Mini Vacation

I originally posted this on the SSP blog.  


I used to think that going on a vacation so close to home was a really lame idea. I was wrong.

Traveling to far-flung places is still something I would love to do. But with most of our time, energy, and money being funneled into our company & baby (not that we're complaining!), a weekend trip to a nearby town was the perfect vacation for us right now. Park City is only a 30 minute drive from our house. (And it's actually the first place I lived after moving to Utah with my family when I was 15.) But even though it's so close, we rarely get over there to explore. Now that I've been reminded of what a nice place it is, though, I want to start taking little day trips over there as often as possible!

Some of the things we did:

+ Ate ham & cheese croissants for breakfast at the Bakery at Windy Ridge. (So delicious, we decided to go back the next day!)  

+ Stayed up way too late hanging out with our friends Kristin & Craig, who were also in town staying at their aunt's condo. (Kristin designs our Lark line.)

+ Walked down a lovely path alongside the most picturesque barn.

+ Went to El Chubasco for sopes and the salsa bar.

+ Stopped by some shops on Main Street, including Olive & Tweed, Prospect & Prospect Youth, Cake Boutique, the Crosby Collection, Davies-Reid, and Dolly's Bookstore.

+ Went out to a movie for the first time in months.

+ Fed the ducks and ate lovely salads on the back deck of the Deer Valley Grocery-Café.

+ Figured out that we could put Ingrid down to sleep in the same room as another kid (as long as they couldn't see each other). 

+ Relaxed in the shade on the Windy Ridge Café patio, while eating a yummy dinner of tuna and local vegetables.

We had such a great time! And it was so nice to spend an entire Saturday just relaxing and having fun rather than working, running errands, or cleaning the house as is our usual routine. Especially since we've had an especially crazy schedule at work lately with new collections, a new website in the works, and the holidays just around the corner... We felt so much more refreshed coming back to work on Monday.

New Town, New Tastes

While in Chicago for Will & Rebecca's wedding, we were able to spend a day walking down "The Magnificent Mile" and going on an architectural boat tour. It's a beautiful city and the weather was surprisingly perfect.

Right before we left on this trip, the pediatrician told us that we could start feeding Ingrid from the table, without worrying about allergies. Since we were on vacation, we may have gone a bit overboard, giving her bites of Chicago-style pizza, doughnuts, hamburger, sorbet, etc... She did manage to eat a few healthy foods that weekend, too, though! :)

Lisa's BBQ

My aunt Lisa had a birthday recently and my uncle Peter threw a family barbeque for her. The weather was great, and Peter is a chef, so the food was amazing. Somehow I missed out on snapping a pic of the birthday girl, but at least I managed these.

I love summer barbeques, don't you?

Ingrid's dress courtesy of Lucy Jorgensen.

Yum

No doubt about it. The youngest member of our family loves food just as much as the older two. She's been eating solids since she was just shy of 6 months, and she loves it. The day we gave her this whole soft, ripe pear was probably the best day of her life so far. 7th heaven, I'm telling you.

Making Her Food

Reposted from the Sycamore Blog.

 

Call me crazy, but I'm making Ingrid's baby food.

So far, so good.

The peas are my favorite, simply because they look and taste so much better than the bottled version. Some of the others -- apples for example -- don't seem that much different, and I wonder why I bother. But it is quite a bit less expensive overall, especially if you're going the organic route.

When Kirk's mom found out I wanted to make Ingrid's food, she gave me this book. It's been really great. In addition to baby food recipes, it's been a handy reference for feeding timelines, safety tips, etc... which is nice for a somewhat nervous, first-time mom like me. If anything, it errs on the side of giving too many recipes and information. (A recipe for apple oatmeal tells you to mix together one spoonful of apple puree and one spoonful of cooked oatmeal... Ha ha. Really?)

Who knows if I'll keep this up for Ingrid's entire babyhood, or if her future younger sibling will get the same treatment? For now, I just know that I enjoy making Ingrid's food, and she seems to like eating it... well, most of the time, anyways.  - Eva