Carrig has a new ride!

This weekend we braved hordes of family vacationers in giant RV's and trucks hauling fishing boats to re-visit Rumney in central New Hampshire. Our typically casual two hour drive turned into a three hour drive through stop-and-go traffic despite our early departure on Friday. It was not ideal, but we made it.



Our goal was to 1) relax and spend some time together (July was awful for this) and 2) test out Little Man's new backpack. I have attached a few picture from our hike on Mount Stinson to this post. For an extra highlight we also had a medium sized black bear wander through the yard one night while I was cooking dinner. AWESOME!



























We learned that Carrig can sit in his pack for about three miles. Unfortunately, the trail was three and a half.











p.s. After writing this I realize that Kristin and I are, in fact, only one more child and a golden retriever away from being on of these highway clogging family vacationers. You all have permission to medicate us if we ever turn into "those" people.

Carrig on the move - 6 months

Six Month Update

Carrig is now six months old!! In this time he has taught himself to smile, rollover, sit on his own, eat solid foods, beginning to crawl and pull himself up, and our newest battle teething. Here is a glimpse of the last few months!

Newest choking hazard, dog toy fuzz.

Carrig goes for it every time

Learning to read

He no longer fits in the baby bojon, and is too small for the backpack. Guess a trader joes bag will do for now!

Would anyone like a hug?


Pulling myself up

Always happy!! (at least when the sun is up)


Carrig loves Anna and she loves him

Progress report

Carrig just completed his first five, consecutive, unassisted "high fives!" kristin cried.
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July 4th in the VC!

Vernon Center, NY. Home of the Sanger grand parents, agriculture, a horse track and...the Amish. This is a change that I didn't see coming and I grew up in this town.

This was actually quite a big weekend for Carrig. Besides heading back to the elder Sanger homestead and being the Fourth of July, Carrig has finally met Aunt Lisa and Uncle Eric! Mother Nature's best efforts couldn't keep the two of them from meeting our little man. Woooo hoo!!! (Little did they know that they would not have a reprieve from the heat during their vacation from Houston.)























Carrig sure seems to have a way of bringing the best out of people! (or has he stolen their minds and put them all in a strange trance?)


When we arrived we were also excited to find that Grandpa and Grandma had gotten Carrig a swing. He absolutely loved it!



Well, to be honest not every swing brought out quite the same response. Whoa...




We spent the holiday with my mom's sister, Aunt Eileen, and my Uncle Tim. Their cabin on Lake Moraine is quite possibly the most cozy camp on Earth and it is always a pleasure to visit them there.



Being the fourth, everyone brought their full patriotic spirit.














































Carrig! Don't eat the flag!







While at the lake we also introduced Carrig to his first freshwater "swimming" experience. It took a while for him to figure it out but he eventually broke out into a splashing frenzy.










We closed out our whirlwind (i.e. exhausting) weekend with a tour of the Utica Club Brewery. Now I have been on a lot of beer tours and I can easily call this one of the best. The combination of pre- and post-prohibition history married to my love of hard wood and good beer made this a very fun experience. As usual, Carrig loved it and, true to his form, behaved better on the beer tour than on the tour of the nation's capitol.
















































Getting back to Boston was a little bit of a challenge but we are back and all is well. We are now looking forward to a few SLOW weekends around home and with each other.

UPDATE: These photos and more on the Picassa page.

Grandma and grampa got me a swing! This is awesome.

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Dad is home from texas

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Carrig meets Uncle Dan, Aunt Laura (for all practical purposes), and visits the capitol.

Lets start this like any good story:

T'was a sunny, hot, sticky, humid weekend in June when the Sangers descended upon Washington D.C. The goal, to introduce Carrig to Dan and Laura and to finally spend some time sight seeing in our nations capitol. While several IV bags won't make up for the fluids we lost this weekend, it is very safe to declare our trip a success.

We arrived early Friday morning and once we learned how to navigate the Metro with a stroller, made our way to the National Zoo. Carrig enjoyed seeing some fairy unique animals, such as the giant panda, but as usual, was most impressed by the bubbles in the anemone tank. When will we learn?



















































Then it was time to hit the pavement. Off to the White House and Smithsonian museums. Now don't be surprised. We spent a lot of time in the Natural History Museum. (even when Dan, Laura, and Kristin were off in the gem room I managed to disappear into the room labeled "Bones and Reptiles.)





















































Apparently the secret service has trained the squirrels around the White House and they weren't fond of us changing Carrig on their lawn. As soon as his pants came off the dastardly rodents descended from nearly every tree to surround us.



















Saved by Uncle Dan.


On Saturday we took a tour of the capitol building. It was a lot of fun and as for many of these tours, the guide made it quite enjoyable. For the first time, I have to say that Carrig was "that kid." You know, the one that is crying at the back of the tour and touching everything regardless of how old. Yup, that was our son.













My personal highlight of the day, if not the entire sightseeing trip, was the Library of Congress. I would love to have access to their shelves for a while. The place looked amazing and I wasn't even allowed in.





It has become clear that Carrig has a thing for beer. This may be fallout from Calvin's "Pavloving" or inherent to his bloodline. Regardless, Daniel didn't help. Phrases rush to mind such as "bad influence," the "wrong crowd," and "grounded" when I see this photo.


When Carrig gets around beer he just goes nuts! Just check out this kiss!







Our weekend doesn't stop there! Sunday was a brutal 101 degrees but that didn't stop us from exploring more of the city. Here are a few pictures from the WWII Memorial.

















There were approximately 4000 stars in the memorial, each representing 100 fallen soldiers. Wow...

Here are just a few more pictures from our last day around the city.








Our weekend ended with an amazing walk along the upper Potomac. These were some crazy rapids! I was getting worried that Carrig would want to become a boater if we showed him these for too long so we got him re-focused on one of the small boulders. Crisis averted.











The trip was a lot of fun, albeit exhausting. For once there are no long winded stories about our follies. It was great to see Dan and Laura again and it was really wonderful to watch them interact with Carrig. We can't wait until we get the chance to show them around Boston.