Shenandoah

I have nearly two weeks of freedom before starting the new job.  This week, we took a family vacation and camped in Shenandoah National Park.  Shenandoah is only two hours from us, so it's a convenient place to escape into the wilderness.  It's not the world's best wildlife or scenic park, but I do enjoy the view of the mountains through the haze.

There is a lot of hiking to be done, including pieces of the Appalachian Trail.  We chose to do a shorter hike to Dark Hollow Falls, which, with the kid carrier, turned into an amazing workout for me.

 Dark Hollow Falls

My favorite part of the trip occurred in two doses.  Each morning, we were treated to a half-dozen hummingbirds feverishly sucking down nectar from the blooming milkweed plants next to our campsite.

 Photo Credit: Nathan King

We didn't see any bears, but that doesn't matter.  The real mission was accomplished: introducing Alison to an amazing park and adding to the world another happy camper.

Photo Credit: Nathan King

Discrimination, Homesteading, & Goats in the Heartland

This weekend, we traveled to Lincoln and Omaha to introduce Alison to half of her extended family.  The trip was excellent and Alison did a great job!

I also had a lot of fun visiting two smaller National Park Service sites: Brown vs. Board of Education and Homestead.  Brown vs. Board is located in an old school building in Topeka, KS.  They have some excellent multi-media displays that discuss discrimination of all kinds from the 1600's to present.  It served to remind me of how far we've come, but also how recently we've really changed as a country with respect to civil rights.  It also gave me some hope that the discrimination we see today (LGBT rights, religious beliefs, and racial tensions) may someday be a thing of the past as well.

 Brown vs. Board of Education National Historic Site

Photo: Nathan King

Homestead National Monument celebrates the very first 160-acre farm patent issued by the Homestead Act of 1862.  This is the legislation that allowed you to stake out a claim in the vast openness of the United States, live on the land, and eventually be given that land for free.  Seems like a good, non-controversial idea, right?  Wrong!  The very interesting video and displays in the museum did a good job of pointing out how this affected the native populations.  It was also a pretty difficult thing to do as 60% of the families who initially staked claims, never proved up on the land (i.e. stayed long enough to take ownership of their farm).  The best part of this site is the beautiful prairie outside and the brochure and demonstration area about all of the different kinds of barbed wire.  Wow!  My life would NOT have been complete without this knowledge.

An example of 1 of the 500 types of barbed wire

On our trip, Kansas and Nebraska were being, well, Kansas and Nebraska by giving us major crosswinds to contend with on the drive up, allowing tumbleweeds and corn husks to collect in the bumper. On the way home we saw not one, but two trucks carrying goats.

Not that I don't find this hilarious, but I am really looking forward to moving to North Dakota later this month.  That's right, braving perilous snowdrifts sounds more fun than hanging out alone in Larned.  Go figure!

 Photo of a Homestead in North Dakota

Photo: Nathan King

Allie Has Her Own Blog!

In case you're wondering where to get the updates on Alison including extra pictures, Nathan and I have started a collaborative blog just for her!  It is private, so if you'd like to view it, send me a note or post a comment giving me your email address so I can invite you.

 9/16/10

Alison's Here!

The wait is over!  Alison Savannah was born 9/2/10 at 3:16am!  She weighed 7 lbs, 14 oz and was 20.5 inches long.  Technically I'd been in labor for 21 hours after my water broke, but things were not moving along as we would have liked and we ended up having a C-Section to avoid the risk of infection that sets in after your water has been broken 24 hours.

As many of you know, I was looking forward to a natural labor with no drugs (if possible), but as soon as I heard this little cutie bean cry, I realized we'd done the right thing.  I can't explain how incredible she's been so far and how fun it's been being a mom!  We're both doing great!

Even though I'm pretty sleepy, I think we got off pretty easy (so far)!  Alison only cries to tell us she's hungry and only wakes up a couple times per night (only once last night)!  She's a champion sleeper and really curious.  We're pretty sure she said "hi" the other day. :P  Not much more I can say right now, so I'll let these pictures do the talking.  I love my little Allie Bean!

Just Born!