Late Saturday afternoon we took our inaugural hike as a threesome foursome with Henry in his Osprey hiking backpack! The pack was a very nice gift from my Grandma Alice, and we've been looking forward to using it since it arrived. Osprey says most babies are ready to hike at six months, but our boy is big, and seemed quite ready this weekend.
We planned to take a short hike as a test run, but missed a turn being jerks and gawking at a strange display of woodland cell phone usage. So, because we kept thinking that our turn must be, "around next bend" we ended up hiking about 7-8 miles.
It worked out well though, because aside from the short snooze he took right after we started walking, Henry spent the whole hike happily looking around and making funny noises.
When we finally realized that we'd missed our turn long ago, we took a side trail to a close-by viewpoint as a turn around. The view was pretty underwhelming, but we took the opportunity to try and take a family picture. Our best attempt was pretty terrible...
However, we did better taking turns...
I have a feeling the baby backpack will be well loved by all of us. It was great to be able to take a hike with all my guys on such a beautiful spring day...
I'm going to keep this brief because Henry has his very first cold, and for the last few days the sleep has been sparse and the snot abundant.
Since we moved into our house we've needed to do something about the duct-taped-together flooring. The project got a little more complicated and expensive than we would have liked, but so it goes.
We needed to be out of our house for most of the process, so we found an economical (and awesome) temporary home: a yurt!
We spent seven nights as yurt-dwellers, and it was a fun break from our usual scenery. Here are some pictures from the week...
So let's pretend like it hasn't been a year, and maybe I will just start blogging again? I'm not sure where to pick up, it has been a whirlwind (tornado?) of a year, but I'll start with the obvious-- we've doubled.
First came Duncan...
Duncan initially came to us in June. He got scared by a thunderstorm and ended up at our house because we had a large fire that night. He stayed for a couple nights before we found his owners-- owners who later showed up and asked if we wanted him (you know when the universe gives you a dog...). They called him Jigger. For what I think are some obvious reasons we renamed him Duncan.
Duncan likes eggs, squirrels, bodies of water, and the woods. He dislikes being left out, being left out, and being left out.
So far he has made a fine addition to the family.
Just a few short weeks later, but much longer in the making, came Henry.
Henry was the real surprise of the year/my life, but he's here and ohsocute. Tomorrow he will be seven weeks old, and recently started doing things like smiling and actually looking at the pictures in books (I think he's advanced). He also looks a bit plumper these days...
Henry likes the boob, the bath, cuddling, and his Papa. He dislikes bedtime and sleeping without a warm, breathing body next to him (I'm thinking about just letting him and Duncan sleep together).
Tomorrow is the winter solstice and our first wedding anniversary. We've really accumulated some adult responsibilities in the last year, and despite the challenges that come with adult responsibilities I feel so lucky to have such a sweet little family, and I look forward to the many adventures that lay ahead.
I'll wrap-up my comeback with a video that is sure to guarantee Henry's eventual rebellion against me...
On the shortest day of the year we signed some papers, consumed enough pizza, beer, and carrot cake to feed a small army, and slept in a little lakeside cabin. It was definitely the best wedding I have ever been to, and a sweet way to legally join myself to the man I love so much.
