A Special Sunday for Max

Today was Max's big day.  He was baptized into the Catholic Church.  He actually slept through the majority of mass, but he certainly was up when holy water was poured over his head!  Interestingly, the priest who baptized Max also baptized Scott Simpson when he became Catholic a few years ago, and they both also have the same godfather, Javier, who is a good friend of Scott's.  We captured a photo of the happy family, godparents and priests together at the church.  Pictured (L to R):  Javier, Scott, Max, Jeannie, and Christine with Brother Pious and Father Matthew behind.  See more photos.

Christmas in DC

This year we spent Christmas with the Lynch family. Mom and Dad flew over from Italy and we flew in from Tucson to converge in Washington DC at the Simpson's house. The family is growing bigger and now spans three generations with the addition of Maxwell James. It's been a very relaxing week, so we've taken advantage of the free Smithsonian Museums and walked around the monuments. We visited the National Christmas Tree and saw the individual trees decorated for each state. The Arizona tree was decorated fittingly with saguaro ornaments.  See more photos.

Bon Voyage!

Our bags are packed, we're ready to go...

We departed from the Tucson Airport on Saturday with the maximum number of bags allowed by the airlines! Packing was certainly a challenge as we'll be away for the next three and a half months. We've got a few extra bags with Christmas presents and clothes for our week in Washington DC. We'll be leaving a few bags behind when we head off to Africa in another week since we'll only be carrying a hiking pack and a backpack for each of us. We brought only the essentials and a camera to document our adventures!

Happy Holidays!

2007 has turned out to be another big year for our family. It is almost exactly a year from the date that we moved to Tucson, and we're writing this holiday note as we begin packing for our big trip to Africa...but we're getting ahead of ourselves. This year can be summed up in a few words: family, travel and change!

• FAMILY

We certainly have spent considerably more time with family this year now that we live in Tucson. Scott's parents and older brother Eric's family live just a short walk from our house. Family dinners, chats at the local coffee house or a round of golf are all regular occasions together! With Mark's family just two hours up the road, we've had weekend slumber parties in Scottsdale and been able to spectate at our niece and nephews' sporting events. We've also been fortunate to have a couple of big Leber family trips together this year to Rocky Point, Mexico and Sedona, where the entire family was able to get together and Todd and his wife, Christina, came down from Seattle. Although Christine's family is now further away, we were excited to have Jeannie and Christine's mom as our first guests in Tucson this summer. (We think they may opt to visit when cooler temperatures prevail in the future;) With Christine's parents currently stationed in Aviano, Italy, it didn't take much arm twisting for us to plan a vacation to see them! We had a wonderful time traveling around Italy and Eastern Europe in March. In just a few days we are headed to DC to spend Christmas with Christine's parents and her sister Jeannie's family. The most exciting news by far this year regarding family has been about how our family has grown. In February, Eric and Aumi welcomed their second son, Dawson; and in October, Jeannie and Scott welcomed their first son, Maxwell. Last but not least, as you can tell from the picture above, our own family has also grown with the addition of Tucker, who we adopted from the Pima County Animal Shelter at the end of April.

• TRAVEL

Moving to Tucson actually resulted in more work travel for both of us. Scott spent the better part of this year traveling back and forth to New York. Thank you to all of our kind friends who allowed Scott to crash on their couches for weeks at a time! Thankfully, that chapter of our lives came to a close with the sale of Coastal Soccer in September! Having transitioned to being a "virtual" employee for Navigant Consulting in January, Christine was also doing a bit of traveling to San Francisco and Los Angeles this year. Like Scott's travel, that all came to an end when Christine resigned from Navigant in November! Of course, the biggest travel news is our adventure to Africa, which begins in just a few short weeks! With both of us transitioning out of our previous careers, we thought there would never be such a perfect opportunity to just push the "pause" button on life and set off on a big adventure. We depart for Johannesburg, South Africa on December 31st and have a return flight from Cairo, Egypt on April 2nd. We won't ruin the surprise by giving you the whole itinerary, but we will certainly keep you posted. Check back regularly for updates and photos of our trip over the next three months!

• CHANGE

Apparently, we like to keep everyone guessing about what we'll be doing next. Last Christmas we were sending out change of address cards, and this year the big news (which we've already divulged) is that we're both "unemployed", although we prefer the term "self employed" much more. The plan once we get the travel bug out of our system is to get our noses back to the grindstone and start two new businesses. We already have things in the works, but it wouldn't be any fun if we didn't leave a few surprises for 2008!

Warm holiday wishes from our home to yours.

