Exciting Week

What a fun week this has been! On Monday I drove to Denton, Maryland (about an hour from Ocean City, MD) to visit my old college roommate and the best man in my wedding, Brian. I haven't seen Brian in over a year and half, so this visit was long overdue. I had a wonderful time hanging out with Brian and his wife. He took me canoeing at the state park near his house and then we went to Dewey Beach in Delaware for the rest of the day.

Then, after returning home on Wednesday, Mrs. Rodgers and I traveled to New York City to celebrate our 5th Anniversary. 5 years--it sure doesn't feel like I've been married for 5 years. What were you doing 5 years ago? Think about how fast 5 years passes. While in New York City, we saw the major sites--Times Square, Rockefeller Center, Central Park, FAO Schwartz, etc. We also saw John Mayer playing in Rockefeller Center as part of the Today Show. Later on, we caught Sheryl Crow playing near Central Park for CBS's Early Show. We finished the day with a Broadway show. We saw Memphis, the story of a white radio dj who starts playing black music in 1950s Memphis. Words can't describe how good it was. It was excellent and was definitely the highlight of our trip! The Big Apple was fun, but it's sure good to be home.

(Sheryl Crow performs at Central Park. Mrs. Rodgers and I wait outside Memphis theatre.

Above: Mrs. Rodgers poses on "The Top of the Rock".)

Thunderstorm

Now THAT was a thunderstorm!!!! Wooo! Talk about lightning! I love thunderstorms, as long as no one gets hurt of course, and THAT was a good one!

I Just Had a Party In My Mouth!

Summer = Grilling. It's one of the best parts about summer really. Last year, my wife saw somebody grilling peaches on tv, so we tried it. Amazing! If you've never eaten a grilled peach before, well then you just haven't lived. This is a great summertime dessert.

It's best to use peaches that are already ripe or maybe a little over ripe. Carefully peal the skin off of the peach being sure not to bruise the fruit. Cut the peach in half and remove the pit, again be sure not to bruise the fruit. Then get that grill roaring. Bring it up to a very high temp--maybe 300-400 degrees--and then back the heat way down as low as you can so that the peach will cook slowly and thoroughly. Peaches have so much natural sugar in them that the sugar will actually carmelize when it is slowly cooked, making the peach even sweeter. Cook about 7-10 minutes per side, add some vanilla ice cream in a bowl and I promise your mouth will be partying too.

That's right, you just cooked...well, grilled, with Mr. Rodgers.

Visit from Friends Young and Old

This weekend was wonderful! My wife and I lived in Manassas, VA for the first three years we were married. While we lived there, we became very close friends with three other young couples who were near our age. They all came to stay with us this weekend. So, we had 8 adults and 2 children (ages 2 and 3) staying in our house. Thank goodness the heat wave broke! We enjoyed playing with the kids--Kailey is feeding Aaron imaginery picnic food--playing some ladder golf, which I made myself, and catching up with the people who are still some of our closest friends.

Heat Wave

Okay, I love summer. I really do--this is my favorite season. But this is heat wave is a ridiculous, crazy kind of stupid! It's 8:00 in the morning and tying my shoes just made me sweat. Yep, just sitting in my house sweating at 8:00 AM. This is going to be a great day!

Independence Day

I love the 4th of July! It's definitely my favorite holiday of the year. What's not to like about it? Grilling, swimming, volleyball, warm evenings, and things that explode. I LOVE IT! I celebrated the holiday with my wife's extended family in Wellsburg, WV which is about an hour west of Pittsburgh. The fireworks weren't as good as Williamsport's but they were MUCH closer which made them really really loud, and I liked that.

Hope you all had a nice 4th of July. Keep having fun, safe summers! And stay cool in this heat!