Welcome to World Wide Wood, the online home of Peter, Rebecca, Catherine and Esme Wood.

Our vacation started with a bang!

We’re currently in the midst of a two-week vacation road trip. We’re having a great time with my family out here in Ohio, getting to see my sister Kirsten, my brother-in-law Mark, and their new daughter, Gracie, as well as my parents and various other members of the in-law family. Everything is just hunky-dory right now, but our trip didn’t start out so smoothly at the beginning!

We started our trip by driving to the Finger Lakes region of New York and pitching our tent in a campsite at Watkins Glen State Park. By Sunday evening we were all settled in and had hot dogs and s’mores around the campfire. On Monday, we hiked the Gorge Trail at Watkins Glen in the morning, and in the late afternoon, we drove over to Ithaca to have dinner at the Moosewood Restaurant.

We had just spotted a great parallel parking space right in front of Moosewood, and we were preparing to back into it. We had pulled up to the side of the car in front of the space, when all of a sudden our car shook and we saw that a huge passenger bus had collided with us! Its right front corner had collided with our left front corner. After verifying that nobody in our car was hurt (Catherine said: “The car shook and it woke me up from my nap!”), I quickly got out and saw that our car wasn’t drivable – the front left tire and wheel had been totally crushed in, and what was left of our wheel was tilted at a funny angle. I called the police to the scene and we gave them our side of the story. In the meantime, one of the kind staff at Moosewood had seen the accident and had rushed out to see if we needed any help. He got us some drinks, too. I began making phone calls to our insurance company and a car rental company. Our car was towed to a local body shop, and in the meantime, we went into the Moosewood Restaurant, since we had intended on eating there anyway! They sat us down at a corner table and let us conduct our business, providing some assistance with recommendations on car rental and giving their opinions of the towing company and body shop. They even took the liberty of picking out some appetizers for us. In fact, we soon learned that our whole meal would be on the house… Moosewood‘s way of comforting us and helping us out after our accident. They really were the sweetest, kindest people. I can’t think of a better place to have gotten into an accident! The food was delicious (I ordered a Thai vegetable curry), the service was gracious, the atmosphere was wonderful. I hope that we can return under better circumstances (and actually pay for our meal!).

In any case, we wound up taking a taxi out to the Ithaca airport, where I then picked up a rental car, drove it to the body shop (which was way out in the middle of nowhere), transferred the considerable amount of luggage (and car seats) over from our car, drove back to the airport, picked the ladies up, and drove back to the campground for the night. Phew! It made for quite a long and stressful day.

We initially thought that we’d just stick around until they could fix our car, and perhaps extend our stay for a few extra nights. But we soon found out that extensive repairs were needed, and they probably wouldn’t be finished until the end of THIS week. If we waited around for THAT, our entire trip would be eaten up. So, instead, we opted to extend our rental car and simply continue our trip as planned.

We left the Finger Lakes as intended on Wednesday, albeit a little bit later, and no longer driving our Subaru station wagon but a shiny new and huge Ford Explorer. I don’t particularly care for SUVs (and our insurance doesn’t fully cover something so expensive) – but this was the only car that was available that was also capable of carrying all of the luggage we had on our trip. If this had merely been a trip to the Finger Lakes, we may not have made the same decision – but the fact is that we still had a trip out to Ohio and back to come, and it was far more important to us to continue the trip and see our family than it was for us to be stingy. It doesn’t hurt that the Explorer was equipped with the surprisingly cool Microsoft Sync system, which easily hooked up to our iPods and allowed us to play any of our music using voice commands!

So anyway, we’re here in Ohio for a few more days, rental car and all. Then we’re headed out to Pennsylvania for a few days, then back up to New York to pick up our car which should hopefully be finished by the end of the week, then back home to Massachusetts. So far, with the exception of some unexpected expenses and a bit of stress, it’s been a great trip, and we’re looking forward to the remainder. I’m in the process of uploading photos from the trip so far; you can see them in our photo gallery, and check back frequently for new ones.

In closing, here’s the only photo I had the mind to shoot; a picture from my phone as our car was being towed away. You can’t see any of the damage, but there it is anyway.

Poor Subaru

Tent-acular!

We have a camping trip coming up, and wanted to get a new tent to give the four of us plenty of room to sleep, play, get dressed, etc. We wanted one that was not too expensive, but had more room than our previous four-person dome tent (which was barely big enough for us when it was just Rebecca, Catherine and I camping). So we did some research, and ended up buying this Coleman WeatherMaster Screened 6 Tent. Luckily it was on sale for cheaper than it’s listed now, and we had a number of Amazon gift cards to redeem!

