Hello! Christmas was a little while ago, but we here at Rhi & Benner, Inc. haven't had a chance to post about our travels yet. For those who are curious, we went to Michigan to spend the holiday with Audrey Holtz, AKA Rhianwen's Grandma. She's 92 and still lives in the house that she raised her family in, alone! She's an amazing lady, so amazing in fact that pretty much the entire Holtz clan made it to Michigan just to hang out with her. Here's some photos from the splendid time.
It was so nice getting to see everyone: Chuck (Rhi's dad) and Gwenyth (Rhi's mom) came from Philly; Carol (Rhianwen's aunt) and Dana (her husband) came in from New York; Roger (Rhi's uncle) and Kathy (his wife) drove down from Ann Arbor; Sarah (Rhi's sister) and Steve (bro-in-law) came from San Francisco; The trio of cousins, Bridget, Margaret and Christine, made it in from Ann Arbor, Denver and Athens, GA, respectively. It's so great that everyone made an effort to be there and make it a special Christmas. What a nice way to spend the holiday!
On an interesting note, we flew into Detroit on Christmas day, landed about an hour just after the attempted terrorist attack. You'd think there would be some sort of pandemonium, but it was business as usual. We didn't even really realize how big of a deal it was until we saw the newspapers the next day. Crazy, huh? Thank God for keeping us safe.
Here are some more highlights (from Rhianwen) in addition to enjoying the wonderful company of family: - Multiple games of scrabble at the dining room table - A peaceful walk in the snow!!! - Reading "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever" by the fire aloud, taking turns - Discovering the goodness of Bays English Muffins. Oh how I wish I could buy them in LA! - Grandma's robust return from the "observation unit" - Benner was excited to eat Chinese food - Sharing our "Best of 2009" moments including one joyous surprise!!!
Greetings, readers! Are you recovered from Thanksgiving yet? Have you fully rid your home of leftovers? We here at Rhi & Benner Inc. are, but only because we didn't have any leftovers to begin with. That's because we spent our holiday in San Francisco, visiting with Sarah and Steve! Here are some photos:
We ate too much good food. Way too much. Turkey chili, corn pudding (my impression of my grandmother's stellar recipe), Zachary's deep dish pizza, pumpkin pancakes... mmm, food. But we also just spent some good time in San Francisco, where we shopped, saw kittens in Macy's window, and installed a new thermostat. Yay, fun! It was the kind of Thanksgiving getaway that makes you thankful, and stuff.
Maureen timed her wedding perfectly considering Benner's dad's birthday was just a couple days before. We decided to make our visit a surprise and assemble the family together for a surprise birthday bash on Sunday. Originally it was going to take place during the Narberth music fest, but it was rained out. Thankfully McSheas always has open doors for the Benners and we had the rear portion of restaurant all to ourselves.
Many hands pitched in to make the party a success. Just moments before Ray arrived, we decorated the tables with a "royal theme" for King of Narberth, Ray Benner. The tables were covered with gold cloth, candies (jewels), balloons, candles and pictures of Ray throughout the years. There was a huge birthday cake big enough to feed the entire restaurant and some more to take home.
It's always fun to get together with the Benners. Maddie, Regan and Steven are such cool kids and we enjoy hanging out with them. Ray was a good sport and wore a gaudy crown we got him, fitting for our theme. Chris, Ray, Natalie, Janet, Aunt Marge, Grandpop, Leah, Dave, Aunt Carol, Uncle George, Steve, Grandmom, Babe, Barb, Robert, Will and my parents came too!
Ray, you're an awesome dad and father in law and you're a king everyday to us!!!!!!
So a lot of people probably didn't realize it, but Rhi and Benner were back in Philadelphia this past weekend. It was a last minute trip, and a whirlwind one at that. We weren't even in town for a full 40 hours, really. But the purpose of our trip was to celebrate the 50th wedding anniversary of Grandmom and GrandpopBenner. What a remarkable accomplishment! This milestone has us thinking about how you measure 50 years...we'll post more on that later.
