Peter climbed inKilimanjaro in Tanzania. Above is a photo Peter and others who climbed with him. They're at the summit at a place called Uhuru. What an accomplishment!

Biking in NJ

In July, we had a family bike trip in Morris County, NJ. We loaded the bikes onto the cars and drove to a local park where there is a winding path through the thick woods. The weather was perfect and the path wasn't super crowded.

Girls' Day at the Beach

In July, I spent a day at the beach with Teva and Katherine. Usually I take the train to Long Beach because it's an easy beach to get to and it's pretty decent.

However, Kat, who is from LA, couldn't really grasp the idea of taking the train to the beach. So, we got into her car and drove there. It took a while to get there and finding parking almost made us go crazy! I think it took more than an hour to find a spot. We lucked out when we saw a giant SUV pulling out of a spot while we were at a stop light.

After waiting so long to park, we wanted to stay as long as we could. We stayed until the sunset and then made our way home. We only got slightly lost!

Father's Day and Mom's Birthday

Amy and I had a special celebration this year for my mom's birthday and father's day. We traditionally celebrate them at the same time because father's day usually falls around my mom's birthday.

We had a day long celebration starting with brunch at my apartment. The special cocktail was a Kir Royale. Amy and I made a delicious fritata with peppers, chives, and with a frissee salad. It was delicious. It was a little bit of a crazy morning because I forgot some last minute ingredients and had to pick up the dessert from the patisserie.

After brunch, we were full, so we decided to eat dessert later. We took the subway uptown to the Intrepid, which is an old aircraft carrier that my dad had wanted to see for ages. The ship is now a museum with a 60s submarine, the Concorde and tons of fighter planes and helicopters. This is right up my dad's alley. We spent the rest of the day there.

Then, we were hungry again so, we headed back to my apartment where we ate at the restaurant next door called Da Andrea. It felt great to finally sit down and we all suddenly felt very tired. However, we ate our dinners with gusto.

After that, we made the short journey, about 10 feet, to my apartment building, where Amy and I got the dessert ready. We had a warm tarte tatin, which was nice and light after a long, tiring day. We put the candles in and mom blew them out (after making a wish of course).

Presents were opened after that. Mom got a Kindle and dad got something called a watch winder, which I assume winds watches. It didn't seem to exciting to me, but he was happy with it. When all of that was done, they made the journey back to New Jersey. It was a perfect day!

849 Cardinal Lane

I found these photos of my grandparents and me when I was around 6 years old. We are in their backyard at 849 Cardinal Lane in NJ. One photo is with my dad and the other with my mom.

That house and the woods behind it hold tons of memories for me. I still have dreams about being in the kitchen with my grandmother and taking long walks in the woods to the old tree house.

The path through the woods was kind of magical for me as a kid. In the fall, we would pick up colored leaves and iron them in wax paper sealing them in that point in time for years until the wax separated and they disintegrated.

I remember so many big family dinners that were held there and drawing on my little red schoolhouse desk. It's these memories that I return to more and more often as I get older.