AC/DC - Shook Us All Night Long!

Em & M fine-tuning their guitar strings - Riley is our groupie :)

Em & M on the way to AC/DC

After several weeks of painful deliberation on what to get Em for our one-year wedding anniversary, Meg decided to listen to the cries of him wanting to see AC/DC in concert - she couldn't ignore it anymore. They had just come out with a new album and were in town for the first time in almost 15 years - how could we not go? So Meg purchased the tickets, swallowed hard and presented the gift to Em. Needless to say, Em was ecstatic about the opportunity to see one of his favorite bands in concert. He had his gear ready and AC/DC playing non-stop for the few weeks leading up to the concert.

Once we got there, Meg (being the good sport that she is, all decked out in her AC/DC gear) was ready to go into the concert with an open mind. It can't be that bad, right? Right on time at 8pm, the band came out and started the show. Meg was a little surprised that for a sold out show there were ALOT of seats still empty and really no cool concert effects (no lighting, etc). After the first song, the lead singer introduced their band and told of their Belfast origins. Quite surprised that AC/DC was in fact an Irish band, Meg leaned to Em to express her shock. She also made note that on the large screens it said "The Answer" and figured this was the name of their new song. Finally after 30 minutes of Meg pretending to love the concert and after the band thanked the audience for coming out, Meg leaned to Em and told him "I'm kind of surprised that they only played for 30 minutes - the fans don't seem to into them". Realizing what is probably going through her mind, Em made sure to point out that The Answer, was in fact, the opening band. Embarassed and ashamed that she didn't know better - yet thankful that it wasn't AC/DC who sucked so bad - Meg was ready to give the concert yet another shot.



Finally - the real AC/DC came out and melted faces!!!! The seats were packed with fans who looked like they stepped right out of 1982 and everyone was going crazy. The fireworks, the lighting, the great songs and the entertaining band members all made for one of the best concerts we've ever been to.


Em enjoyed his anniversary gift and Meg came away with a newfound respect for AC/DC. Happy Anniversary, Em!

Happy Birthdays in Harrisburg

Happy Birthday, Abbey & Tess!

Playground Fun!

The kid at heart...

Although our travels have slowed a bit in the past few months, we were hitting the road once again for the weekend. This time - destination Harrisburg to celebrate the one year birthdays of our ever-growing niece/nephew brood - Abbey & Tess. In true Smith fashion, the weekend was packed with eating, chasing babies all over the place, napping, an injury and eating once again.

The day started off with the arrivals from all the out-of-town guests - Mame and Pop from Scranton, Jen from Watertown, the Hawkinsons from DC and the Keanes from Maryland. Once everyone arrived, we grubbed for awhile then hit up the playground with the kids. As the kids tired themselves out from running from one plastic slide to another set of monkey bars, the adults grew weary as well, swinging on the swing sets and holding jump-off contests. It took awhile to convince the kids that it was time to leave he playground and get ready for Chocolate World. The adults however, were ready for nap time. After a brief nap and a few diaper changes later, we were off to Hershey Park and Chocolate World. We toured Hershey and the kids learned where chocolate comes from. A bit later, we headed to Red Robin for dinner. An hour and five hungry kids later (Meg is included in that number) we were eating and causing chaos everwhere we went. We headed back to the house for presents and birthday cake. As if watching two one year olds trying to open presents wasn't fun enough, Aidan decided to spice things up a bit. After scaling the wirey, glass-topped table, Aidan was airborn, falling backwards as the heavy glass top was coming down on him. True to form, Em rushed to his side - saving the child, but not his big toe. After close examination by eight adults with no medical background, we agreed Em would make it through he night. Family time always ends with a bang with the Smiths.

We headed back to MD later that night and recounted the "near death" experience that almost fell upon Emmett. Now, as his foot continues to heel, Em will have a constant reminder of this fun weekend....

Roman Holiday

Trevi Fountain - Rome

The Spanish Steps - Rome

View of St. Peter's Square from top of St. Peter's Basilica - Rome

Colosseum - Rome

After a few hours of rest on the train back from Florence, Meg & Em managed to arrive at the train station in Rome. In Florence, we decided to get an early train back to Rome as we were anxious to see more of Italy. Meg & Em managed to somehow communicate to the ticket guy (who spoke no English by the way) that we wanted to catch an earlier train. After a few minutes back and forth of "scussi" and "grazie" and "huh?!?!?" we were on the train. Needless to say, Crunc was not informed of the change in plans. Em thought it would be a fun adventure to "just go" and see what it's like to "backpack through Europe". Meg, on the other hand, thought the two should be prepared in advance should anything happen or even worse, should we hit a communication barrier and can't find our way back. We went with Em's plan and landed at the train station in Rome with no address for Uncle Donnie's place and no clue on what the next step was. The fun adventure of "just going" quickly came to an end. Meg & Em scrambled (ok who are we kidding? Meg was the one freaking out) through the train station to find someone who could tell us where the Marist house was. De ja vous, after a few long minutes of "scussi" and "grazie" and "huh?!?", the tourism desk was able to obtain an address for us and we were on our way once again.