Here's a run down of the weekend: Mike's Aunt Marge picked us up from the airport on Friday and to our delight had a philly soft pretzel and some after dinner candy that Rhi enjoys waiting for us. She is so thoughtful, and man was that pretzel good! Aunt Marge was one of the few people that knew we were coming into town and we tried to keep it a secret as much as possible. From the airport, Will and Aunt Marge took us to the Benner family hang out McShea's where we met up with Ray and Barb (Benner's parents) and brothers Ray and Chris. We enjoyed a gourmet and quite satisfying meal. Mc Shea's is actually owned by a chef who always wanted to open an Irish pub and if you get the chance to hit it up, you should.
We spent the night at Greg and Trish's house-- Greg you will recall was Benner's best man. Tirsh is expecting and it was so exciting for Rhianwen to see her baby bump! (Can you guess who is writing this blog post?) It was so nice to catch up and weren't feeling entirely jet lagged until the next morning when we woke up early to meet Rhi's parents for coffee. It was a brief visit but it was nice to spend time talking face to face. Gwenyth shared about a delightful little 3 year old at her church that she simply adores which was fun to hear about. Rhi had a nice little walk around Borders with her dad and we all got to catch up for a bit before stopping by the Lozano's to say hello. It's amazing how big the kids are getting and we always feel at home at Naylors Run Rd. But it was only a matter of time before they had to run off to celebrate baby Matthew's 2nd birthday.
We got there early and surprised Vince and Janet and got to spend some special time with Matthew while they set up for the party. Then we hid upstairs while everyone trickled in. Few minutes later we emerged and the smile on Benner'sgrandmom's face (Babe) was priceless. Matthew is such a big little guy and has such hilarious mannerisms that kept us constantly entertained. We can hardly believe that he is already 2 years old and are glad we got to be a part of the celebration.
We left the party to go get ready for the reason we flew in in the first place: To celebrate GM and GP Benner. A party was held at Evviva in Narberth and we had the whole restaurant to ourselves. It has a mix of classic and eclectic art and is really a one of a kind place. All of the immediate family were there and a photographer was busy at work to document it. Rhianwen enjoyed the opportunity to spend time with her three girl cousins: Maddie, Regan and Savannah who are all such sweet, fun and clever girls. The food was excellent and we all got to hear GM and GP's kids reminisce about their childhood. Grandmom and GrandpopBenner have seen a lot in their day. And they've worked tremendously hard-- year after year--in order to build their business and provide for their family. Their work ethic is defined discipline, commitment and perseverance and is to be admired. They have stood by each other through it all, and they are still each other's most precious friend. Grandpop read aloud a sweet poem he wrote for his bride of 50 years and the family showered the couple with gifts. It was a great night.
And no one forgot that the very next day was Savannah's birthday. She was celebrated with a birthday cake of her own, which you'll notice in the pictures. yum.
We work up at 4 am the next morning so that Rhianwen could fly home and spend the day with her friend Christine who was visiting LA. Details to come!
Much apologies to our friends that we didn't get to see. We didn't tell you we were in town because there just wasn't enough time. But hey, you can always come out and visit us!
Monday, December 15, 2008
Remember Thanksgiving? It feels like a million days ago already. We're almost a month late posting to our blog about it, but better late than never, right?
So, as the title of this post suggests, we made it back to Philly for Thanksgiving. The circumstances, as we've mentioned previously, were not ideal or necessarily enjoyable. But we took the unexpected trip home as an opportunity to see as many friends and family as possible, and boy did we ever do that.
The easiest way to break this down is day by day, I suppose.
Tuesday, November 25 We landed around 5pm on Tuesday night. Our friend Matt Lozano picked us up and took us to our other friends--and their brother/brother-in-law/next-door neighbor--Phil and Rachel's house, where we were staying. (Jenn, Matt's wife, and the bevy of Lozano children were there as well.) After a hearty dinner, we split the scene for my Grandmother's house, where we chatted up my family for a few hours. Then it was back to Phil and Rachel's, where I stayed up worrying about the eulogy I had to give the next day. Eventually, I fell asleep.
Wednesday, November 26 This was the day of my Grandpop's funeral. It was a sad affair, one which I may not care to relive word-for-word here. But, it was a great ceremony for a great man, one loved by many, and many did show up to show their respect. It was especially cool to see people he played baseball with when he was ten-years-old show up. He will be missed, and by many I didn't even know he had an impact on.
Later that night, I hung out with many of my oldest friends while Rhianwen caught up with her best friend from high school Christine. It was a great blessing to see our friends, even if we had to cram them in one what was one of our only free nights.
