NorthernToddler has inherited his parents' fashion sense. Now, it is up to you, dear reader, to decide whether he picked it up from NorthernMommy (who likes to add color and fun to her wardrobe), or from NorthernDaddy( who rarely cares what others think of his clothes; he still has - and regularly wears to work - some polo shirts from his furniture delivery days almost eight years ago). Take a look at the photo below and make your decision....(Apparently, this outfit is an improvement - Grammy and M&M say that he was running around in the yard without the shorts before Mommy and Daddy got home!)

--

We made it to another Lake Monsters game. The weather was beautiful - there was no rain, and the temperature was in the mid-fifties - excellent! The ballpark was promoting a local car dealership that uses the Logger (http://www.thelogger.com/) as a spokesman, and he was there handing out his DVDs, calendars, and books. Kinda cool - seeing him up close and having him sign Grammy's book count as a celebrity sighting up here in the North. (Y'all have your celebrities - some of you have Congressmen, others maybe a famous actor or such - we have the Logger. It's too cold in Vermont for those other celebrities: the paparrazzi can't shoot tabloid photos in the kind of cold we get up here!)

NorthernToddler continues his love/hate relationship with Champ, the Lake Monsters' mascot. NorthernToddler was all ramped up about going to the baseball game and seeing Champ. When Champ actually came over to within ten feet of his adoring fan, his adoring fan hid his face in his hands. As soon as Champ went over to the other side of the field, NorthernToddler was calling out, "Champ, come back...." Guess we'll have to keep going to games until NorthernToddler is brave enough to dance with Champ on top of the dugout.



--

Now, when you see the photo below, you might wonder why we've posted a picture that is out of focus, is only slightly cute, and shows my (temporarily) cluttered kitchen. The answer is shown in the second picture: the first photo of the slightly cute/very goofy kid cancels out the second photo of our resident masked super-hero!

--

One of the many things on NorthernDaddy's To-Do List was to fix the brakes on the NorthernBabyToddlerAdventureVehicle™. There's been a grinding noise coming from the rear brake for a short time. It's an off-and-on noise, and the car keeps rolling down the road, so it's not an urgent repair thing (an urgent repair thing is something like a flat tire, or a split coolant hose, or anything that makes NorthernMommy feel like she's unsafe and is GOING TO DIE THIS VERY INSTANT as she's driving.) Well, NorthernMommy visited Grammy's house the other day, and Grandpa - who seemingly doesn't have anything better to do - looked at the rear brakes and determined that the pads were wearing a bit. By a "bit", he meant that "there isn't a speck of brake pad material left on the steel core of the pad". This announcement invoked the 'GOING TO DIE NOW' phrase, and instantly converted pad replacement from a 'not an urgent repair' to a YOU MUST DO THIS NOW OR YOU'RE AN IDIOT AND DON'T CARE FOR ME OR YOUR SON kind of repair. Now, be sure that NorthernMommy did not use those exact words - or even state anything like that - but I could tell from the subtle tonation of her voice that she surely meant things that way! (Thanks alot, Grandpa!)

NorthernToddler loved helping with the brakes - even though all he got to do was sit in the doorway of the garage and hold the "L". It was good enough for him to know that the "L" was a very important tool, and that he had to keep track of it and take very good care of it. He took his job very seriously - he wasn't going to lose that hex wrench! (NorthernDaddy is just trying to train Toddler to be nice to and not take any of Daddy's tools when he gets older. NorthernDaddy knows where some of his daddy's tools ended up when it came time to work on the Jeep, and is attempting to make sure that Toddler doesn't 'borrow' any of his tools!)

The last thing for today's post in a quick animal update:

We have four chickens remaining out of the seven we started with this spring. A fox got at least one of them - probably all three of the missing birds. It was last Sunday afternoon, about three pm, and NorthernDaddy had just finished mowing the grass (by hand - he killed another riding tractor this year) and was inside getting a drink when we saw our chickens hauling ass across the road. The very busy road with lots of cars and trucks travelling in excess of the speed limit. The whole Northern clan quickly rounded up four of the birds and deposited them back inside the coop. As we were searching for the missing three birds, we found a pile of feathers on the lawn behind the house. A quick look at the edge of the lawn turned up a fresh path pushed through the tall weeds. Fifty feet or so down that path was one of our chickens - dead. Bite marks on both sides just under the wings and a broken neck. NorthernDaddy guessed that it was a fox - and that suspicion was confirmed when a guy in a pickup drove back past the house and asked if we had seen the big ol' fox in our backyard. Well, no - but we found his lunch.... Later in the week, we learned that the neighbors across the street had found a dead chicken in their yard - that would be missing chicken number two. The third missing chicken is still missing and presumed dead (you think?-it's only been a week...)

