Monthly Archives: June 2007

Harmony, Hotdogs, and Hits

Last night the three Woods headed over to Danvers’ Glen Magna Farms for the Danvers Family Festival‘s Harmony, Hotdogs and Hits. There was a jazz band playing, there were hotdogs for sale, and there was a vintage base ball match with the Essex Base Ball Club taking on the Melrose Pondfielders in 1860’s era base ball.

We enjoyed the evening, particularly the chance to watch and learn about classic base ball, and the opportunity to shout such phrases as “well struck, sir!”. 🙂 More photos here.

Down To Earth

PRC on Pikes Peak

…and we’re back down to 48 feet above sea level. We arrived safely in the wee hours of Wednesday morning, and we’re slowly getting settled back in.

We had a terrific time out in Colorado. We attended events with other wedding guests every night up through the night of the wedding: Wednesday was the Moroccan Feast, Thursday was the rehearsal dinner, Friday was the barbecue, and Saturday evening was the wedding.

The days were spent making excursions to the surrounding area: Wednesday we visited the Cave of the Winds and downtown Manitou Springs, Thursday we went for a guided hike of Red Rock canyon, Friday we took the Pikes Peak Cog Railway to the top of Pikes Peak, Saturday we went for a horseback ride through Garden of the Gods and toured the United States Olympic Training Center, Sunday we visited Royal Gorge, and Monday we visited the United States Air Force Academy and hiked through Garden of the Gods.

The town of Manitou Springs welcomed us with open arms and we felt instantly at home there. We loved the small town atmosphere, the weekly market, the concerts in the park, the babbling creek, the crunchy and artsy shops and the views of Pikes Peak. The only thing it was missing was the ocean!

We were busy the whole week, but if we were to go back there would still be plenty of things to keep us exploring! That’s the mark of a great vacation destination!

You can view all of our photos from Colorado.

Rocky Mountain High

Hello from 6,336 feet above sea level! On Tuesday night we arrived safely (but lately) for our week-long stay in Manitou Springs, Colorado. We’re out here for a friend’s wedding, which is on Saturday, and in the meantime we’re enjoying the scenery, the local attractions, and pre-wedding activities with the family and friends of the wedding party.

Yesterday we went to the Cave of the Winds and explored downtown Manitou Springs, and then enjoyed a long, relaxing dinner at a Moroccan restaurant with the other wedding folks.

Today we took a hike in Red Rock Canyon, and then spent the afternoon resting and swimming back at the hotel. There’s lots more to do and see, and we’ll fill you in on that as it happens. For now, you can check out the pics from our trip thus far. I’ll leave you with a few of my favorites:

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Pike’s Peak from Red Rock Canyon

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Garden of the Gods from Red Rock Canyon

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On Travel

Rebecca and I have always enjoyed traveling, and we’re doing our best to expose Catherine to as much of it as possible. Since she was born, we’ve taken several road trips, some trips by boat, and one trip on an airplane. Tomorrow, we’re leaving on a trip to Colorado, so travel is foremost on my mind.

Continue reading

Notes for our readers

If you are reading this post through a feed reader, you might not have noticed that I’ve got a log of interesting parenting links running down the right hand side of the page. Visit NPDITC and check it out. There’s also an RSS feed for it, if you like.

Speaking of RSS, I posted over at World Wide Wood about a terrific video that explains just what RSS is and why you should use it. Highly recommended viewing for everyone.

Finally, I’ve changed the settings on this blog so that you can leave a comment without having to register and log in to an account. Maybe it’s just that none of my posts have warranted a comment yet, but in any case, I’d like to make it a bit easier for everyone.

Thanks for visiting, and stay tuned for more actual parenting content!

Babywearing

Peter and I have been pretty dedicated to babywearing over the past year. The stroller comes in handy for long walks and some shopping trips, but there are times when it just isn’t necessary or convenient to lug out the stroller. And there are times when we want to keep Catherine close.

Our two babywearing mainstays have been a ring sling and a baby backpack. These have both worked well for both of us: Peter with Sling, Rebecca with Sling, Peter with Backpack, Rebecca with Backpack. Each has its own pros and cons so we switch between them depending on the situation.

For a while now I’ve been wanting a new carrier; one that is soft and can be used in the front carry or the back carry position. I thought that it would come in handy when the external frame backpack (with its wonderfully large pocket) would be more carrier than I needed.

Something like this:

Thanks to a couple of online tutorials I was able to sew my own Mei Tai carrier. After studying the pattern for several weeks I finally found the time to visit the fabric store. Thanks to a good sale and a gift card I scored a great deal on some beautiful fabric. I was excited to get started, so as soon as we were home and Catherine was tucked in for her nap I broke out the scissors and sewing machine.

A handful of hours later I had a finished project! The carrier is beautiful, fits perfectly and Catherine seems to like it.