Sometimes the extra toes can be tied shortly after birth where they simply fall off. Otherwise doctors advise having surgery to remove the extra digit before the crawling stage. Lacey’s is scheduled sometime in June.

Either way, she is still a cute baby.

Meet My 12-Toed Baby Niece by Russell Heimlich

The Inn

After weeding through the several different options available we chose the 1840′s Carrollton Inn just outside of the inner harbor. We stayed in the Independence suite which has burgundy walls, French Bonaparte furnishings, and a whirlpool tub. Upon entering our suite I was in awe. Kristina was really happy with our selection too. In fact we were both so pleased with the room that we cancelled our dinner reservations at Aldo’s and ordered in from Velleggia’s.

The amenities spoiled us. Upon entering the room we were greeted with a day bed and fireplace. It wasn’t a real fireplace but it still helped set the mood. The marble bathroom featured a duck faucet that I really got a kick out of. The bedroom had a comfy king sized bed and roman shades. The next morning we were served breakfast in bed. Kristina got an omelet with Belgium waffles while I feasted on Banana pancakes with sausage. After our 11 am checkout we walked 4 blocks over to the Baltimore Aquarium.

The Aquarium

After picking up our tickets we had an hour to kill before our designated entrance time. We looked at travel books about Japan at the nearby Barnes & Nobel which is part of the old power plant building that was built in 1900.

My favorite thing about the Baltimore Aquarium is how little it has changed since I was a kid. I remember going there for my birthday with a few friends when I was 8 or 9 and many of the exhibits hadn’t changed a bit. We made our way through the fish tanks, up to the rain forest, down into the shark exhibit, and past the big sting ray pool.

We even managed to catch feeding time for the rays. Here is a clip:

The new Australian exhibit has a 35 foot waterfall, free-flying birds and bats. It was the one exhibit that wasn’t here when I was a kid. Unfortunately it was too short to be a main exhibit and we were a bit disappointed after walking through it but the turtles were cool…

All in all we had a great overnight trip. When we came home we felt renewed with a lot of great memories.

Celebrating Our 7th Anniversary in Baltimore by Russell Heimlich

What is Dancing Rabbit?
Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage is an intentional community located in northeastern Missouri, and it is currently composed of about 35 total members. We live in a small, off-the-grid village setting on 280 acres of land, with organic gardens and buildings made out of earthen and recycled materials. All of our power comes from renewable resources, and we catch rainwater off of our roofs for all our water needs. To put it simply, we’re a group of people devoted to the idea of living sustainably, with a minimal impact on the planet’s ecosystems.

What made you decide to become a part of Dancing Rabbit?
I originally visited Dancing Rabbit last summer, shortly after I graduated from college. During my three week visitor period, I knew pretty quickly that I wanted to come back as a full-time resident to continue to pursue my interests in living sustainably. Before I had visited Dancing Rabbit, I knew that I wanted to pursue a more self-sufficient, low-impact, and simple lifestyle, but I didn’t know how to go about it within the confines of mainstream culture. When I found out about Dancing Rabbit, I knew it was possible, and it was inspiring to see a group of people already doing what I envisioned as my goal.

Are you a permananet member? Do you live there year round? How long have you lived there?
As I write this, I am not necessarily a “permanent” member. There are no “permanent” members. Anyone can leave whenever they want, that is to say. However, I am currently a resident, and I’ve lived here for six months so far. I’ve recently put in a letter of intent for membership. A member is someone that knows that want to spend significant time here, and has the ability to build his/her own house, unlike a resident. I plan on staying on board for a while yet, maybe another year or so. We shall see.

What is an ecovillage?
An ecovillage is a community with the goal of living sustainably, with a minimal impact on the environment. This generally entails a radically different lifestyle from that of the mainstream culture. Living sustainably might be accomplished by using renewable energy, like solar and wind power, driving less (Dancing Rabbit owns two biodiesel-fueled vehicles for all of its 35 members), catching rainwater for cooking and drinking, eating locally and organically grown food, sharing resources, and generally consuming less.

Is there anything you miss about non-ecovillage living?
Not really, to be honest. I feel much more at ease with and confident about this lifestyle, and I love the culture that has taken shape here at Dancing Rabbit. It’s very open and honest and peaceful and healthy. There’s always work to be done, and good chunks of downtime, too, of course. Only once in a while do I miss things like going out to movies or moseying about New York City. (I’m originally from the suburbs around NYC.) All in all, life is good here.