The tent arrived earlier this week, and we set it up in our backyard last night! Here is a photo of the tent mostly set up (without the rain fly):

The Tent

One great thing about this tent is that, due to its “cabin” design, there is plenty of head room inside. I can actually stand upright and walk through the whole tent! It also has a room divider so we can have two separate rooms for sleeping. And it has a screen porch so that we can sit in the sun with a little bit of protection from flies. It also has a cool rigid, hinged door that opens and closes easily for quick entry/exit.

We are looking forward to putting it through its paces on our camping trip! You can see some more photos of the setup process in the New Tent gallery.

Father’s Day Weekend

It’s been a great but exhausting Father’s Day weekend! I have spent a ton of quality time with my family, doing all sorts of things!

Friday, after I got home from work, I went out and got some Thai food for dinner (Siam Delight, of course). After eating dinner, we drove up to Rockport to visit Halibut Point State Park. We had a nice, tiring time hiking around there and seeing the beautiful scenery.

The Girls

You can view more photos of our adventure in the Halibut Point gallery.

On Saturday, after heroically rescuing Mama who had suffered a flat tire on her bike ride, Catherine and I went out to Home Depot and picked up some supplies I needed for a few projects around the house. One of the gutters had some spikes that had popped out, and I got a set of gutter screws and ferrules to replace them and create a better hold for the gutter. I also got a strip of metal to make a nice transition between the flooring in our laundry area and the flooring in our new family closet. When I got home, I worked on these projects (both successful) while the girls worked on making some strawberry jam and a strawberry rhubarb pie.

Saturday night, we ate dinner at Qdoba. They had provided a BOGO coupon for Father’s Day weekend, and while we’re much bigger fans of Chipotle, we couldn’t pass up the opportunity for one free entree. At home we enjoyed the strawberry rhubarb pie that Rebecca had made. Mmmm… delicious.

Sunday morning, I received some great Father’s Day gifts! I got a Nikon DSLR Mode Dial decal for my MacBook Pro (by Suzie Automatic):

DSLR Decal

I also got a new tin of shaving soap (by Ethically Engineered):

Shaving Soap

And I got another book in the series of attempts to build up a library of children’s books that refer to fathers as “Papa:” “I Love You, Papa, In All Kinds Of Weather.” I have the sweetest and most thoughtful wife and kids!

Also in the “Papa” vein, I received a picture frame with “Papa’s Pride and Joy” printed on it, to be filled with a favorite photo of my favorite girls.

On Sunday after church, we drove up to Portsmouth, NH. We had lunch at Dos Amigos Burritos, a favorite of Rebecca’s from when she worked at Strawbery Banke. After lunch, we boarded the M/V Thomas Laighton of the Isles of Shoals Steamship Company for a Father’s Day cruise! The cruise lasted three hours, and took us around Portsmouth Harbor, and then nine miles out to sea to the Isles of Shoals, a group of small islands on the border of Maine and New Hampshire. We hadn’t been out to the Isles of Shoals before, so it was a very cool experience. The boat was somewhat similar to the Island Queen which we occasionally take to Martha’s Vineyard.

Isles of Shoals Lighthouse

Of particular interest to me was Star Island, which is owned by the Star Island Corporation (which, frankly, sounds like something out of LOST or some other science fiction series). The corporation runs a conference center, mainly catering to religious groups such as the UCC and UU churches, but also open to other conferences (in particular, I noticed a digital photography workshop scheduled there later this year… hmm…).

You can see all of the photos from Portsmouth and the Isles of Shoals cruise.

It’s hard to believe, but this is my fifth Father’s Day! This has been the best one so far. I am so fortunate to have two great girls – funny, clever, creative, loving, caring. And to have a wife who is also a great mother and very supportive of my fathering. I’m looking forward to many more Father’s Days, and many more days, weeks, months and years with my family! I love you girls!

Papa, Catherine (and Esme!!)

Family Closet

Some time around the new year I got it into my head that we should have a family closet. One space for all our clothes, nicely organized, easy to access and, most importantly, close to our washer and dryer. Inspired by the Duggars, I set to work planning such a space in our house. Fortunately for me, we had a bit of space that would be perfect- the back corner of our basement, currently being used as a storage room. Unfortunately for me, the room was a) not a ‘finished’ room and b) was full of ‘storage’.

We spent the first few months of the year discussing and dreaming and researching the idea of a family closet. There’s not a whole lot out there on the topic, but we did find this site as well as checking out photos of the Duggar’s closet. We don’t need to store as many clothes as they do, but I’m sure you get the idea!

As we researched we brainstormed reasons that we wanted to rethink our current clothes storage situation

Our bedrooms are small and the bureaus are taking up precious space better used for other purposes
Getting clean clothes put away was bothersome due to varied sleeping schedules and distance from the laundry area
Collecting up dirty clothes was tedious
Clothes were disorganized and hard to access in too small closets and too dark bedrooms
Laundry for four people was multiplying and taking over, we had no clear plan to manage the piles.

