How to Navigate this Blog

Sorry folks, but there doesn't seem to be an order in which we can post things other than chronological. So please drop-down all the headings for each month in the Blog Archive below in order to find those items of interest to you. We've tried to label them clearly.

Or you can just scroll down the whole page to see all posts.

9.04.2011

Rainier is considering a restraining order

Yup, Kieran and Amy were in town, so for the third consecutive weekend we visited Mt. Rainier. No pictures this time since I can't find my battery charger and Courtney forgot hers, but when we get some from Kieran and Amy I'll post them. We ran into a ranger at the Grove of the Patriarchs who kind of looked at us funny when we said we'd visited three weeks in a row. She pointed out some huckleberries to us, though, and another ranger let us into the closed parking lot at Paradise under the theory that a 10 month old and a woman who is 6 months pregnant is equivalent to having a handicapped parking pass.

8.28.2011

Rainier Again




Second weekend in a row at Mt. Rainier- this time at Sunrise with G&GG. Next weekend Kieran and Amy are in town so maybe we'll get the trifecta. The combination of beautiful mountain and beloved granddaughter left G&GG gesticulating wildly for most of the trip.















Because of the late melt, we hadn't seen too many wildflowers earlier in the year, but they were really out this time.






















We did the Dege peak trip from Sunrise, which is a ridge hike with views in all directions. Mt Baker was out in the distance to the north, and Rainier constantly loomed over us.


















Eden did a good job as she was carried up by her dad and down by her mom, making friends and waving at all of the other hikers.




















This will be the last post of the 'summer of Eden'- school starts for me tomorrow and she'll be back in daycare on Thursday when the grandparents leave. I'll try to keep posting now and then but it was a fun summer and great to get to spend the time with her.

8.26.2011

10 months!

Eden is ten months old today- she had a very nice day with G&GG, and when Courtney got home Eden got a card and presents in the back yard. Her dad celebrated the day by having a bunch of dental work done. Luckily blogging doesn't require him to speak.


8.20.2011

Mt. Rainier




Hi Everybody,

We finally made the Mt. Rainier trip we planned on last weekend- probably better off since we had a good week of sun and a lot more snow had melted. We may go again next weekend with Grandma and Grandpa, but we wanted to make sure we had a trip where we could do the hikes they would disapprove of. So we got to hike across snow, across waterfalls, and up to the edges of cliffs, sorry G&GG.
We tried to do a loop trail to Faraway Rock, starting from the west side of Reflection Lake.


















Then we lost track of the trail pretty quickly on the High Lakes side and had to go back.
We decided we still wanted to see Faraway Rock (I mean how far could it be?) so we hiked to the other side of Reflection Lake along the road. We also discovered what happens when the person who volunteers to take your photo is handed the camera on movie mode.
We soldiered on, up a pretty steep slope until we got to the Rock, which had one of the best views we've ever seen at Rainier.




























Eden already seems excited about the Wonderland Trail, but if she wants Mom or Dad to come with her we will need to get into much better shape.














On our way back to the car, we finally got a picture to show why it is called reflection lake.














We ended up in a very large traffic jam trying to get to Paradise, so we ended up leaving and heading down to Longmire where we had a pretty nice view to go with our sandwiches.















The mountain always gets washed out but here is the close-up.














We did a quick trip along the trail of shadows, and then back we went. Only one more week of vacation before school starts again, I'm suspicious that the frequency of posts will diminish then but I'll do my best.

take care,
John

8.15.2011

the zoo




















We tried the zoo again today and saw some hippos frolicking, some lions lounging, and some giraffes giraffing. In Eden's book the animals still lose handily to the excitement of seeing little kids. The animals are gaining on the fences that contain them in excitement value though, and we're pretty sure she noticed the giraffes.
We tried the petting zoo and Eden did briefly try petting one of the goats before deciding that this wasn't her thing. As you can tell by the pictures, the goat wasn't that thrilled either.

8.12.2011

Where are the golf courses?


We're going back to Mt. Rainier tomorrow, here is a picture of Eden holding her favorite golf ball and studying a large topographical map of the mountain in preparation.

8.08.2011

baby tries to eat watermelon, gets in fight with paparazzi
















Eden looking thoughtful in the backyard and considering eating watermelon.















The cameraman got too close.

8.02.2011

making progress

Eden is getting better and better at moving herself around- she really enjoys 'walking' sideways while steadying herself with her hands, and even is starting to stand and support herself between each stair as she climbs.

7.28.2011

Nine Months

So Eden is nine months old as of a couple days ago. Very exciting, she remains tall and strong even as she's leveled off in weight a bit. We've gotten some some nice thoughts sent our way via the phone and this Facebook thing that seems to be stealing the thunder of google blog somehow.
This blog will continue to provide unique content (except maybe on the Courtney posts) and things you can't find on Facebook like...















