2008-July: Fasy & Jennifer's Wedding

Rob's elder brother Fasy was married to his true love Jennifer in a lovely outdoor ceremony in Erie, PA July 18, 2008. All the cute kids were in attendance, and too many photos were taken to post here, so take a look at the picaso slideshow.

Fasy & Jennifer

We took advantage of a few days off from work to relax and enjoy a brief summer vacation in Erie. Besides the wedding, the highlights were the fantastic and romantic bed and breakfast where we stayed and Bess' tour de Presque Isle via a water taxi and a big yellow bike. Rob enjoyed a day at the waterpark with his nieces and many hands of hearts with Ben and the family.

2008 Visitors- S.Hock, PhD

We love houseguests! Especially when said guest's idea of a good time is playing non-stop games all day and night. :} Rob's hometown friend and grad school roommate Steve joined us for a 36 hour stop on his Summer Tour of the Southeast. Friday night, after dinner at The Loveless Cafe, we warmed up with a few rounds of Flux and then Steve and Rob indulged in a game of Knightmare Chess.


Saturday, after breakfast of Bess' crepes with a side of philosophy and literature, we played Settlers of Catan non-stop.
Rob dominated the game until Steve and Bess decided to rearrange the tiles to make as equitable a board as possible, so our skill at world domination could outshine mere chance of rolling #3 fifty times in a row. As you can see from these three photos of us gloating over our wins, "the longest road" was certainly a much sought-after bonus card!

The end score was Rob: 3 Steve: 2 Bess: 2.

Below are two configurations of our attempts to create a "fair and equitable" Ile de Catan on which to settle.

2007 Visitors - Aunt Joy & Uncle Dan

Aunt Joy & Uncle Dan drove down from Indiana to visit while Dad was in town, August 2007. Joy has beautiful gardens around her home, and brought me many clippings to get me started on my own yard. Unfortunately, Dad and I found out we have Poison Ivy growing in the brush along the gully! We had a miserable couple of very itchy weeks after trying to clear out the brush to get ready for the planting! As you can see from the following pics, our region was in the midst of a drought and this made difficult digging in the hard-as-cement soil. Despite the heat and hard work, Joy & her "baby brother" seem to have had a good time landscaping our yard.

Joy and Dan have a time-share near us. We had dinner with them one night and took advantage of the pool for a nice swim.

Rob and I enjoyed our visitors and look forward to learning more about plants & birds from my Aunty. Dan, Dad, and Joy seem to have enjoyed their visit very much too from their smiles. :}

2007 Visitors -Captain Joe

In August 2007 Dad left his sailboat Jubilee behind in Ecuador for a month to visit us and other family here in the States. He's not one to be idle, and we kept him pretty busy with lots of home repairs. We also enjoyed many walks together: around the neighborhood, along the riverside, and in the Warner Park woods. Dad likes to eat good food, and cooked many meals for us to enjoy together. Here we are having a leftover smorgasbord one afternoon of salad, cheese, bread, and fruit. Yum!




We also played many games together, one of our favorites being FLUXX, where the rules keep changing as you play.



I won this round with my favorite goal card "Squishy Chocolate" (combination of Sunshine & Chocolate).



Dad won the next round with the goal card "Winning the Lottery" (combination of Dreams and Money).






One of our favorite local restaurants is The Loveless Cafe, which has the best biscuits around served with old-timey Southern gravy. I think of Dad every time I eat there because this is one of his favorite "comfort food" breakfasts. Here we are enjoying Dad's homemade Biscuits & Gravy for breakfast. Yum!




This is the morning Dad flew back to his floating home, I had to go to work at the clinic and so Rob drove him to the airport. We really enjoyed having The Captain under our roof (and not just because he's so handy with home repairs!). We wish we lived closer together or could visit more often. It's hard to have family all over the globe. Though we know he's happy to be back in the warm weather in Ecuador!