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

Daniel's B-Day Gathering

Enjoying the back yard on a perfect summer evening.

The Men!

Sam has found a new Best Friend.

We asked a few close friends to join us for a small party to celebrate Daniel's B-Day. It was so nice to have everyone over to enjoy the wonderful weather. Our new patio furniture came in handy. We have been working hard to get our back yard into shape and it is finally starting to look like what we picture in our heads. We had a great party and are looking forward to many more this summer!

D.C. Food and Wine Festival '09

Daniel and Robin at the D.C. Food and Wine Festival.

Carla Hall and Ariane Duarte from Top Chef doing a cooking demo.

Daniel and Robin with Ariane.

Daniel and Robin with Carla.

To celebrate Daniel's Birthday we went to the D.C. Food and Wine Festival on Saturday June 6th. The festival took place at the National Harbor. It was a beautiful day, a little overcast yet warm with a slight breeze. The food and wine were abundant and delicious. The highlight of the day was meeting two of our favorite Top Chef contestants, Carla and Ariane. They were gracious enough to allow us to take some pictures. We had so much fun. It was the perfect way to celebrate a Birthday!

http://www.foodandwinenh.com/

Wine in the Woods 2009

Daniel and Robin starting their day of indulgence.

Daniel enjoying the good life.

Daniel and Robin at Wine in the Woods 2009.

Wine in the Woods is a wine festival that showcases Maryland wineries. It's an all day event with wine, music, artists and roving entertainers. It was nice to be able to taste what Maryland has to offer in the way of wine. Maryland wineries for the most part are still very young. Right now a lot of their strengths are in white wines and desert wines. However there was one winery that had a stand out red. Basignani Winery has a 2005 Lorenzino Reserve that is very Bordeaux-like, and was our favorite wine of the day. All in all we were impressed with what we tasted and had a lot of fun in the process. This will most likely become a summer tradition.

Orioles Game, Camden Yards....Go O's!

Baltimore Orioles vs. Texas Rangers

W 8-5

Robin and Daniel enjoying the game.

View from our seats.

Nice action shot.

People here in Baltimore love their O's. While we are more passionate about football (Colt's football that is), we wanted to see what all the fuss was about. After all this is "birdland". We have to admit it was fun. The only down side was the 90 degree temperature. We pushed through the heat and had a great time. Everything from the beer guy to the actual game was interesting. We most likely won't ever call ourselves baseball lovers. However, Baltimore is our first home with a baseball team so we will always has an affinity for the Orioles.