pre-Irene

Eager to get one last ride in before the eminent destruction of Hurricane Irene, we went for a ride out to Dover, MA.  While most rides end up successful, this one did not.  Heading up a hill, Todd's wheel was no match for his powerful pedaling, causing him to blow a spoke and lose a nipple.  After a several minutes of trying to true the wheel, we deemed it a lost cause and phoned Dan for a rescue ride for Todd.  The rest of us headed back only to get soaked in a downpour from one of Irene's feeder bands just minutes before arriving home.

Alumni

This weekend the Southern New England Alumni Chapter hosted a Calvin alumni event in Gloucester, MA.  We meet for an afternoon of sun and saltwater at Good Harbor Beach.  It was a fun way to meet new faces, reunite with old acquaintances, and show off our bocce skills.  After an afternoon at the beach we headed over to Woodman's, a local clam shack, for a fried seafood feast and an informal presentation on current happenings around Calvin.

Diving

This weekend the 2011 RedBull Cliff Diving World Series came to Boston. Now you may be asking yourself where the cliffs are to dive off from in Boston. Unfortunately, Boston does not have cliffs bordering the ocean, but it does have buildings bordering the ocean. So why not jump off a building instead? Well, that's exactly what the cliff divers did. A makeshift diving platform was constructed on top of the cantilever designed Institute of Contemporary Art building. The platform towered 92 feet (approximately 8 stories) above the Boston harbor which equates to a free fall of 3 full seconds and speeds of 60+ miles per hour when they hit the surface of the water. Talk about an intimidating jump! Jumping, however, is the easy part. The hard part is the 3 or more acrobatic flips and twists the divers do while they are free falling. All of this is followed up with a feet first vertical entry into the water...with zero margin for error. Mistakes can be fatal. We were impressed. You will be too. Check out the pictures.

Vermont

Five years have now passed since that blissful day in August when we were married. To celebrate our anniversary, we took a trip to Vermont. It was a jam-packed few days with highlights including driving along Lake Champlain, hiking up Camel's Hump, staying in Stowe, exploring covered bridges, and seeing how Vermont cheese is made. We finished the trip with a short detour into New Hampshire to visit friends from Calvin. Check out our pictures here.

Chihuly

For weeks the Chihuly exhibit has been on display a mere stone's throw from our apartment at the Museum of Fine Arts. We were first introduced to Chihuly's work back when we lived in Grand Rapids. He had a few installations at Meijer Gardens as well as an impressive glass sculpture of DNA at the Van Andel Institute where Mitch worked. Knowing the exhibit would be good, we kept intending to go, but never found the time to make it there. Since this was the last weekend the exhibit would be in Boston, we decided it would make for a romantic Friday evening to check out the exhibit as a way to celebrate our 5th wedding anniversary. To our dismay, the exhibit was sold out! Determined to see what all the hype was about, we left our apartment early Saturday morning before the museum opened and waited in line for about an hour just to get tickets. That wasn't all the waiting. Once inside, we waited nearly another hour just to get inside the exhibit. It was a fantastic experience and a real joy to take pictures of all the colorful glass artwork. Well worth the wait! We were truly impressed by the imagination, planning, vivid coloring, and fine craftsmanship that went into each of the pieces.