About Me
- Jeff and Karen Doherty
- We were married in September 2005. We're best friends, and we love traveling and exploring new places. We like sci-fi movies and watching the history channel. Our little boy was born February 1, 2010. He is named Jeff Jr. or JJ. Our daughter Moira was born July 28, 2011. We have a cat named Munchkin. Jeff is a career military officer, and Karen works for a family services program for the Army. We live in Monterey, California. We are making this blog for our family and friends who we miss and want to share our life with.
Wednesday, January 18, 2006
Weekend in San Francisco
Hi everyone! We had a nice weekend exploring San Francisco. Two days weren't really enough to see the city, but we a great time. We are only 110 miles south of the city, so we can go back again. We both liked the city - the old buildings, the cable cars and the people.
Saturday afternoon was cold and rainy, so we didn't have a chance to do as many outside things as we had hoped. We stayed in a cute bed and breakfast in the mission district. The B&B was built in 1870, and survived both the great earthquake and fire in the city. They have a rooftop deck that we took a few pictures from, but it was so rainy they didn't turn out as good as we wanted. Saturday we rode the cable car down to fisherman's wharf and walked around. We watched the Patriots game at Knuckles sportsbar, supposedly the oldest bar in that area.
We went to Alcatraz on Sunday. WOW!! It was amazing. We took the walking tour and saw the cells and heard some of the stories. We didn't realize Alcatraz had been a military prison since the 1830's. And did you know the native Americans took over the island in 1970-71 to stage a protest? The island is full of buildings and gardens that the various inhabitants made over the years. Many of the buildings are off limits to the general public because they are falling apart. It would have been interesting to see Alcatraz when it was in good repair.... but as a tourist!
Karen is getting involved with the Monterey County Literacy Program as a teacher. She met with a mentor Tuesday morning to receive program materials and get some teaching ideas. Its been years since she has tutored people when she was in college. Karen's first student will be a Mexican lady named Rosario. She has a sixth grade education from Mexico. She can speak English, but she has trouble reading and writing. Rosario is married and has a 3 year old daughter, so part of our program will include helping Rosario read books that she can read to her daughter. Karen is excited to meet Rosario at the library next Wednesday!
That's all the news that's fit to print! Back to studying for us. These next few weeks we will focus on speaking.
love,
Karen and Jeff
Saturday afternoon was cold and rainy, so we didn't have a chance to do as many outside things as we had hoped. We stayed in a cute bed and breakfast in the mission district. The B&B was built in 1870, and survived both the great earthquake and fire in the city. They have a rooftop deck that we took a few pictures from, but it was so rainy they didn't turn out as good as we wanted. Saturday we rode the cable car down to fisherman's wharf and walked around. We watched the Patriots game at Knuckles sportsbar, supposedly the oldest bar in that area.
We went to Alcatraz on Sunday. WOW!! It was amazing. We took the walking tour and saw the cells and heard some of the stories. We didn't realize Alcatraz had been a military prison since the 1830's. And did you know the native Americans took over the island in 1970-71 to stage a protest? The island is full of buildings and gardens that the various inhabitants made over the years. Many of the buildings are off limits to the general public because they are falling apart. It would have been interesting to see Alcatraz when it was in good repair.... but as a tourist!
Karen is getting involved with the Monterey County Literacy Program as a teacher. She met with a mentor Tuesday morning to receive program materials and get some teaching ideas. Its been years since she has tutored people when she was in college. Karen's first student will be a Mexican lady named Rosario. She has a sixth grade education from Mexico. She can speak English, but she has trouble reading and writing. Rosario is married and has a 3 year old daughter, so part of our program will include helping Rosario read books that she can read to her daughter. Karen is excited to meet Rosario at the library next Wednesday!
That's all the news that's fit to print! Back to studying for us. These next few weeks we will focus on speaking.
love,
Karen and Jeff
Wednesday, January 11, 2006
Group wedding picture
Here is a beautiful picture of us at the wedding - Jorgen, Jocelyn, Karen and Jeff.
Jeff and Mr. Snowman
Notice that gleem in Jeff's eyes? I think he wanted to eat the olive eyes and red pepper mouth from his creation....
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
New Year's greetings to all family and friends! Those of you we weren't able to be with during the holidays were in our hearts and thoughts. We are thankful for the family and friends we were able to be with over the last two weeks. We had a wonderful time and thank everyone again for their hospitality!
Where were we, you might ask? We had a great time traveling to the East Coast to spend Christmas and New Year's with Jeff's family.