The running list of dead things in our house/yard over the last two weeks is as follows:

-Three dead chickens.

-One dead pet bunny (Goodbye, Guy).

-One dead wild rabbit (NorthernMommy found it dead just outside of her vegetable garden. With the help of gardening gloves and a long-handled shovel, she flung it off into the weeds. When NorthernDaddy came home and wanted to check and see how the bunny died, he had to crash through the weeds to find dead bunny. Strange thing is that the rabbit had no external indication as to how it died - no bite marks, no open sores, nothing. It had a broken neck, but it could have sustained that when NorthernMommy catapulted him across the field.....We're chalking it up to the fox - like we need another reason to shoot him the next time he appears....

-Two dead mice (okay, so what? - they're mice. They're being included to give you a general idea of just how many corpses are being removed around here. Also, it was a small triumph to cart off a small, limp mouse body after we spent a hour trying to chase it out of our stove.) (Small additional note: the mice we killed. The rest died of natural causes - and foxes are natural causes...)

--

This week will be spent doing our normal routine of chores and living life - with the chickens penned up and an eye out for a chance to loose an arrow at a fox.

A Small Slice of Saturday

Some Saturdays at the Northern clan's house are enough to make NorthernDaddy want to go back to work. Immediately - no waiting for Monday to come around. The reason? NorthernToddler. (also known as NorthernQuizMaster/NorthernStuntMan/NorthernMonster/and sometimes simply as StopItNowPlease)

--

NorthernMommy gets to deal with little NorthernTerror NorthernToddler on a daily basis now that school's out for the summer. So, when Saturday rolls around, NorthernDaddy is first in line to provide relief from the Terrible Twos. Lucky me.

--

Today started early - out of bed at six am to head up to a local rabbitry to see if we can find a replacement for Guy. (Remember Guy? The pet rabbit that lasted just over a week here before he died....{it was of natural/disease causes - not because I barbecued him. Really, people: I'm only that harsh at work!}....let's observe a moment of silence for Guy...) Apparently, people who raise meat rabbits get up early; I mean, why exactly do we have to be there at eight on a Saturday morning? The rabbits are in cages - they're not exactly going to have run off to a far corner of the pasture if we show up a little later! Anyway, we did end up with a new pet bunny. You'll be properly introduced later in this post.

--

We did some of the normal chores, napped, ate lunch, and then it was time for NorthernDaddy and NorthernToddler to run some errands - to give NorthernMommy some time alone with her gardening. We ran to the feed store, hit the grocer's, and then raided the pet store for bunny supplies.

While at the grocery store, NorthernDaddy spotted a pretty and bright floral arrangement and picked it up to bring home to NorthernMommy. (Always looking for things to make NorthernMommy happy! Besides, it's been almost a month since I brought her flowers...)

Aren't they kinda nice looking? The multi-colored pot is quite eye-catching, and can be reused later. NorthernMommy likes them.

--

NorthernMonster likes them, also. He found a flower that had broken off in transit (hey- the car had two bags of feed, four bales of wood shavings, and a bunch of other miscellaneous stuff in it - not a whole lot of space to properly carry flowers!), and made a mess of the house with it. When he was done playing with that (actually, when we took it away from him), he went and pulled another flower out of the arrangement and went beserk with it. Evidence below....After we corrected him from messing up the flowers, NorthernToddler decided to sit in his chair. In Daddy's chair. NorthernToddler will now be known as HeyManGetDownFromThereBeforeYouBreakYourFoolNeck...WeShouldaGotAPuppy.Enough two-year-old antics. We shall move on to the new pet bunny. I say pet bunny because there is still a chance that we will be raising meat bunnies in the future (you thought we were nuts for getting the chickens - we're just crazy enough to go through with the rabbit thing, too!).

We can call our new rabbit a "rescue bunny" because we got it from a local couple who raise rabbits to sell the meat. It just happened that they recently got some new stock in from their breeder, and that NorthernMommy was talking to the right people to find out about this rabbitry, and that we found one we liked out of this small group. (We were choosing from a group of about five rabbits. We were not choosing from the almost 100 other rabbits that were already on their pathway to somebody's dinner plate - especially not the ten pound white rabbits with the red eyes.....)

