Vist to Santa 2009

Photos of the Snow of December 2009 in a subsequent post, but I have the CD with the Santa picture, so I wanted to upload it while I had the chance.

We ventured out this afternoon to the Inner Harbor where Santa has a house. Still tons of snow and ice and slush on the ground. Ripley was a bit scared to sit on her own, so Chad and I jumped in the photo with her.

Because we had issues with the CD we bought last year, they gave us the super package for the cheap package price. We went with the purple theme like we did last year. And exactly the same Santa. I think it's officially a tradition.

More Fun in October

Our October weekends are shaping up to be full full full. This weekend, we had an impromptu visit from Matt, Christine and Deirdre which involved a trip to the Science Center and dinner out. Somehow, I think we ended up with no photos from this visit, which is quite odd, but a good time was had by all.

And then today (Sunday), we took our first trip to the Aquarium. We couldn't quite tell how much she enjoyed the fish, but she loved it each time we put her down and she was able to dash off into the crowd. She especially loved it when we took a break in the snack bar area, and she was able to move chairs.

Labor Day Weekend 2009 - Fair, Fountain and Storyville

It's been a busy Labor Day weekend so far. A few updates.

First, on Saturday, we went to the Maryland State Fair 2009. If you are interested in comparing them to 2008, you can find that post here. She did not get to sample funnel cake (none of us ordered it), but Aunt Fiona did share her peach sundae, which was a big hit.

Ripley also seemed to love the chicks the most, although all of the animals captured her attention. Note how different she looks with the tractor this year. And that she has slight more hair.

Also on Saturday, we checked out the new fountain down at the inner harbor. While she didn't go full on into the water, she had a great time just running around. Every hour, it is choreographed, just like the Bellagio fountain in Las Vegas. Well, except this is Baltimore.

And finally, today (Sunday), we went to Storyville. It is an amazing place for kids at one of the local libraries. It is hard to describe, but it is basically an indoor play area with different areas - store, post office, house, construction zone. She had a fabulous time, and I think we'll be going back. My favorite part was when she took one of the blankets and put it into the play washing machine. She'll be helping with laundry before we know it. Chad liked when she decided to mix it up with the bay noises (video). He believes she has a future as a DJ.

More Holiday Stuff

We spent our last weekend of 2008 at home doing fun holiday stuff. On Saturday, we went up to Hampden (a neighborhood in Baltimore) that has a 34th Street. Each year every person on the block decorates in quite the lavish fashion - and it is called A Miracle on 34th Street.

On Sunday, it was a gorgeous day, so after brunch with Lea and Bill, we walked over to the harbor in the big girl stroller (did I mention I left the small snap and go stroller in Texas!) which little girl has taken to quite well - and by taken to, I mean loves to gum. At the harbor, we saw:

The Rest of the Halloween Story

Ripley had an incredibly busy week with Halloween activities. It started on Sunday with the Lantern Parade (see previous post), and continued on Wednesday with her play group. We started going to Wednesday play group back in the summer when I was working from home, so it was easy to arrange my schedule to visit with other Fells Point/Butcher's Hill moms and their little ones. It has been harder this Fall, but we manage to go every other week or so, and this week was the Halloween dress up event. Ripley was Tinkerbell, courtesy of her aunt Jenny.

Ripley is no longer the youngest in the group - she was for quite a while - but the majority of the babies are still about 2-3 months ahead of her, so it has been fun seeing what she is going to be doing (crawling!) before we know it.

On Friday, we had 3 events. First came her appearance as Tinkerbell at her day care party. To the left you can see her as "angry" Tink with Miss Crystal (purple hat) and Miss Kari (green hat). I think she was mad that she couldn't have a cupcake with bright orange frosting. Or maybe she was just hungry.

We went from our day care party to Ghoul at the School. Community groups and businesses set up tables at Patterson Park Public Charter School and the kids walk around and get to trick or treat. Daddy aka Dr. Kramer Dr. Kramer Dr. Kramer (it is so fun for his students to see him at events like this) carried her around. It was a gorgeous afternoon, and she had a nice time being the center of attention.

And finally, after a short stop at home for a nap, we headed up to see our friends the Kannams. I am mad that I did not get a picture of them - Peter was a coconut tree, Zachary was a soccer ball, and Cole was a Siberian Tiger. Ripley had drooled all over her Tinkerbell costume, so we changed back into tofu pup to round out the week. I stayed at the house and helped hand out candy, while Chad took her around with the boys. All in all, it was a very fun first Halloween, but I don't think Chad got her enough candy when they were trick or treating. I suppose that will have to wait for the upcoming years.

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Halloween

So our week of Halloween kicked off on Sunday with the Halloween Lantern Parade in Patterson Park. This quirky event occurs every year, but this is the first time we've gone because we are usually out of town Halloween weekend for Chad's birthday. This year the celebration came to us (a fun visit from Granny Vivienne and Pop Pop), so we were here. The parade was supposed to happen on Saturday, but it was much too rainy and windy, so they did it on Sunday.

