Outer Banks 2009

The last week of August, 5 couples, 7 kids 4-years old and younger and Albright rented a beach house in the Outer Banks, NC. (In the picture: front row kids L-R - Kate and Abby Edwards, Jack and Emma Jeter, Henry Viscardi; 2nd row Adults and infants - the Kennedy's, Tim and Nicole Callhan, Meg and Keith Edwards and Olivia, Vanessa and Rob Jeter, Mike and Sarah Viscardi and Caroline, and Brian Albright).

This is probably my favorite picture from the trip. Abby randomly pulled this book off of the book shelf and was running around with it. Tim asked her what she was reading, so she held it up. Everyone in the room lost their composure!!!

This is Henry Viscardi. Henry normally has arms, legs and a torso attached to his head. Very few 4 year olds will lay still long enough to be buried in sand. Henry obviously will. He ran around most of the week covered in sand. When he was not digging on the beach, he ran around inside the house with his Handy Manny tool set repairing everything in sight.

This is Olivia hamming it up for Tim's camera.














Rachel with Abby and Kate.

(Albright making steamers). Every family was responsible for dinner one night. Brian boiled crab pots for Friday night's dinner. They were D-Lish!!!

Sweet Caroline


Me and Albright making our fashion statement. (Please note that he is sporting Lilly Pulitzer, while mine are a more economical brand).

Me, Rob and Albright enjoying steamers.

Olivia wearing "Pasta Night".

Rachel, Sarah and their matching tops.

Rob and Emma chilling in the living room.

Sarah Viscardi - lifelong Vanderbilt fan, caught sitting in a University of Tennessee beach chair - SCANDALOUS!!!



Tim, Nicole, Rachel and I rode from Philadelphia to the Outer Banks together. We left Friday and stayed in Norfolk, VA. While we were there, we went to see the Norfolk Tides baseball team play. Above is a photo of Tim, Nicole and Rachel outside of the stadium before the game.

The Tides is a AAA team and at least used to be affiliated with the New York Mets. I believe that they are now with the Nationals or Orioles, as the Minor Leagues re-aligned several years ago to place Minor League franchises closer to their Major League home market. For instance, the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs are now one of the Philadelphia Philly affiliates (only 90 minutes from Center City Philly). Trenton, NJ is the A affiliate for the New York Yankees (again, they are only ~90 minutes from Yankee Stadium).

The Tide Mascot was very active before the game started. He took a special liking to Nicole (see video below). He was very good interacting with both kids and adults.

Tim and I left in the 2nd Inning to pick up Brian Albright from the airport. Brian currently works at the Dow Plant in the San Fransisco area, and flew in for the week. Brian's flight was delayed due to the hurricane, so we did not make it back to the stadium until the bottom of the 8th inning. We saw the Tides seal the win and donned our sporty 3-D glasses for the Fireworks Extravaganza.


Below is a video of the Tide Mascot torturing Nicole.



Above is a picture of the sunrise I awoke to on the first morning. I took this picture from the deck outside of our kitchen.

This is our big green house. It comfortably slept 11 adults (some might argue that there were fewer adults than this, but technically 11 people met the legal definition of adulthood) and seven children 4 years old or younger. We had a pool, hot tub, a Playstation 2, pool table, foosball table, horseshoe pit, basketball goal and wireless internet. It also had many, many bedrooms, bathrooms and dual dishwashers, which comes in very handy when living with 18 people.

(View from our overlook deck)


(Another view from our overlook deck)

We arrived to the beach house on Saturday afternoon, while Hurricane Bill was about 150 miles east of the Outer Banks. Before we left the following Saturday, Hurricane Danny rolled directly over us (luckily, it was a lower grade storm). Due to the storms, the lifeguards kept everyone out of the ocean Saturday through Monday. Below is a picture from that Sunday. As Keith so eloquently stated many times during the week, "The Sea Was Angry, My Friend."