--

Our new bunny is named "Guy". No, not really - that's just what NorthernToddler said her name was. There are two problems with calling the new bunny "Guy" - one, the dead bunny was named Guy; and two, the bunny is a gal, not a guy. So, the official name for the new bunny is "Autumn". The color of her fur reminded us of some Fall leaves, we like Fall, and it's funny to hear NorthernToddler try to pronounce "Autumn", so that is her name.

--

Housetraining starts early around here....at least I think that is what's going on in this picture. It could really be a photo showing the young rabbit's complete domination of our house..."I am bunny. You will feed me. I will sit on you."

The bunny has been the sanest thing about this Saturday. Between wrasslin with NorthernToddler, running errands, and dealing with some weird stuff (chickens playing hide-and-seek), it's been quite a day! Time to go to sleep!

A Simple Summer Pleasure

Baseball. America's pastime.

--

One of the indicators of summer in Vermont is the start of the Lake Monsters' season. (The main indicator is the strange arrival of above-freezing temperatures.) The Lake Monsters are the local minor league baseball team (and a farm team for the Washington Nationals - we're still managing to rep D.C., even while we're in Northern Vermont!) We try to attend several games each summer, and NorthernDaddy's work helps with that by setting up an annual CHP at the Ballpark Night (read that as: free dinner and tickets to a game!).

--

Tonight' ballpark promotion was a give-away of Champ bobblehead dolls. Champ the lake monster is the team mascot, and NorthernToddler is fascinated by him. The fact that he got a bobblehead of Champ is the highlight of NorthernToddler's day.

--

The game was, um......, damp. As we finished dinner, it started to drizzle a bit. We took our seats and watched as the home team put the first three batters down without a hit. It started to rain in earnest as the Lake Monsters got up to bat. First batter struck out. Second batter managed a single - and NorthernMommy declared that it was time to head for the car. We'd seen Champ, seen a hit, and were not going to see anymore rain....and, oh yeah, we'd gotten our bobblehead. NorthernToddler loves his Champ doll. (Note NorthernMommy's clever use of baseball-themed pajamas!)

NorthernToddler loves his Champ doll so much that he refused to go to bed without us putting it up front and center on his dresser in his room. (He wanted to sleep with it, but we're smarter than that - if we'd have done that, he'd still be awake at midnight: tap..boiing....tap..tap..boiing.... We'd hear that bobblehead non-stop!)

--

We left midway through the first inning - I'm listening to the game online now, and it's the top of the ninth, with the Lake Monsters leading by one. I'm happy to be inside and dry while I follow the game! Hopefully, we'll manage another game this year and will be able to show you some photos of NorthernToddler harassing the opposing team and dancing on top of the dugout!

Guy

It is NorthernDaddy's unpleasant duty to inform our readers that "Guy", NorthernToddler's pet rabbit, died earlier this evening.

--

NorthernToddler accepted the news well - he's two, and knows nothing of death yet. When we came home and found that the rabbit was not alive, we moved NorthernToddler past the cage and into another room. That didn't keep him from pointing towards the cage and asking, "Why is Guy laying down?...Why Guy down?...." That's when we had to tell him that his bunny had died: "You know how Guy has been sick? Well, he didn't get better and he's died." And that kicked off a short conversation about how Guy wouldn't be there any more.

--

NorthernMommy is saddened.

--

NorthernDaddy is also saddened - after having a bunny dropped into his life unexpectedly, and finding that he quickly became attached to the fuzzy little freeloader, it was a sad thing to find that the bunny is gone. This wasn't totally unexpected: Guy was sick. It seemed that he was getting better - right up until we found him tonight. Guy was buried in a pretty area near the tractor shed (so he can run in spirit with the wild rabbits in NorthernMommy's garden).

While we are sad, we do look forward to finding another bunny to share our home. We are researching local breeders and also looking at going the rescue/shelter route. We're looking for a healthy rabbit that has been properly weaned from its mother, and of course, he/she has to be cute! We'll be sure to keep y'all posted if we find one.

So Simple a Two-Year-Old Could Do It.....(or, *#%$! Rabbit!)

Our newest family member, Guy, was in need of a home. Errr....in need of a house......um....what's that thing called? Bunny barn? Rabbit ranch? I think it's called a hutch. So, Guy was in need of a hutch. The cardboard box worked fine for the three days he was in it, but wasn't so easy to keep clean - and he started to hop right out of it today.

