60th birthdays (observance weekend)

The next-gen was kind enough to host a quite-fine weekend for PJ and me for our 60th birthdays - the fun started on March 23 and I'd say lasted until the first few days of April (when EPG headed back to CA).  We're pretty sure it involved lots of planning and not a few $$ - we were grateful.

In addition to travels by EPG and K&L, Cecilia visited from Minnesota for several days.

Key activities (in addition to general socializing):  wedding venues were checked out on Thursday-Friday; small-group birthday dinner at 706 on Friday evening; large-group birthday party at PJr/Nedda's place on Saturday evening; road trip to Tucson on Monday.

Not sure how it could have been nicer.

Dinner at Grassroots - Wednesday, March 23

Pig's Meow (March 24) (scene 1)

Pig's Meow (March 24) (scene 2)

Checking out potential wedding venues (downtown warehouse #1) (March 25)

We liked the Croft quite a bit (March 25)

Lovely birthday dinner at 706 - great menu, couldn't have been nicer.  (March 25)

PJ, Cecilia and I did a bit of hiking at 40th Street (March 26)

60th birthday party (scene 1) (March 26)

60th birthday party (scene 2) (March 26)

60th birthday party (scene 3) (March 26)

60th birthday party (scene 4) March 26

Four Tumacacori visitors (March 28)

Tumacacori National Monument; Mexican gold poppies (March 28)

We wander down to the Santa Cruz River on a lovely morning (March 28)

Stopping by San Xavier del Bac (scene 1) (March 28)

San Xavier del Bac (scene 2) (March 28)

The local ladies launder and changes clothes on this statute of the BVM (San Xavier del Bac, scene 3) (March 28)

One more statue (because I love looking at them) (San Xavier del Bac, scene 4) (March 28)

Tasters at Pueblo Vida Brewery (downtown Tucson (March 28)

Bowling excursion at some old-timey lanes in Sunnyslope neighborhood.  Very fun - partly because
scores were higher than expected in most cases.  And particularly in PJ's case.  (April 3)

Bowling (scene 2) (April 3)

Visiting K&L

Felt long overdue - but we made it back east to visit Kerry and Luis.  Very fun throughout.

Awaiting lunch at the DC market.

Some things that happened:

Friday, March 11 - travel day; our typical smooth passage; K&L pick us up at the airport.  PJr happens to be in town for some bond lawyers' conference; we meet him at their apartment and head out for a little house-hunting with the betrothed couple.  This was fun - the housing situation in the Virginia neighborhoods differs quite a bit from what we see in Phoenix, to put it mildly.  Houses of course are much older; a great deal of similarity in core properties in these neighborhoods, with variance introduced by subsequent "additions".  We enjoyed seeing this.  Later:  short walk to a SW restaurant near the apartment; Richard Frank joined.  Back to apartment for nightcapping.

Taste-testing at DC Brau.

More testing (DC Brau).

Saturday, March 12 - a very fun marathon.  Our group of six (K&L, Christina, PJr, PJ, me) travel to some downtown market via Uber - fun to browse, nice spot for lunch.  Onto a quite-fine local brewery - DC Brau - meet up with a few folks there.  Fun chatting and sipping, they are doing good work.  Onto another bar - this one German-themed - meet up with additional folks.  We are consistently impressed with the really high-quality folks K&L are friends with - and that so many of those folks made an effort to come out and meet us even though it involves giving up a big chunk of their weekend - such a nice group.  Steve & Carrie Jackshaw!  We are at the German place for quite a long while, chatting and sipping and enjoying a wonderful afternoon; then we test a few possibilities for dinner and end up late at an Italian place.  Fun day.

DC Brau, scene 3

Sunday, March 13 - K&L travel downtown with PJr and me to the National Gallery - always a treat - featuring Greek/classical era, lucky us as this sort of thing is unfailingly interesting.  Then it's time for L, PJr and me to track down some Peruvian chicken and discuss current campaign events while doing so (at the level of "they took our jobs" a la South Park alien episode); shortly thereafter PJr heads to the (Baltimore!) airport for his return flight.  In the evening, we travel out to visit Pedro and Maga - who happened to be hosting the Naples next-gen crew (Gustavo, Gonzalo, Gabriela) that we had enjoyed meeting back in November.  Pedro and Maga are wonderful hosts, it was great to see them again after too-many years (last time was this trip, I believe).  They also remembered our upcoming birthdays - cake and singing!  A lovely evening.

"German" bar, scene 1 . . . 

German bar, scene 2

Celebrating # 60 with Pedro, Maga and family . . . nice!

Monday, March 14 - L to work; K takes us to the French breakfast-place down the street; then we travel out into the Virginia countryside - this was quite excellent, and also brand-new territory for us.  Did a tasting at some winery; then lunch at The Red Fox Inn (est'd 1728, they claim) in the lovely little town of Middleburg .  Beautiful place, really good food - K and I split the Virginia peanut soup, as should be done here; yum throughout.  And then K bought me a Red Fox Inn polo shirt (it being birthday #60), I like it quite a lot.  Great outing, we would enjoy seeing more of this part of the world.

