Motorino

No it's not a quarter year life crisis, no I don't think we're crazy, no we don't live in Europe, but YES we did buy our own little motorino! Can we just say, "When in...{New York City}?"

With a little help from our scooter-riding friends in our ward, nice deals at the Vespa dealership {thank you, Leonard} and some logical reasoning {believe it or not there was some rationale to this purchase - i.e now we have a way to get out of crazy NYC in any event} we purchased a midnight blue Vespa LX150 and are loving every minute of it!!

- 25 minutes to get from Broadway and 107th to Prince and Mercer {for our out of state friends: from the top of Manhattan to the bottom}

- no stinky, smelly, dirty subway

- we get to see so many parts of the city that were lost as we traveled underground

- PARKING...anywhere!!

- playing chicken with taxis and giving high fives to people hailing a taxi {not really, but I want to}

- more time to hug Jonathan

- 10 minutes to church

- winks from male passersby {"You know, chicks, motorcycle..."}

Caramel Apples

Fall is certainly in the air, and we are loving it!! With this beautiful change in season comes one of my favorite Bond family traditions: caramel apples. This was my first time making these on my own without the help of my darling mother, but with her over-the-phone encouragement, a little creativity {chopsticks as sticks and parchment paper to wrap} and fantastic help from Jonathan, I think we can call our first run a success!!

Step 1: Wash apples, make homemade caramel and dip.

Step 2: When apples cool, dip in chocolate {we used dark chocolate and white milk chocolate}.

Step 3: Let sit for about 15 minutes and decorate {dark chocolate with pecans and, my favorite, white chocolate with cinnamon and sugar}.

Step 4: Wrap, give away, enjoy and thank mom {and helpers} over and over for making about 120 apples to serve at our wedding luncheon!

Ours weren't nearly as beautiful as these:

Happy 27th Birthday Jonathan!

We celebrated this cute boy's birthday on September 15th! He wasn't the most chipper that day as all he could say was, "I'm one year closer to 30..."

To lift his spirits and get him ready to face a wonderful year ahead, I decided to throw him a surprise birthday party that weekend. Thanks to my good friends Jill, Thomas and all who attended, we pulled off a fantastic SURPRISE with Jon not having even the slightest clue. Sadly we didn't get pictures of his face as he walked in the door, but I can promise you he was certainly surprised.

First Day of School Year 2

Just look at that determined face! Now that he has one year under his belt he's ready to face any challenge that comes his way. This year Jonathan teaches:

- 9th grade Integrated Health and Math

-10th grade Advisory

- 12th grade Senior Seminar: Engineering and Robotics