Thursday, November 27 THANKSGIVING WOOT WOOT! We kicked the day off by visiting with Chuck and Gwenyth (Rhianwen's parents). It was a pleasant time, and let me tell you, Chuck was in rare form. I knew this man loved puns, but he was whippin' 'em out left and right this day. He cracked himself up so much that Rhianwen did not recognize him for a moment.
From there, we went to my Aunt Beth and Uncle Russell's house in Narberth for Dinner Part I. Many of the Benners were there, but unfortunately not all of them could make it. It was a good time regardless, as we all went around the table and said what we were thankful for, ate a lot of delicious food, and then most of the men retired to the front porch to play hacky sack. That last part was a strange, new tradition, but it was fun nonetheless.
Then, it was Dinner Part II, at my Aunt Janet and Uncle Vince's house in Belmont Hills. Though the absence of my Grandpop definitely changed the tone of the holiday, it was an enjoyable night with terrific food. We ate and drank and were even a bit merry at times, particularly when Rhianwen and I handed out our Christmas gifts to everyone (we figured we would save on shipping by packing them for our trip). And then there was Matthew, baby Matthew, my awesome and cute little cousin who I am like 24 years older than. Here he is in action:
After that, we went to McShea's in Narberth. It has been a semi-tradition (at least since turning 21) for all my friends to meet there on Thanksgiving night and pour a few beers on top of the turkey. It was a good showing this year, and we all had a great time. I am thankful for such a large group of friends that I have known for over two decades in some cases, and who feel like brothers to me.
But I must admit, despite all the great food and wonderful family and hilarious friends, getting back to Phil and Rachel's and collapsing into bed was perhaps the best part of the day.
Friday, November 28 As chance would have it, the Chandlers were in town as well! We made last minute plans to meet up for coffee, catch each other up on our lives, etc. etc. So that's what we did! We loved getting to spend even the briefest of moments with Tim and Jenny, and it was amazing to see how grown-up Emme and Zander are. Unfortunately, this seems to be one of the only surviving good photos of the gathering, featuring Rhi and Jenny in a Starbucks.
And it was good to know that there were other people who were shocked about how cold Philly can get too (the Chandlers moved from Philly to St. Augustine, Florida about five years ago). We miss them!
After that, we went to visit with Rhianwen's best friend/college roommate Jen, her husband Rob and adorable son Aiden in Phoenixville. We hung out around their super-nice house, while Rhianwen walked around videotaping everything for later inspiration. (Jen, it turns out, is the svengali of home decoration.) We had lunch and played with the baby, and talked about life and just relaxed. That, I think, is the best part about Jen and Rob: hanging out with them is always just a relaxing time with enjoyable conversation. Rob also was showing off his new prized possession: the cork from the champagne bottle he popped after the Phillies won the World Series. Aiden will inherit that cork someday, I'm sure.
From Phoenixville, it was on to the Shah residence in Newtown Square. The Shahs--Adeel, Seher, Coco and the newest addition Esfandyar--you'll remember, are the family that Rhianwen once part-time nannied. I was just seeing Esfandyar for the first time, and he is one handsome little guy. As for Coco... well, she's a little shy around me. So I chatted with Adeel and Seher while Rhianwen hung out with her in the other room, and Esfandyar napped upstairs. On the one hand, I am terribly saddened because I adore Coco. On the other hand, I understand because I'm just some weird guy in her house she's only met a few times, and she's only three. Good thing Seher and Adeel are such wonderful, enjoyable people, and talking to them was quite fun. And Rhianwen is extremely thankful, because she loves the Shahs and shares a special connection with Coco.
But alas, from thence we departed for the Lozano compound in Havertown, where Jen and Matt were hosting a dinner of steak and salad and pure deliciousness. Three-fourths of an entire Lozano generation were represented, as we ate too much of everything, sipped Pinot Noir and talked and laughed about many things for many hours. I don't think we took any photos of it, because we don't have any, but here is a photo from another night of Joe and Steven (who were there) and cousin Michael (far left, but he wasn't there that night):
Eventually the night tapered off to an end, and we crawled into bed for a much needed rest.
Saturday, November 29 This day, we took SEPTA to Center City with Phil, Rachel and their kids Jamie and Jude. Here is Rhianwen and I with the kids, waiting for the R5, looking like we have a little family of our own.
