FestBlog 2009 (Day 5)

We had a full day today at Musikfest. We headed down to Banana Island (the kid's stage) around noon to see Kira Willey play. She's a local musician, who also teaches kid yoga at The Yoga Loft on the southside of Bethlehem (where Kathleen does yoga when she's not pregnant). But, she's best known for her song "Colors", which was featured in a Dell laptop commercial within the last year (you'd recognize it if you heard it). There were a few groups of summer camp kids there, who all knew their yoga positions: they did surfer pose, tree pose, mountain pose, plus volcano, which isn't quite a pose - more of an action. They were all having a blast! It was nice to see some boys having a great time. Hopefully, Owen will be able to enjoy something like kids yoga one day.

Kira Willey@ Banana Island Stage

Later in the day, we went to see our future babysitter Hannah dance with the Parker Irish Dancers. It was a great show! Phil works with Hannah's mom and we've known Hannah for a few years and have been watching her dance at Celtic Fest and Musikfest. She's now a senior Irish dancer - and also a freshman in high school. And that means that we'll at least have her for babysitting for about four years! Her mom says that she's excited about sitting. She said that Hannah often plans activities for the kids she babysits! That sounds great!

Hannah w/ Parker Irish Dancers @ Plaza Tropical Stage

We also caught an hour of another Lovell Sisters concert later in the evening. They really are a great band! They finished up with an acapella version of "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy" as an encore.

The Lovell Sisters @ Liederplatz

FestBlog 2009 (Day 4)

Phil's taking half days at work this week to keep Kathleen entertained during Musikfest - and to keep her mind off of her big belly. Today, we were able to catch the entire show of a bluegrass/country band: The Lovell Sisters. We saw them last year at Musikfest, so we've been really looking forward to this show. They've very talented musicians - really seem like they'll soon be big stars. We told Owen that some cute girls were playing bluegrass for him and he seemed to like that.

The Lovell Sisters @ Volksplatz

After the show, we had a delicious dinner at Petra (a Mediterranean restaurant) before walking around town and bumping into a few friends. It was a beautiful - slightly cool evening.

Zydeco-a-Go-Go @ Volksplatz

FestBlog 2009 (Day 3)

Some friends (Wendy, Brian, and Abby) came by Bethlehem to fest with us today. Abby had a good time dancing to the band on Main Street. We had a nice time walking around town despite a little rain. But, it actually turned out to be a pretty nice day after quite a bit of rain this morning.

Kathleen was hoping for an anniversary present in the form of a baby boy today. But that was not to be. We're starting to believe what the doctor said - that he's not coming before the due date. Here are some pictures from Musikfest today:

Scott Marshall & Hillbilly Soul @ Main St. Stage

Eric Steckel (young blues guitar player) @ Americaplatz

Happy Anniversary, Phil & Kathleen

6 years!

FestBlog 2009 (Day 2)

We had a nice sunny Saturday for the festival today. We got out early before the crowds came and saw a noon show (a blues rock band) at Liederplatz. The Liederplatz stage is in a courtyard off of Main St. There are some trees that provide some shade - it was really pleasant when we were there today. Owen really liked the band (he likes the louder upbeat music). After the first show, we had a nice lunch at Mama Nina's (our normal order: garlic marinara pizza, two dinner salads, and a large Pellegrino). Then, we walked around town, ran into some friends, and saw bits of a few more shows.

Bronze Radio Return (blues/rock) @ Liederplatz

Li'l Anne & Hot Cayenne (Zydeco) @ Volksplatz

FestBlog 2009: Pregnant Kathleen Edition (Day 1)

It's Musikfest 2009! For those of you who don't know about Musikfest... it's a ten-day music festival in our town, including eight stages of free music - only a ten minute walk from our house.

Festing won't be like it's been in the last few years, but Kathleen and I are planning to enjoy the festival no matter what this year (unless a certain someone comes a little early). With Kathleen being home every day now and not able to do much, she's been a little antsy. So, we're going to try to get her out to a concert or two each day, so she can get a little fresh air. I'm planning on taking half-days at work this week. We have one or two "low-key" concerts picked out for each day - mostly bands that we've seen at past Musikfests.(That's Volksplatz in the picture - one of the free music stages)

We were actually able to get out tonight after the rain, even though the weathermen were calling for the great deluge tonight. I think they said 60-80% chance of thunderstorms all night with up to 5 inches of rain. It didn't rain after 6pm (when the festival started).

