2 Baby Showers in One Day

Two of our friends had baby showers today. Luckily they were at different times.

Harriet & Simon Cooper
due in August

Harriet and Julie both graduated from the same lab at Princeton. It was nice to see a bunch of former labmates.

Here are photos of Harriet opening a few gifts.

A beautiful sweater vest that Başak's mom knitted for the baby

Harriet looking at the book that we gave them

The Winnie the Pooh cross stitch we gave them
Unfortunately, Julie can't take credit for making this one. It was bought at a craft fair.


Cara & Fred Krikory
due in July

Cara and Julie have been good friends since high school.

Adorable and delicious cake

The happy couple cutting the cake: Cara & Fred

Phil and Evan deep in conversation - or Evan eying up Phil's cake

Evan playing in the kiddie pool

Cara and Fred opening a book from Julie's parents

Cara and Fred excited about the wall hanging that Julie made

The wall hanging matched the blanket Cara's mom made

The finished wall hanging

Congratulations and best wishes to the Cooper's and the Krikory's!!

Key West, Florida

We drove from Fort Lauderdale to Key West, which took about 4 hours. It was a scenic drive with over 100 miles of ocean and islands.

View along the drive

We stayed at the Key Lime Inn.

Key Lime Inn

Phil swimming in the pool at the Key Lime Inn

Key West has wild roosters that roam the island and crow at all hours of the day.


Duval Street is the main (touristy) street of Key West. It is lined with restaurants, bars, and gift shops. Duval Street ends at Mallory Square on the Western side of Key West. Crowds gather at the square each night to watch the sun set as well as street performers.

Street performer balancing, juggling machetes,
and playing "When the Saints Comes Marching In" on his harmonica

Julie & Phil in Mallory Square as the sun set for the evening

Beautiful Key West Sunset

Phil in front of Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville Restaurant

Phil had the Cheeseburger in Paradise. Julie was disappointed that they didn't play "Margaritaville" at all during the time we ate at the restaurant.

Phil & Julie at the Southernmost Point in the Continental U.S. - 90 miles to Cuba

The Southernmost Beach

We visited the Key West Cemetery, which was founded in 1847.

Tombstone for Ellen Mallory (1792-1855), mother of Stephen Mallory who became a U.S. Senator and Secretary of the Confederate Navy.

U.S.S. Maine Monument

The U.S.S Maine blew up in Havana Harbor on February 15, 1898 and killed several hundred American sailors. Several of the sailors are buried in the Key West Cemetery.

Key West Lighthouse

Julie & Phil by a sign for the lighthouse

Route 1 begins/ends in Key West.

Phil at the start of Route 1 going North

Julie at the end of Route 1 going South

Phil and Julie at Mile Marker Zero

One of our lunches: Mahi Mahi (left) and Shrimp and Scallop Stir Fry (right)

Visiting Phil's Family in Florida

We flew into Fort Lauderdale along with Phil's brother David and sister Amy. We spent a long weekend visiting with Phil's grandmother, Aunt Susan, and his great Uncle Bob.

Front: Ruth (Bob's friend) & Uncle Bob
Back: David, Phil, & Amy

Julie, Amy, Aunt Susan, Grandma, David, & Phil

Susan showed us a couple of boxes of old family photos. Here's one of our favorites:

Grandma Gertrude & Grandpa Morris Shilane on their wedding day
June 23, 1946

Phil & Julie at a beach north of Fort Lauderdale

Mother's Day and Birthday Celebrations

We had a triple celebration: Mother's Day, Phil's birthday, and Kevin's birthday. Julie's mom, dad, and brother came over, and we had our first barbecue of the season.

Kevin with his grass seed and weed whacker

Phil and a commemorative Boy Scouts of America coin

Kevin and his birthday cake: a turtle cheesecake

Phil and his birthday cake: a brownie pie

Trip to NYC for Phil's Birthday

For Phil's birthday, we went to New York City to visit several of our friends who live there.

On Saturday, we went to the Whitney Museum of American Art and then got together with Haakon Ringberg, Phil's friend from the Computer Science Department at Princeton. In the evening, we had dinner with Eric Silverberg, Phil's friend from Stanford.

On Sunday, we visited Madison Square Park in the morning.

Phil and Julie in Madison Square Park

Madison Square Park

Then we met up with Allison Doerr and Iannis Toulakis, our friends from Princeton. After brunch, Allison took us to the Brooklyn Bridge Park.

Phil in Brooklyn with the Brooklyn Bridge and Manhattan in the background

Julie & Phil in Brooklyn