Today’s Boston Photowalk

Some days I just need to get away and shoot some photos off on my own! Today was one of those days… so I headed down to my favorite destination, Boston, and strolled around.

Looking Up

View more photos from my walk in the gallery.

Myopia Sled Dog Races

Just last week I had heard via Twitter that there would be sled dog races taking place in South Hamilton. Interested in this unique type of event, I made plans with the family to head up and see them.

On Saturday we drove up to South Hamilton for the 9am start of the race, and found a parking spot near one of the spectating points. Catherine became busy in exploring the surrounding area, made friends with some other kids who were building tunnels in the snow, made some snow angels, and took some walks with me while we waited to see the dogs.

Papa and Catherine

We waited for a while, hanging near the volunteers who were getting updates on the progress of the race. It seems that the start of the first race was delayed. We watched as snowmobiles raced back and forth along the track, volunteers groomed and cleared snow, and some cross-country skiers came through. The crowd continued to grow as we waited. At long last (about an hour and a half after we arrived) the first dogs ran past!

Skijoring

The first race was one with which we were unfamiliar, Skijoring. This race is essentially dog-assisted cross-country skiing. I was a bit surprised when they came around the corner and there was no sled. Since that was my only exposure to “sled dog racing,” that’s what I had been expecting. In any case, there were three or four competitors in the race, and they raced out past us and then came back. Some of the dogs raced wildly off the track, while others seemed a bit more controlled.

Beautiful Dogs

By the time the Skijorn finished, the girls were getting pretty antsy and cold and hungry, and Rebecca had an appointment to keep, so we sadly had to depart the race. Perhaps next year the race won’t start quite as late, or maybe they could provide text messaging updates on the morning of the race as to when it was actually going to start.

We have many photos from the race in our gallery, including quite a few of Catherine’s adventures along the track.

Snowy Service at Dane Street

Today we braved the snow (not too hard thanks to our trusty Subaru and its all-wheel drive) and drove to Dane Street for church this morning. There were a few dozen brave souls there, and we all congregated a bit closer together than usual. Catherine bounced around from pew to pew, hanging out with various friends during the service (as there was no children’s church today).

Catherine with Susie and Kelsey

It may have taken a bit more work to get out than normal, but we wanted to be sure to go, since we’re going to be out in Townsend with Rebecca’s family for Christmas Eve and will be missing our own church’s service. It was a great last Sunday service before Christmas.

More pics here.

Snowy Sunday

Rebecca is outside engaging in one of her favorite winter pastimes, shoveling snow. I’m not lying – she loves pushing around that chilly white stuff. So I took the opportunity to snap a few photos of the ‘Category 4 Kill Storm’ as our friend Christine calls it.

Shoveling Pro

More photos in our Gallery.

Any snow in your neck of the woods? We are planning to head to church as usual this morning (not cancelled). Should be interesting to see who else makes the journey out.

Squeezing out the last drops of Summer

With Summer slowly winding down to a close, we’re trying to squeeze out all the outdoor goodness that we can, particularly in terms of outings with the whole family. There is no better way for me to unwind after a day at work than to come home, jump in the car with the ladies and head to a park, beach, or other destination. I wanted to share a few photos from some recent outings.

Papa and Esme at Wingaersheek

Wingaersheek Beach is a terrific beach up in Gloucester that is normally pretty pricey. But get there late enough in the day, and the ticket booths are closed, so you can go for free. Above, Esme and I pose for a photo on the beach. She loves riding on my shoulders! See more photos from Wingaersheek.

Catherine at the wading pool

Bradley Palmer State Park has a very nice wading pool and play area. It’s extremely popular with the kiddos on hot summer days, and the cost is $5 to park, if you’re lucky enough to get in before the lot fills up. Kids can have a ball in the pool while mom and/or dad relax poolside, or join in the fun if they so desire. And there is a playground in the same space, so your little ones can go wild and run from the water directly to the playground and back. We took a picnic up there and had a blast in the pool. See more photos from the Bradley Palmer Wading Pool.

Catherine climbs a tree

Today we took a trip up to Manchester-by-the-Sea. Our intent was to visit Coolidge Reservation and the Ocean Lawn, but the 10-slot parking lot was filled up, so we turned around and went back to downtown Manchester where we had a picnic at Masconomo Park. The park is situated right on the waterfront, and has a great grassy area, a nice playground, some really cool climbing trees, and views of the Manchester harbor. It’s also dangerously close to Captain Dusty’s, a local ice cream shop, to which we made a delicious trip. Try the “Groovy Smoothie” if you go there. It’s $4.99, but worth every penny for its deliciousness. See more photos from Masconomo Park.

There are still a few weeks of summer left, so who knows what adventures we may still have?