We took on the subway like we were naturals. During the ride, we were lucky enough to be sitting in the car where a man was playing the accordian. Don't worry - everyone on the train could hear him. The guy had a sound system right in his bag, we kid you not. After jamming out to a few songs, we arrived at our stopped and started the long walk up the mountain (ok, small hill) to the Fratelli Maristi house.

The next week in Rome was quite a blur. We spent every waking hour sightseeing, eating and drinking. When we weren't doing any of those, we were passed out trying to recover for the following day. Uncle Donnie took us to what felt like every place imaginable in Rome. We hit up the Roman Forum, the Catacombs, St. Peter's Basilica (where we climbed 500+ steps and where Meg managed to drop her camera allllll the way to the bottom). We toured the Pantheon and walked through just about every piazza there was in Italy. This still doesn't describe a tenth of what we saw. We walked it, we bussed it, we subwayed it - we got around Rome by virtually every means possible. We were turned away from the Scavi by the Swiss Guards because of our inappropriate clothing. By inappropriate we mean shorts past our knees and t-shirts. Yes, the guidelines are that strict in the Eternal City. But the camera dropping and the shunning didn't discourage us. We shopped til we dropped. We ate til we were in near comas. We drank til we couldn't find anyting else to drink. Before we knew it, Crunc had us running through traffic like we were old pros. It was the most fun, hottest (90+ degrees with 60-70% humidity each day), most amazing and most memorable trip thus far.

Although sharing every single detail would be tiresome for you, we hope you enjoyed our highlights and our pictures!!

Ciao Bella!

Venice

View from the top of the Duomo - Florence

Ponte Vecchio - Florence

The view from our hotel room terrace - Venice

Scusi! Scusi! M&Em are back to blogging - blogging all about our trip across the ocean that brought us to Italy. Needless to say, the airplane ride over there was an adventure in itself. We were lucky enough to be surrounded by the loudest and, of course, most interesting conversationalists. The young lady behind us had just met the Aussie next to her. She was so kind to explain to him that the lower class people in America are financially "not sluts". We swear - we couldn't make this stuff up. When we were bored with her ranting and raving we tuned into the free concert across from us. The gentlemen was nice enough to play his air guitar THE ENTIRE PLANE RIDE. Although it was an air guitar and no real music was produced, by the way he was jamming, we have no doubt it was good music. Besides, he had the cute, crying baby to take on his back-up vocals. It was good times. As we were getting strapped in - yes, this all happened BEFORE we took off - Em immediately noticed the air vents that simply did not exist and the TVs that simply didn't make it on this Iberia Air flight. Needless to say, the first 7 minutes of the trip were very interesting - let alone the 7 hours we were surrounded by these people! However, we made it. We made it safe and sound and ready to take Italy by storm. First stop....Roma to see Uncle Donnie!

Before we go on any more about the trip, we'd like to give a shout out to the Fratelli Maristi for taking us up the week we were in Roma. Those guys were extremely fun to hang out with, very knowledgeable of everything Italy (we found our own personal tour guides in Uncle Donnie and Dominick) and knew all the best places to eat. So....grazie to the Fratelli Maristi!!

After our long flight, we were greeted at the airport by no one other than Crunc (aka Crazy Unc). Uncle Donnie would take us through rush hour traffic (on foot!) weaving in between cars just to get to the next sight! That is how he earned his nickname - Crunc. As soon as Crunc picked us up we headed to the Fratelli Maristi (the Marist Brother house) for some grub. We recollected the long flight while downing meats, breads, and of course, Italian wine. After a few hours (and two bottles of wine) of catching up, it was time for Meg & Em to hit the sack. Day 1 in Italy had quickly come to a close and an early train ride to Venice was next on the agenda.

We arrived in Venice bright and early the next day. Crunc had seen us off at the train station and Meg & Emmett were eager to start seeing the sights. As soon as we left the train station, we were greeted by hot, humid, sticky air and hundreds of turistas awaiting their own vaparetto (water taxi). Once we boarded the vaparetto we were ready to go. Saying Venice was amazing is an understatement. Being in a city where there are no roads and no cars is the coolest thing ever! We hit up Venice by foot and by water taxi.