Tuesday was "Mothers' Day Out". For their event this year, the ladies chose to take surf lessons and eat lunch. (Pictured above L-R: J.M. (Instructor), Sarah Viscardi, Rachel, Vanessa Jeter, Meg Edwards, Nicole Callahan).

The girls arose early and headed off for their 9 AM surf lesson, leaving the dads (and Tim and I) to execute breakfast duty with the kids.

(Surfer Meg). The entire session was about 2 hours or so, including the time it took them to get fitted for their wet suits. After getting their suits, the ladies received instruction on the beach for about 30 minutes and then spent about an hour in the water. According to Rachel, this was plenty of time in the water, as they were all worn out.

Surf Nicole won the distinction of being the first surfer to get up on her board. Her reward... a free lunch.

(Surfer Rachel) Tim and I left the house when the Dads took the kids to the beach in order to get some pictures and video footage of the surfing. We made it to the beach about 15 minutes before the end of the lesson.

After the surf lesson, the ladies came back to the house and showered before their lunch.

Sarah and Meg even decided to dress alike.











Below is a video of Rachel getting up on her board. This is the first shot I got when Tim and I arrived to take pictures.


On Tuesday night (our normal trivia night in Philadlephia at the Lucky Dog), Rachel and I hosted trivia for the three teams. The winning team of Tim Callahan, Meg Edwards and Sarah Viscardi are shown here. They were a well-balanced and solid team (do not ever go up against Sarah in "Entertainment Trivia"; she is lights-out).

Rob, Vanessa and Brian are shown here. Going into the night, they were the favorite. We played the normal 6 rounds - Current Events, Sports, Random, Music, Portrait Round, and Entertainment. According to Brian, I chose lousy music, lousy pictures for the portrait round, lousy entertainment and current events noone would know (which was somewhat true, as nobody had been watching TV or reading the newspaper). Nice blanket, Albright.

Wednesday was Guy's Day Out. The group (present company excluded) decided to play golf. This was also one of the Decathlon events.

We had a 7:45 ish tee time at Nagshead Golf Links, which meant we had to be up at the crack of dawn, as it was an hour drive from the peninsula. The course was very nice, but pretty tight, which meant I lost several balls throughout the day.

Edwards preparing to tee off.

Callahan winding up for his tee shot.

We split into two-threesomes. Keith, Tim and I played together. They were great partners for me, as I am fairly confident that we were the less serious-minded of the two threesomes.

As expected, Mike Viscardi took the golf event, shooting near par. Callahan edged Albright, who had not played in over a year, for second by one stroke. Also, as expected, I finished dead last.

Following golf, the guys had lunch at a micro-brewery in Nags Head. Here is a picture of Callahan eating his first hush puppy ever. Somehow, the great southern fried delicacy that are hush puppies did not gain wide acceptance in the north. Although, I am confident that with the gaining popularity of NASCAR and country music, hush puppies cannot be far behind. The food at the pub was pretty darn good. In addition to hush puppies, I loaded up on fried okra, too.

(L-R Rob, Keith and Mike passing an appetizer to me at the Brewery after golf)

Wednesday after golf, all of the families loaded up and headed to Corolla for Wine Tasting and a picnic near the lighthouse.

It was an absolutely beautiful afternoon, and we had a wonderful time. There was space for the kids to play (and for Albright to conduct his Fantasy Football Draft conference call).



(The Sound at sunset)

(Currituck Lighthouse)



(Artsy sunset photo - Courtesy of Brian Albright)

(Chef Robert Jeter and Emma) Rob and Vanessa provided bar-b-que for the picnic dinner. It was great being back in the south, where we could get some good old North Carolina pork bar-b-que.

Meg, Nicole and Rachel before dinner.

Tim, Nicole and Rachel enjoying dinner after wine tasting.

Nicole at the conclusion of a long day.