NorthernDaddy thought that he would be nice to NorthernMommy and take NorthernToddler with him to purchase a new 'hutch' for Guy - leaving NorthernMommy home by herself to enjoy some non-toddler solitude. We got loaded into the NorthernToddlerAdventureVehicle ™ and headed towards the nearest Tractor Supply store. Normally, I would rant against the giant, nation-wide corporation and make an argument for the local, family-owned ag store, but our budget called for the largest bunny cage available at the absolute rock-bottom price possible, and Tractor Supply fit the bill. Only problem was that the nearest TSC is in Montpelier - forty miles away. Oh well; NorthernMommy will get plenty of alone time. Except that Googlemaps lied, and NorthernDaddy had to call home for directional clarification. (Which turned out to be wrong anyway - the TSC in Montpelier is not where google says it is - we stumbled upon the store by pure chance right as we were going to admit defeat.)

We picked out our budget-deluxe rabbit cage and got it home. Pull everything out of the box, and it looks fairly simple to assemble - hey, they didn't include instructions, so it must be simple, right?! It's gotta be so simple that NorthernToddler could put it together!

I'd like to interrupt this post to share an odd development with you....This is a lamb that NorthernMommy just created and handed to me. Apparently, this week is "L" week at our house: NorthernToddler is learning how to draw the letter 'L' and all about different things that start with the letter 'L'. Why we didn't start with 'A', I don't know, but it's all about the 'L' at our house: linguine for dinner, lemonade to drink, light switches, and now....lambs. (Can a person get cabin fever in the middle of summer?!)(Regardless of NorthernMommy's sudden and uncharacteristic arts-and-crafts kick, it's a kind of cool lamb. She just told me that she got the idea from Inadvertent Farmer's blog -http://sweetgrace.typepad.com/the_inadvertent_farmer/ - so, if you think it's a neat idea, go surf her blog.) (You should go surf her blog anyway - it's quickly becoming our favorite blog to read.)

Okay, back to the bunny prison....it looked easy, but took two intelligent adults and one "helpful" toddler almost an hour to assemble. As NorthernDaddy was putting pieces together, NorthernMommy was trying to keep an inquisitive rabbit out of the guest room, and NorthernToddler was trying to help by offering his assembly advice to Daddy and then rushing off to chase the rabbit around the house. After much chaos, there stands in our mudroom a shiny new bunny hutch with a happy bunny inside.

NorthernMommy posted on her blog about Guy the Bunny having a little bit of gastro-intestinal distress. Yesterday he did have some problems, and after reading several web sites, it looked like it could be very grim for Guy. After today, when Guy looked much better and hopped around alertly, it looks better for him. Instead of the bad bunny problems we thought he might have, it seems that his diet might have been a bit off. We've been giving him lettuce, strawberries, and other 'good' veggies and fruits. We've found out over the last day that too much of that stuff can be bad for young rabbits. He's on a diet of high-grade pellets and top-shelf hay for now, and we'll see if things improve.

New Addition to the Zoo

I checked my voicemail before getting on the bike to come home, and there's a message from NorthernMommy. We get fuzzy cell phone reception at the warehouse, so I heard bits and pieces; "You know I'm impulsive...., remember I love you......, we'll talk when you get home...."

Well, isn't that the kind of thing you want to hear? Knowing NorthernMommy as I do, I was sure that there was something new living at our house. Knowing NorthernMommy like I do, there was no telling what our new resident was. Did we have a kitten? More chickens? A goat, alpaca, rabbit, goldfish, or a puppy? (Pretty sure it wasn't a puppy...NorthernMommy is against having a dog.)

I pulled into the drive and found a bale of hay in the spot where my motorcycle gets parked. Grrrrrrrrr......not a good start for whatever critter is in my house. I tossed the bale outside, parked the bike, and walked into the house to find this:

That's right, we have a bunny rabbit now. What breed is it? Don't know. Is it a buck or doe? Don't know. How much did it cost? It was free...you know that farm up in the islands where....Don't care. We're going away this weekend - who's taking care of the baby bunny? Cxxxxxxx is (she took care of the chickens while we were in Michigan). You know I have to make a cage for this bunny, right? ------- So, now I get to make a cage for a rabbit. This is why we don't have TV: there is plenty to do around here, and the list grows daily!

