Happy Belated Birthday, [Corey](http://corey.prwdot.org/)! Corey’s birthday was on Saturday, and we were so busy having fun with him that we didn’t have time to post wishes. 🙂
Also, happy six month birthday to Catherine! It’s hard to believe that half a year has already gone by with Catherine in our home.
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Corey and Catherine
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We’re headed out to spend Turkey Day with family. Before we go we’d like to wish you a
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May we all realize how fortunate we really are.
Well, hopefully sooner if possible. 🙂
It has become sort of a tradition (since last year, anyway) for us to take a trip out to the Midwest every fall. We do it in October because of a number of events: my birthday on the 6th, Dad’s birthday on the 15th, and our anniversary on the 26th. Also, the weather is not too hot, and tourist destinations are less crowded.
As you may have guessed from [Recent Diaper Changes](http://prwdot.org/2006/10/22/recent-diaper-changes/), we recently took this fall trip, from Friday, October 13 to Saturday, October 21. Here’s the low-down:
It’s Sunday night, and Becky and I are finally settling in to watch the season premiere of [The Amazing Race](http://www.cbs.com/primetime/amazing_race10/). Hooray! But here’s a summary of the rest of the weekend:
Friday
Friday night, I sent Becky and Catherine out of the house for the evening. They went to have dinner with Nonni, and I spent the evening cleaning the apartment. Floors, carpets, bathroom, kitchen, the whole works. It needed to be done.
Saturday
[Beverly Hospital](http://www.beverlyhospital.org/) hosted a birthday party for babies who spent time in its Special Care nursery. There were some activities for the older kids, as well as photos of all of the babies born in the past year or so. We saw a few of the nurses and doctors who worked with us while Catherine was in the nursery, and we recognized a couple from our childbirth class, as well as another couple who had twins in the nursery while we were there.
We also ran into Dan Cederholm, author of [Web Standards Solutions](http://www.simplebits.com/solutions/) and [Bulletproof Web Design](http://www.simplebits.com/publications/bulletproof/), and proprietor of [SimpleBits](http://www.simplebits.com/), at the party. I wasn’t expecting to see him there, but as we were walking around, I spotted a guy with a computer-ish shirt, then saw his name tag… aha! I don’t think I would have recognized him without the name tag. His baby, [Jack](http://www.simplebits.com/notebook/2005/12/20/jack.html), spent some time at the Beverly special care nursery. We struck up a conversation with Dan and his wife Kerry. They’re quite nice folks, and Jack is as [cute as can be](http://www.flickr.com/photos/simplebitsdan/sets/1621982/). Check out his [great hair](http://www.flickr.com/photos/simplebitsdan/243819470/in/set-1621982/)! We ended up meeting them for lunch at [Panera](http://www.panera.com/), since we were all under the (mistaken) impression that lunch would be served at the birthday party. 🙂 We had a nice time chatting about life as new parents.
[Here’s a few photos of Catherine from the party.](http://prwdot.org/gallery2/v/events/2006/special_care_birthday_party/)
After lunch, we headed home to get ready for [Art](http://kizoku.blogspot.com/) and [Leanne](http://leannennael.blogspot.com/)’s wedding. Our friend Beth was all too delighted to come and watch Catherine while we were at the wedding, so after we gave her the low-down on Catherine’s relatively simple needs, we headed down to Braintree for the wedding, and then to Boston for the reception. It was a very classy affair. We had a good time sitting at the “[CBD](http://www.christianbook.com/) Table” at the reception… 🙂
You can see the wedding photos [here](http://prwdot.org/gallery2/v/events/2006/art_leanne_wedding/).
Sunday
After church, we drove out to Worcester to have Sunday dinner at Grammy’s. Catherine got to meet a few new Quitadamo relatives, we had some delicious meatballs and pasta, and helped Grammy out with a few housekeeping tasks. Those of you with Family access can see some [photos from today](http://prwdot.org/gallery2/v/events/2006/sunday_dinner/).
Phew! Thankfully, we don’t have anything planned for next weekend. If we’re lucky, we’ll get to relax a bit. 🙂
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Happy Birthday, Nana! We enjoyed getting to see you when we were out for Johanna’s wedding, and it looks like Catherine enjoyed seeing you too… or at least you were a cozy place for a nap! 🙂
We hope that you have a great birthday!
Becky, Catherine and I went to Lynch Park yesterday, with a picnic dinner. Lynch Park was beautiful, as always, and the weather was particularly nice. We took a few photos, but I especially enjoy this one that Becky took of Catherine and me:
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You can see the rest of the photos [here](http://prwdot.org/gallery2/v/baby/dinner_lynch_park/).
Apparently, Catherine kept Becky busy all day today… so after we had dinner, Becky went out for an evening on her own. Catherine is hanging out here at the apartment with me, and wouldn’t you know it, but she conked out* to sleep just shortly after we got home. Go figure! I guess that she just looooooves to hang out with her mom! 😉
* Dontcha know, not 20 minutes after I wrote that, Catherine went nuts! I tried to feed her from a bottle, but she wouldn’t take it, so I put her in the front carrier and we cleaned up the apartment a bit. Then we went for a drive, and she did really conk out then, but she woke up when we got home, and just in the nick of time for Becky to feed her. 🙂
[Grand Illumination](http://www.mvcma.org/grand.htm) is pretty hard to explain in words, and it’s not any easier to explain with pictures. It’s really something you have to experience for yourself to fully understand. It’s sort of like Christmas without the presents… but even that doesn’t do it justice. In any case, Catherine and I both enjoyed our very first Grand Illumination, as well as several more days on MV. You can check out all of the photos from our visit [here](http://prwdot.org/gallery2/v/travels/2006/vineyard_august_14-20/). 🙂
This photo says it all:
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Happy Birthday to my Aunt Christine! Hope it was a good one for you. 🙂
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I’d like to wish a very happy (and apologetically belated) Happy 83rd Birthday to Pop-Pop! Sorry we missed you on the 11th! We’re glad that you and Nana were able to get to meet Catherine. I know that she loved getting to meet her Great Grandfather!
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The Woods
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I’m posting from the middle of a workend. 🙂
This past weekend, Becky, Catherine and I went to Martha’s Vineyard with [Jenny](http://raingirl3179.livejournal.com/) and her parents. We enjoyed seafood and [sunset](http://prwdot.org/gallery2/v/travels/2006/vineyard_20060812/P1110146.JPG.html) in [Menemsha](http://prwdot.org/gallery2/v/travels/2006/vineyard_20060812/P1110107.JPG.html), lots of relaxing around the cottage, some [beach time](http://prwdot.org/gallery2/v/travels/2006/vineyard_20060812/P1110106.JPG.html), some [napping](http://prwdot.org/gallery2/v/travels/2006/vineyard_20060812/P1110042.JPG.html), and [fun with Catherine](http://prwdot.org/gallery2/v/travels/2006/vineyard_20060812/P1110131.JPG.html). As always, a restful and relaxing weekend. I came back on Sunday night while Becky and Catherine stayed down in Oak Bluffs. I was at work today and I’ll be going in tomorrow, and then Wednesday morning I’m headed back down to spend the rest of the week and next weekend on the Vineyard. This will be my first time experiencing [Grand Illumination](http://www.mvcma.org/grand.htm), and I’m very excited. 🙂
You can see all of the photos from this past weekend [here](http://prwdot.org/gallery2/v/travels/2006/vineyard_20060812/).