Scores Cup 2014

This month Jeff was able to participate in a corporate charity event which involved playing soccer at GILLETTE STADIUM! 

The company Jeff works for was one of 36 teams to enter the Scores Cup tournament this year, and he and his team represented KPMG well. They made it passed group play and all the way to the semi-finals! It was a fun event that was made even cooler because it took place at Gillette Stadium. Jeff's pretty sure he peed in the same urinal as Tom Brady.

A couple of the matches were played in the Patriots' indoor facility.

Fun tournament, fun day. And I got my tan on while photo-ing all the action. 

Sunny Saturday

This particular saturday we were debating what to do with our summer's day. Jeff had a few things he needed to pick up from his office so we decided to drive downtown, and then spend a little time in the city. We found a prime parking spot right in front of his office that already had money in the meter, and we were able to have a lazy afternoon strolling through town à pied. We walked from the financial district along the greenway into the heart of the city. Everyone was outside enjoying the summer heat. We passed families having picnics on grassy knolls, book readers nestled into quiet corners of the park, and kids running through the city splash pads. There were even some nice water misters along our pathway that cooled us off from our toasty promenade.

Such a beautiful city. How lucky we are to live here.

Water misters along the Greenway

Boston's really got the whole city/park balance nailed.

We strolled right into the Greenway Open Market where vendors were selling everything from scentsy soap bars and dog-ware to hand crafted dish towels and t-shirts.

The best part of our little jaunt was stopping to watch the kids playing on the splash pad. So fun on a hot summer day! It made me wish we had nieces or nephews closer who we could take here.

Caught unaware and asking, "are you taking a picture?"

We came across a vendor that was selling some neat Boston artwork and picked out a few of our favorite prints. I've been wanting to spruce up some of the bare walls in our apartment and these seemed just the thing!

Showing some Boston love in the Manning home.

Added a little flavor to the room.

Happy 4th of July, on the 3rd of July

Boston is an amazing place to celebrate the 4th of July. This year Hurricane Arthur was brewing on the southern portion of the east coast and to avoid the heavy thunderstorms that were forecast to hit Boston on the fourth the city decided to move the show to the third. Good thing they did too, because the 4th turned out to be the rainiest, most non-outdoor compliant day ever. So we headed into the city after work on Thursday the 3rd of July with some friends to view the fireworks from Memorial Drive in Cambridge with a great view of the city skyline across the Charles River.

Celebrating the 4th with Dan and Olga Almeida and Mary Egan

This picture gives you a sense of how many people turn out for the fireworks. And this is only one side of the river!

This was our second year seeing the Boston fireworks and they were amazing again! We regret not having our tripod with us, our pictures of the fireworks would have turned out better. But you get the gist of how awesome they are shooting over the water and the city.

After a grand yet shortened finale, the fireworks came to an abrupt end. A public announcer said that the state police were ordering an evacuation of the area (which we later found out was weather related). We weren't in a hurry to wait in line at the train station so we took our time packing up. As we started walking to the subway station the winds picked up and within a ten second time period it went from no rain to full on downpour. Picture the scene from Jumanji where the house turns into a typhoon and that's pretty much us on the streets of Cambridge. We were SOAKED within seconds and scrambling to cover our cameras and phones. At some point Jeff said, "the hurricane is here!" and it really felt like it. We passed people huddling under every awning or doorway in sight and there was nowhere to take cover. When we made it to the subway people were lined up all the way out of the station doors and not moving at all. We just had to laugh with the dripping strangers around us as we all said, "well we can't get any wetter, might as well walk home".

So that makes us two for two on getting rained on at the Boston fireworks. But it's been fun both times! We didn't get struck by lightning or falling trees luckily and we made it home safely. I mean if you're going to get wet, you might as well get hurricaned on. Makes for a better story.