We started with some beautiful snowy days in Vermont with Linda and David, Jeff's mom and step-dad, for Christmas. Their home was incredibly decorated with Christmas trees, family heirlooms and decorations from when Jeff was a child. Linda prepared a wonderful Turkey Christmas dinner for all of us after we opened presents on Christmas morning. We went skiing in New Hampshire, and everyone was able to spend some time showing Karen the scenic towns in between.
We returned to Jim and Caroline's house, Jeff's dad and his fiance, on the 30th in time to go to Jeff's cousin Kenneth's wedding. The wedding was at a gorgeous old church (sorry, I have no idea where we were as it was my first time to the area) and then we went onto the reception which was held near by. The hall was decorated like a fairy tale for Christmas with lights and poinsettias and Christmas decorations. It was breathtaking and I think everyone had a fabulous time!
Later that night, we left for Newport, RI to spend New Year's with Jocelyn and Jorgen, Jeff's sister and her boyfriend. Newport was great. Jocelyn took Karen on a tour of the island with Elaine, Jocelyn's friend. Jorgen had a great party later that night with food from Holland, his homeland. It started to snow just before midnight and we made a snowman in the backyard. (yes, that is a beer bottle on his head...) We had a great girls day on Monday with Jocelyn, Elaine and Karen going to get their nails done, while the guys stayed home and watched some sports game ;)
We ended our trip with a few more days with Jim and Caroline before we had to leave. It was nice to hang out and talk with them. We did get a little Arabic studying in too.
All in all, we had an awesome time! We are looking forward to a new year of fun and hard work.
love to all,
Jeff and Karen
Where were we, you might ask? We had a great time traveling to the East Coast to spend Christmas and New Year's with Jeff's family.
We started with some beautiful snowy days in Vermont with Linda and David, Jeff's mom and step-dad, for Christmas. Their home was incredibly decorated with Christmas trees, family heirlooms and decorations from when Jeff was a child. Linda prepared a wonderful Turkey Christmas dinner for all of us after we opened presents on Christmas morning. We went skiing in New Hampshire, and everyone was able to spend some time showing Karen the scenic towns in between.
We returned to Jim and Caroline's house, Jeff's dad and his fiance, on the 30th in time to go to Jeff's cousin Kenneth's wedding. The wedding was at a gorgeous old church (sorry, I have no idea where we were as it was my first time to the area) and then we went onto the reception which was held near by. The hall was decorated like a fairy tale for Christmas with lights and poinsettias and Christmas decorations. It was breathtaking and I think everyone had a fabulous time!
Later that night, we left for Newport, RI to spend New Year's with Jocelyn and Jorgen, Jeff's sister and her boyfriend. Newport was great. Jocelyn took Karen on a tour of the island with Elaine, Jocelyn's friend. Jorgen had a great party later that night with food from Holland, his homeland. It started to snow just before midnight and we made a snowman in the backyard. (yes, that is a beer bottle on his head...) We had a great girls day on Monday with Jocelyn, Elaine and Karen going to get their nails done, while the guys stayed home and watched some sports game ;)
We ended our trip with a few more days with Jim and Caroline before we had to leave. It was nice to hang out and talk with them. We did get a little Arabic studying in too.
All in all, we had an awesome time! We are looking forward to a new year of fun and hard work.
love to all,
Jeff and Karen
Monday, December 19, 2005
Test time is almost here....
Its been a while since we have posted, but the time has gone by so fast!!! The Arabic instructors crammed 3 weeks of class material into 2.... no wonder its been hard to process so much new information. The reason they did this was because of Christmas break and they wanted the students to get all the information before they left for 2 weeks. So, they will have a nice review when everyone gets back from vacation. We plan on using the break to review all 11 chapters and work as hard as we can on the information we currently have.
We are getting ready to spend Christmas with the Doherty families. Our flight leaves early on the 24th, so at least we will have Christmas day with our family. We are hoping to get some skiing in. Karen will probably stick to the bunny hills; Jeff claims he can still snowboard, haha, we'll see about that when we get back.
We've posted some cute pictures of the cats. Cat Fancy magazine is having a photo contest with the theme of Best Friends, so we are taking lots of pictures of the kitties. The Munchkin is so cute. She still has that kitten sense of balance and is afraid of nothing yet. They are too much fun to watch playing with each other. The kitten has shown Topaz how to play again. Both of them try to help us wrap Christmas presents, so if they look a little wrinkled, be warned.
Until later everyone....