And, according to NorthernToddler, this bunny shall be called 'Guy'.

Hmmph. Welcome to the insane asylum, Guy.

Chicken Update

As I was loading photos and typing up the Day Three recap of our recent road trip, I realized that it was very late, I was tired, and I really didn't want to type any more. So, I left my work as a draft, and will finish typing it up in a day or two. (Sorry for the delay....go watch some TV while you wait!...I recommend Food Network - I would pay for cable if they would offer a package of Food Network and MotoGP coverage...that's all I need!) In place of a road trip recap, I offer an update on our small flock of chickens.

Those baby chicks have gotten a little bit larger....meaning that they're roughly the size of a Boeing 747. We picked Buff Orpingtons because they are a pretty chicken (if any chicken can be considered 'pretty') - that was one of NorthernDaddy's stipulations on having chickens: I can be suckered into keeping chickens, I can be talked into having seven chickens, and I can be manipulated into doing all of the hard labor to take care of chickens(refurbish the coop, build a run, etc.), but I exercised my authority as the head of this household(What? Stop your laughing!) by declaring that I wasn't keeping any of the hideous breeds of chicken. The only problem with picking Orpingtons is that they are a large breed...NorthernMommy 'trained' one of the chicks to perch on her arm(back when they were small), and now that bird still thinks she can use humans as a roost. It's hard to be cool when you have a giant golden chicken riding around on your shoulder.................actually, I think I can spin that thought: It's pretty cool when you have a magnificent golden bird of prey at your side! (If that doesn't work for you, just pretend you're a pirate and your parrot is on vacation...) Above: the chishuns check out their new accomodations(with luxurious pine shavings on the floor). Below: one extra-large chicken coop with shiny new run attached.
The coop above may not look like much - what with the leaning and weathered siding and all - but that represents a substantial investment: one trip to the hardware store for the poultry netting, hardware cloth (that stuff's expensive!), and fittings (sorry, I've been reading a lot of smallholding magazines from England: fittings are the hardware; the screws/nails/etc.) ended up costing over $100. Yup; chicken wire, mesh, and staples for the run was more than a C-note. I'm just glad that I already had all the 2x4 lumber that I needed (free/salvaged!). This chicken thing was supposed to be cheap! Every time I thought I was done with the coop, NorthernMommy would pop by and point out yet another hole that needed to be covered with hardware cloth. I've read of "Fort Knox" coops...ours is almost that armored! The run took two days to construct - two very hot days! The good news is that we can let the birds outside during the day without the worry of them playing in the road. (They could still get themselves killed by a weasel or raccoon - that poultry netting won't stop those predators - but there's not much we can do about that.)

Below: a close up of the pop-hole/door/ramp. All made out of salvaged wood, and artfully accessorized with a handle made from a frog-styled hook.

Even with all of the work to refurbish the coop, build a run, and get used to caring for animals, it's pretty neat to have these chickens around. They have their peculiarities, both individually and as a flock, which makes watching them amusing/interesting. There's a weird sense of 'rightness' about having to tend to them - it's good to be up and outside early, feeding and watering the flock. I'm not sure how to explain that, but it's partly knowing that we're on the way to having our own little mini-farm (we're still defining what exactly that will mean - but we're pretty sure it's going to mean rabbits and a huge vegetable garden - please, someone talk me out of keeping goats.....) and being less dependent on the grocery store. (Don't get me started on the grocery store and it's evil processed foods!!) Anyway, the chickens are "right" for us at this moment in time. (I may have a different opinion after winter arrives and I'm shoveling a path to the coop at 4:30am....)

Our closing photo shows just how 'urban farm' our little patch of land is becoming. One of the birds (that one is named Bertha)(blame NorthernMommy for naming the chickens) is posing atop what passes for my tractor.

Road Trip Recap - Day Two

Before we get on the road for day two, we have some late-breaking news: NorthernToddler is now the (very) proud owner of some big-boy underwear! In an effort to bolster his growing interest in using the potty, we are using the underwear as a 'motivational tool' - he wants to wear them, so he has to use the potty instead of a diaper.....y'all are all adults - you know the basics - I'm done explaining! Just wanted everyone to know that NorthernToddler is now - at times - sporting Elmo, Cookie Monster, and Bert+Ernie on his butt. (As a side note, could somebody run and find my grown-up vocabulary? I seem to have misplaced it. I never in my life imagined that using the word "potty" would be a major part of my day. Come to think of it, I also never thought that I'd be accountable to a two-year-old for my bathroom habits. "You going potty, Daddy?" is now a regular question in this house..........)

