Merry Christmas 2009

A little fuzzy but here we are...Daniel and Robin waiting for the

BSO Christmas Spectacular to start (12.23.09)

Daniel and Robin with their Petit Louis Dinning Buddies (12.24.09).
Daniel opening his stocking
Robin opening her stocking

Reggie and Sam trying to open their stockings :)

What a crazy holiday season. Man, Christmas came and went so fast this year. We celebrated in many ways. First we went to the Baltimore Symphony Orchestras Christmas spectacular show on the 23rd. It was a great show with dancing and singing...our favorite part was the Tapping Santa's. Then on Christmas Eve Daniel had to work so Robin stayed home baking and setting up the new TV we purchased as a "Family Gift". Later that evening we met some friends for our now annual Petit Louis Christmas Eve Dinner. Petit Louis is a small French Bistro that many say is just like being in France. We love this place and it has become a big part of our Christmas tradition here in Baltimore. After dinner we went home to go to sleep so Santa would pay us a visit. Christmas morning we woke up and opened some fantastic gifts. Thank you to all of our family and friends for sending us such wonderful gifts. We really appreciate it! After gifts, we made breakfast and loaded up the car with our blankets for the homeless. Another tradition we have is to go out Christmas day and give warm blankets to the homeless. Once all of our blankets were handed out we made our way down to D.C. to have dinner with Robin's family. We arrived in D.C. had a wonderful dinner and spent the evening watching "Julie and Julia". It truly was a great Christmas. We are so blessed and thank God every day for our blessings. We hope your Christmas was a magical one. Peace and Love, the Senecals.

Baltimore Blizzard of '09

Our house in the Snow :) The heart we made in the snow.

Daniel Shoveling.

Our warm fire.

Our back yard.

Well Robin said all she wanted for Christmas was snow and boy did she get it. It rarely snows like this in Baltimore. We know you are used to it in Indy, but we must admit it's been a while since we have seen this much snow. The pictures above are from yesterday (12.19.09) at 9:00am. It didn't stop snowing until 9:00pm. We received anywhere from 20-30 inches. Wooo hooo Robin is excited! We had to shovel a place for the dogs to go out, otherwise they would be lost in the snow:) It's been a great weekend....Merry Christmas to us!

Thanksgiving/Wedding/Cruise Vacation!

Daniel and Robin at the Wedding Reception!
Chris and Lynn the Happy Couple.

The whole family on the Beach.

Daniel and Robin swimming with Stingray.

Daniel and Robin on the Beach.

We spent our Thanksgiving on a cruise ship sailing the Caribbean. Yes, it was as great as it sounds! Daniel's Mom Lynn married her new husband Chris on the ship the first day we set sail. After the wedding we had a lovely reception to celebrate their marriage and to kick off the vacation. Our ports of call were Cozumel, Grand Cayman, and Jamaica. In Cozumel we swam with stingray, as you can see in the picture above. It was so fun, surprisingly. Then in Grand Cayman we did what is called "Sea Trek". It's where you put on a moon man looking helmet and walk on the ocean floor. It was awesome! After that we rented some snorkel equipment and spent the rest of the day snorkeling on our own. I was the best snorkeling we have ever done, we highly recommend! Lastly in Jamaica the whole family spent Thanksgiving together on the beach relaxing and having fun. Later we had dinner together on the ship. Lots of fun things took place on the ship during our sail days but we can't reveal it all. After all what happens on the ship stays on the ship :)

Happy Halloween!

Robin and Daniel at Rachel and Scott's Wedding
Rachel and Scott looking so happy.

Some Friends.

Dancing the night away.

A Sparkling send off!

We spent our Halloween night with friends, celebrating the marriage of Rachel and Scott. They have become very good friends of ours since we moved here to Baltimore. The evening was formal and festive, reminiscent of a masquerade ball. It was a perfect way for Rachel and Scott so start their lives together. We love them so much and wish them all the best!

Dogfest 2009

Daniel, Robin, Reggie and Sam Leaving Dogfest.
The boys!

Our location.

Reggie looking so cute.

About two weekends ago we spent our Saturday with the dogs. Reggie and Sam had so much fun playing with the hundreds of dogs at Dogfest. It was a great way to spend a Saturday relaxing, and the best part was all proceeds went to the Humane Society!

Robin's Birthday Weekend

Robin and Daniel Paddle Boating.
View from the paddle boat.
B-Day Desert!

Robin and Daniel at dinner.

The hot-air balloon!

Our Shadow.

Robin and Daniel enjoying the ride!

Our colorful balloon.

Daniel surprised me by planning an unforgettable birthday weekend. We started by waking up Saturday morning and having breakfast at a restaurant called Miss Shirley's. http://www.missshirleys.com/. It was phenomenal! For those of you from Indy, it rivals Le Peep, and you know how we love Le Peep. Then walked over to the inner harbor and took a paddle boat ride. That was fun, but a lot of work :). It was great to see the city from the water. Next he took me down memory lane, way down. When I was a kid I loved to go roller skating. I was at the roller skating rink every weekend. So you guessed it, we went roller skating. It was a blast, and I must admit.....I still got it! We skated for about an hour or so then headed home for a nap. Later that night we went to dinner at a place called Woodberry Kitchen. http://www.woodberrykitchen.com/. Everything was so good, and we had a wonderful evening together. We came home and went to bed because the best was yet to come. Sunday morning we woke up at 5:00am to drive about 45min north to catch a hot-air balloon ride. We watched them inflate the balloon, we hopped in, and away we went. Wow, was it breathtaking. It's something I have always wanted to do. It was so peaceful and romantic. I will never forget it! I must give two thumbs up to the hubbs for pulling off one of the best birthdays I have ever had. I love him so much!