Birthday boy with K at winery.

Back to the apartment; K&L have thoughtful suggestions for my birthday dinner, and we make a rez.  But there are intervening circumstances as the five of us (K, L, Christina, PJ, me) while away the late afternoon into the early and not-so-early evening:  Five Crowns games (complete with our introducer, Christina); a pretty amazing charcuterie board (all my favorites); some pretty wonderful beer selections; and excellent wine hauled back for us by K&L all the way from Italy.  Not surprisingly, my birthday afternoon/evening was flying by rapidly in a remarkably pleasant fashion; I eventually (though reluctantly) requested that we cancel our dinner reservation because I didn't want to break up the apartment fun; so later on we had a bite at a local place.  Birthday #60 was a great one!

Birthday boy with K at Red Fox Inn.

Tuesday, March 15 - sad to say, this was our last day.  K takes us downtown; we decide to visit the US Botanic Garden - very near the Capitol; something not previously visited; should be on the list.  The place was featuring orchids - which was interesting indeed - but we enjoyed the whole site.  Took a photo near the under-construction Capitol building; then K surprised us with a trip to Cafe Belga in DC (pleasant memories from our last trip).  Interesting beer flight, quite-wonderful mussels; L carved out work time to join us.  (Not to mention that K carved out a bunch of time for us throughout.)

The nicest b-day celebration - at Arlington apartment with our hosts - 

And then it pretty much was time to head to the airport - sad to be saying our goodbyes.  Though at least we knew we would be getting together very quickly in Arizona.

United States Botanic Garden.

Belga Cafe - whiling away some time while waiting for our lunch.

 

PJ made it into a picture - after Botanic Garden, prior to Belga Cafe.

We really loved this trip - we benefit from lots of effort, great planning by the hosts.  Lucky stuff.

Year-end 2015

It was quite a year; more travel throughout the year than usual (a good chunk of it unexpected); but all just as nice as can be.  Including various doings in the last few weeks.  As far as holiday visitors - Kerry had a relatively short holiday visit; but Patrick had a relatively longer one.  Still, it all went very (too) quickly.  Below are a few photos from end-of-year events.

However:  no photos from the clearcut #1 event of the end-of-year cycle:  LUIS AND KERRY ARE ENGAGED.  This happened at a New Year's Eve party at the Virginia apartment.  Luis had called me in the afternoon - guess what, it made me very happy.  And having the news also made for a difficult task of keeping quiet for a few hours.  Back in Arizona, we had wrapped up a NYE dinner gathering (at Rick & Laura Weis place) and Mary Beth was driving us home (with a detour for Christmas-decoration-viewing) - when PJ's phone rang with the news.  The news seemed implausible to her.  But she moved quickly from considering it a moderately funny joke, to incredulous, to weeping (with those last two stages merely different forms of "joyous").  Skylar - in her car seat - was a little concerned about the weeping part, but seemed to understand that it was ok; she certainly handled it just fine.  It was a great capper to 2015.

The photos:

CPG continues working the Suns88 organization; natural-born hams attend fundraiser in November.

Tom Chambers x2 at Suns88 event.

Another Star Wars movie was released . . . some attended in costume.  Dinner at Solo Trattoria
prior; movie "met expectations"; joined by Trevor and Jessica; a fun evening.

POC, NOC, EPG and I attended the Phoenix Chorale's Christmas concert.  Program wasn't as much to our liking
as last year, but the performance was their typical high level.  For one song they were joined by a group of
high school(?) kids whose sole function was to run their finger around the top of
a half-filled water glass.  The effect was amazing.  Brophy chapel.

Random encounters at The Parlor.

An evening at Richardson's, per NOC Instagram.

Christmas gathering at MB's.

Mike & Lisa got married

Something extra-fun:  family weddings on back-to-back weekends.  After gathering in Florida for Mike & Ally, we quickly turn to Chicago for Mike & Lisa.  Guess what:  the O'Connell crew is great to hang around with.

Here's what happened.

Thursday night diner crew

PJ and I arrive on Thursday, December 3 - easy flight- check into hotel - late lunch at Gino's East just off Michigan Ave.  A short walk from the hotel (also just off Michigan Ave); decent December weather - fun to wander a bit - heck, this is PJ's hometown, and my first job out of law school was in downtown Chicago.  Familiarity.  Later that evening:  dinner with Chris, Kerry, Luis at some local place (I think recommended by NOC) - a nice evening.  NOC/POC occupied with rehearsal dinner etc.

On Friday December 4 - milling around at hotel, then we (meaning the dinner crew from Thursday evening) start walking.  We end up for lunch at another Geno's - this one downtown - tasty, again.  And fun to be hanging out with these folks.  Wander into Art Institute, but time is short.  We walk back toward our hotel; run into PJr and Nedda (who had recently arrived) when shopping at the local Whole Foods (of all places); back to hotel and prep for the evening.