In May we took the plunge and started the remodel. We took everything out of the storage room and piled it in the living room. It was an embarrassing amount of stuff. Over the next week or two we went through each and every box and pile and consolidated, freecycled, donated, tossed, or moved to the attic every last bit of it. Phew!

My Dad and Corey came at the beginning of June and put drywall on the wall that needed it, put down subflooring and flooring and cut and installed the baseboard trim. Peter and Catherine primed and painted the room white. I served as forewoman making important decisions and making helpful comments like, “I would sure help with all that heavy lifting, but, darn, I have this baby to nurse and this backyard wading pool to lifeguard…”

We’ve just finished moving everything in. The storage items that made the cut have been put back on the shelving unit just inside the door. Paint and other tools and such are tucked under the staircase. The two bureaus from the bedrooms have been tucked into their own corners and filled with our, recently sorted, clothes. There’s a rack (and a pipe in the ceiling) for our hanging clothes and some other organizers here and there. With the addition of a braided rug from my parent’s attic, we now have a cozy little place to get dressed and fold laundry.

Though we’re still in the honeymoon phase, we’re optimistic about our new setup. Some of the benefits we’re hoping to reap from the change

Dirty laundry all in one place
Quick and easy transfer of clean laundry from line or dryer to drawers
Brightly lit room means it’s easier to find what you want
Peter can dress in the morning without waking anyone else
We can see all of our stuff clearly which means we won’t buy duplicates and can easily purge what we aren’t wearing
Room upstairs to shuffle some other furniture around and some ‘breathing space’ in our bedrooms

There are a few more photos of the room and it’s progression in this gallery. Check them out and come back here with your questions and comments. We love a good discussion here at World Wide Wood!

Memorial Day and Catherine’s Birthday

Over Memorial Day weekend, we visited Martha’s Vineyard and celebrated Catherine’s birthday. Rebecca’s parents have a cottage on the Vineyard, and having a celebration of Catherine’s birthday there has become a tradition.

While we were staying on the Vineyard, I did a lot of reading, Rebecca did a lot of bicycling, and Catherine and Esme did a lot of playing. I took the girls to the playground a few times, Rebecca and I went out for lunch at the Plane View Restaurant, we had some delicious home-cooked meals and enjoyed great hospitality thanks to Ken and Dianne.

The highlight of the weekend was Catherine’s birthday party on Sunday afternoon. We had some friends from the campground come over. There were balloon animals, rocket balloons, bubble wands and bubble guns, butterfly cake, and many laughs.

Catherine at her party

I also enjoyed a ‘digital vacation’ of sorts, thanks to inspiration from Leo Babauta of mnmlist.com. I didn’t access the internet at all while I was away, from Saturday morning through Monday evening. It made the weekend much more enjoyable – gave me more time to think, more time to take in my surroundings, and more time to relax and slow down. I’d definitely consider doing it again. I had decided to take this ‘digital vacation’ in advance of our trip, but it didn’t hurt that it just so happened the internet connectivity at the Lowes’ cottage wasn’t working while we were there…

To see all of the photos from our weekend, check out the gallery.

Four Years?

My, how time has flown. As of four years ago, Facebook was only available to college and high school students and Twitter hadn’t yet been opened to the public. We were still living in a basement apartment in downtown Beverly, MA, and we were wondering when we were going to have our baby. And then, Catherine came along. Things haven’t been the same since! Here is a photo montage of her first four years:

Watching her grow up has been the most amazing experience. She went from a little tiny thing who didn’t do much more than lay there to a girl who can ride a tricycle like lightning down the sidewalk. She is constantly dazzling us with her observations about the world, her memory of people, events, and places, her ability to read, her wide range of emotions and facial expressions, and her ability to love her friends and family. If you haven’t met Catherine, you’re really missing out on a treat!

We’re glad to be her parents, and we are looking forward to whatever the future holds for her! Happy fourth birthday, Catherine!

Touch a Truck

On our way home from church today, we noticed that “Touch a Truck” was going on outside of the Cummings Center! We pulled a hard right, parked, and spent a half hour walking around and exploring the various large trucks that were parked for all to see. It’s a fun event for everyone, especially little kids. Catherine may have been the only kid who looked for and buckled the seat belt on every truck she got into.

Catherine in the driver's seat

You can see all of the Touch a Truck photos in our gallery.

Purgatory Chasm

I wanted to go on an adventure this weekend. Rebecca did some research and came up with Purgatory Chasm State Reservation. It’s just over an hour away from Danvers in Sutton, MA. There is an incredible geological formation, a chasm with walls up to 70 feet high. Its floor is filled with a mish-mash of rocks and boulders. The trail through it is only a half mile long, but you must scramble up and down and around rocks the entire way through.

