Seeing the Zielenbachs in Charleston

On our recent trip to SC we were able to take a little day trip down to Charleston and the South Carolina Aquarium and met with our friends Tim and Alison Zielenbach from Savannah, GA and their son Josh.

This was the first time that Nicki had seen Tim and Ali since our engagement party back in S.A. in January of 2001!

It was the first time she got to meet Josh, who is 2 1/2 and the first time for Kate meeting them.

We had a fantastic time watching the kids run around the aquarium (small, but incredibly well done), see the turtles, sharks and also play in the area of the aquarium that is hands on (and of course Kate had to taste the water!).

I met Josh nearly two years ago, when I visited Tim and Ali in Savannah while I was out in Charleston for a wedding.

They are such very special friends to us: Ali and Nicki have been friends since they were a bit older than our kids now and have stayed in touch throughout the years even through moves all over the world.

Tim and I have been fast friends since meeting at the Republican Convention in 1996 when he was freelancing based in Chicago (after having worked at the Chicago Tribune, too. Us war veterans have to stick together ;-)!)

Tim is also a documentary wedding photographer and does amazing work: http://zielenbach.com

Where the paths all cross is in Hartford, CT on a spectacularly clear October weekend in 2000.

Tim and Alison were getting married on October 14 and I was asked to document their wedding (though still working in newspapers--a career in weddings was on the horizon, though still a murky vision). Nicki, taking time from her "career chick" job at a trendy Cape Town ad agency was the maid of honor.

The rest, shall we say, is history.

Thanks Tim and Ali for being such great friends and a big part of our lives.