Labor Day with the Senecal Clan

The Senecal Family!

We made the drive to Simpsonville, KY over labor day to spend some time with the Senecal side of the family. It was the first time in a long time we were all in the same place at the same time. We had so much fun together I think is might become a yearly trip!

Changes in the Senecal Household!

Random Picture but it's about that time....GO COLTS!

Okay so summer is ending and we are hitting a bit of a lull. We aren't doing as many activities as we would like. However there are some note worthy changes happening in the Senecal household. Daniel has started a new job. His first week is complete and the verdict is in....it's good! Thankfully the new job is fantastic and just what the doctor ordered. He is working for a company called TESSCO. It was voted one of the top 100 places to work in Baltimore and was on Forbes list of top 200 best small companies. This has been such a blessing. He will be doing sales for them and we look forward to a long and happy career with TESSCO. Robin has taken a new position with her current company American Office. She will be transitioning out of design and into an A&D role. She will be visiting Architectural and Design firms in Baltimore and educating them on new products her firm has to offer. It will be a marketing/sales position. Both changes are welcomed with open arms. We are so happy and so blessed to be where we are in life.

Gunpowder Falls State Park

Daniel and Robin exploring the great outdoors.

Daniel taking it all in.

Daniel, Reggie and Sam playing in the water.

Reggie with his favorite toy!

Sam ready to get out of the water.

We recently discovered that we live 15min from a great state park. We love the city, but miss the "country", so it is nice to have this park so close. It reminds us a lot of Turkey Run State Park in Indy. Ahhh a little taste of home. We found out that Reggie LOVES the water and Sam, well Sam could probably do without it. He had fun, but not as much fun as Reggie. Going to the Park has become our new favorite thing to do on the weekends!

4th of July

Daniel and Robin getting ready for the fireworks.

View of the Harbor from Federal Hill.

Fireworks over the Inner Harbor.

Finally!

We had a great 4th of July. Every year the city of Baltimore does a fireworks show in the Inner Harbor. The past two years we didn't go because, as you can imagine, it is a mad house. However this year we had an invitation from some friends who live in the Federal Hill area, to come down to the harbor and watch the fireworks from Federal Hill. It was amazing. There is so much history in that area. To be there on the fourth of July watching the fireworks and celebrating our Independence was perfect.

For more about Federal Hill check out the wikipedia link below.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Hill,_Baltimore

Senecal Family Garden

The small yet rich Senecal Family Garden!

Our hand painted rock.

Close up of the tomatoes and basil.

Front yard water garden.

Lilly pads and water lilly flower.

Overall back yard shot...with Sam and Reggie :)

Well we have been in our house just over a year now. Can you believe it ONE YEAR. Man, where does the time go. When we moved into our home last year and were so busy unpacking, painting and organizing the inside, we didn't pay much attention to the outside. Now that most of the inside stuff is done, this year we have put a lot of focus on the outside. Really making our yard our own. It has been fun. As you all know house work is never really done, but we are proud of what we have accomplished thus far. So we thought we would share. Neither one of us really has what you would call a "green thumb", but we have been trying. We are most proud of our small herb and vegetable garden. We have two tomato plants, two green bell pepper plants, two kinds of basil, rosemary, and chives. We put the chives in our potato salad last night, and it was delicious. Next year we will get adventurous and create a raised garden with both summer and winter vegetables, but for now we are proud to show off our small Senecal Family Garden.

DMB Concert '09 Burgettstown, PA

Daniel and Robin warming their vocal cords up for the concert.

Daniel and Robin going crazy sitting in traffic.

Awwww, Poor Red Car! This poor guy kept getting cut off. We felt bad for him.

Road trip scenery...got to love Pittsburgh (well the city at least).

Daniel enjoying the 4.5 hr. drive home.

OK so the concert was soooo great. We danced and sang and heard a lot of songs live that we have never heard live before. A+ Concert. However the people sitting around us get a big fat F. First we had an old couple to our left (and when we say old we mean like late 60's but seriously what are you doing at a Dave Matthews concert). The only song they knew was "Burning down the house" which isn't even a DMB song, it's a cover. The old guy was jumping up and down, singing, freaking out about this song. The rest of the concert he was either sitting down, or standing with his arms in the air trying to air out his pitts. Then in front of us we had a mother daughter duo. They ended up being pretty cool. The daughter must have been 13 or 14 and the mom in her 40's. They danced and the daughter knew most of the songs...we will give them a C+. Last but not lease we had the "to cool for school" kids to our right. They were in their 20's like us, but just total jerks. Chain smoking, looking at us like we were weird for dancing and, god forbid, having a good time. They get a D-. Other than our immediate surrounding the concert was phenomenal! We are posting the setlist below. Great songs! Sorry we didn't have any pictures of the band or the actual concert. We were the only ones in the venue who followed the rules and didn't bring our camera inside. We won't make that mistake twice :)

Saturday Jun 20 2009 Post-Gazette Pavilion

*Bartender

*Squirm

*Pig

*Dive In

*Burning Down The House

*The Stone

*The Stone (reprise)

*Anyone Seen The Bridge (partial into)

* Too Much (Fake) (into)

* Ants Marching

+(#40)

*Dreaming Tree

*Why I Am

*Funny The Way It Is

*Typical Situation

*Shake Me Like a Monkey

*Crush

*The Song That Jane Likes

*You and Me

*Two Step

__________________

~Rye Whiskey

*Time Bomb

*Halloween

Show Notes:

* Jeff Coffin

+ Dave, Carter, Stefan and Tim

~ Dave Solo