Much love,

Scott, Christine & Tucker

"Leber Christmas" in Sedona

A few years ago, the Lebers started the tradition of celebrating a "Leber Christmas", which means we select a weekend that works for everyone to get together so that the actual holiday can be spent at home or traveling to see family. For instance, this year we'll be spending Christmas with Christine's family in Washington DC. This year Christmas came early with a special trip to Sedona, Arizona. Just 4 hours north of Tucson, Sedona is a beautiful landscape of red rocks with some of the most photographed landscapes in all of Arizona. It was the perfect setting for a family portrait. See more photos.

Scott's Sunday "Jog"

On Sunday, Scott ran the Tucson Marathon. Why? Well, why not? Having not trained or run more than 8 miles prior to registering for the marathon, Scott just got a "wild hair" and wanted to see if he could complete a 26.2 mile run. He not only completed the marathon, but he finished in under 4 hours, which is very respectable! I cheered Scott on every few miles and took lots of photos to document his achievement. Now that we've both completed a marathon, it's nice that we can relate to one another's experience. Needless to say, we've both shortened the lifespan of our joints significantly, so we'll see who needs the knee/hip replacement first! See more photos.

Baby Announcements

Scott has been busy studying for the GMAT, so I kept myself entertained this weekend by making Max's baby announcements. In just a few short weeks he's started to take on his own personality. This week, I've decided he's looking more and more like his dad, Scott (Simpson), but he's definitely still got his cute little Filipino nose!

Introducing Maxwell James Simpson!

Maxwell James Simpson was welcomed into the world by Jeannie, Scott and Grandma Leah (a.k.a. Lola, which is grandma in Tagalog) on October 30, 2007 at 9:53 a.m. at a healthy 8 lbs 3 oz and 22" long. Isn't he just adorable?!? Aunt Christine flew out to DC for a personal introduction and lots of cuddle time last weekend. The Simpsons are adjusting to life with a newborn well, except perhaps Maggie (their dog) who just can't get used to being trumped by the newest family member when it comes to attention and snuggling. Jeannie and Scott are naturally wonderful parents, and they make a great tag-team on diaper changes! See more photos.

Gardening with a Green Thumb?!?

It's almost the end of October, so it's time to plant bulbs which will bloom in the spring and the fall garden. We've had a strip of soil along the house on our back patio just begging for some attention, so I planted almost 200 bulbs (tulips, freesia, iris, daffodils and paper whites) which should bloom in the spring - just in time to welcome us home from Africa! In addition, I've planted a fall/winter garden, but had to limit the selection of vegetables to things that would either be harvested before Christmas, or would be self sufficient through the winter/spring since we'll be away for several months. I planted arugula, spinach, two different kinds of lettuce, radishes and tons of different herbs including cilantro, mint, parsley, rosemary, and sage. I can't wait to see everything start to bloom!

Pumpkin and Apple Picking in Willcox

Fall is my favorite time of year, and believe it or not, you can actually still enjoy it in Arizona. It was a perfect Sunday for pumpkin picking! We headed down to Willcox for pumpkin picking with Larry & DeDe, the Eric Leber family and many other friends to enjoy an afternoon outdoors in search of the perfect carving pumpkins. In addition to a large pumpkin patch reminiscent of Charlie Brown's, there was also kettle corn, hayrides, sunflowers and lots of other fresh produce, jams and baked goods. Yum! We also made a pit-stop at Annie's Apple Orchard to stock up on apples to make homemade apple pie and even enjoyed a slice of pie with homemade ice cream while we were there. Double yum! Apple picking will always remind us of visiting an apple orchard in upstate New York the weekend we were in engaged. All in all, a great way to kick of the fall! See more photos.

A Baby Shower for Mom and Max

19 days and counting until Max's anticipated debut in the Simpson family! Jeannie had her baby shower in DC this weekend with friends, hosted by our "middle sister" Margaret at Chef Geoff's. Mom arrives on October 26th from Italy to keep Jeannie company the last few days, and I'm planning on arriving on November 1st (assuming that Max is on time), but we'll have to play that by ear. We can't wait to welcome the first nephew (on the Lynch side) into the family!

AZ Odyssey

We didn't realize what we had signed up for (which is probably a good thing) until we found ourselves running a 10 mile stretch of road between Mirana and I-10 late Friday evening. It was the AZ Odyssey, a charity race that raises funds for domestic violence to support the Tucson Centers for Women and Children and the Avon Foundation. As a relay team of 12 men and women, we covered 195 miles around Tucson, running over 28 hours straight. Comprised of 36 legs, with distances between 3 to 8 miles each, we each ran 3 legs of the race. Unfortunately, we realized after covering 13 to 19 miles each that we really should have been training for a half marathon (at least), but as individual segments we thought 4 to 6 mile runs weren't a big deal. Needless to say, we were exhausted by the end, but thoroughly enjoyed the team atmosphere and the scenic views from ever corner of Tucson. See more photos.