The first day in Venice, Em & Meg immediately did what any true tourist would do - we stopped for some pizza and Peroni beer. The foot was outstanding. After lunch, we were told that Piazza San Marco (a hot spot in Venice) was "just over the bridge". One, two, three, four bridges later, we were almost there. Five, six, seven, eight bridges...you get the point. After walking around for 2 hours, we made it to Palazzo San Marco. Along the way, Meg managed to score herself a Prada purse (ok who are we kidding? It was a Prada knock-off but no one needs to know that!), and a gorgeous Venitian scarf. As we continued to take Venice by foot, we stopped for some dinner before heading out for some nice Italian wine. The day had again quickly come to a close. Day two in Venice was a lot less eventful. Em managed to eat the wrong thing the night before and was sick in the hotel the entire next day. Meg made her way out shopping (unsupervised, mind you!). A few hours after being out, Meg found a grocery store and bought some crackers and soda for her sick man back at the hotel. A few hours later, Em was a trooper and took Meg on a gondola ride - it was awesome! Before we knew it, our Venice trip was over and we were boarding the train once again...this time, to Florence.

We arrived in Florence Saturday afternoon. As soon as we were checked in to our hotel, we started out once again. This time, our quest was to find the David and the Duomo. About 20 minutes into the walk, Meg smelled the Italian leather in the air. Her keen nose brought them right to the center of Piazza San Lorenzo, an outdoor market that screamed fashion. Meg was in heaven, Em was in, well, not heaven. Within a few minutes of stepping foot into the outdoor market, Meg had her Italian leather in hand and was ready to go. We immediately found the David after. It was by far, the most amazing man-made statue we've ever witnessed. After the awe inspiring beauty that was David, we walked over to the Duomo. We were fully prepared to climb to the top of the dome to see Florence from an aerial view. Four hundred and sixty-three steps later (and only one panic attack) we were at the top of the Duomo gazing out at Tuscany. It was a breathless sight. A slow walk down later, we arrived back on ground and were ready for our Italian meal. This time, we indulged in the pasta.

After all of our sightseeing in Florence, we were ready to head back to start our week-long stay in Roma. Venice and Florence were both amazingly beautiful sights. We didn't think that Rome would be able to compare...however, we were proven wrong.....

I Love New York City - Oh Yeah New York City!

Start spreading the news, Im leaving today

I want to be a part of it - New York, New York

These vagabond shoes, are longing to stray

Right through the very heart of it - New York, New York

- Frank Sinatra

As our good friend, Frank once put it - our vagabond shoes were longing to stray and our latest travels brought us to the Big Apple! After an excruciatingly long ride from MD to NYC, Greg, Annie, Em & Meg finally arrived in one of our favorite cities. Friday night was low-key, grubbin' at the hotel restaurant and a walk down the alleys - dark enough to make Greg nervous. After surviving that dangerous walk, we got ready for our big Saturday - we were off to watch one last game at Yankee Stadium before it's torn down and a new home for the Bronx Bombers was built. Before the game on Saturday, Em, Annie and Meg hit up the streets and bought out all the vendors - from pashminas to "designer" sunglasses - we were all about it. After being out and about, we hit up the D train and travelled into the Bronx.

The game was a good one. The Yankees pulled out an exciting win after 13 innings. After enjoying hot dogs, popcorn and ice cream (no beer unfortunately - we were in the no drinking section - boo!!!), we left the game and headed back into Manhattan. There we did some more walking around, enjoyed a few beers while watching Michael Phelps kick butt and enjoyed each other's company. Saturday night we ate some delicious (or as our Irish friend, Ciara, would put it - "gorgeous") steak and a night out on the town. On Sunday, we were back on the road and looking forward to our upcoming trip....to Italy!

Hope you enjoyed this blog!

Recovering in Scranton

Ok - so maybe this wasn't so much of a 'vacation' trip as it was a requirement in order for Meg to wear heels again! After many painful months of limping around and sacrificing fashion, Meg made the decision to get her feet fixed. First up - the right foot. After a few trips to Scranton to see Dr. Guido LaPorta (also famously known as Meg's uncle), surgery was scheduled for Thursday, July 10th. On Wednesday the 9th, Meg & Em made the trek from MD to PA. Thursday consisted of Meg preparing for surgery and heading to the hospital and Em sitting in the hospital, bored as heck (what a great guy for staying with his wife the entire time!). Finally, the surgery came and went and Meg found herself in the car being driven off to recover at home. Of course, one important stop before home - Sal's Pizza. Yep, the pizza place also famous for their 8am pizza deals on St. Patrick's Day! Finally, we made it home and Meg was dragged into bed to start recovery.