We are getting ready to spend Christmas with the Doherty families. Our flight leaves early on the 24th, so at least we will have Christmas day with our family. We are hoping to get some skiing in. Karen will probably stick to the bunny hills; Jeff claims he can still snowboard, haha, we'll see about that when we get back.
We've posted some cute pictures of the cats. Cat Fancy magazine is having a photo contest with the theme of Best Friends, so we are taking lots of pictures of the kitties. The Munchkin is so cute. She still has that kitten sense of balance and is afraid of nothing yet. They are too much fun to watch playing with each other. The kitten has shown Topaz how to play again. Both of them try to help us wrap Christmas presents, so if they look a little wrinkled, be warned.
Until later everyone....
Tuesday, December 06, 2005
arabic - week 1
We are still alive, but deep in the bowels of arabic letters. The squiggles and dots and bumps are starting to look like words... almost! Karen is studying all day what Jeff is learning in class, and we are averaging about 3 hours of joint studying each night.
We're going out to see a movie Friday night, but we can't remember which one. Its one of the new ones, opening on Friday. I guess it will be a surprise!
The cats are doing good. Little Sledgehammer is getting more catty. Jeff has been calling her Munchkin, so it will be her name. She is such a little cutie. She is not much bigger, but feels heavier and stronger. We are going to enter some pictures of our babies in a cat photo contest. I'll post the pictures soon. The theme is "best friends."
Love to all,
Jeff and Karen
We're going out to see a movie Friday night, but we can't remember which one. Its one of the new ones, opening on Friday. I guess it will be a surprise!
The cats are doing good. Little Sledgehammer is getting more catty. Jeff has been calling her Munchkin, so it will be her name. She is such a little cutie. She is not much bigger, but feels heavier and stronger. We are going to enter some pictures of our babies in a cat photo contest. I'll post the pictures soon. The theme is "best friends."
Love to all,
Jeff and Karen
arabic - week 1
We are still alive, but deep in the bowels of arabic letters. The squiggles and dots and bumps are starting to look like words... almost! Karen is studying all day what Jeff is learning in class, and we are averaging about 3 hours of joint studying each night.
We're going out to see a movie Friday night, but we can't remember which one. Its one of the new ones, opening on Friday. I guess it will be a surprise!
The cats are doing good. Little Sledgehammer is getting more catty. Jeff has been calling her Munchkin, so it will be her name. She is such a little cutie. She is not much bigger, but feels heavier and stronger. We are going to enter some pictures of our babies in a cat photo contest. I'll post the pictures soon. The theme is "best friends."
Love to all,
Jeff and Karen
We're going out to see a movie Friday night, but we can't remember which one. Its one of the new ones, opening on Friday. I guess it will be a surprise!
The cats are doing good. Little Sledgehammer is getting more catty. Jeff has been calling her Munchkin, so it will be her name. She is such a little cutie. She is not much bigger, but feels heavier and stronger. We are going to enter some pictures of our babies in a cat photo contest. I'll post the pictures soon. The theme is "best friends."
Love to all,
Jeff and Karen
Saturday, November 19, 2005
What is this?
We were eating breakfast a few days ago and this came strolling by. Karen thought it was a turkey, and Jeff thought it was an emu. Ideas anyone?
View of Monterey
Here is a pretty view of the Bay we took as we toured Cannery Row. Sardines were a huge industry in Monterey from 1930 - 1960. When the sardine schools went away, the canneries went out of business. The sardines have a growth cycle that lasts about 25 years and runs opposite the anchovie population, which also lasts about 25 years. The U.S. Fish and Game Department was unable to regulate fishing during this time, so the fish "dried up." Commerical industry of the fish is now regulated in this area and they are trying to learn more about why the sardines and anchovies reproduce the way they do.They turned the section of Monterey that had the fish canneries into a commericial district with little shops and restaurants. Its a pretty area to walk around and to meet friends. Monterey does have a fisherman's wharf, but we have not gone there yet.
Harry Potter!!!
Woo hoo, we went to see Harry Potter tonight!!! Yay!!! It was totally awesome.... we don't want to give away any secrets, so you'll have to see it yourself.Before the movie, we went to the Navy Officers' Club and had a few drinks with friends and bowled some frozen turkeys. It was funny.... Karen's a wimp and couldn't swing the turkey hard enough to even hit any 2 liter bottle bowling pins... Jeff did a fair job, but neither of us were winners. I guess we'll stick to cooked turkeys....