Our destination: The Comcast Center, which was (and currently still is) hosting a Holiday video show in its lobby. The giant front wall in the atrium, you see, is a humongous LCD screen onto which many things are projected. The building is amazing, the technology is mind-blowing, and the show is a bit underwhelming if you're over the age of ten. Call me crazy, but I think if I'm going to watch a saccharine-coated holiday spectacle, I might choose the Wanamaker's light show for all its cheesiness. Jamie and Jude seemed to like it though.
Afterwards, we had lunch in the building's cafeteria and took a walk over to City Hall. As unseemly as Philadelphia can sometimes feel--and it often feels that way to me, though I say that with utmost love--I think there are few municipal buildings as powerful as City Hall. Coincidentally, here is Phil and I looking like a gay couple with an adopted child, walking through Dilworth Plaza at City Hall.
From there we caught the R5 back to Havertown. Rhianwen and Rachel decided to go for a walk, and I grabbed a cup of coffee with my dad, swung by and visited my Mom and Grandmom and then back to Phil and Rachel's to get ready for the night ahead.
After some freshening up, we went to visit with Grandmom Benner and the Schmidts since they couldn't make it to Thanksgiving. It was great to spend time with them and hear about all the activities that keep the Schmidt kids busy. We were especially impressed to hear that Madison, our cousin who is not even in high school yet, is being recruited by Johns Hopkins University for one of their programs. She's only thirteen and already she's smarter and going to a better university than me. And of course, our other cousins Regan and Steven were there, but were a bit busy making an elaborate cupcake tableau. Unfortunately, said tableau was not completed and we did not get to eat any of it. As for Uncle Steve and Aunt Janet, they shared tales from their recent trip to Europe. Having written all of that out, I think Rhianwen and I realize the Schmidts lead very exciting lives. We're glad we got to be with them, even for just a short time.
From there, it was on to the annual Papa Thanksgiving party. You see, we did not tell Kathy or Gary that we would be coming home for Thanksgiving. In fact, we told them we were really sorry but couldn't make it. Technically, when we told them that, it was true; my Grandpop hadn't passed away yet and we were planning on spending the holiday out here in LA. But when we found out that we were going to be in town, we decided to make our presence a surprise.
And boy were they surprised. It was one of those moments where you wish you were filming. Gary was wailing, Kathy was screaming, and we were glad we worked so hard to keep the secret.
And from there, Dinner Part III commenced. The Papas do not skimp, my friends, and they had a spread that could clog an artery just by looking at it. We got to spend time with Sonia and Larry, and Kevin and the super-pregnant Penny (who has since had a baby girl, Rory Michele!!!), and two of our favorite guys Nathaniel and Tucker Papa.
From left, Nathaniel, Nathaniel's guitar, Tucker, Rhi and Some Guy on Piano. We love the Papas dearly, and we're so happy we got to surprise them by crashing their party.
And then, since we hadn't gotten a chance to see him during our entire trip, we stopped off and visited with Greg--my best man--at like midnight. We had a beer, chatted about life, how HE AND TRISH ARE HAVING A BABY!!!, and other stuff. Rhianwen bonded with Lucy the dog, we all complained about how Saturday Night Live isn't very good, and then Rhianwen took this weird picture, somehow:
Not quite sure what is going on here, so let's move on.
Sunday, November 30 Our last day in town. We woke up and had coffee, spent our last moments with Jamie and Jude, Phil and Rachel, packed our things and said goodbye. Chuck and Gwenyth were driving us to the airport, but we had a nice time chatting for a while because we were far too early for our flight. But eventually, they had to leave us...
...and we reentered Philadelphia International Airport en route to Los Angeles, where it is warm and sunny, and jeez we can't believe we used to live in weather like that. But, we miss the place regardless. We love you, Philly and all whom dwell within your general region!
As of November 3, Rhianwen and I have been in Los Angeles for exactly six months. That means we have spent approximately 1/50th of our lives here in California, because like most people we measure and judge our lives in fractions of 50.
So how has this past fiftieth of our lives held up compared to the other 49? Not bad. We've had plenty of blessings. Rhianwen and I live with our best friends in the world (each other, duh) in a terrific home in a beautiful place. Rhianwen has a job that she enjoys, and maybe more importantly she is building good relationships with her co-workers. We have found an amazing church that we seem to appreciate more and more each week. We have an ever-growing group of friends that bless us despite the fact that we sometimes don't have the means to bless them. We're geographically closer to Sarah and Steve, which is a dream Rhianwen has had ever since Sarah left Philadelphia for Berkeley more than ten years ago.
