RIP

Last week has shown us that it isn't always puppies and rainbows in NorthernBabyLand.

Sometimes, life throws us a sudden and saddening curve. Without warning, our faithful coffee maker quit coffee making. After cheerfully greeting us every morning for six years, we awoke to find an empty carafe and the lifeless hull of our once proud Mr. Coffee.

A little worn and sad looking; Mr. Coffee served us well.

Of course, you just know that Northern Dad held a short memorial service before placing the departed into a shallow grave in the back yard.

Finding a replacement coffee maker was difficult. The machines that fit Northern Dad's requirements cost over $200. Well, N.Dad is far too stingy to fork out that kind of cash for a coffee maker - no matter how much he loves his coffee! A limit of $100 was set (okay, so that's still a lot of money for a coffee maker), and the shopping started. Northern Dad made several excursions to local retail establishments in search of a machine he could live with. Three days in a row, multiple stores per day, no success. It turns out that choosing a coffee maker is harder than choosing a new vehicle. On a sunny Saturday, the whole Northern Baby clan headed out to the only store we hadn't visited. Northern Daddy found a few possible candidates, and started his comparisons...apparently N.B. and Mommy don't share Daddy's passion for coffee makers: they stayed near the display for about five minutes and then left the area when Daddy started to pull different models down off the shelves and compare them. They headed off on a few laps of the store - only to come rolling by every ten minutes or so to see if the DECISION had been made. After working all of the controls and checking the details, the choice was narrowed to two models. One was a very nice KRUPS that ran just over $100, but was styled in a little too modern of a style to fit our kitchen. The winner was a cute little maker manufactured by none other than Mr. Coffee! The bonus was that it cost just under $50, so that if it fails the long term test, it can go out to the woodshed without much loss.

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!

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!