Friday lunch crew (same as Thursday dinner crew) (excellent repeat).  Geno's East, downtown.

Obligatory bean-pic on way home from lunch (Friday).

Wedding ceremony and reception are at Revolution Brewing - really, a fine place for this kind of thing.  Bus ride over to the venue.  Revolution does a good job with its beers!  We had more or less serious thoughts of riding the rail, but didn't get close - among other challenges, too much good food.  POC ran the ceremony beautifully.  Fun evening.  Enjoyed getting to know Lisa's family a bit.  Always fun hanging out with the O'Connell group.

CPG's selfie at Revolution Brewing.

Another look at the estimable crowd at Revolution Brewing.

The nice thing about Friday weddings - Saturday is a free day to socialize, and the wedding party is freed up.  On Saturday December 3 - more milling around through breakfast and morning hours at the hotel.  After which our entire group (now nine strong) walks all the way down Michigan Avenue to a MOC-favored pizza-and-pierogi place just south of Roosevelt Road.  Lovely day for a walk, all in all.  Very fine gathering spot - lots of family and friends showing up (including Jenna).  Eventually we repair to another establishment nearby where the fun continues well into the evening.

The groom makes a short trip and returns with a smuggled-in treat (meaning the 
limited-release beer).  Nice move.  (Saturday, late afternoon)

Now it's getting quite late . . . courtesy Uber (with a driver who supported, or tolerated, some singing) a group of us make it to a Jenna-recommended restaurant near the hotel . . . this fits the bill quite nicely.  Then back to hotel.  NOC and POC (our room-sharers) eventually join us . . . POC memorably expresses his appreciation for the situation.  And he was right - a really fun weekend.

With four kids at pizza/pierogi place.

At Saturday stop #2.

Sunday, December 4 is short - chattering/recapping at breakfast at hotel - then a late-morning flight out of O'Hare, PJr and Nedda on the same flight.  Very fun weekend, passed way too quickly.

Below copied from NOC's Instagram feed:

Mike & Ally got married

Most of us (PJ and me; Nicole and POC; Chris; Kerry and Luis) traveled to Florida for Mike & Ally's wedding over Thanksgiving weekend.

(Photos mostly courtesy CPG . . . still don't have one of the bridal couple!  Will add.)

Thanksgiving dinner in Naples, Florida.

We traveled on Thanksgiving Day (Thursday, November 26) - which worked quite smoothly.  Flew into Ft. Myers; the hotel and wedding were in Naples.  Long day of traveling; we checked in and then went out for Thanksgiving dinner; then we joined other arrivers in the hospitality room at the hotel for chatting, beer, cards, the usual fine things.

Godfather and god-daughter . . . Yuengling and Brocial-Vibe . . . good combinations abound all weekend. 

Friday, November 27 - hotel breakfast and some milling around; then we visited Jay, Gisele and family - they live within 10-15 minutes of the hotel.  They had put together a really nice lunch, and it was pretty much nonstop talking and laughing; perfect weather; we sit out on their patio and look at some photos etc.; much enjoyed the event.  Had never met them but it was unusually easy to (immediately) get acquainted/comfortable.  In the evening, Charlie & Beth hosted a quite-fine rehearsal dinner at a hotel up the road - they treated us all very well, I'd say.  More fun in the hospitality room later in the evening.

Nearly 100% turnout from this crew!  Great to be together.

Saturday, November 28 - another gorgeous day; after breakfast we had some time to wander; our group (Steve, Liz, Cecilia (the birthday girl), Jenna, PJ and me) went and ooh'd and ah'd at some very nice beach housing, then took a walk along the beach.

With my sister and brother on beach . . . Naples, Florida (Gulf of Mexico).
This grouping f/k/a/ "Big Guy Club."

Milling around back at the hotel; eventually we make it to the wedding ceremony (#2, actually) and reception at a lovely Naples country club.  We all were treated very well again (a theme for the entire weekend).  Weather, food, drinks, company - all absolutely nice as could be.

Random photo at the ceremony . . . 

Us, at the reception.

Return flight on Sunday, November 29 - PJ and I left very early (around 6a) in a pretty successful attempt to somewhat get ahead of the Sunday-after-Thanksgiving crush.  Airports full, but all went smoothly.  POC, Kerry, Luis also departed; while Chris and Nicole hung around Florida for a day or two - visited the Wentlings up at Sanibel and were accosted by no-see-ums while otherwise having good-times.

Luis and Kerry perhaps thinking wedding-ish thoughts.

This was a quick but fun trip.  Fun to be together in this kind of setting after all the activities during 2015.  Missed having Grandpa and Grandma there.  (Not to mention Patrick, PJr, Nedda.)

Sanibel - still laughing as bug bites hadn't kicked in.