Thursday, the day was spent relaxing on the beach and male competition in more Decathlon events (horse shoes and obstacle bocce). Callahan won both events. Thursday night was poker night. This is a shot of Rob and Tim at the outdoor picnic poker table. Notice Tim's shirt, advertising the Philadelphia Phillies, the "losingest" franchise in sports history... any sport. The pain is somewhat dulled by the World Series Win in 2008.

Keith invoked the "40 Rule" for poker night - No beer at the poker table smaller than a 40 oz. As you can see in the above picture, Tim quickly violated the rule. Here, the refined Brian Albright is enjoying the "Champagne of Beers" Miller High Life.

Keith and I with our "GARS". Keith is wearing his "Rolling with my Gnomies" T-shirt, which is one of my favorite T's. After jumping out to a quick chip lead, I faded fast. Albright ultimately took poker night. Edwards was 2nd.

Saturday morning, after the passage of Tropical Storm Danny (it was afraid to upgrade to a Hurricane following the angry taunts of Keith Edwards yelling at him from the ocean on Wednesday night), we all packed our cars and headed home. It was a great trip with great friends. Special thanks to Rob and Vanessa Jeter, who spent a week with us during their relocation to Midland, MI (I mean this literally, as the movers took their furniture the night before they left to come to the beach. They would reunite with their furniture after there LONG drive from the North Carolina coast to Midland).

Independence Day - Guys Weekend

I apologize for my long absence from the Blogging World. I don't really have a good excuse. Life has just been busy for the last bit. Lots of good things to blog about, but not much time to actually write it down. When you wait so long to put it down on paper, you forget a lot of the funny things that actually happen.

Each year on the Fourth of July Weekend, a group of my college friends gets together to create new life stories and pester each other endlessly. This year, Mark Clark, Bill Langston and Reed Stephenson visited Philadelphia, the Cradle of Liberty and The City of Brotherly Love, for Independence Day.

Mark Clark arrived on Wednesday afternoon. After picking him up at the airport, we joined some of my Dow Chemical (heritage Rohm and Haas) buddies at La Scala's downtown for "Center City Sips". Pictured here (L-R) are Jeff Roberts, SMW (who actually reads this blog occasionally), Evan McCaskey and Lucas Kammerzell.

Thursday, I worked while Clark toured the city. Bill arrived Thursday afternoon. We picked him up from the airport and headed downtown for a while. We went to Eulogy, an old pub with a plethora of Belgian beers on tap. We then headed back to La Scala (outdoor seating and nice weather) to meet another group of heritage Rohm and Haas friends.

With time to kill, we stopped at a Bar-b-que restaurant slash Tequila bar on our way back to the car. Of course, Mark Clark, gourmet food expert, could not resist buying a bar-b-que sandwich, despite my protests (there is a reason that Philadelphia is known for its cheese steaks and not its bar-b-que). Mark choked down his sandwich and side items, and then we headed to the airport to pick up Reed.

For anyone who does not know Reed, I really don't have enough space to try to analyze him. All I can say is... he is an absolute riot to be around. You never know what is going to happen. A simple task, such as an airport pick-up, can take on exponential levels of complexity and hilarity when Reed is involved. The story begins with Reed calling us from Atlanta earlier in the afternoon to tell us that his flight is on time. He also informs us that there is a "hot blond chick" on his flight, and he has already introduced himself to her. She is flying to Philly to visit a friend, who works for Dow/Rohm and Haas.

Fast forward - Reed's plane lands in Philadelphia. By this time, he has applied the full court press on his new lady friend. Our group is now committed to attend the Independence Day Parade downtown because she is riding on one of the floats. Reed is convinced that with his new connection, he can get us onto that float. We have also been volunteered to provide taxi service for the young lady from the airport to downtown - No problem; we are all anxious to meet her. We inform Reed that we will pick him up outside in front of baggage claim in 10 minutes. Fast forward 20 minutes. We are now on our 3rd trip around the baggage claim area of the Philadelphia International Airport. No Reed. Bill pulls out his "Sweet Ass I-Phone" and places a call to find out where Reed is. Reed has no memory of the previous conversation where we told him we would pick him up outside of Baggage Claim. Trip 4, we finally pick up Reed at the predetermined location. As Reed enters our car, he informs us that our frequent phone calls ruined his chances with the blond girl. Apparently, we threw off his mo-jo.