The Lebers Lounge in Rocky Point, Mexico

The Leber brothers and their better halves kicked off the first every other year ("EOY") trip with 3 days at a beach house in Puerto Penasco (Rocky Point), Mexico. There was plenty of playing on the beach -- horseshoes, bocce ball, swimming, running, and walking. When we were tired, we relaxed and read, napped and ate lots of yummy food. We also had some memorable game nights of Scattegories, Pictionary and What If. And yes, the ladies came from behind in the third round to WIN Pictionary! (We're not a competitive bunch at all...) A perfect weekend getaway! We're all looking forward to 2009, and let's just hope we can line up enough sitters to watch the quickly growing clan of Leber little ones! Pictured (L to R): Natalee, Mark, Aumi, Eric, Christina, Todd, Christine and Scott. Apparently we chose to put the giants on the left and the shorties on the right?!?

Tucker is a Good Listener

Tucker turns 6 months old this month, well, we think. We've decided his birthday is St. Patrick's Day... This afternoon, I couldn't help but laugh out loud when I got up from my desk to find that Tucker had brought not one, not even two, but THREE tennis balls into my office. Now, if that isn't a sign that he wants to play fetch, I don't know what is! Needless to say, he's full of energy at this age. Thank goodness his growth spurt has slowed. Last month he was gaining 5 lbs a week! He's holding around 35 lbs, so we're still hoping he may not be a full grown chocolate lab (thanks to the mix of his unknown dad;) Yes, that right ear is permanently stuck up!

Chiricahua National Monument

Scott surprised me with a weekend getaway to Chiricahua National Monument and an overnight stay at the perfect little bed & breakfast ranch in southeast Arizona. Thoughtfully planned out, I woke up Saturday morning to find Scott busily preparing for our little adventure. He told me to pack my hiking boots, dinner attire and my pjs and we were off! We stayed at the Sunglow Ranch which is about 2 hours southeast of Tucson, and just minutes from the national park. Saturday we explored the back roads up and over the Coronado mountain range and had a relaxing dinner and evening at the ranch.

On Sunday, we were up bright and early to fit in a quick hike on the Echo Canyon loop trail in the Chiricahua National Monument, where we saw amazing rock formations made from a volcanic eruption that slowly was eroded over time.

All in all, a wonderful weekend of quality time together in the beautiful outdoors of Arizona! See more photos of our weekend in the Chiricahua mountains.

Make a Wish!

Poor Larry, he's always been lucky enough to have his own birthday month, having been an only child and then the only Leber to celebrate a birthday in September (Scott & DeDe are February, while the rest of the boys are in May.) Little did he realize that when Christine married into the family, he'd no longer have his birthday all to himself! Monday night we celebrated a joint birthday for the two Leber Virgos. An extra special treat was the birthday cake, which is a family recipe. Denton helped us blow out the candles, although Christine and Larry could have eaten the entire cake all by themselves - it was that good!

Mayuri & James' Wedding

We attended Mayuri and James' wedding in Niagara on the Lake, in Ontario, Canada, and squeezed in a quick trip to Niagara Falls since Scott had never been. It was a traditional Indian wedding, so the bridesmaids wore saris, which were hand made in India. The ceremony was beautiful and it was interesting to learn about marriage in the Indian culture. Also, it was just a great weekend to catch up with many college girlfriends.

Over the River and Through the Woods

Over the river and through the woods, to Christine's grandparents' house we go! Here's a little trivia for you: Did you know the author of the poem "Over the River and Through the Woods" was a resident of Medford, MA? Yes, Lydia Child was talking about visiting her grandparents in Medford, which is exactly what we did this week. Being in Tucson makes a "quick trip" to Grandma & Grandpa's quite impossible, or at least a bit longer than the 3 miles Christine & Jeannie used to have to travel from Tufts' campus when in college. Since we were in NYC this week, and just a few hours from Boston, we decided to take a quick trip up to visit family. In addition, we squeezed in some quintessential Boston sites, such as Faneuil Hall and lunch at the Barking Crab.

Tucson Visitors Abound!

