New Job Means Baseball!

Shawn lost her job in February – laid off the day she returned from our Mexican Vacation after 12-1/2 years with Global Insight. She did receive a nice severance package so she set to work painting the deck, working her garden, and enjoying the spring while feverishly working her network and contacts.

Happily, on June 22, she started a new position with Black & Veatch in their Enterprise Management Solutions group.  She’s pretty excited about the new challenges and especially about her new commute – she’ll be working from her home office!

Of course, one of her first duties was to attend a regional meeting in New York City. Among the grueling tasks thrown at her was attending a New York Mets game in their brand new Citi Field stadium!  It ain’t no Fenway but she still had a great time!

Sox Win!

We took in a GREAT Red Sox game at historic Fenway Park on July 8th. Though our view was a bit obstructed – here’s a shot of Kevin Youkilis at the plate…

The game recap would include a three run homer from David Ortiz, a solo shot from J.D. Drew, a couple of Pedroia doubles, Wakefield’s dancing knuckleball and 11th win, a Papelbon save, three stolen bases, a fight in the stands, peanuts…  it was all a great night out! Jake, Josh, John and Josh’s buddy Jack (yah, all J’s, we planned that) had a great time!

Let’s go Red Sox!!!

Frivolity on the Fourth

We had some fun on the fourth! After a ridiculously rainy month of June, the weather finally broke on July 4th weekend just in time for the BBQ we’d planned.  We had a few friends over and they helped us have a grand old time!  While the kids splashed in the pool, tossed water balloons, played badminton, and generally ran themselves ragged, the adults enjoyed some good food, a beer or two, and some great company.

Josh and his buddy Scotty had fun throwing each other in the pool.

Our neighbors Danny and Dante enjoyed the day with us.

And Josh even took two year-old Adam in for a swim!

All in all, it was a great day to be outside!

Later in the evening, after many of the guests had headed home, things got a little out of hand. We’re not entirely sure exactly what went on, but we’re pretty sure it involved a road trip and blueberries, and was really fun.

Hope you had a Happy Fourth too!

Escape to the Mountains

Some volunteers from our church put together a weekend long retreat that they called the “Escape to the Mountains“. John helped out with some of the planning and communications and volunteered to lead one of the hikes.  So on a damp June Friday night, we packed up the car and headed north.

We stopped at Gordi’s in Lincoln for a bite on the way up and then finished the 160 mile drive to the Horton Center on Pine Mountain just north of Pinkham Notch and Mount Washington. Friday night was pretty much about making plans for Saturday and getting to bed – so we did.

Saturday morning, our large group of 60 or so broke into a number of smaller groups to take on hikes of varying difficulties. John would lead the most challenging hike – a 3,200′ climb on the Carter-Moriah Trail to the top of 4,049′ Mount Moriah. Nine hikers, including Josh and John, would make the 9 mile, 7-1/2 hour round trip hike, puting another notch in their four thousand footer list along the way!!  They made the summit and enjoyed their lunch dry, but were rained upon for most of the decent.  They kept spirits high though and had a blast!

At the same time, Jake made a trip with another group on the Imp Face loop. He thought the pace was a little slow but had a blast talking with his buddy David.  Shawn, meanwhile, still nursing her knee, made a shorter hike to the top of Pine Mountain – just long enough to get drenched in the rain!

Upon return to camp, there was dinner, a cool worship service at Chapel Rock, and a big fun campfire with plenty of singing and s’mores. It was a great time to get to know some of our church friends better and to share in the spirit of the weekend!

Sunday morning we were greeted by another cloudy, wet morning but popped up early to cook breakfast and then, after Jake found a cool Luna Moth, we made a leisurely ride home with a stop at the LL Bean Outlet in North Conway.

Overall, it was an awesome trip!  (Many more pictures here!) We got some great exercise in the fresh mountain air, grew our friendships and our spirits, and had a lot of fun! Can’t wait to do it again!

Joshua Takes On Washington

For the last full week of school, Joshua and about 180 of his closest eighth grade friends took a trip to Washington DC to have some fun and maybe even learn something along the way!

Amongst rumors of spreading Swine Flu, the groggy teens and their chaperones boarded their luxury coaches at 5:30 AM on Monday morning and set off for the Best Western in Springfield, VA that would be their home for the next four nights. The trip would get off to a rockin’ start Monday evening with a Moonlight Dance cruise on the Potomac aboard the Cherry Blossom. With the girls in their finest dresses and the boys struggling to tie their ties, a fun time was had by all – even culminating in the big dance off!

Tuesday would include trips to Arlington National Cemetery, the United States Marine Corps War (Iwo Jima) Memorial, a tour and group picture at the US Capitol, lunch at Union Station, the National Cathedral, and the US Holocaust Memorial Museum (one week after the shooting there – probably with the tightest security in Washington!) before capping the day watching “High School Musical” performed at the Lazy Susan Dinner Theatre!

