Northern Baby Heads South to Boston

To escape the stark reality of Vermont's winter, Northern Baby headed to Boston for a day of fun. A few hours cooped up in the carseat was a small price to pay for a sun-drenched, delightfully warm day in the big city.

Here we see Levi telling Daddy to smile...
well, he didn't have to pay for the room in that really nice Marriott behind us...!

The destination for the day was the New England Aquarium

There is a whole lotta tons of stuff to see at the Aquarium...mostly fish.

The first thing that you see upon entering the Aquarium (other than a twenty foot model of whatever that thing up there is - what, I'm supposed to read signs for you people? Make your own visit to the place if you want details!) is a huge habitat for penguins. Penguins are kinda cool. These aren't the big, stupid-looking tuxedo wearing penguins that they make boring documentary movies about; these are quick little birds. A group of five moving through the water looks like a squadron of fighter jets - these little birds "fly" through the water in formation, and make turns and adjustments in sync. Pretty darn cool.

As you can see, there is a very, very large fish tank at the Aquarium. It's kind of hard to miss it. Here we have a picture of Levi viewing the tank from the top. I think all of that water made him want to pee.

As a side note, what are the people that work at an aquarium thinking when they send divers into the tank to clean during visiting hours? Trying to explain the concept of a "fish" to an eleven-month-old is taxing enough for my old brain; how do I explain SCUBA divers to Northern Baby? (Well, buddy, those are people...in rubber suits...breathing under water...aw, forget it - THOSE, my son, are SNACKS for the SHARKS!)

We shared our visit to the Aquarium with some friends...their identities will be kept private (well, only 'cause I haven't asked their permission to post photos of them here on the blog, and if I were to hold off updating the blog until I asked them, I would never get around to updating this blog,so that's why)

Here's a shot of N.B. and friend checking out the fish tank. It turns out that you really can hear a baby's thoughts. Some of N.B.'s thoughts:

-Wow! That's a biiiigg fiiissshh!

-What's that ugly yellow eel thingy doing in the tank?

-I really gotta pee...

-Why is that shark following the SCUBA guy?

Finding Nemo!

Northern Baby was incredibly well behaved throughout the day. Remarkable, seeing how he missed his afternoon nap and saw all kinds of fish and people and buildings and stuff. He even stayed on his best behavior at the restaurant for dinner. The only 'trouble' he caused was by stealing Mommy's mashed potatoes from her plate while nobody was watching. It was kinda cute, he must have snuck four or five spoonfuls before we caught on and snapped this photo.

His first time in a swing...he absolutely loves the playground swings!