Luckily, Mark Clark captured footage of this event on his VLOG. The link for this video is:


When we do manage to pick up Reed, he, of course, is waiting on the other side of the road for pick-up. It didn't occur to him that he should wait where the other 300 people are waiting. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFFb32-mHjY&feature=related

From the airport, we headed to The Lucky Dog, where Clark ate his second full dinner of the evening.

Friday morning, we headed to Pottsville, PA, about an hour and 15 minutes from our house, to the Yuengling Brewery - the oldest brewery in America. Yuengling was founded in 1829 and is still run by the Yuengling family. Interestingly, each generation must purchase the company from the previous generation. The family's strong German roots insist that you will take better care of something if you pay for it. The four daughters of the current owner all work for the brewery and are making plans to purchase it from their father in several years.

One of the traditions of Guys Weekend is that we find a local brewery to tour. The first tour was packed, so we headed to a local pub for lunch. Here, we learned about the Pottsville Maroons, a professional football team, that should have won the 1925 NFL Championship. Originally from the independent "Anthracite League", the Maroons joined the NFL in the early 1920's. They had the best record in the NFL in 1925, but were not awarded the championship because they were suspended for playing an unsanctioned game against a Notre Dame All-Star Team, which included the Four Horsemen. Pottsville won that game, too, but the championship went to the Chicago Cardinals.


After lunch, we walked back up the hill to the brewery for our tour. Our tour guide was a young lady, who was obviously ready to go home for the day. She knew all of her facts, which she was able to recite in a monotone, but she was less than enthusiastic in her presentation. She finally warmed up to us about half way through the tour, after Reed threw on the charm.






This is a good shot of Clark and Reed in the bottling operation. This is by far the most complex part of making and packaging beer. Lots of moving parts, so many points where something can go wrong.

Today, Yuengling also brews in Tampa Bay, FL, in addition to Pottsville. It is distributed in over 30 states.

We drove back from Pottsville to Valley Forge, PA and toured the old encampment that afternoon. This is where Washington quartered the Continental Army in the winter of 1777-1778. The site has the original houses, where the officers were quartered, as well as recreations of the barracks where the enlisted troops slept. Some of the barracks are pictured behind Bill. Each would house about 6 soldiers.

Here, Reed is posing in front of Washington's headquarters. Much of the house is still original, and they have it set up as it was during the Revolutionary War. Martha actually came up from Virginia to stay with George in these quarters during the winter of 1777. Although the house looks large, apparently there was not much room, as about 15-20 advisers, staffers and servants also stayed in the house.

After touring Valley Forge, we cleaned up and headed to dinner in Manyunk. We ate at the brewery, which is situated along the river. The weather was great, so we were able to sit outside and enjoy the evening.


Clark at the Brewery.






Reed chilling at the brewery.








After dinner, we walked around Manyunk, which is the Philadelphia equivalent of Chicago's Wrigleyville. It is a trendy part of town where recent college graduates live. It is surrounded by stores, bars and restaurants. Pretty cool little place. The video below is of Reed trying out a new toy at one of the antique stores in the area.



It is a brave new world, as the guys turned over a new leaf this year for Guys Weekend. Rachel and Mark Clark signed us up to run a mountainous 5K on Saturday morning. Part of the Pickle Series that Rachel has done for the past several months, the race was for those who enjoy a little humor in addition to running. Each of us won an award in the race. Our trophies are shown here.

We cleaned up after the race and headed into Philadelphia to observe some of the Fourth of July celebrations. We went to the Constitution Center and saw the presentation there. It was fantastic, as usual. There were a lot of outdoor exhibits, too, to celebrate our nation's birthday. It was a lot of fun.

