Happy Birthday to YOU!
I hope you have a great birthday (and will take on the responsibility of making sure you do). I love you. Happy Birthday!
January 24, 2005
Happy Anniversary!
Happy Anniversary to mom and dad, who celebrate 35 years of marriage today!
And after all that time, they prove that it's the simplest things in life that make you happy. Instead of going out for a fancy dinner, they decided to do it home. And to make it romantic, my dad brought the dining room table and chairs into the living room so that they could eat in front of the fire. It may become a tradition.
And as for that fancy dinner, the kids pulled through and got them a certificate to Spiced Pear Restaurant at the Chanler at Cliff Walk in Newport, Rhode Island.
We love you guys!
January 17, 2005
Happy Birthday Gram and John!
We went down to Marlborough on Saturday to celebrate Grandma Ruth's and John's birthdays. John turned 35 and grandma turned 36! We had a Coldstone cake and a Malrborough bakery cake and Cheryl made an awesome brunch for us all, including a stray bear claw or two from Panera :)
We got the camera out later for a fun party with Grace and Sara.
December 27, 2004
Christmas in Cambridge
We changed the tradition a bit this year and Jim and Ev came to visit us in Cambridge for two nights. We went out to lunch on Christmas Eve, went to Church to sing all of our favorite carols and spent Christmas morning opening some of our presents. On Christmas afternoon, we took a spontaneous trip to LL Bean in Freeport, Maine, one of the only stores in the country open on Christmas day (24 hours a day, 365 days a year). We had some fun shopping and eating in Freeport before heading back to Cambridge for a Chinese food dinner, combining the best of all of our traditions :). Cheryl and John and the girls joined us on the morning of the 26th for some more present opening and a fabulous home-cooked meal of spiced butternut squash soup, steak, salmon, and fixins galore, with pumpkin pie for dessert...most of which was prepared by Chef Brian. Yum and fun.
Cheryl and John and the girls were stranded here overnight due to the snow storm and we played "Scene It" girls vs. boys until late in the night.
Dad's ever-creative wrap for mom...
December 06, 2004
Happy Birthday Dad & Brian
We had a joint birthday party with The Incredibles theme for Dad and Brian this weekend. Cheryl and John and the girls came to visit and so did Bill, Liz, Annie, and Betty. We were even able to get our one-anniversary cakes made (a little bit late) to help us celebrate. It was a great afternoon of fun!
November 13, 2004
Fall Fun
After our wedding blitz ended, we got to visit with the girls in Marlborough. Then we got a Halloween weekend visit from Betty and we all went to a Halloween party together. Thanks to Brian's creativity we won the pumpkin carving contest at the party! And we got to drive Betty back to school on Sunday and see her room at Wheaton.
October 05, 2004
Who's Having the Grilled Cheese?
On Sunday, Brian, Tami, and Karen had the great honor to have lunch with Karen's Gram Ruth at the Town and Country Diner in Toms River, New Jersey. We were all charmed by her wit, dazzled by her evervescent youth, and treated to a delicious meal. If only she would have let Karen eat more than a grilled cheese (wink wink), it would have been a perfect day!
Seriously, Gram, it was so great to see you and I hope you come to visit us very soon. I promise I'll eat a full meal - and we'll treat. We love you!
October 04, 2004
New Jersey State of Mind
We got the chance to stay in the "Reich" Suite this weekend at the most fabulous bed and breakfast on the east coast - better known as the Kraft House in Upper Saddle River, New Jersey. Jen and Matt made us a wonderful barbeque seafood dinner. We also got to play in the famous game room - where Brian reigned over both Matt AND Karen in air hockey and ping pong (given the Mariners' season, can you blame them for letting him win??!). Here is a picture of the cutest little man in town - and one with his daddy - now known to us as Gus Senior. We can't wait for our next visit!
August 05, 2004
Build A Birthday!
