Visiting Brady 2017

Kevin went to visit Brady for a couple days in the middle of the week because he's sort of- not really- on summer break from teaching. Tuesday night they went to dinner at Vecchia in Phoenixville. Wednesday they took the train into Philadelphia, went to Tired Hands Brewery on the way, then Monks Cafe, a Belgian bar. They went to the Red Sox v. Phillies game at Citizen Bank Park. Fun times!

Kevin and Brady at the Phillies game

Boys' Trip to Boston 2016

Kevin went to Boston with his friends Casey, Jon, and Pete to see a Red Sox game. They had dugout seats so they were pretty excited. Kevin said the view was one of the best parts of the game. (The Red Sox lost.)

Pete, Kevin, Jon, Casey

They also spent some time in Swampscott with Casey both before and after the game. They ate out dinner there and stayed overnight there. In the morning, Casey gave them a tour of The Cabot Theater where he is the Executive Director.

Jon, Casey, and Kevin at Mission on the Bay


On stage at The Cabot


Tour of the Cabot

Jon's 35th Birthday in Boston 2015

Kevin and Jon drove up to Boston for Jon's 35th birthday and met up with Casey and Jon's brothers-in-law that live in Massachusetts. They ate many dinners, watched a Red Sox game from the Green Monster, and drank beer until it hurt. Yay! Happy birthday, Jon!

Casey, Kevin, and Jon at Fenway

Just casually leaning against this bar

Jon stopped by to say hi to the little ones too

Game 6 of the World Series in Boston 2013

Kevin has watched about a hundred baseball games this season, and probably every season. He was thrilled when the Red Sox made the World Series, and he tried to buy tickets online countless times, but the page was overwhelmed with fans and kept crashing. His childhood friend Kevin got all the way to the checkout portion of the page before the site crashed. So the boys hashed a plan to drive to Boston for the potentially decisive game 6 of the series and buy day-of tickets at Fenway.

Unfortunately, even though they got there early, the line was already too long for everyone to get tickets and no one else was allowed to get in the line. But their back-up plan was a solid one. They went to Bleacher Bar, a bar that is attached to Fenway and actually looks out onto the field. So they were able to watch the game both in person and on the televisions there. So that was awesome.

Casey, Jon, Kevin, and Kevin

Line outside of Fenway to get same-day tickets

Outside Fenway

View of the field inside the bar

Kevin, Kevin, Jon, and Casey in front of Fenway

When the game was over they were able to see the World Series trophy delivered to the team, and afterwards they were able to celebrate with the entire city of Boston!

Scene outside after Red Sox won the World Series

With fireworks!

My friend Ian was inside Fenway for the game, this is his picture of the celebration.

Yay! Congratulations to the Red Sox (they read my blog right?) and to all their fans!

Visiting Katie in Baltimore 2013

We went to Baltimore last weekend to visit Kevin's cousin Katie. We had lots of fun! We got tickets to the Red Sox and Orioles game, and even though it was supposed to rain, Kevin was fully confident they would play because he had already been rained out of a game in Boston. So we started in the early afternoon at Alewife and got some good beers on tap.

Katie and Kevin at Alewife

Afterwards, we went to Faidley's Seafood market where Kevin and I had the best crab cakes of our lives. They were amazing, huge, and beautiful. Even though I don't usually photograph food, I should have taken a photo of these crab cakes to show how huge and how totally composed of crab they are. Sadly, I ate it way too quickly to even consider such a thing. They are life-changing. I will dream of them forever. If you need a visual, here you go. Beware, if you go, they close really early around 5 p.m.

Crab cakes at Faidley's Seafood!

We still had a little time to kill after our very early dinner, so we went to Pickles, a large outdoor bar near Camden Yards stadium. We got some Miller Lites, and while Kevin was patting himself on the back for his superior intellect in carrying a coozie at all times, Katie and I whipped coozies out of our purses. Kevin said he'd never been so proud of his family. Haha.

 

Cheers to coozies at Pickle's Pub

Then it started raining. Really raining. And even though I had brought an umbrella to Baltimore, for some reason I had decided to leave it at Katie's. We got soaked at the outdoor bar cleverly selected for it's proximity to the stadium. But Kevin never lost hope, and sure enough the game started on time. Katie's friend Heidi met us there.

And what a game! Red Sox player Stephen Drew had an inside the park home run! Shane Victorino also hit a home run. And most notably, "Big Papi" Ortiz flipped out at a umpire and destroyed the dugout phone. It was amazing to see in real life. I could see the white bits flying of what at the time I thought was the wall. That was it for us. We'd done all our partying before the game, so we headed back. Thanks for a really fun time, Katie!

