Thursday, June 28, 2012

Bluegrass Babies, recap

The girls' first camping adventure went pretty well. The biggest issue was the heat. It was in the mid-90s all weekend, which is pretty darn hot for two little girls of German descent.

Maya enjoys one of her many ice cream treats.



Bluegrass baby Jane staying shaded


As much as we tried to rough it the whole weekend, we did break down one morning for some air-conditioning, iced coffee and cold milk at a nearby McDonald's.

City-folk camping

Despite the heat, Maya still got her bluegrass dancing on, while eating ice cream and counting.



The festival we attended takes place on a campground, meaning you can just walk from your tent to one of the stages.

Maya and her cousin Lucinda beyond excited to play in each others' "houses"

A view of the main stage

The festival had two stages, and the headliner on the final night on the main stage was Ralph Stanley, who you all might remember from the "Oh Brother Where Art Thou" soundtrack.

Although there was tons of music beyond the two stages. One of the other perks of camping on site is that many other campers bring along their instruments and play 'round the fire at night. You can just stroll from campsite to campsite, listening to bluegrass all night long. These jam sessions occurred way past the kids' bedtime, but my sister and I had a chance to have a "girls' night out" one night and visit some campsites, while the husbands stayed with the kids. I didn't think to grab any pics of these, so here's a shot of me and my sis:

Two sisters and two babies.
We're already talking about next year, which will be hopefully a little less stressful because our two infants will be toddlers. Then again, maybe babies are easier.

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Bluegrass Babies

This weekend, we're heading down to Brown County Indiana with my sister and her family for the Bill Monroe Bean Blossom Bluegrass festival. It's something my parents used to take us to as kids, and we wanted to try it out again now that we have our own families. We'll be camping on the festival grounds, which will be the first camping trip for all the kids, as well as my brother in law. It's also the first camping trip Chris and I are taking without our dog, Rosie, who's no longer up for such trips. She'll be enjoying the cool A/C at my parents' house.

To prepare for the trip, I checked out a few things from the library on bluegrass to show Maya:

A bluegrass CD was a must. We've listened to it a few times, and Maya can't help but dance when it's on. I tried to catch a few videos of her dancing, but as soon as the iPhone comes out, Maya stops dancing and wants to watch videos on it. So, I'll have to shoot some candid videos this weekend.


A book on Ralph Stanley, who will be at the festival this weekend. This book's a little too word-heavy for Maya, but we looked at some of the tour photos inside.


An introductory book to bluegrass. This one has lot of pictures for Maya to see. I especially like the opening chapters on each instrument because I could scan and print the page, and turn it into something for Maya to color, while learning about different instruments (as well as letters and numbers):


I also bought two ebooks on the iPad:


Banjo Granny. This is a really cute book about a grandma who travels to visit her grandson who loves bluegrass music. The grandma's banjo case comes in handy as she has to cross a river, a mountain and a desert. Maya seems to enjoy it, although most of the fascination is turning the pages on the iPad.



The ABCs of Bluegrass. I can't tell if this book is a joke or not. Some of the letters make sense (A if for Autoharp), while others seem a little ... lazy (N is for Neo-traditional Bluegrass performer...???). Also, it completely skips the letter W. But is was $0.99 on iBooks, so I can't complain.

Next up, we're teaching Maya about camping, right before experiencing the real thing this weekend.


Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Little Wunders travel the world

Maya and Jane are my two girls, currently ages 2 1/2 and 6 weeks, respectively. We're currently planning a trip to Costa Rica in December, and I wanted to make sure the girls (well, Maya at least) had an appreciation for where we're going. Or as much as a toddler can.

So my plan is to teach her about the culture, geography, food, climate, etc. of Costa Rica before we go. I hope to do this with any place we visit so my girls grow up with a better understanding of the world. I want them to learn all about a place, and then get so excited to finally see it. And when they're older, hopefully this will make trips to museums, historical sites, city centers, and any other place Mom and Dad really want to see less painful.

 A blog provides a nice format for us to document what we learn and what we see, both so we can revisit it from anywhere, and so the grandparents can follow along as well. Plus, it gives Maya a chance to interact with the computer, or Mommy's iPad and iPhone — things she can't keep her grubby little hands off of.

So here we go: Maya and Janie's travel blog. For followers of my other blog know, I'm fabulous at starting stuff and not following through, so we'll see how long this lasts. But it's a beginning.