Ripley did not march in the parade this year, but she did dress up so that the people who were marching by could see her in her first costume - what I like to refer to as the "tofu pup" outfit. To the untrained eye, it could seem like a hot dog costume, but her vegetarian aunt (Carolyn) was part of sending it, and knows Ripley's mom is vegetarian, so I have no doubt it was a tofu pup. Then again, if her uncle Culann had anything to do with it, I suppose it was a hot dog.

There were many many Patterson Park students who kept coming up to Ripley's daddy and yelling Dr. Kramer Dr. Kramer. There was even one little girl who I thought was going to hyperventilate from the excitement of seeing her principal outside of school.

I am trying to convert some of the video Chad shot so you can see the coolness that was the parade, so I might add this later. For now, this picture gives you a sense of what it looked like. I think next year, we'll be sure to make a lantern for little girl (and let her help, of course) and will figure out a way to help her march/roll with it. It seems like a fun tradition to start.

This is just the beginning of Halloween 2008. Still to come - Play Group Halloween; Day Care Halloween; Ghoul at the School

Baltimore Farmer's Market

One of our favorite things to do on Sunday morning is head over to the Baltimore Farmer's Market under the Jones Falls Expressway. My motivation is usually to get something like fresh basil for pesto or fresh cage-free eggs for the baking I love to do. Chad, on the other hand, is usually single-minded. He goes for the kettle corn. And not just some small normal sized bag of kettle corn. He isn't happy unless he buys the yard of kettle corn. A few weeks ago, I decided we needed a picture of Ripley in relation to the kettle corn. No further comment is needed.

October 11th and 12th - Marathon Cheering and North Run Farm

It was a beautiful weekend here in Baltimore, so we did outside things. On Saturday, we cheered for 3 hours near Patterson Park for the Baltimore Marathon runners. Ripley did amazing - she was up for 2 hours of it and then slept in the sling for the final hour. I am not a runner (maybe Ripley will be), but it was inspiring to see people come past at mile 16. I saw our neighbor Dana, and Chad saw our friend Kari - both of whom were doing the 1/2 marathon.

Then on Sunday, we met up with our friends the Lindamoods (Kevin, Melisa, and Sienna) and went to North Run Farm in Baltimore County. North Run Farm is a pumpkin patch, has farm animals and a hay ride, and has a pretty sizable corn maze (themed to the election this year). We picked our own pumpkin, visited with the chickens and baby sheep (I suppose you'd call them lambs).

We rode the hay ride and somehow Chad and I ended up sitting on the hay, which I am not sure was meant to be sat upon as much as it was to be decorative. And finally, we wandered through the corn maze. Those of you who follow the adventures of Ripley will not be shocked to read

that she ended up napping in the sling (see the bump in the green fabric) for the maze - probably for the best, as my mental energy and navigation skills were needed to keep us from getting lost in the corn.

Duckpin Bowling and Fells Point Festival

Two of our adventures earlier this month were quite Baltimore specific - duckpin bowling at the Patterson Bowl and the Fells Point Festival (an aside - my first kiss with Chad was at the Fells Point Festival in October of 1993!).

We don't have very good pictures (I think a new camera might be in the works), but here is a sampling of photos from duckpin. Note the shape of our daughter's head and the duckpin bowling ball - I am just saying...

And then we met up with the Martins (Kate, Marc, Adam and Charlie) at the Fells Point Festival.

Charlie is about a month younger than Ripley, but you wouldn't know it from their sizes. We've talked about starting a girl band, with the third girl being Olivia - Omari and Shaylin Todd's new little one (4 months younger than Ripley - so about 2 weeks old right now). Check back in 15 years.

First Day of School at Patterson Park Public Charter School

As most of you know, Chad is principal of Patterson Park Public Charter School in Baltimore City. Charter schools are public schools that are free to all city residents, and typically serve the communities in which they are located. His school is currently K - 7th grade and will add an 8th grade next year. The work is never simple. As they grow, they've needed to do a lot of construction. Last year, while their cafeteria was being worked on, the students ate outside in a huge tent - sort of like going to a wedding reception every day for lunch.

This is the start of his second year, and Ripley and I wanted to support him as he welcomed back his students. He has such a demanding job and so many responsibilities, but always makes times for little girl. She'll have a lot of reasons to be proud of her daddy - the important work he is doing for kids in Baltimore City is just one of them.

Ripley at the Maryland State Fair

While she slept through about 80% of our visit, Ripley did wake up towards the end of our trip to the Maryland State Fair on August 24. She missed out on the fair food (funnel cake for baby in 2009!) but got to see the tractors, and we walked through the goat/sheep barn. We also tried to see the rabbits and chickens (one of my and her daddy's favorite things), but most of them had been judged already and taken home. We'll have to make sure to go earlier next year.

I am 12 weeks old today

Photos of big girl Ripley in her overalls (thanks Aunt Jenny!). Her new favorite thing to do is to pretend she is standing.

Visit to Friends (bar #???)