For Grace's 4th birthday party, the gang (mom, dad, and Sara, Gracie's friends, their parents, Auntie Karen, Uncle Brian, and Gramme and Grampa) spent the afternoon at Build A Bear Workshop making their very own teddy bears, unicorns, bunny rabbits and super-dogs. The adults had as much fun as the kids did.
Gracie, forever on the cutting edge, chose Build A Bear for her party because it is just the coolest. Even the NYTimes magazine recently profiled the fairly new phenomenon, started by Maxine Clark, the former head of Payless.
Here, the Build A Bear Leader explains the stuffing process to the kids
Under the Sea
On our way back from Freeport we stopped at Higgins Beach to witness the famous 4th of July parade. This year's competition was expecially important and exciting because John came up with the "water-based" theme and a whole TEAM of people created the "Under the Sea" float that was the REAL winner!
Scarborough firetrucks new and old
"Under the Sea"
King Tritan leads the way
Grace, with friend Caroline, Mommy and Sara
Dan and Lynn with baby Evan Daniel hiding under the blanket
Sue Lucas as Ursula
Sue's John as Scuttle, the friendly Seagull
The Competition
August 02, 2004
Family Time on Fathers' Day
While we were in town for AJ's and Michele's wedding, we got to spend some quality time with the family at mom and dad's for Father's Day.
Gracie gives Brian his FAVORITE Rudy for "Uncle's Day"
Sara takes a break from it all
Best friends
Pop-eye and Olive Oil
June 13, 2004
Betty's Graduation
Last Friday we went to see Betty graduate from Loomis!! We couldn't be happier for her and cannot wait till she starts at Wheaton this fall as she'll be a short train ride away from us.
May 2004
We've admittedly not gotten the hang of posting regularly on our blog but we've been up to some fun stuff and would now like to share with you some highlights from the month of May...
Aaron and Cyndi's Wedding
April 30-May 2
At the beginning of the month, we were in St. Louis for Aaron and Cyndi's wedding and a bit of a family reunion. It was fabulous!
Before the big event, a few of us got to play baseball with Alex - he was better than everybody! But Brian reports that it was HE who in fact hit the game-winning home run (he was on Alex's team).
Here, Gil explains the finer points of hot air management to Dad in the Grands' famous new "Taj Ma-Tuchus."
Cyndi's dad walks her down the aisle...
The Grands...
Alex, Jennifer, Grandma Reich, and Uncle Jim...
New York City
May 15-17
In the middle of May, we went to NYC for the wedding of Aimee Malnati and Mark Stromberg's, friends of Brian's from the White House. We got to reunite with many of our friends from 2000 and took our first double decker bus tour EVER of the city. Very cool...
While we were in town, we also went to the famous Paris Theater and saw Valentin (2002), a heartwarming story about "an 8-year-old boy, raised by his grandmother, is surrounded by problems in his family he finds only himself capable of solving." It was reminiscent of Ponette, a 1996 French film with a similarly thoughtful and tragic young heroine.
We also got stuck in a TORRENTIAL downpour - everyone was crouched in doorways as we sloshed through puddles on the walk back to our hotel...only in New York.
On Sunday we got to see the Yankees play and WOMP Seattle at Yankee stadium.
Wiffle Ball with friends
In preparation for our Memorial Day BBQ, we had a practice game (or 2 or 10) of wiffle ball with Stacey and Nick and Nadia and Chris at Danehy Park across the street.
Soccer and Golf
May 28-29
Craig and Jenn made the trip up all the way from DC to spend the weekend with us. Stacey, Nick and Erin spent Friday night with us too and gave us the coolest present ever - matching polo shirts and visors for golf, along with a practice electronic putting green!! We all got to go to Erin's soccer tournament together on Saturday.
Ev and Jim spent Saturday night with us too. We got to go the The Cheesecake Factory for a very yummy dinner.
