Quick News

Haven't posted anything in a while, so we felt the need (and the peer pressure) to add something new.

* Pregnancy. We are at 17 weeks now, and Maria is FINALLY starting to gain some weight. She is hardly complaining that it hasn't begun until now! We are checking out all the pregnancy websites to see what is happening every week. Apparently at 17 weeks the kid is the size of a large onion. This month we also were an orange and an avocado. When will we be out of the produce section???

* Grandpa Kirk. Seems some routine cardiac tests to show there was nothing to worry about proved the exact opposite - Grandpa Kirk needed a triple bypass to be done right away due to 90% blockage. Big surprise. LUCKILY, everything went extremely well in surgery. Grandpa looks great, and is recovering at home. Although I think he is becoming too attached to his body pillow.... :-)

* Vacation. Only 22 days left until we head out to Munich and Prague! Kim/Michele have made all the hotel, beer tent, and etc reservations for the group in Munich. And now we have to get on the ball and book hotel accomodations in Prague! We decided to rent a car and make the drive ourselves. Will be nice to take in the scenery and make some impromptu stops along the way. Have heard such amazing things about this city, and SO looking forward to the entire trip!

HAIR - Shakespeare in the Park

Well, we went to the Delcorte Theater in Central Park on Saturday night for the Public Theatre's production of HAIR. And can we just tell you? We are STILL talking about the show. The cast had amazing voices, and were just so talented and energetic. The open-aired theater was the perfect venue for this production. Such a true New York City experience.
How were we lucky enough to score these free, sought-after tickets without having to head into the park at 6am to wait in line all day? Well, Maria (surprise surprise) had an "in" for us. Saturday night's performance was sign language interpreted - 5 interpreters stood in front of approx 300 deaf theatergoers, as well as others in the community. Additionally, Maria was working too, interpreting for a deaf-blind member of the audience. Oh, and we have to admit.... We saw a great many friends that night, and it was kind of cool getting all the congratulatory wishes about the pregnancy since it seemed we had to keep it quiet for so long!

Really and truly -
We LOVED this show. We have been singing it all weekend, have the cast recording downloaded on the iPod, and have talked about it nonstop! Some reviews: NY Times, Theater Mania, NY Magazine, and Time Out. Our suggestion? Grab a blanket, wine and cheese, a good book, and wait in line for this show. It is worth it.

When the moon is in the Seventh House
And Jupiter aligns with Mars,
Then peace will guide the planets
And love will steer the stars.

Luke, Poptarts, and Arkansas

LUKE: Well, our week with Luke was truly a blast. We got quite used to calling him The Boy, and it was nice to have someone (other than the two of us) doing all the heavy lifting at the lake. We all took in a performance of Rent, he was an enthusiastic audience member at TRL, and he and his Aunt Lori were successful in their plan to con Maria into letting them purchase an XBox 360.

POPTARTS: Luke kept us laughing! Everything from sending text messages from the john to sleeping in the weirdest positions. On a grocery store run that could ONLY be disastrous since we were all so starved, The Boy, in his ravenous state, picked out Poptarts. He never ate them. Refused to pack them. And unfortunately, FOUND them when I tried to sneak them into his suitcase. We discovered the box and a note that read 'Nice Try' in our kitchen.

ARKANSAS: We hung out with Lori's parents for the weekend! Flew into Little Rock on Thursday, and spent our time at their amazing home in Hot Springs Village. We went into town for lunch, toured bathhouse row, and sampled some of the water from one of the cold springs. Yesterday's weather? Actually hit 104 degrees, but here in NYC was only 84! The three heroes of the group played golf in the unrelenting heat. Maria suffered much less so, and her exertion only came from driving the cart. Lori's parents are so much fun, but unfortunately the weekend flew by way too quickly. We are making plans as to when we can come down again. And soon!

* Happy B'day Lori *

July 30th. Lori spent her birthday running around the city doing all sorts of tourist'y things with Luke - breakfast at Stardust Diner, double-decker bus, shark speedboat tour, South Street Seaport, and the Museum of Natural History.
Our dinner reservations that evening brought us to Cafe Des Artistes on 67th/CPW. Such a historic piece of New York City culture. The decor is beautiful, and the waiters all seem like they have worked there their whole lives. A very interesting article in the Times recently: Once a Hostess, Now a Bar's Grand Dame
The food was fabulous, and Luke (yet again) was quite impressed and/or disgusted on restaurant prices in NYC. * HAPPY B'DAY LORI *