Here's a portrait of the proud new tighty-whitey owner. (He picked the style, he learned to stand in line at the cashier, and he paid for them too. He also learned that it's more polite to wait until you're outside the store to put on your new skivvies...) Doesn't he look so proud of his new undies? Hopefully, you'll be reading about his completed potty training soon (wishful thinking?!). Now, if you will fasten your seatbelts, we can resume our roadtrip....

Heading out of Sudbury on the morning of day two, we traveled through an industrial area. In fact, there were so many manufacturing plants, mining operations, utilities, and such, that you would have thought you were in the industrial heart of Canada. We saw this thing:

and stopped to take a picture. It looks all the world like a reduced-scale version of the Eiffel Tower. Best we could tell, it's an antenna for the mining business located there. Chalk it up as Odd Sight #18 on this trip.

Now, if you're wondering how we can remember all of this stuff about the trip, here's the secret: we kept a notebook handy and jotted down everything that sparked our interest. Most of the entries were logged by NorthernDaddy, but here's one that Mommy deemed book-worthy...and quoting directly, the book says, "Daddy deliberately crossed train tracks in front of train". Um.....guilty! The train was moving really slowly, and it was at least 200 feet away...and the crossing lights might have been flashing, but I had a lot of miles to cover that day!

Odd Sight #23 happened as we rolled down a deserted section of the TransCanada Highway: Maybe you've heard that we've seen a weasel around our yard. Maybe you know that weasels have a thing for killing and eating chickens. (Maybe because they, you know, taste like chicken!) (These are the jokes, people! You can laugh, or you can just sit there.) Well, we had been on the road for several days, and weasel thoughts were far behind us, when we suddenly saw another weasel! He was hooked on our roof rack and was sticking his ugly little face down onto our windshield begging for help as we sped down the road at 75mph! Not really - but we did have one run across the road in front of us. If I'd have realized what it was just a second earlier, he'd have been flattened under the tire!

We droned through some very remote and beautiful country, and eventually made it to the Sault Ste Marie border crossing. Did I mention that on our way into Canada, the border agent was a cute, very pleasant woman? And that it took just under two minutes to convince her that we weren't bad people (and that NorthernToddler wasn't smuggling booze in his blankie)? We waited in line to get into the US for more than an hour. (Sitting eighty feet in the air on a bridge overlooking the canal and locks - not too bad.) As we pulled up to the crossing control booth, no less than eleven cameras were aimed at us (just our lane! - and every lane has that many cameras!), and there's no telling how many sensors sniffed our car - they probably knew that NorthernToddler's diaper needed changing before we did! And, in our experience, CBP agents (that's ours - the USA) are not anywhere as cute and polite as their Canadian counterparts!

(At least we weren't like the car just ahead of us - they aroused the suspicion of two agents who then walked with their car to the booth - which took about thirty minutes because of the backup at the border - and then escorted it to an inspection area and tore that car apart! As we rolled through the gate into the US, there were bags flying out of that car and tools being readied - and I think I might have even seen them removing a fender!.......All I know is, our crossing experience was MUCH better than theirs!)

We had an early dinner at the Lighthouse Restaurant, where NorthernToddler was complimented on his exceptionally good behavior - which was interesting, because his parents thought that he was slightly, irritatingly rowdy. I guess it's nice to know that your kid is so well behaved that even on a bad night, he's better than most! (I give NorthernMommy credit for teaching him his manners!) (And to that waitress serving the other table, I'm sorry that Toddler attempted to grab your rear end as you passed by - he's not normally so direct. He prefers to flirt a little first...)

All of the wedding guests were invited on a short cruise on Lake Huron (and Lake Michigan - we crossed under the bridge that separates them)(oops! I just Googled it, and apparently we were officially in the Straits of Mackinac. Sorry for the misinformation.), and after getting soaked - it's a long story involving walking in torrential rains and misunderstandings of the departure time - we finally got NorthernToddler on the boat he had been hoping to ride for the past two days (Mommy's fault for telling him about the cruise - he's got a one track mind). Great cruise - saw family and friends, saw the pilothouse, saw BIG ships.