First Annual KD Bri BBQ
May 30
We had so much fun that we forgot to take pictures!! Brian did a ton of cooking on the grill - everything from kielbasa to veggie skewers. Ev Dahl provided her famous home-made macaroni and cheese and a much talked about potato salad. Cheryl made Karen's favorite pasta salad (and cancelled her family trip to Maine to bring them all to Cambridge instead!) and friends brought black and white cookies, flowers, and their charming personalities. We had a ton of fun with all of our friends. There were Jumpstarters, 2000 campaigners, and Danbury Highers.
We had a nail-biter of a 10 on 10 wiffle ball game on a real field at Danehy Park. It was a blast! Thanks everyone to making it such a fun time. We promise to take pictures next year!
April 29, 2004
New York Social Diary
Uncle J and the New Group (which Karen and I are members of, from afar) got a nice shout in the New York Social Diary.
April 11, 2004
Happy Easter and Happy Birthday Cheryl!
Brian and I kidnapped Grace and Sara yesterday and brought them with us to Danbury for the night so Cheryl and John could have a free night and we could get some quality time with the girls. What a blast we had!
Today, Cheryl and John came down in the morning, and we all went to church together, had an Easter egg hunt for Grace and Sara back at the house and celebrated Cheryl's birthday a few days early.
The only thing that topped the chocolate bunnies at our place settings and the chocolate cake for Cheryl's birthday, was the nationally famous and ever-delicious Chocolate Lace and Cream ice cream from Dr. Mike's in Bethel.
Sara shows off her love for tofu and rice (Uncle Brian's influence we're sure) at dinner.
Cheryl with her two Easter sweethearts - Grace proudly shows off her bonnet from Grammie.
The four of us crack up as Mom and Dad play photographer.
Brian and Dad show off sunglasses courtesy of Sara and Grace.
Yum!
February 29, 2004
Eduard Rocks!
Brian and I went down to Westport on Friday to see Eduard sing in GFA's annual Harmony for the Homeless concert. This was our 2nd annual trip to the concert and we must say, this year's was better than last year, especially the soloists!
Eduard's first solo, they called it a trio, but he was the lead, was "Louder than Words" from one of his favorite shows, Tick, Tick, Boom. He brought tears to my eyes...and not just because we're related now. He's got talent, real talent!
He also had a solo in the "Rent" medley, part of "Will I Lose My Dignity," (notice the Jonathan Larsen trend).
We can't wait to see pictures of his big night! Bravo!
February 11, 2004
A Fabulous Birthday!!
So I turned 40 yesterday and it was a great day all around. It started with Brian leaving me a surprise present in my briefcase for me to find at work in the morning - a funky bracelet from Jasmine Sola. And the day just kept getting better. Emily sent me a chocolate bouquet full of kisses and miniatures, chocolate chip cookies, and a solid chocolate cake with candle!! My parents sent me gorgeous purple flowers at work too. The work day ended with a surprise cake and singing by my entire office at my desk. Brian took me out to a classy dinner at Les Zygomates, a very yummy French Bistro downtown.
Thank you to all of you who called and wrote and sent fabulous cards and warm wishes, including Cheryl and Grace for the coolest card and singing message EVER, Ann & Bill for the cool French dessert plates, Stacey for her message from her 3rd grade class screaming Happy Birthday, and Jane & Jay for the cutest music box straight from the real Paris [paREE]. It feels good to be loved by so many wonderful people. Here's to a great year!
February 04, 2004
Weekend at Grammie's and Grampa Jim's
While Cheryl and John got their house ready to sell this weekend (which they did on Tuesday!) the girls got to spend their first full weekend away...even got to go to a fun museum in Norwalk. Here are a couple of pics of the fun times...
January 01, 2004
Happy New Year!
Not sure how successful this will be, but I've been inspired by Emily to try to put entries in Brian's and my blog more regularly than before.
It's a new year. Brian and I have a new life together, a new job for me, and hopefully a great year ahead!!
We were able to spend pieces and parts of the holidays with many of our family and friends and are very excited about the newest addition to the family, Tracy Brynn Reich, born to Jeff & Ali (and Alex) just yesterday! Yippee for new beginnings.