Garnevowels

Rainier is considering a restraining order

2011-09-04T06:44:00.000-07:00

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.

Rainier Again

2011-08-28T20:19:00.001-07:00

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.

10 months!

2011-08-26T19:04:00.001-07:00

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.

Mt. Rainier

2011-08-20T20:55:00.000-07:00

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

the zoo

2011-08-15T23:02:00.001-07:00

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.

Where are the golf courses?

2011-08-12T12:57:00.001-07:00

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.

baby tries to eat watermelon, gets in fight with paparazzi

2011-08-08T22:29:00.000-07:00

Eden looking thoughtful in the backyard and considering eating watermelon.

The cameraman got too close.

making progress

2011-08-02T11:48:00.000-07:00

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.

Nine Months

2011-07-28T10:32:00.000-07:00

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.

Baby-Puppet Theater

2011-07-20T16:17:00.000-07:00

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

2011-07-20T16:16:00.001-07:00

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

Eden's first trip to Mt. Rainier

2011-07-18T22:31:00.000-07:00

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.

Summer with Dad

2011-07-15T14:22:00.000-07:00

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.

First food part 2

2011-04-30T21:13:00.000-07:00

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.

First Food

2011-04-28T21:57:00.000-07:00

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.

6 months!

2011-04-26T21:13:00.000-07:00

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

Easter

2011-04-24T19:36:00.000-07:00

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

Monday, April 18th

2011-04-18T22:07:00.000-07:00

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

A heads-up on Sunday

2009-06-25T09:41:00.000-07:00

For those who will still be in town, we'll be having a lunchtime gathering at the farm on Sunday the 5th following the wedding. It will also function as a family reunion for all the local Forsters, so come over and meet the extended Garnevicus family! Enjoy a BBQ and what we anticipate will be a generous amount of leftover food, wine, and beer. More info soon.

Rehearsal + Dinner

2009-06-16T20:30:00.000-07:00

Here is the plan for Friday, July 3.

5 pm: Bridal and groomal parties, please join us at the farm for a rehearsal.

6:30 pm: All guests who are in town by this time, please join us for the rehearsal dinner.

Lyster Parish Hall
W1803 County Road D
Urne, WI 54756

If this means you, please RSVP to our Evite.

Looking forward to seeing everyone very soon!

Mailing RSVP cards

2009-05-14T10:07:00.000-07:00

So, the price of postcard postage went up 1 cent (by the way, there's no longer a "cent" symbol on keyboards?!) on May 11. We postaged our RSVP cards for 27 cents, but it now requires 28 cents for them to reach us. Please add 1 cent to your RSVP card before sending, and/or contact us by phone or email to accept/regret. Sorry!

PS: Many people have expressed a desire to hold on to the cards rather than mailing them back to us, because they're so pretty. While we think that's awesome, we also want you to know that we are planning to have coasters printed with the same design available at the wedding, so if you are attending you'll have another chance at a copy of that image for your very own.

Directions to the farm

2009-05-03T16:02:00.000-07:00

We meant to include these in the invite, but since we'd have to have the rundown from Eau Claire, from Wabasha, from the airport, etc... Well, we didn't quite get around to putting all that together.

Then we were going to post the directions here online, but we realized that we didn't want everyone in the blogosphere (ha! OK, just wanted to use that word) to know exactly how to get to John's parents' private house.

So instead we'll be emailing out directions to attendees as it gets closer to the date, and/or you can call or email us if you'd like to know more in the meanwhile.

Saga of invites

2009-05-03T13:42:00.000-07:00

Almost all invites are done and out as of yesterday, and should be making their way to you soon! (Those couple slackers who haven't gotten us your addresses yet, please do so ASAP.)

As mentioned in an earlier post, the invites were designed and printed by our friend Allison Baer, one of Courtney's coworkers at Tacoma Art Museum. Allison is the artist behind Lettuce Press in Tacoma, and the proud owner of a 1907 printing press that she keeps in her living room. She did a lot of work this past week, and Courtney helped some, to get 100 or so poster-invites, matching envelopes, and accompanying RSVP postcards 2-color printed on aformentioned press.