Eden drumming! She's actually pretty responsive to beat and percussion- we went to the Wallingford kids parade a few weeks ago and she really got excited when the drummers came by and started kicking her legs (somewhat) along with the beat.
and if that's not enough we have...


Eden swinging! as any good swing coach will tell you there are two key parts to a good swinging technique, the back and the forth. Eden is really quite good at both parts so I think she's got a future in this.
Okay, Eden is testing out my babyproofing techniques, so I'll see what she is up to but I'll be back with more content for the imaginary readers of this blog soon.

7.20.2011

Baby-Puppet Theater

Most of you suspected that this blog would eventually turn into movies about babies and puppets, so I'd like to proudly present the following, starring a young sasquatch from Vancouver who wants to become an Olympic goalie, a young raccoon from New York who wants to be the next Oscar the Grouch, and a young baby from Seattle who wears jeans and a helpful disposition.

and if that wasn't enough, here's an outtake.



and the other outtake, where the baby and the raccoon nail it, but the sasquatch and the cameraman are not on their game.


giant tree

and here's Eden in our backyard by a giant tree.

7.18.2011

Eden's first trip to Mt. Rainier



We all went to Mt. Rainier today when Eden woke up- first to Sunrise, which Courtney and I had never visited. A bit cloudy, but little Tahoma peak was visible and the mountain came out at points. We did a little walk along the service road since all of the trails are still pretty deep in snow.
The picture is of Courtney and Eden along that road with little Tahoma peak and a stream in the background. Sorry, Courtney- I took two and your eyes were closed in both.

After a few brief stops along the Sunrise road and me picking up an Israeli hitchhiker, we drove down to the Grove of the Patriarchs where we ran into all of the people we met at Sunrise including said hitchhiker. The other photo is of Eden and I in the grove by the edge of the largest tree. You'll have to believe us on that, the tree is really big. We'll go back again later this summer to the rest of the park, hopefully this will include video of Eden climbing Mt. Rainier or walking the 93 mile long Wonderland trail.


















7.15.2011

Summer with Dad

This could be the beginning of regular summer Eden updates on this blog as she and I hang out, but I'm sure no one checks this anymore. So a special prize to the first person who notices that there is a new post (warning: the special prize is just recognition in a future blog entry). In any case, here is a video of Eden that shows her love of cameras.

4.30.2011

First food part 2

The video John posted the other day of Eden's first encounter with banana is hilarious... if you can see it. Unfortunately it seems like blogger doesn't post it in as high a res as it looks on John's computer. So here are some stills to give you the idea. I'll let the sequence speak for itself.











4.28.2011

First Food

Eden has been trying to take our food for a while so now that she's six months old we decided to start her out with mashed up bananas. Courtney even dressed her in her banana hat and used the suit as a cape. Luckily, I captured this milestone on video.

4.26.2011

6 months!


So six months ago today, Eden was born. She celebrated today by throwing her hands in the air like she just didn't care and embracing her conflicted relationship with her blocks. We're excited and plan to introduce food soon, expect video of that soon.

take care,
John

4.24.2011

Easter

Easter: 2011

So we'll try video for the first time- we had a fun Easter where Eden tried on a number of dresses. Two were Courtney's when she was a baby and one was a gift from Grandma and Grandpa Garnevicus (or G&GG as they like to be abbreviated). The one video tries to capture Eden giggling (somewhat successful but not as good as the minute before we started taping), and the other is her father's cruel trick of putting flowers just out of reach. You can hear Grandma Lenni in the background; we've had her helping out for the last week so Eden's been having a lot of fun. Eden went to her first zoo yesterday- she doesn't get animals yet, but she loves seeing all the people around. She also loves the fences that surround the animals. Pretty much all parts of the zoo except the animals, really.

take care,
John

4.18.2011

Monday, April 18th


So this is Eden as of today- I considered putting up older photos in whatever order I wanted, but then it might seem like she was rapidly growing and shrinking.



Hi Everybody,

As Courtney says on the main page, we've decided to take our wedding website and make it a baby website. As you might be able to tell from the pile of beverages behind and to the right of Eden's head in the first picture, we all went to Costco today. She enjoys going out right now- everyone smiles at her and tells her how beautiful she is. So pretty much the same reasons I like to go out. She's also pretty happy sitting up these days, even as her parents grow more experimental in what kind of seats they're willing to use. Her Lenni is arriving tomorrow so she'll have a nice surprise when she gets picked up from daycare. In any case, I will try to keep this blog heavy on pictures and videos and light on text, but this seems like as good a way as any to get advice on parenting from weirdos on the internet.

take care,
John

7.4.09

Save the Date!

When: Saturday, July 4, 2009
Where: Forster Farm / Nelson, WI 54756

This is the farm John's mom grew up on, and has been his parents' permanent residence since they retired and moved there from the Bronx in the summer of 2007.

Nearest major airport: Minneapolis-St Paul (about 2 hours)
Nearest major city: Eau Claire, WI (about 45 minutes)