We cooked out at the house for the evening (title picture shows us all out on the back deck at the house enjoying burgers, corn and lots of other great food). It was a great way to cap off another successful Guys's Weekend.

REFLECTIONS - Kenny Chesney Concert



Rachel and I went to see the Kenny Chesney Concert in Philadelphia on June 27 (thanks Mom). In my opinion, Kenny puts on the best concerts out there. If you go, I promise you that you will have a good time.

One of the best things about the Kenny Chesney Concert Series is that he always has great acts opening for him. This year was no different. Lady Antebellum was the first act. They are one of my favorite new, young groups. Miranda Lambert (pictured here) played second. While I am not normally a big fan of her music, she was very good live.

Next up was Montgomery Gentry. Eddie Montgomery (shown here) is a big-time entertainer on stage. He can spin a mic stand like a UT majorette spinning a baton. Montgomery Gentry is a great opening act because they have some fun songs that really get the crowd going.

My favorite band in country music is Sugarland. They played directly before Kenny took the stage. Christian Bush, brother of the lead singer of the rock band Bush, is the mandolin playing member of the duet. I also posted a video of Bush playing below.

Jennifer Nettles is the lead singer for Sugarland. She is AWESOME!!! I absolutely love her voice (video of her singing is also posted below). The crowd was really into Sugarland during the concert. You could hear the fans singing along with almost all of their songs. Having a band of Sugarland's caliber opening, speaks to how popular Kenny Chesney is.






Near the end of their concert set, Bush and Nettles were zipped into large plastic bubbles. They then rolled out over the crowd. Below is a video of Jennifer Nettles as she rolled over us.



Kenny was the final act. He never disappoints. Rachel and I are always amazed at how hard he performs. Any other concert that you go to, the artist will stop, introduce his/her band, walk around stage between songs, or do many other things to stall and catch his/her breath. Kenny Chesney rocks it out the entire time he is on stage. I have never seen a performer work that hard for 2 1/2 hours straight.

Father's Day in Knoxville

Father's Day weekend, I flew to Knoxville for some meetings at the University of Tennessee. It was nice because I got to be with my Dad on Father's Day.


Saturday night, I got to hang out with Laddy (my cousin), Amy and Ellie. Ellie was born when we were home for Christmas, so this is the second time I have seen her. Ellie is a riot. She is a good baby; she was not fussy at all at dinner. When we got to Laddy's and Amy's, we played for a while, gave her a bath, and put her to bed. Didn't hear her cry once.


Sunday, I had lunch at Beaverbrook Country Club with my parents, Uncle Stan and Aunt Lou, and my cousin Reid, his wife Renee, and their kids Kara and Ryan. It is always good to get to see family when I go home.

The lunch was very good, and it was nice because I bumped into some other old friends at the club. It was a beautiful day. Beaverbrook is really beautiful in the spring and early summer.






(Picture below of my Mom and Uncle Stan) REFLECTIONS - Bean and the Taxi Crab

A couple of weeks ago, Brian Bean, one of my roommates from college came to Philadelphia with his son Wesley and our friend Shane Pledge and his son Matthew to see the St. Louis Cardinals play the Philadelphia Phillies.

Bean grew up near St. Louis and moved to Winchester, VA in high school. He and Kevin Tharp were my roommates my sophmore and junior year. Brian's dad lives in Wilmington, DE, about 45 minutes south of Philly. Brian has always been a HUGE Cardinals fan, so he and Shane decided to do a road trip with their sons.

They drove to Washington DC to watch the Cardinals play the Nationals and then came up to Bean's dad's for the Phillies game on Saturday. We met them several hours before the game at Chickie and Pete's, a Philadelphia food landmark (if you ever come to Philly, you have to try Chickie and Pete's crab fries).




It was awesome catching up with them. We hung out for about 3 hours and then put them on the "Taxi Crab" to the stadium (about 1 mile away).



I was able to get some great video inside the Taxi Crab.



To conclude, I have a video of the Taxi Crab leaving. Be sure you have your volume turned up so you can hear the music playing.