it's a girl!

Today was a day we had been waiting for with anticipation. Shelby's ultrasound appointment...we'd get to find out if we had a girl or a boy. We're happy to announce that our baby girl was very forthcoming!

I took a few minutes of video of the ultrasound. You'll hear the tech talking about what we're seeing as well as the excited parents. So without further delay, here is Kendall Acadia Berg!

She looks beautiful!


Jonathan

acadia 2009

Last weekend we took our annual Columbus Day Weekend trip to Bar Harbor, Maine and Acadia National Park. It blows me away that this was actually my sixth trip and Riley's third! Shelby was there for the tenth time. I guess you can tell we love the place.

Riley has been big enough for the last two years that we can do just about anything we want. He's also small enough that we can do just about anything we want. A long hike with him in the backpack is still possible and we can put him in the trailer and do whatever bike riding we have in mind. He loves the kayak, popovers at Jordan's Pond House and hiking on his own when he gets the chance.

Things are going to change a lot when baby number two arrives on the scene next year, so this is our last "unrestricted" year until at the very least 2011. We took advantage of the situation.

Our weekend started with the l0ng trip up to Mount Desert Island on Friday. The car and our boy were both ready for travel:

Not a totally full car, but close















Plenty of toys to keep him busy















The trip was uneventful until we got a few miles from the entrance to MDI. It took us about an hour and a half to travel that distance because they were doing road construction on the one intersection that lets you on the island. On a holiday weekend. On Friday after 5 pm. Right.

Riley was amazing as usual, and actually we had a lot of fun saying, "Stop!" and "Go!" with hand gestures, hiccups and hands blocking mouths. Two year olds are so much fun when you get them laughing. Here's some video of Shelby getting him laughing earlier in the trip:

Ponytails are fun

Once we got on the island it was too late to do much, so we just unpacked and headed into town for some dinner. It was early to bed so we'd be ready for the next day's activities.

Saturday morning we took our annual trip to Bar Harbor for breakfast at Cafe This Way. Cafe This Way is a funky little restaurant that serves an awesome breakfast. There is always a line to get in, even this late in the season. We love the food and the atmosphere (original art is always on display and for sale) so it's worth a wait. Riley displayed some new skills for us as we waited, saying, "Stop!" and putting out his hand was the first. He also demonstrated jumping off a curb:

Jump!

It was a sunny day and we were ready for biking. We headed out from the Jordan Pond House for some riding on the beautiful carriage roads. We did a new route this year, and it ended up giving us some very long climbs (one was 1.3 miles long.) It made for an extra good workout, especially for Daddy who was toting an extra 60 pounds or so of trailer, boy and misc. The views were great even though the foliage was not yet at peak. There are pictures in the slideshow below. One of the places we stopped for a photo break was a stone bridge that Shelby and I had stopped at on our first trip in '04. We took a picture of us and I also took a picture of our bikes (OK, to me it had meaning...) This time around I took a new picture of our bikes and progeny:

Bikes '04















Bikes and progeny '09















After a hard ride we returned to the Pond House for some well deserved popovers. It was too cool and windy to eat outdoors like we usually do, but we enjoyed it nonetheless. Riley enjoyed not only the popovers, but the tea as well. Our boy has very mature tastes.

Dinner was with the cousins who had made the trip in the morning and were out hiking during the day. All in all a great day.

Sunday was our hike day. We planned a hike that was much like the one we did in 2006, which was my favorite hike I've ever done. It was a little different this time around since Shelby is more pregnant than she was that year and I was going to be carrying a 30+ pound boy on my back, but expectations were high. The trail didn't disappoint, it was as beautiful and fun as ever and an extra good workout. Some video:

Riley and Daddy take a hike

Exposure with a boy on my back

We ended up going longer than we thought (these things can be hard to judge) and had to bail after about four hours. We walked the last 2.5 miles back to the car on the road. Riley and I had fun dancing and finding ways for him to get tickled on the way back. Altogether it was over five hours of hiking. It was a fun and exhausting day.

We had dinner with the cousins at Poor Boys Gourmet Restaurant in Bar Harbor. After that it was an early night for some very tired folks.

Monday is always a short day at the park since we have a long trip back home. We decided (as we had the two previous days) not to do any kayaking due to the chilly and quite windy weather. It wouldn't have been fun, but kayaking was definitely missed by all.

We were still tired from the previous day so we decided to do an easier hike before heading home. We picked the Jordan Pond Trail, which starts at the rear Pond House and loops around Jordan Pond before ending in front of the Pond House once again. Jordan Pond is where we did our Monday kayak trip last year. It is a beautiful place.

I have to say that I'm the last person who should be writing about that particular hike. I was pushing Riley in the jog stroller for the first half of the hike, which was to be about 4 1/4 miles long. It started out with a nice easy crushed stone path. But then came the log bridges...1.8 miles of them. Walking them is easy and fun. Pushing a jog stroller (which is wider than the bridges) is torture. We just kept thinking that it couldn't go on for very much longer... The bridges ended in a boulder field where Shelby had to carry Riley and I had to throw the stroller over my shoulder while I picked my way through the boulders. Not fun. When we got to the halfway point the trail turned back to crushed stone and Shelby took Riley in the stroller. With the exception of having to listen to me gripe continuously through the first half of the hike I think everyone (but me) enjoyed it. We did get a chance to get some video of Riley hiking though, that was fun.

Hiking boy

With our hike completed it was time to say goodbye to the cousins and head back home. The trip home was uneventful except for getting caught for 45 minutes at the same intersection that caused all the problems on the way in. Riley once again was great on the trip, but he was happy to see our house again (much like Mom and Dad.) We always love the trip to Acadia, but it's always good to be back home again.

The Acadia trip is a great one for pictures. The 40 pictures I was able to cut things down to are still too much for a blog post, so here's a slideshow. Enjoy!



Jonathan