May & June

I am happy to report that, despite my doubts, it did, in fact get warm. It was probably about May 15 before it felt like winter was over, but now we are enjoying a glorious summer.

I feel like the New England summer is like the Clemson fall--so much packed in week after week because it's the nicest time of year. We suffer through six months of slow, cold winter and then everything bursts forth into life for four short months of warmth (and two chilly months of autumn). So we spend every minute possible soaking up the sun, trying to save it up for those snowy, dark days when we think the sun will never shed its warmth on us again. So we've stayed outside and busy!

May
- On May 1, we officially joined Evangelical Baptist Church. We are so thankful for the friends we've made there.

- On May 13, I turned 29. We celebrated by taking a weekend vacation to New Hampshire and Vermont. We stayed in White River Junction, NH. We hiked in Marsh-Billings-Rockerfeller National Park and in Queechee Gorge. It was so nice to get out of the city for a while and enjoy some peace and quiet out in nature. The Saturday was a beautiful day, perfect for hiking and enjoying being outside. We hiked probably about nine miles. We were glad we pushed it to get in both hikes, though, because Sunday it was freezing cold and pouring rain.

- We bought bikes! I had been wanting a bike for a long time so that I could run errands and ride to work sometime. Patrick and I rode our bikes to work for the first time on May 11 to participate in Bay State Bike Week. It was 46 degrees out with 13mph wind. I couldn't feel my fingers by the time I got to work. Since then I've been biking to work a few times a week. It's nice because then my commute time doubles as my work time, so I can get some extra sleep :)

- Patrick's parents came to visit the following weekend. We rode the Minuteman bike trail with them and otherwise just enjoyed spending time with them. Pam cooked us a delicious dinner from produce she got at the Haymarket on the Friday night. Thursday we went out to a Moldovan restaurant down the street, and Saturday we went to Legal Sea Foods for supper. They had to fly out early Saturday morning.

- We had a busy Memorial Day weekend! Our friends Mark and Kimberly had some family come in town who stayed with us. We got to meet them (Mark's dad, stepmom, and siblings) and celebrated little Timothy's fourth birthday. On Sunday and Monday we had a church retreat in Alton Bay, NH. It was such a nice time getting to know folks better and enjoying being outside.
We stayed in a cabin with our friends Nick and Michelle and their two girls, and our friend Anna and her parents. We stayed up until 1AM telling stories and laughing together. They called for rain all day Monday but sure enough it cleared out around 10AM and we enjoyed volleyball and kayaking together.

- We said our first goodbyes to friends we'd made here. Our dear friends Kathryn and Khang moved to Seattle for their residency. What a blessing our brothers and sisters at Park Street Church are.

June
- We planted a tiny garden in the tiny bit of mulch we have in our front yard. We've planted two tomato plants, a few okra plants, snap peas, snow peas, pole beans, lettuce, and herbs. So far we've harvested two tomatoes and a handful of snap peas. The okra is looking good and the pole beans are thriving!

 - We celebrated three graduating seniors with our church family on a beautiful Sunday afternoon with a picnic and volleyball. We enjoyed smores around the church fire pit after a Wednesday night prayer service.

- We visited New York City for a week. Part of Patrick's team is in that office so his manager sent him there to work for a week. I asked my manager if I could tag along and he agreed, so all we had to pay for was my train ticket!

This was our first big train trip. It took about four hours to get from Boston to New York. It was a nice, scenic ride, and train travel is so much more comfortable than air travel.

This was our view from the 14th floor patio in the office.

Here are some pictures from inside the NYC office:

On weeknights we mostly just wandered around. We were staying in this super trendy hotel with a floor to ceiling window into the shower. Good thing we're married!

NYC is way too cool for us. But I did enjoy going for a run on the High Line, and along the Hudson River. We also had the unexpected treat of being able to meet up with our friends Collins and Ashley, who were also vacationing there! (I guess we didn't take a picture though because I can't find it.)

One night we went on a late night quest for french fries. These were pretty great.

We stayed the night on Saturday so that we could have a day to explore the city. We went to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, to the 9/11 Memorial, and to Central Park.

Well, July's not *quite* over yet so I'll take this as my cue to stop. Thanks for reading !