One note about traveling with a two-year-old: don't book hotels based on cool features. We got a nice suite in a hotel with an attached waterpark. We'd seen the pictures and were excited about the waterpark. We checked in, got changed into our swim gear, and bee-lined it for the pool. It was great! Waterslides, fountains, spray cannons, kids splashing and screaming with joy - it had everything. Including a pirate. A very bad pirate. A pirate who would almost instantly crush our happiness about the waterpark. You see, he was a large bucket molded in the shape of a pirates's head (with parrot!). This bucket held somewhere in the neighborhood of 500 gallons of water. Hoses slowly filled the bucket, which took about five minutes. And when the bucket was full, it tipped - blasting the play area with water and creating a horrendously loud noise. NorthernToddler freaked when this happened. He huddled in close, refused to look at the bucket (or the waterpark), and kept screeching, "PIRATE GET ME!!!"
The best we could get him to do was to get into the plain old regular swimming pool on the other side of the room. Even then, he kept a hawk's eye on that mean ol' pirate. We didn't get to spend more than two minutes in that cool waterpark - and that's why it stinks traveling with two-year-olds!

Road Trip Recap - Day One

NorthernToddler's NorthernRoadTrip.

Seven days. More than two thousand miles. Incredible landscapes and strange sights. Memories for a lifetime.

Sound like a brochure from a travel company? It isn't. It's just the basics of our most recent adventure. It all started when NorthernMommy's cousin decided to get married in Mackinaw City, Michigan. And also decided to invite the Northerns to attend. (The invitation was extended many months ahead of the actual event, which gave NorthernMommy a lot of time to plan the trip.) (NorthernDaddy:"Uh oh...") In her role as official route planner, NorthernMommy decided that we would go north into Canada and make a stop in Toronto on the way to Michigan. And then, after the wedding, we would travel along the St. Lawrence Seaway Trail - stopping at Niagara Falls, Rochester, NY (you'll see why later), and Alexandria Bay, NY. (NorthernDaddy:"Damn...this trip is gonna cost a bundle...")

With the route and stops semi-planned, we proceeded to postpone trip preparations until the last minute. Passports? Um...yeah. Managed to obtain NorthernToddler and Mommy's passports a few weeks before we left. Due to some documentation problems and a busy work schedule, NorthernDaddy's passport arrived four days before departure. Cut it close! Two days before we hit the road, it was recommended that we travel a different road through Canada (thanks M+M and Pops - made for a good trip!).

So, to shorten all of that to one sentence, we tossed NorthernToddler in the car and started the journey!

On our way to the Canadian border, we drove through rain. In Chateaugay, NY, the rain stopped and was replaced with heavy fog. All of a sudden, a spinning propeller popped out of the mist. A HUGE propeller right next to the road! The road twisted through a wind farm (you know, with the giant 200' wind turbines generating electricity...) that went for miles. It was eerily amazing to see large blades fade in and out of the fog as we drove past.

As we passed out the end of the wind farm, NorthernToddler piped up from the back seat, "See it again!" (Sorry, bud - we have ten more hours in the car today...)

We crossed into Canada at Cornwall, and started converting things to metric. The speed limit was 90 kph - which is about 55mph. Ever the law-abiding driver, and not wanting to receive my very first foreign traffic citation, I set the cruise control at exactly 90kph. A few cars passed us, but I just figured that they were the one or two fast drivers in the area. It was boring going the speed limit, but after passing a huge sign stating that a violation of 50kph over the limit(going about 90mph) would result in a $10k fine, immediate seizure of your vehicle, and the removal of your left pinkie finger, I decided that going the speed limit was the right thing to do. Until NorthernMommy pointed out that the big yellow school bus ahead was leaving us in it's dust. Rapidly disappearing into a small dot on the horizon. Making me look like a little old lady driver. Making NorthernMommy openly mock me for being a grandma driver. I weighed the risks, and pressed on the pedal until we rocketed along at 75mph. Gotta make some time if we're ever going to reach our destination. (Besides, if I get busted, it's NorthernMommy's car they'll take, and I don't really use my left pinkie anyway!)

Our first gas stop (and all of our gas stops in Canada) created a small problem. The shiny card reader pumps wouldn't take my credit card. They wouldn't take my debit card, either. (Isn't VISA an international symbol/method of payment?)Hmmm......maybe NorthernToddler could put on a show - dance a little, tell some jokes - to distract the attendant while we drove off without paying? After going inside the station and chatting for a bit, the debit card eventually went through and we went on our way.