Chasm

Before we hit the Chasm, however, we met our friends Becky and Derek and their kids Sarah and Nathan at the playground which is also a part of the park. We had lunch and the older girls played in the playground. One of the craziest features of this playground was a sort of overgrown merry-go-round, which Catherine dubbed “the roundabout.” It had a huge pole in the middle, and a rope net surrounding it in a cone shape, so that riders could climb up the inside or outside. So basically a few dozen kids would pile inside, a few crazy adults would get the thing going, and the kids would scream their lungs out while enjoying the ride. Catherine loved it, even after a couple of rough falls. Here’s a photo of the contraption:

The "Roundabout"

So we ended up spending a bit more time at the playground than I’d originally expected… but eventually we made it over to the Chasm itself. Esme had the best seat in the house as the other three of us scrambled up and down the rocks.

Mama and Esme

Catherine was a wee bit tired and insisted on being carried through various parts of the Chasm. We didn’t end up hiking through the whole length of it, but we did get to see quite a few of the rock formations, and saw several rock climbers rappelling down some of the cliff walls.

Rock Climber

The park itself was pretty well laid out, with a good visitor center, picnic areas, parking, and trails. I’d recommend it as a good day trip for folks in Massachusetts… roughly an hour drive from the Boston area. Come well rested and ready for the hiking and scrambling, and for the playing in the playground if you have young ones.

You can see all of our photos from Purgatory Chasm in our gallery.

Changes for PRWPHOTO

A little less than a year ago, I had the idea to start a photography business. I jumped into things enthusiastically, set up a website, contacted prospective clients, and even did a few photo shoots. However, I’ve found that over the past year, I simply haven’t had the time or the energy to build up the business. I have a full time job that requires a lot of energy and creativity, and leaves me feeling mentally exhausted every day when I get home. I have two kids who I spend a lot of time with. I have a wife to love and support. I have work to do around the house and other personal and family matters to tend to. There simply isn’t enough of me left over to engage in a business venture.

It’s unfortunate that it’s taken me this long to figure that out, because I’ve spent too much time worrying about how I could get some more clients, how I was going to have enough time to do marketing, advertising, and planning, and when I was going to fit these photo sessions in, should they come along. So, as of right now, I’ve decided to shut down Peter R. Wood Photography as a business. When I made the decision earlier today, I felt a great sense of relief and freedom, knowing that I could devote more of my thoughts and emotions to the more important things in life.

I am also excited because I now feel free to go back to enjoying photography. I’d love to revive http://prwphoto.net/ as a personal photography site. A place where I can talk about photographic technique and camera gear, show off photos I’ve taken, and share my love for the art. But I’m not going to worry too much about when or how I’ll get that online. You’ll still see my newest photos here on the blog, or on SmugMug, Flickr, or linked on Twitter or Facebook.

And I’ll still be more than happy to take photos for you, but I’m not going to spend any time or money marketing it, and I’m not going to charge anything for it. I’ll do it because you’re my friends or family, or a really cool or interesting person, and because I love taking photos. If you want me to take photos for you, just let me know!

Wood Family Round-up

Here’s what’s been going on with the Wood family recently!

If you haven’t been following Rebecca Rides, head over and check it out. Rebecca has been stepping up her training rides for the Pan-Mass Challenge. I’ve been pitching in, too, taking charge of the girls while Mama is out on her rides. Sometimes we go out and do fun things, like go to the playground down the street or to the lovely Lynch Park. I’m happy to be able to help, and excited to see Rebecca enjoying her rides and becoming more confident.

This past week was Bring Your Child To Work day. I brought both Catherine and Esme for a few hours on Thursday morning. I gave them a brief tour around the warehouse and then they hung out with some of our designers and drew on the whiteboard. I appreciate my co-workers for putting up with the girls for a little while. The girls definitely enjoyed it… Catherine had been talking about coming to work with me practically since last year.

Catherine with co-workers

In the photography department, I’m working on some new ideas for Peter R. Wood Photography, and hopefully you’ll be hearing about them soon. I also recently attended a photography seminar and learned a few things that will help me with the photography biz.

One of Esme’s favorite things recently is sitting in the little adirondack rocking chair in our living room, rocking and playing with a toy phone. She also likes to grab books and bring them over to us to read. She loves helping clean things up and put them away, almost as much as she loves taking them out. Catherine is loving reading, too, and is showing us her ability to read more and more every day. She’s even started writing (via dictation) and reading emails. So if you want to email her, please do! She’ll read it (with some help from Mama and Papa) and write back! You can contact her via our contact page, or via her email address which, if you know Rebecca’s or mine, is exactly what you’d expect.

Want more? I’m guessing most of our readers are friends on Facebook as well, but if not, you can friend me or Rebecca for lots more updates. I also post frequently on Twitter.

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