It was like a modified version of "Road Rules" with 6 strangers (well, actually we knew one) picked from Harvard Business School to travel across the country together in a large van ("Pimp My Ride" style with Nintendo and a cooler full of beverages). They were a welcome addition to our Tucson home for 2 nights. Scott's college friend, Ed, recently graduated from HBS and embarked on a road trip that originated in Boston and included great destinations across the country, including: Minneapolis, Las Vegas, the Grand Canyon, Tucson, among other great spots. Now they've turned back east and are headed for Austin, New Orleans, and the "Deep South". Happy travels!

Tufts Ladies in Tucson

What a treat - two visitors the same weekend! Two college friends, Jessie and Margaret spent the weekend with us in Tucson. We took a shopping trip to Tubac and visited the "White Dove of the Desert", San Xavier Mission (pictured). Although we took them to many popular southwest attractions, the true introduction to the Southwest was a night on the town. We encountered many tarantulas while having drinks outdoors on Saturday night. As we all learned, it is common to see them this time of year and they are truley harmless. In fact, many people keep them as pets or pest control for home gardens in the Southwest. All in all, a great weekend with girlfriends!

July 4th Mountain Getaway

With July 4th being one of the hottest days in Tucson so far this summer, we decided to take a quick getaway to escape the heat.

Mt. Lemmon is a 45 minute drive from our house and the little town of Summerhaven sits at an elevation of 8,000 ft., guaranteeing a temperature drop of at least 20 degrees as we climbed up above the desert floor. The majority of Mt. Lemmon is part of Coronado National Forest, so there are plenty of hiking and biking trails, as well as picnic areas. The landscape quickly changed from desert plants to evergreens as we climbed the windy road to Summerhaven.

We were just in time for the 4th of July parade through town and afterwards we enjoyed a quiet picnic in the woods. Tucker enjoyed having so many sticks to choose from to nibble on!

Harvesting the Crops

Today I tackled the garden and a lot of other yardwork. Owning a home (and a back yard) makes for a long list of Saturday chores! In the garden, it's been so hot during the entire month of June that certain plants struggled, even with the new irrigation installed. We knew that some plants might fizzle by the end of the season since we had started the garden in mid-April, which is late by Tucson standards. Regardless, we did great and have some yummy corn, peppers, tomatoes and beans to show for it! I'm going to keep the tomatoes and peppers for a week or two more, to allow the fruits on the vine to ripen. Then we'll pull everything out, enrich the soil and start planning the fall crop for after the monsoons! If we survived starting a garden during the hottest season of the year, a fall garden should be a piece of cake;)

Lynch Ladies in Chicago

What is the likelihood that both Lynch sisters would have a business trip to the same city on the same weekend? The stars were aligned for a great girl's weekend in Chicago for the Lynch Ladies! We pampered ourselves with mani/pedis, shopping on the Magnificent Mile, long meals and girly movies. It was great! Well, it wasn't entirely a girl's weekend, since Jeannie is 5 months pregnant with a little boy! So, it was the Lynch ladies and little Max Simpson:)

Tombstone & Bisbee circa 1880

This past weekend we took a trip back in time to when the west was truly "wild"! Back then, women in the profession were referred to as "soiled doves" or "ladies of the night" and the major mode of transportation was the horse and buggy. In this part of Arizona, it wasn't a gold rush, but rather miners worked by candlelight to unearth silver and copper. And most importantly, Wyatt Earp was the law. Where were we? Just about an hour and a half south of Tucson in Tombstone and Bisbee, Arizona. In Tombstone, we saw the shootout at the OK Corral, soaked up the saloons and danced the night away to country western music. In Bisbee, we blended in with the local culture, enjoying art galleries and yummy food in this small town nestled in the mountains less than 10 miles from the Mexico border. It was a great little getaway from Tucson and a fun weekend with Scott's parents. More photos of our Wild West Weekend.

Puppy Pampering

Tucker got his first bath at home on Saturday afternoon. He didn't like the water very much, but afterward he loved cuddling with the towel and fell asleep on the kitchen floor. More photos of Tucker this month.

Home Improvement Project #4 | Irrigation

The next big project was installing irrigation in both the front and back yard. I think we'd both agree that this was by far the best investment we've made to date! Since moving in, we've been watering the lawn, trees, shrubs, and my garden on a regular basis. It's a pretty time consuming process too! With the summer heating up, watering has to occur more frequently and it wasn't looking like a fun chore. We had "Russ the Irrigation Guy" install the electrical components and the main valves connected to the water supply. (See the boxes in the foreground in the picture.) Then, Scott and Larry spent a Saturday digging trenches with a trenching machine they had rented and laying poly for all the tree, garden and shrub lines. It was a full weekend of work!

