Bells will be Ringing…

A “red-eye” flight began our recent excursion…fortunately not for us, but for Jessica…which was fortunate for us. Jess flew into Boston on Tuesday morning to begin her summer vacation in New England and the timing leads right into the weekend activities.

Jess would touch down with us for a day and then head for the Cottage as a home-base for the next eleven days. PJ (Philip J.) Fallis joined Jess on Saturday morning (see, Jess’ Facebook page under “In a Relationship with…”) and became an active member of this Adventure.

Of course this Adventure includes a major event—and timing is everything—right in the middle of Jess’ stay. Friday arrived with us traveling to New Jersey for Dan Whitney & Monica Rodriguez’s wedding.

Cheri and I left Connecticut early in the afternoon and drove down to Newark International Airport to pick-up Dan Chang who was flying in from Florida. Paula and Tara Chang had earlier in the week flown up to Norfolk to spend a Family Day with Jake Chang on his current ship. Work kept Dan from joining them and timing would make it difficult for Paula to pick him up, so we provided chauffeur services to get Dan from the airport to the hotel we were all using.

Paula met us late at the hotel and the four of us headed out for a great dinner...and more importantly a great time together. Of course sharing a meal and a couple of bottles of wine helped us to make a decision to suddenly show up at Deb and Scott's house for a little Wedding-eve chance to visit.

so of course we joined her. Some were awake and around for us to see, but for most we had to wait until the next morning—there was also a contingent group already in New Brunswick, the site of the wedding.

Scott's mother Adeline was already positioned in front of the Red Sox game…  Additional family members were already at the Whitney house, Scott's brother and sister, Steve and Deb plus Deb's daughter Ashley.

Saturday morning was a little leisurely—at least for those of us attending as guests only—with some time for breakfast, changing into appropriate attire and driving down to New Brunswick for a 12:30 wedding. We made sure to plan the trip to allow time for us to visit with others before the wedding and to get a few photos of the Chapel, and each other before the service.

I didn't capture photos of the whole group, but I did get a photo of Monica and her father.

Once everyone was settled, the service began in earnest. Dan was dashing, as a groom should be and waited expectantly for Monica. Deb and Scott came down the aisle and then turned to watch the entrance of the wedding party.

Monica was a gorgeous bride and both she and Dan looked extremely happy...not the least bit nervous.



Besides a blending of families the service also bridged religions with Father Alex Enriquez and Reverend Charles Bigelow presiding. It was a wonderful service with singing, readings, humor, and traditions—including a laying on of a veil over the couple and a laying of a cord representing the connections and binding together of the individuals.

Following the service there was some time for photos outside of the Chapel...


and then we headed off to the Harvest Moon microbrewery—a favorite spot of Dan and Monica while they were attending Rutgers—for the reception. There were appetizers...bubbles to blow...visiting...a full meal...and, of course some libations.



The reception spanned the afternoon and wouldn't be complete without the bride and groom dancing...

bouquets being tossed...



and the heads being eaten off the top of the wedding cake figurines.



The reception lasted well over five hours and everyone had a great time either participating…or watching from above.











By 7:30 we needed to move out of the microbrewery…Dan and Monica headed out with friends from college to enjoy some of their old haunts…Dan and Paula needed to head back to Norfolk to meet up with Tara…many of the rest of us headed back north to Deb and Scott’s house.  The plan had been to have a large get-together, but the day caught up with many of us and although it wasn’t early…we called it an early evening.

Sunday morning, Deb and Scott hosted a large brunch for the family members that had travel to the wedding and would be back on the road home shortly.  Dan and Monica were in New Brunswick and leaving in the afternoon on a flight to the west coast for their honeymoon—San Diego, Napa Valley, San Francisco.  A week of time together to begin their own Adventures.

To see all of the photos...good, bad and unedited...click on the "kissing" photo below to be taken to a web album and all 277 pictures.

Whitney Wedding 2010

If You Want Root Beer…Run Faster

The Adventure this week traveled again to the great State of Maine. Cheri and I were registered in the Beach to Beacon 10k Road Race—along with members of the extended Manz and Morris families—held in South Portland and Cape Elizabeth. Just registering for this event meant you had to be quick—more than 6,000 entrants got on-line and closed out the registration in 45 minutes in March.

We headed up to the Morris estate on Friday evening and spent a relaxing evening in our pre-race activities. Saturday morning we were up by 4:45 so we could rendezvous with the Manz clan and convoy to the starting area of the race.

Parking, at least for some of the racers, was in a field near the start line. The guys headed out across the field to scope out the start … while the ladies joined the line for the porta-potties—their own pre-race ritual—on the left in the photo with people lined up in front of the cars.