We had a late birthday celebration at Benihana's in Monterey, and we are attaching a picture. Jeff told everyone it was Karen's birthday, so they gave her a balloon hat to wear - yes, thats the wierd yellow and black thing on her head - and the wait staff sang happy birthday. It was great and we have enough leftovers to last us a few weeks.
until later....
Wednesday, November 16, 2005
Settling in to Monterey
Its been a while since we've been able to post and many things have happened, most of them good! We arrived in Monterey and signed the lease for our new home. We've been getting to know the area. It looks like we are going to like it here. We are just about a mile away from the ocean and there are mountains and hills everywhere. The trees are still changing color here, and some of them don't drop their leaves. We have a pretty assortment of reds, oranges and greens here. A lot of the flowers are still in bloom too!
Our have a townhouse that is in the middle of a four family unit. It has three bedrooms, a nice size living room, a dining room and eat-in kitchen, as well as three bathrooms. While the place has been here for a few years, it was all freshly painted, had new carpet and was extremely clean. We have a lot of closet space, a storage room on the second floor and a 10 x 10 shed outside. We are very happy with the house so far.
The movers came Monday morning with all of our things. The only thing that we have found broken so far is one wine glass! Everything else made it okay and in good shape, and even some things we didn't remember we owned :) We have the majority of the boxes unpacked (go Jeff) and the house is starting to shape up nicely. We're sure we will move furniture and some things around a few more times until it all feels right.
We've met some nice couples so far, and we are starting to make a nice little group of friends. They are mostly navy couples (without children), since we live where most navy families are. It seems the childless people are looking for other childless couples to hang out with. We've been invited to the navy officer's club tomorrow night for drinks and dinner. It should be fun!
Love to all,
Jeff and Karen
Our have a townhouse that is in the middle of a four family unit. It has three bedrooms, a nice size living room, a dining room and eat-in kitchen, as well as three bathrooms. While the place has been here for a few years, it was all freshly painted, had new carpet and was extremely clean. We have a lot of closet space, a storage room on the second floor and a 10 x 10 shed outside. We are very happy with the house so far.
The movers came Monday morning with all of our things. The only thing that we have found broken so far is one wine glass! Everything else made it okay and in good shape, and even some things we didn't remember we owned :) We have the majority of the boxes unpacked (go Jeff) and the house is starting to shape up nicely. We're sure we will move furniture and some things around a few more times until it all feels right.
We've met some nice couples so far, and we are starting to make a nice little group of friends. They are mostly navy couples (without children), since we live where most navy families are. It seems the childless people are looking for other childless couples to hang out with. We've been invited to the navy officer's club tomorrow night for drinks and dinner. It should be fun!
Love to all,
Jeff and Karen
Monday, November 07, 2005
ADDRESS CORRECTION
We found out today the correct spelling and zip for our new address:
Jeff and Karen Doherty
384C Bergin Drive
Monterey, CA 93940
Sorry for any confusion.... Our cell phone numbers are the same.
Jeff and Karen Doherty
384C Bergin Drive
Monterey, CA 93940
Sorry for any confusion.... Our cell phone numbers are the same.
we've arrived!
We made it safe into Monterey last night. This is our first chance to access email since before the STORM. Yes, it was as bad as you see on TV... we haven't had a TV since October 24th, haha. It was so hard to see our beautiful Florida so destroyed, it made me cry the first time I left the hotel. Most the trees we saw had the bark blown off of them if they were still standing, and most of them didn't make it through. The hotel we stayed in through the storm still didn't power as of November 6th.
Monterey is beautiful so far. The people here are very nice. We have ocean to the west and mountains on our east. Its incredible to see. The town looks like something from a painting.
Our furniture was supposed to arrive today, but didn't. The movers tried to call our old home phone number last week and it was disconnected, so they put everything into storage. They will deliver and unpack everything next Monday. In the meantime, Army Community Service has lent us dishes and kitchen goods and Jeff's friend Angela has lent us a blow up bed. The house is great, though - three bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, new carpet and a cute backyard.
Monterey is beautiful so far. The people here are very nice. We have ocean to the west and mountains on our east. Its incredible to see. The town looks like something from a painting.
Our furniture was supposed to arrive today, but didn't. The movers tried to call our old home phone number last week and it was disconnected, so they put everything into storage. They will deliver and unpack everything next Monday. In the meantime, Army Community Service has lent us dishes and kitchen goods and Jeff's friend Angela has lent us a blow up bed. The house is great, though - three bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, new carpet and a cute backyard.
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