Sahuarita Triathlon

Scott & Eric are official triathletes! They competed in the Sahuarita Lake Triathlon, a sprint triathlon about 45-minutes south of Tucson. It was an early morning with a 6:30 a.m. race start, but the boys were pumped and ready to go! They accomplished their personal goals by finishing under 1:45 and looked great doing it! A 1K swim + 25K bike + 5K run is no small feat to accomplish, and the family was all there to cheer them on for such a great accomplishment. There's already talk of competing in another event... More photos.

Memorial Weekend in Phoenix

We took a trip to Phoenix to visit the Mark Leber family and hang out poolside at their new home that they just moved into at the beginning of the month in Scottsdale. All the Lebers made the trip up from Tucson, including little Tucker, who was all tired out after a day of playing with Christian, Conner and Brooke! It's nice to have family so close and be able to get together frequently. More photos.

A Growing Garden

It's been six weeks since we planted the garden and we've harvested our first crops - "firecracker" radishes! First lesson learned, if you don't water radishes enough during the growing process, they are spicy! As for the rest of the garden, the photo below on the right gives you a good overview. Carrots, radishes, and corn across the front (l to r) and the beans are ready to climb up the ladder in the back. Tomatoes and peppers are off to the far right (not pictured) and are starting to show small fruits. Also, we've got an indoor herb garden growing with sage, parsley, basil, chives and mint. Pretty soon we'll be self-sufficient...at least making salads! Along those lines, a little Tucson trivia: Did you know that Biosphere 2 is located in Tucson?

Date Night at the Drive-In

We discovered the De Anza Drive-in last night and it was perfect timing to catch the first night of Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End. We stopped off at Sauce to pick up yummy salads and a pizza and enjoyed dinner as the sun was setting. I always loved drive-in movies as a kid, and this was Scott's first time at a drive-in! After last night's experience, we'd pick the drive-in over the regular theater hands down. The price was right at $6 per person, which beats the regular theater admission, and we could bring our own dinner and snacks. Best of all, we got to enjoy being outdoors in the evening, which is always a plus. Oh, and the Bose sound system in the Murano came in pretty handy too...

Tucker's Trip to the Vet

Tucker had his second trip to the vet today. He had his first round of immunization shots which left him a little sore and tired. Tucker weighed in at 7.5 pounds, which means he's almost doubled in size since we brought him home at the beginning of the month! It could be all the rocks he likes to try and eat in the back yard... More Photos.

Mother's Day

We were lucky enough to celebrate Mother's Day with both of our moms this year! In fact, we had two generations of moms on the Lynch side (Leah and Jeannie) and three generations of moms on the Leber side (Grandma Lyd, DeDe and Aumi). We stuffed ourselves at brunch at the Tucson Country Club and took this photo underneath the mesquite trees afterwards. [From left: Scott, Chris, Jeannie, Leah, Grandma Lyd, DeDe, Larry, Aumi w/ Dawson, Eric w/ Denton.]

Lynch Ladies in Tucson

What better timing for a visit from Christine's mom and sister than Mother's Day Weekend?! With Jeannie a "mother-to'-be" we all enjoyed getting together and catching up in the hot Arizona sun (it was 104 degrees on Saturday)! We visited Saguaro National Park, did some shopping (of course!) and pampered ourselves with treatments at Spa One. All in all, a great weekend!

Home Improvement Project #3 | Ceiling Fans

We installing ceiling fans in all of the bedrooms...but we figured we wouldn't bore you with photos of that. Plus, we actually "outsourced" this project to "Don the Fan Guy" who came in and ran the electrical wire and mounted all the ceiling fans over two days mid-week.

Parents to a Puppy

We've been talking about getting a dog since the day we decided to move from New York City to Tucson. Now that we live in a house with our own back yard, it's perfect for our new puppy Tucker! On Sunday we took a visit to the Pima County Animal Shelter. We should have known it would be impossible to walk out of the shelter without taking a dog with us! Tucker is a two month old chocolate lab mix (his mom was a chocolate lab, and we're still speculating on what breed his dad was). We're in the middle of potty training, which is a challenge in and of itself! Let's just say Tucker is enough responsibility for both of us for a while;)

Home Improvement Project #2 | Building a Garden

What do you need to grow a vegetable garden in the desert? First, you need to learn about the different growing seasons. Next, you have to pour in tons of sweat, mulch, and water before you can plant your first seeds. Finally, you have to wait a few weeks to see if all that hard work pays off and the seeds can germinate in the hot sun of the Southwest. We'll keep you posted...