We placed ourselves near the back of the pack...around the estimated 10 minute mile pace...for a “before” photo of the runners—at least those of us who had convoyed to the start together (I didn't include our names or Dan and Liz's since most of you already know them).

After the photo Dan, Matt and Thomas headed further up the field to start near David, Heather, Jacob, and Gary—Sno-Dog from David and Heather's hiking of the Appalachian Trail. I was carrying my camera with me for the race so I took a quick arms-length photo of Cheri and myself...just to make sure it worked well.

The start is up near the arch of green and white balloons and we were back near another set of porta-potties and the baggage buses. When the race finally started (about 8:10) it was 5 minutes of shuffling before we crossed the Start line.

Coming up to the one mile point the racers were starting to spread out well ahead of us... Cheri and I were continuing to look pretty good at this point as well.   As we passed through parts of Cape Elizabeth there is one spot where the Fire Department ladder trucks hoist up a flag over the race course...

and I took a shot over my head to show that there were quite a few behind us as well.   Going up hills I would pull a little bit ahead of Cheri and then she would catch back up to me as we went over the crests..

in other areas there were many people out just lining the streets and cheering everyone on....some of them had parties with music playing to encourage the runners.

You climb a long hill up to mile 5 and then work down to the ocean...once you pass the small bay you come to the entrance to Fort Williams park with a sharp right turn, 70 yards up one of the toughest hills in the run...then along a pathway towards the finish line.

As we got closer to the finish the crowds got thicker...the yellow sign on the right was held by Dale Smedy (Rachel's mom) and although we didn't see them as we went by that is where the James and Stephanie were as well. Dan had finished well ahead of us and we did hear him cheering us on just before we crossed the finish.



After you cross the finish line your are funneled up a hill into the recovery area with water bottles and more porta-potties. This was also where the grandstand is for the awards and you get a good look at the Beacon—Cape Elizabeth light house—that is the end point of the Beach to Beacon race.


We slowly met up with our collective running group and headed over to the refreshment tent. Matt Manz let us know that Eli's root beer was being given away at one of the vendor areas...but it appeared that they had already run out by the time we got to the finish area. We ended up with bananas, yogurt, granola bars, and cookies instead.



Then it was a good time to take a group shot of all of the extended family participants from the day's race (everyone's name this time).



The crowds started thinning out and we took a school bus shuttle back to the start line to pick up our vehicles and then travel back to the Morris estate.

Showers...lunch...naps...all good preparation steps before continuing the day's activities—traveling to Thomas Pond and the Wood's family cottage.

We spent the rest of the afternoon and into the early evening visiting on the dock...taking a boat tour of Thomas Pond (with Frank ensconced upon the engine cover keeping an eye on all of us)...playing a little wiffle ball...and giving Angus a workout chasing his water toys.

 
It was still fairly early when we got back to the Morris' so while the ladies wnt to bed, we guys stayed up and worked on our pool skills.



Sunday morning Stephanie and Thomas were up early to get Thomas on the train back to Boston—he needed to head back for work. The rest of us slept in a bit. Sunday's activities included a golf outing for Dan, James, Matt, Rachel, Gary, Ed Henningson (Heather's dad) and me while Cheri, Stephanie and Robert headed out to movies—fun times were had by all.

Too soon it was 5 pm and time for all of us out of State travelers to head home…

The end of another great adventure.

Don’t Wave to Friends at an Auction

Ho Hum…another weekend at the Cottage.  The sun was shining, there were dogs on the grill, and a New Hampshire microbrew wrapped in a koozie from Oz…it is hard to believe it could get much better. .   Dad was able to join us and that gave us some time just being together. or it also meant some time to just sit on the dock and enjoy the surroundings.

Nana and Papa came over on Saturday afternoon…which of course means it’s time to dead-head the flowers and make the beach look proper…

 

I was also able to squeeze a little sailing in on Saturday, which was fortunate because there was almost no wind on Sunday.

Sunday was more like…

Sunday was also the day for the Annual Andover Historical Society Auction.  This event takes place at Potter Place and is a nice small town fair.  Dad bought some homemade jam and relish, both made with rhubarb and very tasty.  We bid on a few things at the auction and ended up coming home with an antique copper foot-warmer and a nice plant stand…probably for the farmer’s porch or back deck at home.
Although I had my camera, I didn’t take many pictures at the fair or auction…to busy waving across the auction tent and almost winning things.
A nice…quiet…relaxing adventure…if only the weekends were longer…