Of course, there are hardships too. I've been unemployed for going on ten months now. We never thought finding a job would be this hard (and believe me, I have applied to a lot of jobs in just about every field that doesn't require an M. or J.D.) and it is putting a particularly tough strain on our finances currently. Of course there is the occasional bout of homesickness. Rhianwen has been hit hard with it since the moment we drove away from Phil and Rachel's back in April. I mean, let's face it, when we found out Rachel is pregnant, our joy was quickly followed by a longing to be in the company of our dear friends. And then there's the Phillies World Series victory; I wait 25 long years for the thing to happen, and they wait until I skip town to do something about it. I am still sifting through my friends' Facebook photos of the days-long celebration, suppressing tears as I go.
But hey, the hardships are blessings too, because that's part of God's wacky design, right? I've been extremely close to landing a job on several occasions, only to have the door closed on me for unknown reasons. Could it be that those unknown reasons are God's ways of saying, "I don't want you spending two and a half hours a day on the 405"? And being apart from our friends and family might be tough, but our desire for community has only helped us forge tighter friendships here in LA. Sure, it will suck to be 3,000 miles away from home for Thanksgiving and Christmas but... well, actually there's no upside to that. Buy us tickets, please?
Most of all--and I think Rhianwen will agree with me here, maybe we can get a Rhi's Remark about it later--I think our marriage has been strengthened. Even though we are shakier than we have ever been financially and materially, I am more confident than ever that our relationship can survive anything.
Rhi's Rhimark: I'll just say that I am tremendously proud of Benner and the diligence and faith he has displayed these past few months. He is an amazing husband and I love him dearly. As far as these past 6 months have gone: God has never given us more than we can bear and He has used our circumstances to make us more available to Him. Through that dependence He has been drawing us closer and working in our hearts and that gives us more satisfaction that anything else. We are grateful for these past 6 months, for all of your encouragement and support, and look forward to what lies ahead.
I tend to get stressed out when I have much to do and not enough time to do it. Usually, I'd rather plan as few activities as possible because I figure if you have low expectations, it feels good when you actually accomplish something. Rhianwen, however, has a different take on the matter entirely.
So despite having a fairly packed schedule with Christine's wedding and surrounding activities as it is, we decided to pack in even more with seeing as many people as we could in a very short amount of time. Thank God Rhianwen was there to do all the effort making. (Not that I didn't want to see friends and family to begin with; I'm just lazy.)
First we have the Papas, who we stayed with for part of the trip. Though we didn't get to spend as much time with Gary and Kathy as we would have liked, we did have one fun afternoon of swimming with Nathaniel and Tucker. Here's a brief glimpse.
Just two short weeks after Benner made his solo endeavor to Philadelphia, roles were reversed and Rhi headed east for her friend Christine's bridal shower. Benner was quite lonesome all by himself, but did manage to be social by going to a BBQ and have some friends over to write.
But back in Philly, Christine's shower was by all accounts a lovely affair enjoyed thoroughly by all in attendance. The food was fantastic, the presents abundant and the hats were fit for Kentucky Derby on Christmas Day. Or something wacky like that.
Yes, these were intended for Christine to wear on the honeymoon. She may look like a petite girl, but she sure packs a lot of junk in her trunk. Ay chi mama!
And later at the Buglione residence, Rhi brings Christine to document a warm embrace. My little Stan is getting married! I'm all verklempt over here.
Rhi stayed with the Papas for the weekend and got to spend some time over at Chamounix House. Nathaniel and Tucker, the two boys, are always hilarious and it has been a blessing to watch in wonder as they grow up over the years. What challenges and pursuits will they take up next? We'll have to wait and see, but for now we'll just hug each other and laugh.
Aw, how incredibly corny. Rhi also had a quick visit with the Walls, including little Edan.....
Hung out with her mom....
And her dad.....
And hung out with Baby Jones!
He is such a delicious little guy. I just want to eat him up!
Rhi also got to see Jen and Rob and our beloved Lozanos too, but failed to document them photographically. We still love you guys, we swear!
