Friday, December 23, 2011

She's Finally Here

Everyone, let us introduce our newest addition to the family. Miss Dinah Marie Bird made her entrance into this world and stole all our hearts in an instant, at 5:56am on the morning of December 20, 2011. She weighed in at a very healthy 8lbs. 14.2oz. (I don't know what those ultra-light folks would say? :P) and measured 21 1/4in.





We promise to get better quality pictures of her posted once we get into a groove but right now we are all taking our time absorbing every little moment with her at this time as it will only last so long. So if you don't hear from us for a while I'm sure you can all understand.

Happy Trails,
Tim and Robin




Friday, December 9, 2011

Just Waiting on a Sign: FGR 12/9/2011

Well another week has come and gone and still our newest addition has decided she's not quite done yet. So we continue to anxiously await, with a certain nervous excitedness, her arrival. It won't be much longer now. Hopefully by the end of the weekend we will have the news posted somewhere, everywhere. Wouldn't that be fantastic. We like to think so, and I know you all think so too as you all wait patiently with us. Until that time though, here's something else to get all excited about...Yep that's right, another edition of the FGR. If we can't have a baby yet, let's win some gear instead.

First up is a sweet giveaway. We all love to keep our tootsies nice and toasty warm, especially on these cold winter morning, when there's frost on everything. Well for the next week, you have a chance to get entered for a prize pack of 12 pairs of Goodhew socks. That's 12 pair of their best selling socks. If you remember correctly Robin won two pair along with her Vasque Taku GTX from the Outdoor Blogger Network and even did a review on them. These are great socks, and the good folks over at The Adventure Post, will hook up one lucky winner with 12 pairs. You can enter with a comment, or tweet daily and there's another bonus entry  you can get if you say something about it on Facebook. You have until December 16th to get those comments in, so don't delay. Head over to the giveaway post for all the rest of the warm and fuzzies.

Monday, December 5, 2011

Happy December to All and Thank You

Happy December to all and once again thank you to all our readers and supporters for making Appalachia & Beyond what it is today. It's hard to believe that we just have under a month before 2011 is over and we'll be ringing in the New Year 2012. However, before I get to far ahead of myself and let this post run away into a post that should not be as of yet, let me get down to the business that this post is all about. It is December after all and as a tradition we've held since I think the first of the year, it's time to give thanks, love, shoutouts, to the blogs, bloggers, and webmasters who continue to refer readers to us, therefore giving us reason to continue writing. With this special group of people we wouldn't enjoy updating the blog for everyone like we do. So without further ado, Special Thanks goes out to:

GPSTracklog
The Adventures of Tom and Atticus
High on LeConte
Live Free and Hike New Hampshire
Meanderthals
My Life Outdoors
Backpacking North
Outdoor Blogger Network
Section Hiker
Hiking in the Smokys
Two Heel Drive
Cloudhiking and Metro to Mountain
Owl Jones
Mamabug's Nature Photos
Mountain Ultralight
Trail Sherpa
Fat Man of the Mountains
Blue Roads to Hiking Trails
Brian's Backpacking Blog
Hiking in Finland
Travel Country
Hiking Fiasco
Hiking the Trail
Marking My Territory
Take a Hike GPS (The GPS is awesome by the way, Thanks a million.)
New England Outside
Pure Outside
Family Wilds

Again thank you all and thank you to all of our readers and the readers of the above blogs and sites who also read out blog.

Happy Trails,
Tim and Robin

Friday, December 2, 2011

TGI FGR - 12/2/2011

Welcome to a new edition of Friday's Giveaway Roundup. We apologize for not having one the past couple of weeks. With twice a week doctors visits, the Thanksgiving Holidays, and all things baby, it's a wonder we even have time for sleep these days. Well this week isn't much different. We are at the 38 week mark as of this past Tuesday and we are just waiting for the chain reaction to start. Until then let's get you up to speed on some great gear giveaways going on in the outdoor blog-o-realm shall we?

Image Courtesy: Hiking in Finland
You are going to love this one. Earlier this week Hendrik, of the well known Hiking in Finland blog and creator of the upcoming video series Ultralight A-Z, has announced the Hiking in Finland Advent Calendar giveaway. Every day starting on December 1st, Hendrick will be giving away a piece of utlralight hiking/backpacking gear, climbing gear, or bicycling gear to 1 lucky reader per day. There will be different things you will have to do to get your name in the hat, and you can only win one prize through the 25 days of Christmas. So you will have to be very strategic as to what pieces of gear you are willing to win. Head over to  Hiking in Finland for the rest of the details on this uber-awesome giveaway.

Thursday, December 1, 2011

Drum Roll Please...

So we've been teasing you for quite some time now about our upcoming little hiker's nursery. In yesterday's trail report, we even offered a photo that was a small spoiler of what the nursery looks like. As you know the nursery was at one time a full fledged bathroom complete with commode, bathtub, and his/her sinks. It also had a nasty carpet on the floor and beige walls. It is now a nursery fit for a little hiker girl and now we are patiently awaiting Little Ms. Dinah's arrival. If she's anything like Robin and I, she will be late, and stuck in the procrastinators workflow, where she's usually found somewhere between Find Food and Randomly Browse the Internet (with mom of course).

So the moment you've all been waiting for (other than the announcement of her birth) Robin and I proudly give you: Dinah's Nursery.




















Happy Trails,
Tim and Robin