Rhode Island Adventures

At the end of June, Andy and I headed to Rhode Island for a his college friend's wedding. As many have heard already, Andy actually performed the wedding, which require ordainment. He is now an official clergy member of the Church of Spiritual Humanism, qualified through a process of giving his name and address, to perform any number of religious ceremonies.

First, we headed to Newport for a few days of relaxing walk on the seashore, also known as the Cliff Walk.

Now, you may say that it looks a little gray for a beach vacation. Look people, it's HOT in Alabama. 60 and overcast was like heaven for us.

Rocky seashores of New England...gotta love it.

Seashore wildflowers...


Cute couple by the seashore....oh wait, I know those folks.

Andy's favorite, moss on rock:

Newport is also known for itss opulent mansions from its heyday in the early part of this century....

guarded well.

Just as we got to the mansions though, the sun came out and we decided to continue our seashore adventures, including learning to use our automatic feature...

Well, we got it on the second try!

Then we found our Newport dream home.

And then we finally found the beach!

Ahhhh.....cool water between the toes.

We, of course, had to visit what is called the Newport Tower, which is bathed in mystery. Historically it was thought to be built by Benedict Arnold, who was a colonial governor, as a windmill. However, other theories exist, including that it was built by the Norse. Andy thinks that the tower was built by the Chisese, based on his reading of 1421: The Year the China Discovered America which claims China was here long before Columbus. Curiouser and curiouser.

But beer on the front porch of the hotel still pretty interesting too.

All the flowers were gorgeous...(any idea what this is Susan?)

Sunset with lobster dinner...yum.


Then we were off across the bay to Naragansett, RI, the site of the wedding, and luckily, another beach.

The groom and his groomsmen at the rehearsal at the YMCA camp....

L to R: Joe (best man), Scott (photographer), Craig (groom)
In front: Andy (clergymember)

Wedding day arrives and Andy stands it for Becky for a little last minute practice.

Clergy looks good on him, don't you think?

The happy couple, Becky and Craig.

The groomsmen with the groom in their finest

Us, in our finest.

Standard wedding at a summer camp entertainment
Finally, we headed to the Boston area, where we spent some time with Andy's family and got to drop in on my friends, Michelle and Ian, in Somerville. So nice to see them!

Our New Home - Before

Andy and I finally moved out of our cramped, small, very crooked, slumlord-owning and too-close-to-our-college-student-neighbors apartment. It was a very exciting day for us.

Unfortunately, it was also a very hot and rainy day. Now, anywhere else, those 2 do not co-exist. In Alabama, it is perfectly normal to have 90 degree temperatures and pouring rain. As the locals say, that just ain't right.

But this was our reward........

Now begins our photo tour of our new home. Please keep in mind, we just moved in and are still getting settled. Thus, labeled BEFORE pictures. Yes, we are planning to make it look nicer than this.
The living room, with working gas log fireplace and hard-working Andy taking a well-deserved break.
The living room continues (yeah, it's big!) and proudly displays some of Andy's art work on the wall. The ones on the floor are waiting for their big moment.

Our dining room and the new addition, the pie safe! It's a heavy bugger, so it lived in the garage (yes we have a garage!) for a week until we were stronger enough to haul it in.

The kitchen, slightly teensy, but still workable. Thanks Mom and Dad for the espresso maker in the corner. Just tried it out today--fantastic!

One of the best features of our new home -- the second bedroom. This means we have room for visitors!

The boring but necessary parts......
Our bedroom.........

The future studio/knitting/sewing/sprouting room. Currently a home for wayward boxes.

Our lovely backyard and future home of our dream vegetable and herb gardens....

...as well as the most popular bird spot in town since Andy bought this bird feeder. Just for perspective, the feeder was full the day before this pic was taken.

Some sprouts are already well on their way:

In other news, the academic year (for residency) comes to an end in June, with lots of parties and farewells. Here's the current group of UAB Med-Peds residents with our program director, JR Hartig. All too soon, 4 will leave us to be replaced by 4 new interns. Which means, you got it, I'M NOT AN INTERN ANY MORE!

HALLELUJAH!

Recently my family and I headed to Austin to celebrate the life of Granny Van Vavra, my maternal grandmother. She was a great lady and I will miss her laugh, practicality and curiosity. Although gathered for a sad reason, it was great to spend so much time with my family...

Me with my paternal grandparents, Oma and Big Daddy.

including all the friends and neighbors that loved Granny too.

The flowers in Austin are beautiful this time of year...


but Sylvia was the star of the show.

Luckily, she's an equal opportunity lap sitter

Not to mention easily entertained....

this basket of paper recycling was an endless source of amusement for Sylvia. For the big girls, we got a kick out of comparing her expressions to the dozens of photos we sorted of Aurelia, Susan and myself.

Sylvia and Susan shared her first washtub bath....

And Aunty Vic put her in the antique trashcan. (Sorry, Miguel)

We also took a trip out to Jarrell, where Sylvia and Big Daddy had a long discussion on the building strategies of Tyeco.....or something.

Here's the whole fam....
I also caught up with my oldest friend, Pam Ziegler (now Brown) and her adorable boys

Pam with Logan

Noah just turned 5! He's quite the young man

And an excellent big brother, here with Logan, about 11 months.