Kicked Out of Our Own House

Cari had a Silly Putty (or Silpada or something...) party at our house yesterday afternoon, and N.B. and Daddy got sent away. (Mind you, this is after Daddy cleaned the kitchen to shiny spotlessness and Levi fulfilled his promise to not drop any crumbs on the living room floor for just five minutes....) Fine, we don't want to hang out with any silly girls and jewelry anyway! We're going out!

Levi removed his shoes and put his sock on his head before we made it out of Jericho....We saw a real neat flat-fender as we rolled through Essex...

The motorcycle shop was closed, so we stopped at a little park for a snack.
Here, Levi chomps on a cracker (yeah, we're out on a man-tour, but Daddy wouldn't let him have any beef jerky just yet).

Whatchulookinat? Daddy tries for a nice photo together while Levi puts on his gangsta face.

Is he not the cutest kid ever?!

We made it to Lowes to do some low-budget shopping and research for future projects. We checked out new bathroom fixtures, investigated the kitchen layouts (Levi found a refrigerator that he really likes, even though I told him we have a brand-new one at home), and played in every last aisle of the store. Levi also wants a small version of this chair:

Umm...Daddy, can I ride back here?!

We took Grammy to breakfast at The Inn at Shelburne Farms. Really nice place. Driving up, you wouldn't think they'd let riff-raff like the Northern Clan inside, but they turned out to be very child-friendly and welcoming.
Levi snarfs down some home fries (after eating his first breakfast at home) This kid never stops eating!

This is the view from right outside the entryway...nice, isn't it?!

Levi helped me to do some exploratory digging in preparation to put in a French drain.

We got DIRTY, and we loved it!

No Motorcycles in this Post!

Northern Daddy took a little heat for posting all of the pictures of motorcycles from our trip to the Shelburne Museum....too many motorcycles, not enough pictures of little Northern Baby. (That's in "someone's" opinion - well, I see N.B. every day, cool motorcycles - not so often!)

Well, maybe we will make up for that with a few new photos in this post.

Here is Levi hanging out at the park and loving life....

Northern (Nutty) Mommy took the shortcut across the river - a little too cold for the rest of us to walk through - Levi cheated and hitched a ride across...

Here comes the Memorial Day Parade!


A new game that Northern Daddy taught the little one.

Full Throttle - Motorcycles at Shelburne Museum

Shelburne Museum FINALLY opened for the season this last Sunday, and the NorthernBabyBunch headed down to check out the exhibit we've been waiting to see: FULL THROTTLE! (It was also the day for their Lilac Festival, but...ummmm...who cares?!)

As you enter the big, round, red barn that serves as the visitors' center, this is the first motorcycle you see: a Jesse James custom built for Airstream. It's got the bare aluminum finish and rows upon rows of rivets - just like their trailers.Next up is an old BSA with an enclosed bullet sidecar...quite a bit of "character" to this rig.

(I bet if I could find something like this, Cari would let me ride Levi around in it!!)

I've suddenly blanked on the make and model of this one, but it's a fully-enclosed three-wheeler. Kinda cool, but that is a whole lot of vinyl wrapping around that thing!

Goldammer. One-of-a-kind custom based on the old boardtrack racers. This thing is super cool: perimeter disc brakes, HUGE engine stuffed in the frame, and even though it looks like a hardtail, it's got a rear suspension - the pivot is below the engine, and the top of the rear triangle slips inside the top tube (just under the seat). I've read magazine articles about this bike, and it's so cool to see it in person!

Going for the trick camera angles...catch the reflection in the mirror!

Self portrait. This is what I did all the way through three levels of exhibits - snap photos. I'm only posting a few of the pictures here - there's just too many of them. Somewhere around this bike, Cari came back inside and insisted I let her have the camera to go take a picture of Levi on the carousel. She got the camera, but I stayed in the same spot until she brought it back and I could take more motorcycle pictures!

THE jaw-dropper for me. Built by Roland Sands Designs, it takes board tracker design elements and pairs it with a Honda V5 race engine. (An engine from one of Kenny Roberts GP race bikes - aww...go look it up if you don't know who KR is...!) I've read several magazine articles about this bike, and a photo of it served as my screen saver at work for a few months - I am mesmerized by this thing - and to come around a corner and see it in person - well, I was so surprised and awed that I almost peed myself. (I said ALMOST!)I'm definitely making a return visit to see this bike again!

Maybe they'll stretch the rope so I can get a little closer look at it!

Some of the bikes were unusual...

Some were horribly ugly...

While the men were in the barn investigating the bike displays, Northern Baby had been whisked outside to ride on the carousel....I'm not sure how his first ride went, but when we got out there, he was sprawled on the grass, staring at the clouds, saying, "I feel the need...the need for speed!"

A beautiful example of a Bultaco. Too bad they stopped making them many years ago - I want one for exploring gravel roads.

Every time we go to the Museum, I take a picture of this. Every time, it fails to capture how neat of a view this is.

Choo-Choo!

Levi eating his hamburger. I think he's just so adorable in this picture. (Maybe that's because he was eating from Mommy's hamburger instead of mine!)

This cute little kid will kill for french fries....

Northern Mommy and Baby waited below as we toured the grand steamship Ticonderoga.

Ever the giving child, Levi is offering us a dandelion (or giving us the finger - it's hard to tell from this picture).

No, I don't know what that is; but yes, it sure was funny when Northern Baby fell on his head while climbing all over it!

