How BDBF Spent Our Summer Vacation

In what has become a much-loved (and surprisingly well-read) tradition with our September newsletter, BDBF attorneys recap our summer vacations.

If you’re really interested, you can see our 2022 recap and our 2023 recap!

Liz Farley

This summer, we traveled to Saratoga Springs, New York for our wedding! Our wedding day ended up coinciding with the Belmont horse race (which was being held in Saratoga for the first time ever) and made for a very fun and lively weekend! The weekend went off without a hitch, and we both had a blast celebrating with friends and family. However, the fun didn’t end in Saratoga – as you are reading this article, we will be on a beach in Greece enjoying our long-awaited honeymoon!

Phil Kuljurgis

Our son, age 13, had his Bar Mitzvah according to the (relatively new) Humanistic Judaism tradition. The party afterward featured a video game truck from Next Level Gaming that truly was “next level.” It was a sight to behold, and all the kids and kids at heart had a blast. The best part, however, was having all the family all in one place, which hadn’t happened since our wedding 16 years ago. A quick 4^th of July trip up to Michigan and the kids being off on their own for a week at different summer camps rounded out the summer.

Jeremy Rachlin

My wife and I again took advantage of our daughter’s stay at sleepaway camp. We took a mom-and-dad-only 8-day cruise to the Southern Caribbean, with ports of call in Aruba, Bonaire, and Curacao. We did some off-roading in Arikok National Park in Aruba (and, of course, carefully read the waiver form), did plenty of snorkeling in Bonaire and Curacao, and may have enjoyed the occasional rum drink or two during the days at sea. Pictured here is a friend I met while snorkeling—and yes, the water in Curacao really is that color and that clear:

Meg Rosan

The Rosans enjoyed a bike and barge trip through the Netherlands in June. But that left two more months of summer! We spent long weekends cruising the waters of the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries in July and August.

Dan Shaivitz

Our family jetted out to the middle of the Pacific Ocean to enjoy the natural beauty of Kauai, Hawaii’s fourth largest, oldest, and most lush island. We took advantage of just about every opportunity on the island: hiking and cruising along the Na Pali coast, exploring hidden beaches and caves, snorkeling, swimming in waterfalls, touring Waimea Canyon, off-roading, taking in a luau, jumping of docks and rocks, and adopting a rescue dog for a (half) day. We even crammed in about 5 minutes of just sitting on a beach and relaxing. The only thing missing was being chased by dinosaurs from the Jurassic Park movies (though we were being constantly stalked by all the “wild” chickens there on the island).