Here are some pictures of the process:

Allison's printing area in the livingroom; mixing the ink. Allison mixed the blue to match exactly with Courtney's wedding dress, and the green to match the chartreuse envelopes we ordered.

Courtney and Allison operate the press; Allison tools with the plate for the invite.

The invites and RSVP card after the first round of ink -- just the blue. We did them all on white paper, then realized the blue looked even better on the chipboard (the cardboard material), so we made some on that, too. Luckily the green came out better on the original white, so it all worked out best in the end.

...And the final products, coming soon to a mailbox near you!

Registry

2009-04-11T18:38:00.001-07:00

You can check out our wedding registry at:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/registry/wedding/1KW9TV3PFD0M2

Or search for our names on the Amazon Weddings page.

...We were thinking about registering a couple places but then realized Amazon sells, like, everything in the world.

A note about the AmericInn

2009-03-22T15:04:00.000-07:00

Hi friends and family:

We've been getting mixed messages from one of the hotels we've got a block at, the AmericInn. (See original Lodging posting, 1.18.2009.) When one of our friends called to reserve, he was told that our block was full. We called to check on that and were told that while the hotel as a whole was filling up, our block actually still had a lot of space. Then another friend told us she, too, had been told that our block was full, and had to reserve a suite instead. Which, awesome as the Duck Decoy Suite is, still: Grr.

It seems like different representatives at the hotel are telling people different things, and sometimes just sending people along to central booking where they can't do anything about our block, anyway. We're trying to sort it out. In the meanwhile, please let us know if you're having any trouble with your reservations by commenting here or by emailing us.

Apologies, in advance, for the trouble.
And by the way, please make those reservations soon!

A plug for our talented friends

2009-03-08T16:35:00.000-07:00

Courtney's dress
Is being created by John's former colleague at Friends Seminary, math-teacher-turned-clothing-designer Karen Patwa. Karen is the owner of Dangerous Mathematicians, which you can (and should!) visit online or in person at her Lower East Side NYC boutique, 176 Rivington Street between Clinton and Attorney.

Our wedding invites
Are being designed and printed by Courtney's colleague at Tacoma Art Museum, Allison Baer. Allison is the letterpress artist behind Lettuce Press in Tacoma.

Talk to us

2009-03-07T14:03:00.001-08:00

We've created a new email address that we can both check (and that will sacrifice itself should we happen to find ourselves getting lots of spam from posting it here!). So if you have any questions or would like to let us know that you are or aren't coming, please email us here.

Please also use this email to send us your mailing address!! Chances are we don't have it, and even if we do we'd like to make sure we're right.

Some common questions

2009-01-18T23:41:00.000-08:00

Q: Which one of you is from Wisconsin?
A: Neither, we both grew up in New York.

Q: Is Courtney changing her name?
A: NO!! ...But she is trying to learn to respond to this question with less feminist rage and hostility.

Q: What's up with Garnevowels?
A: Courtney has been advocating for a combo name (Garnevowels, Vowelnevicus, Garnevowelicus...) for the kids, but John has pointed out that that is crazy. The long-winded compromise solution is a hyphenated Garnevicus-Vowels for the kids. Courtney is pretty sure John is counting on them just getting sick of it and dropping the Vowels part.

Q: What will the ceremony be like?
A: Well, as so often happens when a nice Catholic boy with Buddhist leanings marries a Secular Humanist-Taoist-Stoic-Atheist, we'll open with a silent Quaker meeting, followed by a non-denominational ceremony presided over by a progressive Presbyterian minister. Followed by lots of cheese. All will take place outdoors, with coed bridal and groomal parties.

Q: Seriously?
A: We promise it will be really lovely and nice and meaningful. After years of teaching at a Quaker school (Friends Seminary in NYC) John came to embrace the many virtues of silent meeting; we were both even more sure of this after attending a friend's Quaker wedding ceremony a couple years ago. The Reverend Joseph H. Gilmore of South Presbyterian Church is a phenomenal poet and thinker, a wonderful human being, and has known Courtney since she went to nursery school at his church in Dobbs Ferry, NY. He's also the father of our good friend Schuyler, who is in the wedding party. (It's the first wedding party with two Gilmores, that we know of.)