What is a typical day like at dancing Rabbit?
This is an often-asked question, but still not an easy one to answer. Every day is pretty different from the next. But there are some things they all share in common. I generally wake up around 8:00 and eat breakfast. Then I usually check my email and do some writing. (I’m a freelance blogger.) After that, I might help someone out with some work they need to get done. (Right now, I’m “work exchanging” for a friend who is building his house.) At 12:00, I eat lunch with my vegan food co-op members. After that, I might continue doing work (if there’s any to be done), go for a bike ride, read a book, or do video work. (I also run a video blog here, called Dancing Rabbit TV). If I’m the cook for my food co-op that night, I might start cooking around 3:00-3:30. At 6:30, I eat dinner. Afterwards, I might play a board game with some folks, call my family or friends, read a book, watch a movie, or just hang out. Then I’ll hit the hay around 10:00-11:30, depending on how tired I am.

What do you mean by sustainable living and how is it important to the environment?
A sustainable lifestyle is one that is capable of continuing indefinitely. I, among many others, believe that the typical lifestyle lead by most Americans is highly unsustainable, and is not capable of continuing much further into the future. As a civilization, we are desperately dependent on cheap energy, particularly oil, which fuels every facet of modern living, everything from transportation to manufacturing to agriculture and everything in-between. We generally disregard how our actions have an incredibly damaging effect on the environment. Without realizing just how much damage we are causing to the planet, we will leave serious scars on the environment which may be felt by many future generations. I think it’s important that we recognize this and learn to live in harmony with the earth’s ecosystems, so life, both human and non-human, can continue on more peacefully, healthfully, and indefinitely.

What are some things people can do to be more sustainable without moving out to Dancing Rabbit?
There’s plenty that people can do to live more sustainably. The first thing to do is educate yourself and others about the environment, about our culture, and about sustainable living. As far as practical things go, you can start by consuming less and realizing that you can’t just “buy” sustainability. Try eating locally and organically grown foods, those raised without pesticides and other harmful chemicals, and those that haven’t traveled 2,000 miles to reach your dinner table. You can also try driving less. Consider walking or biking, or ridesharing and public transportation, if possible. See if you can reduce your commute by moving closer to your job. Use energy at home efficiently, and avoid buying power-hungry appliances. Use water conservatively. Recycle your trash and compost your food scraps. All of these small actions can help. The main thing is to realize just how much we consume to accomplish everyday tasks, and then try to limit what we can.

More info about the Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage can be found at http://dancingrabbit.org/ and their behind the scenes video blog, Dancing Rabbit TV. Brian has also posted a semi photo essay on Facebook showing more day to day living at Dancing Rabbit.

This post is part of Blog Action Day

An Interview With Memeber Of Ecovillage by Russell Heimlich

Ahh! I don’t want to read all of this…

Friday, August 3rd
I got home from work an hour earlier than usual. This left some time for a quick nap before the 3 hour trek to Ocean City. Kristina and I left around 8pm stopping only for a bite to eat at Hardee’s. We made it to the shore by 11pm. Our friends Matt, Pammy, Mike, and Tim traveled in a separate car and met up with us 30 minutes later.

Matt said we could spend the night at a friend of a friend’s place but when we got to Ocean City we were told there wasn’t enough room. Being without a place to stay at the beach on a late Friday night in the beginning of August is a miserable experience. Cruising down Coastal Highway, looking for hotels with signs reading “vacancy”, was frustrating at best. When we did stumble upon the rare vacant hotel the rates were sky high, causing us to continue searching. Apparently the weekend of our trip was not a good time to look for a hotel at the last minute as there was a car show at the convention center and the worlds largest billfish tournament taking place in town. Our best bet to find a place to stay was to head out of Ocean City via route 50.

We eventually stumbled upon a motel just outside of town that had a vacant room and a price that everyone could agree on. The downside is we could only get one room and the motel policy stated no visitors were allowed. That didn’t stop us from piling six people into a tiny two person room. There was just enough room for three people to sleep horizontally on the “queen” size bed and the other three to curl up on the floor. The air smelled of mold like from inside a locker room and the water had a pungent odor. At least we had air conditioning and a mini refrigerator, though only one could be plugged in at a time. It was nearly 2:00am and we didn’t care about the grungy condition of our sleeping quarters. All we cared about was getting to the beach the next day.

Saturday, August 4th
After making it through the night without being found overstuffing a motel room, we quickly left and headed back into Ocean City for breakfast. The city has a plethora of eateries to choose from but the gang and I decided to stop at the popular Dough Roller restaurant. The prices were higher than I had wanted and the food wasn’t too great but it was a much-needed good start to our day. Matt drew this picture of Mike getting his leg bitten off by a shark in honor of Shark Week on the Discovery channel as we waited for our food.

