The Gentleman's Sport

We're watching the Steelers! After being glued to tennis the past few weeks, I realize how barbaric football is. It is violent on that field!

It's a good thing the Steelers are on because Nadal's quarterfinal match is on a rain delay. (We MUST watch our sports.....)

Tuesday we spent a full day at the US Open with our good friends, Meg and Gabe. We watched three great matches- the Bryan brothers had a solid win in men's doubles, Kim Clijsters defeated Na Li handily in a women's singles quarterfinal match, and, to everyone's surprise, Marin Cilic wiped out the deflated Andy Murray in a men's singles 4th round match. We had beautiful weather and it was really nice to spend the whole day outside. We were so glad we could go to the open- Meg got us half price tickets through her work. Thanks, Meg!

September Days

Saturday we took a quick trip to Philadelphia to see my sister's family. I know that a lot of pictures on here are of our nephews and niece, but we can't get enough of them, so I hope you don't mind.

• Brendan at 10 and a half months. He is a real climber, and I caught him on these steps grinning.

• Josiah and Brendan with their dog, Max. While the boys were napping, Aubrey took us on a walk to her wonderful school. Max got to come along and was all tired out from the trek.

• Here we are throwing rocks into the Wissahickon Creek not far from my sister's house. I loved the Wissahickon Valley Park when I lived in Philadephia, and it was nice to revisit it for a few minutes. I'm glad Josiah likes it, too.

Yesterday we took a refreshing walk through the gardens (BBG). The weather here has been beautiful. We have enjoyed the cicadas during our evening walks this summer, mostly because they remind us of the countryside. We were standing within three feet of one yesterday- we could hear it- but it took us awhile to spot it! Today we went to the beach with a bunch of friends from our church. Our friend Tori was baptized. The only other time I've been in the ocean this summer was during Memorial Day in Florida. So if we can't get in the water that often, at least it's fitting we open and close the summer with a dip. The tide was very strong today so we got a workout trying to stand our ground. I enjoyed getting smacked with salty sea water and then resting on the sand- especially with friends! Tomorrow we head to the US Open all day, so we're looking forward to that. We're glad we can rest up tonight.

Open Ended

Yesterday I finished my internship at Seedco Financial. It was a great couple of months. We had planned to go celebrate at Zaytoons, our new favorite restaurant (delicious middle eastern food in Prospect Heights), but good friends surprised us at the last minute with tickets to the US Open! Aubrey got box tickets through work, but his wife Andrea (five months pregnant) wasn't feeling up to the trek to Flushing Meadows. So that three hour match between Venus Williams and Vera Dushevina last night--- we were there! And up close, too. Andy Roddick played Bjorn Phau in the second match of the evening, but we left at 11:30- after the first set.

Next week we're going for a day session during the fourth round with some other good friends, Meg and Gabe. Can't wait to go back. We are really getting spoiled this year.