So tonight, I dropped pregnant Kathleen off downtown, drove the car home, and then walked down to meet her. I didn't want to pay $10 for parking... but I might pay it one or more of the days this week. We also might take the bus downtown one day.

Anyway, we had a nice little walk around the festival and caught a few minutes of a few shows. Here's what we saw...

A Dixieland band @ the Main Street Stage.

Sarah Ayers (local blues band) @ Americaplatz

Donovan-Roberts Band (local blues/jazz band) @ Liederplatz

So... the question is... will Mr. Owen come during Musikfest? Or will he wait until his due date?(which is two weeks from today!)

New Carpet!

We got new carpet installed on our stairs today. Another thing that we wanted to get done before Owen comes. The old carpet was so old that is was somewhat of a safety issue - it was very slippery. No traction. Even the carpet guys said, "Wow, this is old carpet!" Just one of those things that we didn't get around to until now. After first moving in (and having a few falls on the carpet), we learned to be careful on it. But that's no longer a problem. We'll be able to carry Owen up and down the stairs without any issues. And it looks great!


Betsy also approves of the carpet. At first, she wasn't too sure. She did a "crab walk" the first time that she walked up the stairs. But after that, she lounged around on the middle step (from where she likes to watch what's going on in our living room).

He's Still In There

Kathleen @ 8 months

At least the belly comes in handy for resting your frozen yogurt on.

Tree Gone

Well, they took the tree down last week. It all went pretty smoothly. Sidewalk came out on Monday. Tree came down and stump ground on Tuesday. The sidewalk went in on Wednesday and Thursday. And then on Saturday, I spent the day clearing the area and moving dirt with the neighbor, so that we could get grass planted. Of course, it ended up being the hottest day so far of our rather cool summer.

I guess it was quite a scene on our street on Tuesday when they took the tree down. They had the street closed and a whole fleet of cranes and trucks out. They didn't even let the branches hit the ground - just swung entire, giant portions of the tree into a big wood chipper. Kathleen got a pretty good picture...

With the tree gone, you can see our house clearly from the street. So, now we can see all of the other things that need work with our house. Time to think about a new roof. Oh... and that second front door. Who decided to put a second front door about 15 feet from our main front door? We're slowly correcting all of the bad decisions of the previous owners of our house.

Goodbye, Tree

Here's a picture of the VERY large maple tree in our front yard that we have to get taken down. It's ruined the sidewalk and we want to get the sidewalk fixed (before anyone gets hurt), so the tree has to come down. The city controls what must be done with the tree and the sidewalk, but, of course, we have to pay for it all. Not that we have anythting else to spend thousands of dollars on now. Oh, well. Hopefully, this the last home improvement that we'll have to get down before Owen comes. And we'll be planting a tree in the fall to replace the maple (probably a flowering pear tree - not as big as a maple). We can tell Owen that it was planted the same year that he was born.

Owen's "first" Ironpigs Game

We went to a Lehigh Valley Ironpigs game tonight (they're the Phillies AAA team). It was a beautiful evening. It was our first time at the new stadium - it's pretty nice! The Phillie Phanatic was at the game, so we had some extra entertainment. And the Pigs won 7-5 over Rochester! OINK!

Kathleen @ 35 Weeks

Nursery

Here are some pictures of the nursery. Some of the pictures are a little dark, but the room is rather bright. I took the pictures on a sunny morning - I guess the bright window affected how my camera took the picture. Maybe I can take some better pictures and post them later.

Kathleen picked out the street-map rug that you can see on the floor.


The crib looks really nice with the Jungle-themed crib set and the jungle animals mobile (as well as the matching wall art above the crib).


We have the rocker positioned so that we can look out the window at Bethlehem while we're rocking Owen. Also, the rocker is right next to the book shelf so that we have easy access to all of Owen's books to read to him.

Update

Sorry that we haven't updated the blog in a while. Kathleen and Owen are both doing fine and growing. Owen seems like he's trying to bust his way out of Kathleen. He's really been pressing and pushing in there. I'm sure he's cramped - Kathleen's not that big. We've found that he'll calm down and stop pushing if we rub him a little.

We're finished up with the showers, so we've been trying to fill in all of the other baby stuff that we need over the past two weeks. I think we're in pretty good shape. The nursery is pretty much done. I'll post some pictures soon. It's really nice and peaceful in there - at least for now.

Kathleen has been off from work for about two weeks now. She's been resting, reading, cleaning the house, and getting ready for Owen to come.

Here are some pictures from the last few weeks.





Kathleen @ 33 weeks