Now, at the beginning of this post, I mentioned that it was the museum's opening day and the Full Throttle display was a huge draw, but I also mentioned that it was the annual Lilac Festival. Now, I'm not really into flowers (I'm kind of a Mow It/Don't Mow It? type of gardener), so I can admit that I am thirty-four years old and only two days ago did I learn what a lilac looks like. That's okay - I like learning new things, and lilacs are kind of pretty...and....ummm.....purple?!

We walked all over the museum grounds and saw all types of things and took pictures of motorcycles and barns and old tools and stuff, but did I manage to take a single photograph of a lilac? Seriously, it was a Lilac Festival, surely I got at least ONE pic of a lilac....Well, I did get a photo of a lilac - and it's just below here:

That's right - the only picture I got of a lilac was of the little baby one that Levi brought home.

It's all about the motorcycles - not the flowers!

Day for the Kids

Burlington hosted their annual Children's Day on the waterfront today, and of course the NorthernBaby family attended.

I don't have a picture of our parking spot, because like most people, I don't take photos of where I park the car (well, unless I ended up parked in a tree...or in a lake...or on the 14th green of the local golf course...then, yeah - I'd take a photo!), but we got an excellent parking spot down on the waterfront. Why am I starting a post by mentioning a parking spot? Well, if you've ever been to Burlington's waterfront, you know that most of the parking areas are at the TOP of the hill. And when you're ready to leave the waterfront and head home, you have to WALK ALL THE #@$%^%$ WAY UP THE HILL!!! (If you haven't noticed, I'm not a huge fan of walking up the hill...) So, the day started off with the HUGE plus of not walking any hills!

So, we start off with our Northern Einstein facing off against some blocks - I wish I could report that he stacked the blocks on the pole with expert precision, but we had to coach him just a little bit (but Dad, I don't want to turn the block to line up the hole - I wanna bash it until it fits!).

One pill makes you smaller....we check out a BIG chair!
Really - not a photo trick - this chair was quite large. It would seat three adults across!

Our hero investigates the interior of an ambulance - hopefully now that he's seen it, he won't ever have the desire to injure himself and get a ride in one! (Yeah, right: as adventurous as he is, I'm betting that he gets to know the EMTs on a first-name basis!)

We took one of the lug nuts off of Engine One. Shhhh!

I'm pooping on the shiny red truck....

There was a Noodle Corral for the kids to play in. I got stuck on the outside... :(

Fun day for the Northerns! Tomorrow we'll be heading out to Shelburne Museum for a look around at the Lilac Festival. (Ummm.......sure we're going for the lilacs.....there's a new exhibit called Full Throttle - forty plus motorcycles on display in the round barn! I've been waiting for this to open for months! Hey Northern Mommy: WE GO NOW?!!!)

I'll be sure to update with pics of the Museum trip as soon as life's schedule allows, so be sure to check back. (And don't think that I don't know about Northern Mommy's little email that she sent out after my last post - asking for comments to be posted....BAD Northern Mommy! BAD! But, it is good to know that I'm not always typing into the vast wasteland of the web, and that someone reads this thing every once in a while - thank you all for your comments)(and if N.Mommy pulls a stunt like that again, she'll have all the flowers pulled out of the garden!)

Big Truck Day

Okay, so this last Saturday, it was Big Truck Day. (Well, for Northern Dad, it was mow the freakin' grass day.) A nursery school in the area decided to gather a bunch of trucks into a parking lot and let little boys and girls go bananas over looking at them. Sounds like a pretty good idea to me...(just take the keys out when you park them...)

Since I was at home, happily running my tractor and terrorizing little defenseless blades of grass, I can only relate details as given to me by Northern Mommy and Northern Baby (but he's still too busy making engine noises and trying to show me just how BIG the trucks were to really give an accurate accounting of the event - he's still trying to convince me that one of the trucks was as big as the house...)

Levi got his very own fireman's hat...he loves this thing! I'm not sure if he likes it because it's a fireman's hat or because it says "Fire Chief" and he thinks that means he can boss us around...

Isn't he just adorable?! Inspecting the equipment to make sure it's safe for the job site! (I'm not posting the picture that shows him unscrewing the cap on the valve stem....honest, sir, I don't have a clue how your $5,000 tire got a flat...!)

Allright - maybe it seemed as big as the house to him...

If I could just reach the pedals....


According to Northern Mommy, this is the tail end of some kind of snow removal equipment.

(Once again, isn't he just so cute?!)




Wheee! It's a slide!

How come I get the feeling that he's going to want to be a fireman? - He's got his hat, he's been inside the truck, and he's fearless....

One thing is for sure: if they run this event again next year, Northern Daddy gets to go along. So far, Northern Baby thinks that the proper names for the different kinds of equipment are 'digger, scooper, pusher'(Thanks alot, Northern Mommy!). We have to have proper supervision along next time to teach him about excavators, dozers, and etc.

Totally Random Photos

Since we have almost two hundred photos from last week's trip to Alabama, I have quickly skimmed through and picked some totally random photos (why else did you think I used that title for this entry?!) I will add more pictures as I find the energy (Cari went off to a spa this weekend and left me all alone with the little crumbsnatcher - and I also tilled the garden over by hand [bad idea, if you're wondering], so I'm tired. For now, enjoy these pics.

That's a really low score in that game, Daddy...

And then, the lion said to the giraffee...(I don't know what story he was telling, but he's really into it!)


Born to be wild! (Um, Levi - you can't be a bad-boy biker if you're wearing a yellow polo shirt...)

I'm still in this carseat?! ARE WE THERE YET?