It was around 11:30am and as we headed off to the beach when we realized there were absolutely no free parking spaces available. We ended up parking at a local sandwich shop named Billy’s Subs and hoped we wouldn’t get towed. Finally we made our way to the beach.

It was a hot and humid August day, perfect for playing in the ocean after laying out in the sun for a bit. The girls immediately plopped down on the beach to soak up some sun rays while the guys went frolicking in the water. I curled up into a fetal position and tried to catch a few winks because I need some sleep in order to be in a pleasant mood. The waves were rough and big making it more interesting than a usual day at the beach. Everybody got in the water at some point in the afternoon although I think Pammy only went up to her knees. Either way, everyone had fun.

Unlike Friday night, we had a place to stay all lined up for Saturday night but it wasn’t ready until after 2pm. Right around 2:30pm, dark rain clouds came through and blocked out the sun. We decided it was time to retreat indoors. Having a room with space to move around in was a welcome treat. Everyone showered up washing the grime from the motel room the night before and the salt water from the ocean right down the drain along with our anxiety. Finally everyone could relax and have a good time, at least this is when I felt like I could relax.

Half of the group went to hunt down a Quiznos 100 blocks away for some food. Kristina and I fell asleep on the living room couch for a quick catnap while Pammy read a book. Later we went out to a KFC/Taco Bell for some fast-food dinner and a chance to interact with other beach goers. At the restaurant were these four tweenage kids who thought the rub on tattoos from the vending machine were the hippest thing since the hula hoop. We laughed and made fun of them as we gobbled down our food. I got 7 soft tacos in anticipation of having another meal later on.

Later that night we broke out the beer pong table and playing cards. Kristina, Pammy, and myself played 31 while the others threw ping pong balls at each other and drank beer. It wasn’t the most exciting activity in the world, but it sure beat the night before.

After a while the drunkards were really drunk which was quite a spectacle to the non-drunkards. There was some puking over our 3rd story deck, a lot of peeing off the deck, and a rendition of the Macarena performed by the drunkards. In order to get them to do the dance, they wanted the non-drunkards to take a shot, which we agreed to, except we took shots of water. The drunkards were so trashed they didn’t even see us fill up our shot glasses under the sink while we slipped them some clear alcohol. To make sure they were none the wiser we made faces of anguish after tipping our glasses bottoms up. They totally fell for it and followed through with their end of the deal.

The night was a lot of fun and everyone got to sleep in much better accommodation’s compared to the night before.

Sunday, August 5th
We awoke to an overcast sky which killed the mood to go out on the beach. Instead, everyone meandered around the condo before we all went to Hooters for lunch. Again, the food wasn’t that great, but we had lots of stories to share from the night before which made it worth my while. Upon returning to our place, the drunkards immediately began attacking a 30-pack of Miller Lite while the non-drunkards packed and prepared to go home. Kristina, Pammy, and I left around 3pm while the drunkards were still partying on the deck.

On the ride home we ran into a severe thunderstorm with a torrent of down pouring rain. For the first time in my life, I heard the National Broadcasting System come on the radio warning us about the storm. Many people pulled over to the side of the road to wait it out, but we are young whipper snappers and decided to pull through. In the end everyone made it home safe and in one piece.

Short Version

• 3 Hour Car Drive
• Had to look for a hotel
• Found a tiny,disgusting one
• 6 people slept in a two person room
• Ate Dough Roller for breakfast
• Went to the beach
• Played card games or beer pong
• Slept in comfortable beds
• Ate at Hooters
• Drove home in the pouring rain
• The End

Spontaneous Beach Trip Weekend by Russell Heimlich

The highlight of the trip was the Hypersonic XLC which goes from 0-80 mph in 1.8 seconds before heading straight up, then over, and down a huge bump before finishing out by winding around several bends. It is a quick ride, but boy does it pump some adrenaline through your blood.

The Drop Zone stunt tower was equally unnerving especially since they wait a few moments before releasing you at the top, 305 feet above the ground. This Google video gives a pretty good impression of what the ride is like as a passenger.

What may be as equally unnerving as waiting at the top is the fact that a Kentucky girl lost both her feet when a ride similar to the Drop Zone malfunctioned that very same day at a Six Flags. I had no idea this happened until I got home but that explains why they closed the ride early after we went back at the end of the day for one final scare.

Luckily there were no accidents where we were and everyone came away with just as many limbs as they came in with. The only thing we probably lost the whole day was a gallon of sweat from all of the gut-wrenching, scary rides we went on all day. It was fun.

See more pictures taken from atop the replica Eiffel Tower.

Photos from Kings Dominion by Russell Heimlich