On Friday - Meg woke up in a drug-induced daze, hobbled around the best she could in crutches and with a cast up to her knee. Em took the hint after many hours of being ordered around and hit the road on Saturday for some freedom and solitude. Meg spent the entire weekend drugged-up and out of it - hey, she felt no pain! So, Meg's parents' dream came true - they got to spend a week alone with their best daughter, Meg! As recovery became easier and the pain subsided, Meg worked from home during the week while hanging out with the 'rents at night. It was a great time at home - Meg got some quality time in with her parents (very rare coming from a house of 4 girls!). That picture above is Meg working hard at home. As you can see in the picture - Meg has everything she needed - chips, painkillers, caffeine, cell phone, blackberry & whoopi - she was well-equipped!


That next Wednesday, Em surprised Meg and came up to Jermyn to hang out for a few days. On Friday, we headed back to Maryland to continue recovery from there. She's recovering well - working her way around with a hot, stylish, fashionable boot on the right foot and down one crutch. Next up - surgery #2 on the left foot. We'll wait a few months for that one though...

Happy Birthday, America!

Hey everyone! We're a little behind (ok, a lot behind) in our blogging but here we are back at it! We spent the 4th of July weekend in Bluffton, SC with Em's parents. The weekend was a fun one - great weather, shopping, deep sea fishing, fireworks and much needed relaxation! On Friday, Em and his dad drove around town like pimps in Greg's pimp mobile while Meg and Annie spent the day shopping. Afterwards, we hit up Sunset Bar & Pizzeria for some good grubbin'. Then we gathered to watch fireworks.

On Saturday, the day started early as we prepared for our first-ever trip deep sea fishing. After a 2 hour boat ride out to sea, we anchored and got the fishing rods ready. We were given some brief instructions on the "do's" and "do not's" of deep sea fishing and we were ready to go! A few people here and there caught little tiny fish but nothing compared to the whopper Meg snagged about 15 minutes into fishing. Meg followed the rules and screeched "fish on!", felt a little jolt in her pole, gripped for dear life and got ready to pull out the great white shark she was sure she had snagged. After some serious tug-and-war with the sucker, Meg called over the deck hands who tried to help her reel her fish in. After what seemed like hours, Meg was informed that she did catch something - she caught her hook on the bottom of the ocean!!! The excitement subsided, everyone took their seats, Meg cowered in embarssment, and the day continued. That went on for about 2 more hours until the fishing was over and we headed back to shore. Needless to say, Em and Meg went home empty-handed but with some fun memories.

On Sunday we headed back to Rockville, MD and got ready for our next trip. Hope you enjoyed this blog!

M&Em in London!

Stop #1 - London, England

Cheers! We made it across the pond to show those Brits what we're made of! London was bloody gorgeous! While Meg was working that week, Em got to know London very well by practically walking the entire city, all the while managing to make an appearance as an extra in a Bollywood movie at Sloane Square - keep an eye out for the token white boy in the dance scene - that's Em!

Friday's agenda included tubing it to Big Ben, House of Parliament, the London Eye, London Tower, London Bridge, Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, Windsor Castle, and St. James Park - all topped off with a visit to the White Swan pub after our long day of sightseeing in our runners! The sights were amazing, the weather was beautiful (high 20's all week - celsius!), and the people were great. Meg & Em 'minded the gap' and mastered the Tube in no time. It was a truly awesome trip. We met up with Wills for a night out on the town on Friday. Psych! Just want to keep you on your toes as you're reading our blog!

On Saturday, Em & Meg did some serious shopping in Notting Hill at Portabello Market. It was the most crowded, largest (and funnest!) market we've ever been to. Some of the great finds there included jewelry made of baltic amber, a cricket ball dating back to the 1940s and an antique Freemasons pendant. After our trip to the market - we headed to the Marble Arch and Hyde Park for some relaxation and people-watching (a fun pasttime in any country). As our people-watching came to an end, we had to stop at a convenient for a plaster (aka band-aid). Once Meg was all taped up and ready to go, we headed out for some Portuguese fare at a local Portuguese restaurant. Meg stuck to chicken while Em ventured out and tried some original Portuguese dishes. As the night wound down and the trip was coming to an end, our holiday was over and the Keane's prepared to jump back cross the pond. More pics to come your way. Stay tuned! Cheers!!

Where we're going...

Where are M&Em??

June - London, England (mind the gap!)

July - Bluffton, SC, Scranton, PA, Harrisburg, PA

August - NYC, Italy (Rome, Venice, Florence)

September - Pittsburgh, PA

November - Scranton, PA (that's right - home of The Office! - Meg hearts Jim Halpert)

December - Bluffton, SC

Welcome to M&Em World

Hi everyone! Welcome to our first blog. We decided to start blogging for three reasons: 1). to document our travels (we have a lot coming up!), 2). to share our experiences with you, and 3.) to prove that "ain't no party like a Scranton party" no matter where in the world you are!