The trick-or-treaters were in for a real treat at our house this year...
and we're not just talking about Nicholas in his pea pod costume (though
he certainly was adorable and was kicking cute baby mode
into overdrive for the unsuspecting guests). We lot count of how many
cute baby comments he received and we think he might have a couple
of dates lined up. The little guy has this way with those of the feminine
persuasion... :)
Speaking of treats, get a load of that pumpkin that Mommy carved...it's
a spider holding a jack-o-lantern! It's rather appropriate given that this
house provides a happy home to some rather sizeable spiders...we had a
few huge garden spiders putting up big webs near the deck and the bay
window. The one huge yellow-and-black spider finally called it quits a
couple of weeks ago when the temperatures dropped. Since then, it's
been warm enough that the spiders have again been out in full force and
it's not uncommon to blunder into their webs on the way out a door. Usually
relocating the webs gives the spiders a hint...and they're welcome to
anything they catch! :)
We didn't have as many trick-or-treaters come round this year as in years
past (surprising, it was on a Friday!) but the ones who did had some
good costumes. Along with the requisite (good!) witches and a Harry
Potter, we had a couple of Hulks, a Christmas present, one kid wearing
an airplane (not surprisingly, this one was Daddy's favourite!) and a
real authentic looking fire fighter.
One thing to be aware of...when you come to our house for the goods,
you never quite know what you're going to get. Mommy and Daddy had more
than a little fun playing some tricks on the kids...mainly suggesting
that they bribe us with chocolates (one girl almost handed over a
Reese's cup...why we didn't take it, I'll never know...) and another
girl got wide-eyed at the suggestion that we could find a hoe to clean
out the front flowerbeds.
However, we do pony up the good stuff even if we're goofing on the
poor trick-or-treaters (we like TRICKS!) and believe you me, the word
travels quickly who is giving out the full-sized candy bars. We didn't
have anyone try to be frequent fliers (like Daddy did in San Antonio
the last night he ever went out...the night that his brother Ben was
born in Pinehurst). Generally, a good laugh was had by all and the
kids were happy to get the real candy bars.
Our night wasn't over, though...it was time for us to do a bit of
reverse trick-or-treating over at Grammy's house...though we didn't
bring candy but we did haul over a couple of pizzas from Pizza Hut.
Grammy didn't seem to mind... :)
On the way out to Grammy's, it seems that every church had their own
festival of the evening going on. The place along Shotwell not too
far from where Covered Bridge Road splits off had three blow-up jumping
stations and plenty of people to take in the festivities. We're always
open to friendly competition...
Today was a pretty exciting day for our little one starting off with
his first Mass at St. Eugene's in Wendell in the morning. He was very
well behaved (better than some of the children including the cute girl
who almost swiped his bottle from our pew before Daddy saved it and the
burp cloth!). He even got a blessing from Father Mel when Mommy and
Grammy went forward for Communion. Father Mel is a real neat guy and
remembered Nicholas from their last meeting at Adrienne and Fitz's
(Grammy's neighbours) 50th anniversary dinner a while ago.
After a wonderful brunch at The Blue Rooster in Wendell
(if you've never been there and you're in the area, the food is
magificent and the owner is very accessible...well worth the stop!),
we headed home for an afternoon of napping (and then some updates to
the BLOG that were long overdue...sorry about that true believers!).
Snack time was rice cereal and an extra treat...butternut squash! I
think it's safe to say he didn't mind the new stuff at all and downed
half a jar before we knew it. That prompted us to re-evaluate our
vegetable supply and go get a few more jars. I think it's safe to say
the boy isn't likely to be missing too many meals here...nor does he seem
to be terribly fussy about what he eats...he just wants it yesterday and
in mass quantities! OK, he wasn't thrilled with the oatmeal made with
less-than-warm milk but hey, you make do with what you've got, eh?
Nicholas got his first taste of NHL action on the TV this evening as
he was getting his final feeding for the night. When he wasn't looking
at his bottle, he was definitely checking out the action on the ice.
The Hurricanes skated to a 4-4 tie (after blowing three leads!) against
a tough Philadelphia Flyers team.
Mommy says Daddy is programming Nicholas now...but I think it's safe to
say he'll be calling his own line changes soon enough! :)
Nicholas got his first taste of the fun that is the state fair. Mommy
and Grammy have typically made the Winn-Dixie four cans for free admission
day their annual pilgrimage to the fairgrounds. Given how much Isabel
and the lousy economy have depleted the food banks around here, it was
nice seeing a few of deuce-and-a-half trucks well on their way to being
filled with canned goods.