We finally made it to Friends this past week (maybe Thursday?). I was in the mood for nachos, and Friends has the best ones in the entire city, in my humble opinion. They have mounds of good stuff (lettuce, salsa, cheese, black beans - sour cream and pepper on the when I order them) without making the chips soggy. And you run out of chips before you run out of good stuff - which is amazing. If you are reading this and are in Baltimore, you really need to check them out.

Enough about the nachos, check out the picture of Ripley in her car seat in the bar.

Adventures in Drive Ins

Last night Chad and I saw our first new release movies since baby was born: The Dark Knight and Wall-E. It was an impossible to pass up a double-feature of two of the highest ranked movies on the tomatometer (94% and 97% respectively) at Bengie's Drive-In which has a lot of rules.

I think we were both a bit distracted during Wall-E because we were getting settled, and I'd probably want to see it again on DVD since I feel like I missed out on the nuances of some of the artwork. By the time Dark Knight rolled around, Ripley was snoozing so we did get to focus. And like the reviews say, it was an incredibly serious movie, but we both did like it.

I think we'd go back again, if the double-feature was right.

This was the best I could do for a picture of her - right before it got dark. You can see the screen in the background and of course all of the cars!

Ale Mary's

Went to baby's fourth bar yesterday (7/22 Tuesday) - Ale Mary's in Fells Point. A really fun neighborhood place where we usually run into our friends Megan and Patrick. It is right next door to the very first apartment I lived in on Fleet Street back in 1992! Back then it was called Tony's and then Aftershock and both places were quite sketchy which is probably why they shut down.

Ripley started out in the baby Bjorn, switched to the sling for a bit and then back to the Bjorn for the walk home. She even got to spend some time not cooped up and was a hit with the 4 drunk ladies at the end of the bar.

Baby's First [fill in the blank]

I find myself in the constant mode of thinking about "baby's first [fill in the blank]". Today was baby's first trip on public transportation - the Baltimore subway. For those of you who don't know much about the subway "system" in Baltimore, it consists one one line (yes, you read that right, one line) that generally runs northwest. There is a stop near Hopkins Hospital, which is near our house, so I thought it would be fun to take the subway to Artscape today (baby's first Artscape).

The fun started with getting stuck in the elevator down to the platform (baby's first time being stuck in an elevator). I used the call button to call for help, but Ripley was screaming so loudly at that point, that I couldn't hear what the man was saying. Fortunately, less than 5 minutes later (it could have been less than 3 minutes later, but it seemed much longer), the elevator started moving.

The misadventure continued when we got to Artscape at 10:30, only to discover that it didn't start until 12. Drat. So we walked up to Sofi's Crepes to see if they were open - nope - not until 11:30, so we headed down Charles Street for an extended walk and to take the subway home. By this time, it was pretty darn hot, so we stopped off in Starbucks (baby's first visit to Starbucks), and I tried their new smoothie (the orange mango banana was OK - but I'd recommend sticking with the coffee drinks, but maybe the chocolate one is better).

This misadventure took a lot out of both of us, so we were content to sit around for the rest of the day and watch bad TV. She's sleeping soundly right now, so I should probably try to get some rest myself since Chad is out in West Virginia on a retreat for work and this will be baby's first night without Daddy (aka baby's first night home alone with mom).

Baby's First Bars

I hesitated on whether to write about our adventures in bars with a baby, for fear of being judged, but I read a cool blog post today about "sanctimommies", and hope that anyone who knows us won't judge us too harshly.

Yes, Ripley is 6 weeks old, and we took her to her 3rd bar tonight. Here is a recount of where we've been so far. I think we'll keep a running list somewhere. If she is in Baltimore when she turns 21, she may want to use the list for a bar crawl.

BAR 1 - HENNINGER'S
Our first stop was at Henninger's last Tuesday or Thursday. I can't remember which, but Jack was working, so it had to be one of the two. Jack makes the best dirty martinis in town, according to Chad, and he always has a great story, which is important in your neighborhood bartender. Chad had the famed TV dinner (along with the dirty martini) and even shared his mashed potatoes with me. I had the portobello mushroom sandwhich. Ripley slept through almost the entire visit in her sling - the sling will continue to play an important role in our bar visits.

BAR 2 (7/10/2008) - LITTLE HAVANA
Chad's former colleagues from Kennedy Krieger meet up about twice a year for a happy hour reunion. A really nice bunch of folks who didn't realize we had an addition to the family, so when we showed up with the baby in the car carrier, there were quite a few jaws to pick up off of the floor. The last time we saw them was in October, when we knew we were pregnant, but hadn't started telling anyone yet. I guess I thought Chad would have told at least one of them and the news would have spread, but it hadn't, and they gave him a hard time about it the entire time we were there. Once again, Ripley spent most of her time in the sling, but she did make it out for a couple of photos.

BAR 3 (7/11/2008) - BERTHA'S
No, she didn't have mussels - at least not yet. To celebrate Chad's school making Adequate Yearly Progress, we walked down to Fells Point for gelato at Pitango and for Bertha's Best Bitter at Bertha's. Did I mention she likes to spend time in her sling?

Stay turned for more bar adventures...