Bluegrass for Babies 2013

Josephine & Beatrice find the best seats in the house.

If you're a local Cincinnatian, or looking for a reason to visit Cincinnati, be sure to follow Bluegrass for Babies and mark your calendar for this annual autumn event. It's grown by leaps and bounds since we went for the first time with our itty-bitty girls, but this is a case where growth is a good thing.  Picture a bluegrass concert on the Ohio River, surrounded by loads of booths of free hands-on kids activities with an earth-loving slant and the ticket proceeds going to support Children's Hospital. What's not to love?! This year's concert was threatened by rain that, instead of materializing and ruining the fun, decided to yield amazing skies instead.  Here are the highlights. Don't miss it next year! 

walking on sunshine

Thanks to the autumn light at Ault Park for making moments like these possible. Ault Park always carries a little extra sentimental magic for us. It's the place Louie proposed to me all those years ago. The place where my sister and her husband were married. And the place where I spent some of happiest days of my life as a new mom with baby Josie among a tight-knit circle of women who were figuring out motherhood right along beside me.  It's the place where Josie took some of her first steps. And where we took turns walking on sunshine this week.

Blueberry Girls: The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate (#TBT)

So, you know how there's this "thing" on social media called "Throwback Thursday?" If not, it's a "thing" where people post old photos in a world that's supposed to revolve around updates in real-time. So, instead of posting what you're doing now, you post a photo of what you were doing weeks, months, or even years ago.  In the spirit of Throwback Thursday (or #TBT to the instagrammers and tweeters of the world), I'm going to use Thursdays to catch up on events of the past that never made it to the blog.  Enjoy!

This week's Throwback Thursday takes us back to the summer when Josie and I hosted our mother/daughter bookclub meeting. The "Blueberry Girls" book of the month was "The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate." I HIGHLY recommend it to young readers who have an interest in the natural world and it's a beautiful entry point into turn of the century history lessons. It's beefy. Really it took us a couple of months of reading off & on to get through it, but it was worth it and a great one to pick up between reading other easier books. I'd say Josie was on the border of too-young for the book (and there are a couple of sections that you may want to skip or modify depending on age), so I'd recommend it probably for ages 8 and up instead of 6.

Here are some photos from our meeting, where with the help of other mamas in the club, we set up our own naturalist club a la Calpurnia. We learned about female scientists throughout history then ventured off into the backyard to collect our own specimens to observe under the microscope and sketch in our nature journals.   It was a really special afternoon.

Back in session

With the end of September, we are fully back in session with the routine of the school year and all the activities that come along with that.

That means scenes like these are now a regular occurrence.  Even though our weeks are busy, the regular rhythms of a week feel good.  Both girls are in ballet this year - with Bea taking her Petit Pas De Deux class (with me!) at the same time Josie takes piano lessons.

Bonus: Before Josie's ballet class, we stopped into The Coffee Emporium for a scone and sat at approximately the exact same spot where a 1 year old baby Josie smashed her first birthday cake. Josie wanted me to re-tell every detail of that day to her - who was there, what she did, etc. She was fascinated by all of it and really surprised to hear just how many of you were all there. Thanks to all of you for being a part of our lives from the earliest days through now!

Washington (9 & 10): Last Day(s)

Our last day(s) in Washington is kind of a big beautiful blur. It was part morning on the island, part whirlwind couple of hours in Seattle to introduce Lou & the girls to the heart of the city, part good-byes to good friends and part red-eye flight home (like board after 11PM and wake up in Cincinnati when it's actually early the next day).

Here are the highlights from the crazy, hazy last 24 hours in the PNW.

We finally saw the a seal - a baby seal in a roped off area being watched 24 hours by some brand of coastline volunteer squad that protects wildlife. It was sleeping sweetly. So camouflaged. So cute.

There were some big sea rocks to explore and in our 'last day of vacation' bliss, we let the girls do a little rock climbing that, looking back probably wasn't the best parenting judgment we've ever exercised.

A thumbs-up from a precariously-dangling Josie

"I did it!"

From sea stuff..

To Seattle...

See this - it's my fake smile. Because I was terrified. See Bea's face? That's sort of a more accurate reflection of what was really going on.

Josie loved it. (Of course Josie loved it.)

Space Needle Sighting.