Camden Yards!

At the game

Special thanks to my mom who stayed with James for the weekend and for the first time by herself overnight! Thanks, Nana!

• Last time we visited Katie in Baltimore in 2010

Rained Out in Boston 2013

Casey, Jon, and Kevin had independent plans to go see a Red Sox game from before Casey's party was planned, and there was no way to renegotiate the date since they couldn't tell him about the party. Not that they even wanted to renegotiate the date. They all love the Red Sox, and a boys night out in Boston is pretty much heaven to Kevin and Jon.

Sadly, they were rained out, which is awful when you're specifically coming in from out of town for a game and can't come back for the make-up date. They still had some quality time together, and I even hear there is a silly picture somewhere, but it has not been shared with me.

Back home, James and I had a two-day Cuban Clous date. Thursday night after a long day together, we walked over to the main street and bought ice cream and strawberries. James walked the whole way there and back holding my hand. Pretty cute.

Cuban Clou Date Night!

James Visits New Jersey- August 2011

James recently took a little scream-filled ride to New Jersey to visit his great-grandmother Daisy. (Side note: Recently it has occurred to me that she might spell it Daysi. I always assumed it was spelled the English way. Like many Hispanic people she goes by her middle name, so I never see it in writing.) She fed us an enormous and delicious lunch of ribs, plantains, and moro (black beans and rice). My brother David stopped by to visit with James as well. They seem to get along well, except that James is a Red Sox fan who watches every single game with his father at 5 a.m. in the morning, and David is a Yankees fan.

With his great-grandmother Daisy or "Abuelita" to me


Taking a little nap on Abuelita's super-girly bed


With his Uncle David

After, we went to my mother's place so that her friends Onel and Tania could meet James. Onel is one of my favorite people ever since he was extremely supportive of my parents when my dad was sick last year. Onel and Tania live in Pennsylvania, far-out, and Onel has a very demanding job, but he still came to see my father a number of times. He would come to the hospital and find us in any room where we had been moved. My dad was always happy to see him. It got to the point where I half expected him to show up at the hospital when I was there having James. But I guess he decided I might prefer privacy. Ha! He is always welcome anywhere he wants to be when it comes to my family.

Posing for Arelys's camera phone picture


Holding on to Onel's finger (with Onel and Tania)


Trying to subtly move into biting down on Onel's hand (teething issues)

Red Sox and Love 2009

Toronto Blue Jays v. Red Sox 2008

Earlier I mentioned that Kevin and I enjoy going to UVA sporting events. We also very occasionally go to professional games. Obviously, we've been to a Red Sox game at Fenway (against the Toronto Blue Jays), though shockingly only once in 2008. We also went to a Cubs game at Wrigley, and a Patriots v. Giants game at Giants Stadium with Jon and Becky. We had a fun time at each of the games.

Which is why this next confession is probably heart-breaking for my husband: I kind of hate the Red Sox.

Oh, sure, I was into them for a while. My first baseball game ever was the Red Sox at Fenway. I instantly fell in love with the handsome Nomar Garciaparra. Later, I got kind of psyched about the Nationals coming to DC and bought a little red hat with a big white W. Sometime after that I ran into the Red Sox World Series trophy at a bar in DC. It was on tour without any of the players accompanying it; it was a separate hero.

And yes, I admit, that when Kevin told me that he had a cat named Nomar, the first thing I said was "Like Garciaparra? I love Garciaparra!" Like any devoted girlfriend I tried to take an interest in Kevin's first love, baseball. No matter how much I tried I couldn't really wrap my mind around the more complicated rules and plays. I did start to learn the names of some of the more interesting players. Manny Ramirez, who had a good Hispanic name and was easy to remember because he was well, being Manny; Mike Lowell, my new baseball crush and a Cuban to boot; Gagne, who Kevin was constantly complaining was ruining the entire game of baseball; Matsusaka, Kevin's baseball crush; and Okajima, Matsuzaka's little buddy. I even bought Kevin a cool Matsuzaka shirt that said Red Sox in Japanese. And so what if Kevin watched hours and hours of baseball? I had law school homework to do. Though I warned that one day the homework would be over, and maybe so much baseball would be a bit too much.

Then Manny left. And with him went over 10% of my Red Sox knowledge. Matsuzaka started to suck (and became a great dishonor to his people). And of course, the homework ended. So lots of boring games + no personal interest in the players + every time they lose Kevin is sad. And then I am sad.

I know I married Kevin and that means that to some degree I married the Red Sox, but don't expect me to cheer unless Manny comes back.

Patriots v. Giants 2008