February

February. In Vermont. Picture it in your mind.....there's snow on the ground, the skies are generally overcast, a chilling wind scours the landscape, and it is COLD! Cold to the point of it being painful - exposed digits are in danger of frostbite - so cold, in fact that motion stops on the atomic level. What does Northern Baby do in this kind of weather? Well, for starters, he crawls around and laughs at Northern Dad's discomfort. Dad hates the cold - when February comes around, he's had just about enough of single digit temperatures. Northern Momma does crazy stuff like jumping into Lake Champlain (Google "Burlington Penguin Plunge"), but Northern Baby and Dad look for indoor activities.

A quick trip to the U-mall finds a fun activity....piloting a tugboat! NB hopped right into the captain's chair and set off on his ocean adventure (right after Dad put the quarters in the right slot - gotta pay for the fuel to troll the seas!). Fortunately, the seas were flat and calm - they sorta reminded NB of the cold, hard floors of a shopping mall - and the initial part of the cruise was a cake walk. Suddenly, a disconcerting feeling crept over our intrepid captain: the rudder was locked hard to port - the ship would only go to the left! Multiple attempts at course correction ensued as NB cranked the wheel to starboard to no avail. Our faithful tug was refusing to change direction. (NB: What is this?-NASCAR?!)

A few rounds of the North Atlantic had our intrepid adventurer restless and looking for a career change...Mommy, I want to be a railroad engineer!

Another indoor activity was the State Indoor Track Meet. Here we see NB mistaking the instruction "lace up your spikes" to mean "eat your shoe".

It's all good, though: we can keep the babes distracted from that gaffe by flashing our NB blues!

Sometimes, if it's above twenty degrees, Northern Mom drags the clan out to walk in the shadow of Mt. Mansfield. Sure is pretty, isn't it?

Daaaaaad! Mommy's making me wear all this stuff! Tell her that if I have to be dressed like Nanook of the North, I want my own dog sled and team!

After trudging through the snow, the clan stops by the local coffee shop for some warming treats.

This is the puppy-dog look that you'll receive from NB if you decline to share your carrot cake!

If we stay in, we can play 'Racecar'. It's so much fun to speed around the living room in our Formula One car! (Sponsored by Pampers, of course.)

We can even take our friends for a spin!