Wednesday included visits to the National Zoological Park, the White House, the National Air & Space Museum, the National Gallery of Art, the Museum of Natural History, the Museum of American History, and then an evening tour of the Lincoln Memorial, the Vietnam Memorial, the Korean War Veterans Memorial, and the World War II Memorial.

Thursday would be a fun day! The group spent most of the day at Busch Gardens before a much acclaimed dinner at the Golden Corral and evening tours of the FDR Memorial and the Jefferson Memorial.

Energy was winding down by Friday and what would be an early departure for home with a stop at Liberty Park in New Jersey and a ferry tour of Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. When the busses finally rolled back into the school parking lot at 8:30 Friday night, a thrilled but exhausted troop of teens dragged off and headed for bed.

Mass Cup ‘09

Some guys from Jake’s town soccer team and a few from another put together a team for the Mass Cup Tournament in Tewksbury over Father’s Day Weekend. On Saturday, they won their three qualifying games handily: 3-0 (Jake had a goal!), 6-0 (Jake had another!) and 1-0. They took a 10-0 goal advantage into the semi-finals as the first seed. They easily won their semi-final match 7-0 where Jake got the “Hat Trick” scoring three goals!!

The final match was with the team they’d beaten 3-0 the first day. Their opponent scored the first goal against them of the tournament in the first half on a silly dribbler. We tied it up in the second half and Jake even had a chance to win it but rang the post, got the rebound, hit the crossbar, got the rebound, and kicked it over the goal!  The game went to OT tied 1-1. Nobody scored in the first overtime period but in the second, with only seconds remaining, we were called for a push in the box, and North Andover scored on the Penalty Kick to win the tournament! Lousy way to end it.

Still, the boys had a fun time and a lot of success. Thanks to the coaches!

Mooseman

John had fun at the Mooseman International Triathlon in early June.  Not a stellar time but it was a gorgeous day, a well-run race on a scenic course, and a lot of fun!  You can find the gory details and more pictures in John’s full race report.

Spring Sports ‘09

Our spring has sure been full of sports!

Joshua played soccer with his Division 1 town socer team in the Essex County league. They were in a super-competitive division this year and, with frequent player absences, only managed to finish about mid-pack. Joshua continued to improve his goalkeeper skills and was the rock solid anchor of their defense.

Jacob played for two soccer teams AND a baseball team! That’ll keep you busy!

On the diamond, Jake played for the NRLL Major League Jays team. he was a strong hitter and fast runner, as in previous years, but this year he really flashed some leather in the outfield!

Since there was already a catcher or two on the team, Jake got moved to the outfield. A combination of his speed and his ability to judge fly balls meant he tracked down several that nobody else would have had a chance on. His team came to rely upon him to cover a wide slice of the outfield!

Like Josh, Jake played on a Division 1 town team. Though they too played well, they too only managed a mid-pack finish. Jake played both striker, scoring several goals, and sweeper on defense, using his speed to track down opposing would-be scorers.

Jake also continued his play with Benfica USA’s U-12A MAPLE team. Again, Jake’s team managed a mid-pack finish but capped the season with a first place finish at a the Memorial Day Classic tournament.

Thanks to their great coaches, both guys had a lot of fun, improved their skills, and had a successful spring! Though next year we might try to keep it to two teams per kid per season! 

Confirmed!

At the May 31 service of worship at the Union Congregational Church of North Reading, Joshua completed his Confirmation.

The whole family was there to watch as Josh and 14 other 8th grader candidates completed the rites. We’re all very proud of Joshua!

2009 Memorial Day Champs!

Jacob and his Benfica USA teammates played in the Amherst (NH) Soccer Club’s  Memorial Day Soccer Tournament over the long weekend.

Jake’s team kicked some serious butt in the qualifying round, going un-scored upon in its three games and winning 6-0, 9-0, and 7-0.  In each game, they’d flipped the offense onto defense and the defense onto the offense to keep things a little closer.

In the semi-finals, things got a little hotter. Jake’s team took a 1-0 lead early and dominated the play throughout the game but their opponents, another Benfica team, hung tough and  tied things up at 2-2 with about ten minutes to go in the game. With under a minute remaining in regulation, Jake’s team got the winning goal to advance to the finals.

The final game was another barn burner. Benfica again took the early lead 1-0 and again, seemed to dominate play. But midway through the second half, their opponents from Liverpool FSC came back to tie things up and again, with only minutes left, Jake’s team scored the winning goal to take the 2-1 win for the Championship!

Jake’s team played really well throughout the weekend with Jake playing his usual role as last line of defense and running down anyone who got through. It was great fun and a great result!