We stopped for lunch in a town named Pembroke. We criss-crossed this town, desperately searching for an ATM (because NorthernDaddy neglected to change any cash at the border). Just when it appeared that this was a town with no ATMs, NorthernMommy spied a bank (our bank, no less!) and saved the day by getting some funny-looking Canadian notes! We ate at a KFC that hadn't been updated since the early 1980s - and got some interesting insights into Canadian food culture. Order fries? - vinegar and ketchup come with that. Not too weird - the freaks in our home state pour vinegar on their french fries, so we've seen (and had) it before. They catch your attention when they ask you if you want gravy with your fries. Gravy? With my fries? Um...no thank you, ma'am. (Kinda weird, but we'd heard of it. And on our next trip to Montreal, I'll be trying out poutine - which is fries covered with gravy and cheese curd, so we were only slightly taken aback by the question.) The truly new idea - the "hey,we're in a foreign culture" newsflash - came when we declined any dipping sauce for NorthernToddler's chicken bits. (No, we're not mean parents; it's just that if he starts dipping, he never stops. He dips the chicken bits, then his fries, then his apple slices, then his fingers - it never ends) The lady declared that she had to give us dipping sauce with the meal, and that she'd just put the regular sauce on the tray for us. Well, folks, the standard dipping sauce at KFC in Canada is plum. Yes, plum. Not barbecue, not honey-mustard, but plum. And yes we did taste it. (Heck yeah we tasted it - how can you have a tub of plum dipping sauce on your plate and not try it?!!) It's pretty good. Almost like a sweet-and-sour sauce, but not quite. To close out the lunch stop recap, I have to tell on NorthernMommy...the doors into the KFC had 'pull' handles on them. You know the kind; big ol' curvy-sticking-right-out handles that just scream PULL to your brain. Well, after a short tug of war, NorthernMommy found out that these particular doors were PUSH. Kind of embarrassing, but, really, the only people who saw that were Toddler and Daddy and maybe the random person inside that might have been looking our way. The real embarassing part came two steps later when NorthernMommy encountered a door that looked exactly like the first one....one like she had just struggled with and knew to PUSH open....and (wait for it) PULLED it! (Even NorthernToddler laughed at mommy for that one!)

We drove some more and stopped for the night in Sudbury. The NorthernClan scored a nice little hotel room, had dinner at the Pizza Hut (we're being supremely healthy on this trip!), and -much to NorthernToddler's delight - SWAM IN THE POOL!!!

A few notes from this stretch of road:

-The majority of tractor trailers we passed have huge, sturdy bull bars on them. (Watch out for moose!)

-It really rained hard. (Slow down to half the speed limit because the wipers can't keep up with the rain.)

-Most disturbing thing we noticed - large, metal-reinforced boxes at the end of most driveways. It took us a few hundred kilometers before we suddenly realized that they were bear-proof trash cans. (Don't stop on the side of the road for anything!) (Except to change dirty diapers - nothing messes with someone wielding a stinky toddler diaper!)

The only picture we took on the whole first day of travel.....(don't worry - we took more than 450 other pictures, so the recap won't be all words!)

Photos from the Road

If any of our readers were wondering why it's been weeks since this blog has been updated, it's because NorthernToddler was on the road! Our journey took us through remote Canadian forests (when your navigator looks up from the map and comments, "there's nothing to our north - no towns and no roads"......that's when you know you're way out in the middle of nowhere!), through several border crossings, and all along the Great Lakes, with stops in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, Niagara Falls, and the Thousand Islands region of New York.

It was a lot of driving, a lot of family bonding time, and a whole lot of fun! We saw a lot of new things, learned some stuff, and took a few pictures - the 'little' camera came home with 170 photos, while the DSLR finished the trip with more than 460 pictures on its memory card. That's the second reason that this blog hasn't been updated sooner - just before we left on the trip, we realized that our hard drive was full (so that's what the pop-up meant when it said that we had 307MB left out of 80GB!). We are now backed up by 1TB of supplemental storage - we should be able to hold a few hundred thousand more photo files now!

Of all the driving that we did, all the places we went, and all the things we saw, this is my favorite....

Niagara Falls in the background can't begin to compare....

I'm planning on posting details about NorthernToddler's NorthernTrip in a little while - after I sort through the hundreds of pictures and decide how to write up seven adventure-filled days.

For now, here are two pics from our stop at Boldt Castle.