Q: "Silent"? For how long?
A: Don't worry, you can speak if the spirit moves you.

Q: Is that the farm in that picture up there?
A: That is an outhouse. The farm is larger.

Q: Can I wear white?
A: Not after Labor Day. But yes. The bride will be wearing blue. So don't wear blue.

Lodging

2009-01-18T21:53:00.000-08:00

We have blocks of 20 rooms apiece reserved at the following two hotels. Please book ASAP, as this weekend is a popular travel time in the area. The blocks will be released in mid-June.

AmericInn Wabasha
Wabasha, MN
http://www.americinn.com/hotels/MN/Wabasha

Wabasha is a lovely little Mississippi River town right on the border of Minnesota and Wisconsin. Local attractions include The National Eagle Center. If you're looking to make your 4th of July weekend as patriotic as possible, nothing beats staying at the AmericInn and visiting some eagles.

Courtney and John will be staying here. Please don't come knocking on our window in the middle of the night.
Suggested for the wedding party, friends, and the bride's family.
They have the following rooms held in the Vowels/Garnevicus wedding block: Standard Double Queen Rooms, $109.95, Standard King Rooms, $119.95, and Suites, $159.95 (may vary). There are AAA and AARP discounts. They have requested that you call the hotel directly for booking giving the Vowels/Garnevicus name. If you try to book from the website you may not get the wedding block rate.
The hotel is fairly new and the rate includes a full hot and cold breakfast each morning. They have a pool and sauna. The regular rooms are quite nice and spacious, with good bathrooms. The suites are unique: they are all custom decorated by local artisans or shops, and some have in-room jacuzzis. (You can see many of them on the website.) There is a pleasant lobby and breakfast area.
It is about half an hour from the farm and a little under two hours from the MSP Airport. They have a fixed-rate airport shuttle that drops off directly at the hotel.

The Plaza Eau Claire
Eau Claire, WI
http://www.plazaeauclaire.com

Eau Claire is a college town (John's mom graduated from UW-Eau Claire) of about 65,000. John's parents had their wedding reception at this hotel.

Suggested for the groom's family (it's closer to local relatives) and those looking for the comforts and conveniences of a city.
They have the following rooms held in the Vowels/Garnevicus wedding block: Perimeter Rooms, $79, Atrium Rooms, $89, and Tower Rooms, $95. The room rate includes up to four people; for five people, a rollaway bed is an additional $10. They have requested that you call the hotel directly for booking, giving either the Vowels/Garnevicus name or Group No. 6430 in order to get the wedding block rate.
This is a large hotel with 233 good-sized rooms. Amenities include a very nice pool, including kiddie pool and whirlpool; 24-hour pizza from the hotel desk; a restaurant open 6-2 and 5-9, as well as the attached Brewski’s Pub open until 2 am; plus a game room and workout room.
It is about an hour from the farm and about one and a half hours from the MSP Airport. They have a fixed-rate airport shuttle that drops off directly at the hotel; there are also public buses between the airport and Eau Claire.

In addition to these two options, there are a number of other local hotels, motels, and B&Bs, many of which have been kindly vetted and reviewed by Courtney's and John's moms (we've got a whole Word doc about them). There are also some camping and couch-crashing options for those on a tighter budget, or those who just really want to get in their farm time. Please contact us directly to find out more.

The Basics

2008-12-21T16:47:00.000-08:00

Courtney and John are getting married on July 4, 2009 on the Forster family farm (where John's parents now live) in the township of Nelson, Wisconsin.

Most of you are coming from afar (as are we) -- and we want to make that as easy as possible for you -- so we figured we should establish a central place you can come to learn more about our plans as they solidify.

We'll have more info soon on important stuff like lodging.

Ring

2008-12-21T16:04:00.000-08:00

For the proposal back in May, John picked out an amazing color-change sapphire, and had it put in a temporary setting. We then designed the final product together, with the help of the awesome and very talented Shelly at Greenlake Jewelry Works.

Here are some pics of Courtney's original sketches, the wax model, and how the ring finally turned out.