Our Weekend Getaway

On Saturday, we dropped Catherine off with her Nonni and Grandpa, and headed down to Boston for a weekend excursion! We drove in and parked at the Boston Common parking garage ($22 for the weekend, not bad) and walked in the chilly weather down to our hotel.

We stayed in the Marriott at Copley Place, thanks to a gift card we got from Ken and Dianne last Christmas.

From our room on the 21st floor, we had a terrific view of the southwest part of the city, including the South End.

A good portion of our time was spent lounging in the hotel room, vegging out, watching TV, and relaxing.

We had lunch at b. good, a favorite stop of ours.

We had a *very* nice dinner at Stephanie’s on Newbury, courtesy of a gift card I won at work last year. We brought our desserts back to the room and watched Wall-E on pay-per-view on the room’s huge TV.

We also enjoyed the nighttime views from our hotel room.

Did I mention the views from our hotel room?

Overall it was a very enjoyable weekend. Our main goal was just to veg out and enjoy good food, quiet rest, pleasant company, and comfortable accommodations. We were pretty pleased with the view from our hotel room, if you couldn’t tell. If we stretched, we could see the Charles River on the far right of our window, and the Southeast Expressway on the far right. This will probably be the last chance we have to take a weekend away with just the two of us for quite some time, what with baby #2 due to arrive in eight weeks or so. It was definitely worth it.

You can see all of the photos from our Boston Weekend.

It sounds like Catherine had a good time while we were away, too, thanks to Nonni and Grandpa!

North Shore Birth Center

Beverly Hospital, where our daughter Catherine was born, offers a Birth Center as one of its services. It is offered for women with low-risk pregnancies who want a comfortable environment to pursue a natural and unmedicated childbirth.

The management of Beverly Hospital has brought a proposal to the hospital’s Board of Trustees to stop allowing births at the Birth Center, apparently due to a sharp increase in malpractice insurance premiums. Today, the Board decided to postpone taking a vote on the issue, thanks in large part to supporters of the Campaign to Save the North Shore Birth Center. The Campaign has organized letter-writing campaigns, sent emails to board members, and gathered together a group of supporters to rally outside the hospital’s grounds today just as the Board was to meet this morning.

Rebecca and I support what the Birth Center does, even though Catherine wasn’t born there and our next child won’t be born there. So I wanted to explain why we support them. Natural childbirth is the practice of a woman going through labor and delivery of a baby without the aid of medications for pain relief, speeding up labor, etc. A natural childbirth can be had anywhere: Rebecca gave birth to Catherine without the aid of medication right in a normal labor and delivery room at Beverly Hospital. Other moms have natural births right at home, or in places like the North Shore Birth Center.

One might ask why the Birth Center needs to exist when a natural childbirth, like ours, can take place at a hospital. One advantage of the Birth Center is that it’s specifically geared towards natural childbirth. In a regular labor and delivery ward, all of the options are available to you, and even if you go in with the intent to do things naturally, it is very easy to make the quick decision to switch to medication. In the Birth Center, those options aren’t readily available – you’d have to be moved over to the hospital to receive any medication. So if you’re completely intent on a natural childbirth and don’t want to bother with the possible distractions of labor and delivery in a medical setting like a hospital, the Birth Center may be for you.

As I mentioned, we were able to have a natural childbirth right in the hospital, thanks to having written up and distributed a birth plan, having some great and supportive nurses, and lots and lots of personal determination. We’re thankful that we were at the hospital to give birth, because Catherine had some complications after she was born and needed immediate attention. Had she given been born at the Birth Center, the time it took to transfer her to the hospital could have led to even greater complications. As it was, they were able to rush her up to the hospital’s special care nursery right away, and then down to Brigham and Women’s Hosptial in Boston. However, the vast majority of births occur without these sorts of complications, and the Birth Center is readily able to handle them.

We have friends who’ve used the Birth Center, and we know that many other people want to have it as an option. It’s been a great option for women for nearly 30 years, is one of only two in our state, and it would truly be sad if the hospital removed this option purely because of a business decision. I’m hopeful that the delay in voting will give the Board time to discuss the issue and give supporters time to make their cases.

If you’re interested in learning more, head over to the site for the Campaign to Save the North Shore Birth Center.

Update: For reference, here is the recently-released official statement from the hospital’s Board of Trustees:

OFFICIAL STATEMENT FROM BEVERLY HOSPITAL (November 18, 2008): The Board of Trustees takes its responsibilities to this organization and to the community very seriously. Consistent with other birth centers around the nation, the North Shore Birth Center is experiencing a significant rise in the cost of malpractice insurance premiums. The Board of Trustees is diligently weighing the impact that the closure of the Birth Center would have on the community; the level of community interest in its continued operation has not gone unnoticed. The Board intends to leave the Birth Center services unchanged while it continues to examine and discuss this