John Kennedy once implored his countrymen to “ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.” Apparently a lot of people in the Midwest are still waiting for an answer, because they haven’t really done much ever since.
Sure, there’s Columbus and Cleveland and Indianapolis and other thriving cities and communities in Ohio and Indiana. But the vast majority of the land looks like this:
(I fully acknowledge that my friends from the Midwest are going to take issue with what I'm saying here. But in my defense, have you driven through your states lately? Jeez, they're boring!)
But even before we hit the road this morning, we had a mini-adventure in Grove City. You see, somehow we had forgotten to take photos of Tim, Emma, Savannah and Sam. I’m not sure how we forgot but we did, and we really kicked ourselves when we woke up to an empty house (Tim at work, kids at school).
So we decided to go pull the kids out of school to say goodbye and take some pictures. We went to the school down the block, asked for the kids and found out they go to the elementary school across town. A short drive later, we were in the elementary school office being told Savannah and Sam were in the midst of state-mandated testing and could not be interrupted. This is how we feel about that:
But then we went to get breakfast at a Waffle House. Rhianwen wasn't excited to eat there, but it made me feel like this:
So off we went, on our way to Chicago, through Ohio and Indiana.
Dum de dum...
Drivin', drivin', drivin'...
Basically, the most exciting thing that happened was that we listened to some CDs we hadn't heard in a while while. Which brings me to R. Kelly: How amazing is R. Kelly? Imagine the most awkward phone conversation you've ever heard. Does it go something like this? "Hello?" "Hey Bill, it's me Ron." "Hey Ron,how you doing?" "I'm doing OK. No, that's a lie. I'm kind of sad." "Well what's wrong, friend?"
Those are lyrics to an R. Kelly song. And that's why he's awesome.
So anyways, we finally reached the Chicago Skyway and made our way towards downtown. Along the way, Rhianwen saw a structure on the side of the ride and asked, "Is that the Sears Tower?"
"No honey," I said. "That's a Sears department store." But I could see where she'd made the mistake: That's the Sears logo on something of a tower, right? Right?
Moving on, the first thing I noticed about Chicago was the good mood surrounding the town. Even the billboards are happy to see you.
So then we got to my friend Jamie's place. The plan all along was to swing by Chicago on our way to LA and hang out with Jamie. Then about two weeks ago, he told me he was going to be out of town. But he was gracious enough to let Rhi and I stay over anyway. Here's his street (his place is the one with the green balconies).
It's an awesome place in a great part of town. My overall impression of the neighborhood? It's like a really big, awesome magical castle where anything is possible and ghosts roam the streets.
Oh, I'm sorry. That was Hogwarts Castle I was thinking of. You see, Rhi and I opted out of checking out Chicago because she was in full-on sick mode. So instead of exploring the town, we ordered Chicago-style pizza (tastes just like every other kind of pizza) and watched one of the Harry Potter films. It was still great, though!
Actually, I did get to explore the city a little bit. Jamie's neighborhood is terrific, but the only problem is that there is no drug store anywhere near it. And I know from experience, because I walked about 40 blocks searching for sinus medication. And I was wearing sandals, so it hurt.
Well, Rhi is already sleeping in bed next to me, so it's time for me to join her. Hopefully when I go to get the car tomorrow morning, it hasn't been broken into and looted. Dear God, please say our car is safe.
Road Trip Day 2 Stats Leaving From: Grove City, OH Going To: Chicago, IL Google Maps Distance: 361 miles, 5 hours and 48 minutes Actual Distance: 362.7 miles, 5 hours and 1 minute Total Distance Driven So Far: 832.8 miles States Visited: Ohio, Indiana, Illinois Lessons Learned: America has a lot of farmland, perhaps too much of it; R. Kelly = Genius; Indiana is home to the most hostile drivers we have encountered so far; Chicago needs more drug stores, and also to clarify which freestanding structure is in fact the Sears Tower; Hogwarts Castle is more magical than any place in Illinois.
We're Rhi and Benner, otherwise known as Rhianwen and Mike. This blog is the place to come for breaking news about us, our friends, our jobs, our lives here in LA, what we like to eat, what we watch on TV and other extremely important stuff. Sometimes we post frequently, sometimes we don't. Feel free to stay, look around our archives (might we suggest the epic saga of our Road Trip as a good introduction to our blog?) and leave comments as you please.