We don't know if the story made the national news, but this year's fair
was made a bit more interesting. The state fair is run by the NC
Department of Agriculture and last year's fair was handed to a different
company (Amusements of America) from the company that had been running
it for fifty years (Strates Shows). A few months after the fair, it
became patently clear how this came about...illegal campaign contributions
to Meg Scott Phipps and her deputies, illegal loans, the whole sordid
nine yards. The governor doesn't actually have the power to fire her
(the council of state is elected) and she hung on for a few weeks but
finally bowed to the inevitable and resigned when it became obvious
she was going to get a trial on state and federal charges. So four
months before this year's fair, the bidding process was thrown open
by the new agriculture commissioner and Strates Shows won the bid and
had to put on the show on much shorter notice than is normal. They
seemed to do just fine!
There are things we tend to do at the fair:
Unfortunately, Gramps' visits tend to be brief ones and he headed back
toward the warmer climes of Florida.
Apparently, he wasn't the only one with that idea as all of the license
plates with je me souviens and yours to discover
he encountered along the way. Yep, it's the annual snowbird migration
to Florida and it's in full swing with most of the cars heading south
being from Quebec and Ontario.
But in spite of the parking lot that was I-95 and all of our friends
from the Great White North, he made it home safely and that's what
counts. And we're so looking forward to taking that trip ourselves
next month for turkey, Port Orange style. :)
Daddy got some orders of the day after Gramps headed back to the hotel...
put Nicholas' high chair together or be banished from the realm forever.
OK, it wasn't quite like that but there was the definite
sense of dire consequences. One high chair...yes m'aam...how high did
you want it?!?
Today's fun was a shopping trip with Gramps and Grammy (and hoo boy, if
you thought we went gonzo nuts at Longaberger, you ain't seen nothing
yet). Before we headed out to the mother ship (Babies 'R Us), Mommy
and Daddy had a meeting at St. Eugene's in Wendell for a class on
baptism. Guess they don't want Daddy doing cannonballs off a diving
board into the holy water or something (probably wise on their part...Daddy
used to be the terror of lifeguards everywhere...you think you'd be dry
on those high chairs but I've got can openers and preacher seats executed
with deadly accuracy that say otherwise...BWAAHHHAHAAAHHAAAHHHA!).
Well, we thought we had a meeting...unfortunately, the chap who conducts
them was out of town and we didn't get the notification. Oh well...when
life hands you lemons, make lemonade! That gave us more time to shop in
Raleigh. WOO HOO!
If you thought we were bad in this store, we're enthusiastic amateurs
at best. Gramps is the consummate professional here. Before we knew it,
we were wheeling a pair of super fancy car seats out to Moby Dodge and
then heading back for round 2! We're talking about seats that F-14 pilots
would be envious of having (only without the explosive bolts and ejection
handles and those pilots hate bailing out anyway!). Once over the
threshhold, now it was time to raid their discount racks whilst Daddy
did the bottle feeding thing and changed Nicholas' diaper.
One nice thing about Babies 'R Us is that they're pretty progressive in
their kitting of the men's washroom. We have found out that most places,
if they even have one, will place the changing station in the women's
room. CLUE TO CLUELESS BUSINESSES: GUYS CHANGE DIAPERS, TOO!
I've been trained to deal with these occasional biological and chemical
situations, I'm borderline competent in that department, in fact! And nothing
bothers me more than an implicit sexist and patronising statement where
the changing station is in only one of the washrooms! You'll get points
for HAVING a changing station...but if you're going to put it in one,
put it in the other washroom as well! More and more fathers take their
children on days out to give Mommy a bit of a break...so cut us a break too,
capiche?
Whilst the loading down of Moby Dodge was impressive, more so was Nicholas'
first encounter with solid food. OK, it was rice cereal and breast milk
but the important thing is that it's a heck of a lot more solid
than what he's used to, eh?. Now the books say that introduction
will be a slow and somewhat frustrating process at first...the baby's
instinct is to push out with the tongue much like they do with the bottle.
They didn't really reckon on a couple of things:
Once again, Moby Dodge (well, it is a white Dodge conversion van) makes
the trek from Port Orange bringing Gramps and tons of surprises (bargains!)
from the local stores. Target appeared to be particularly hard hit this
time...it makes me wonder if the store manager cries whenever he sees
Gramps come through the door knowing that at best, he's going to get 10%
of whatever the price on the item is.
One thing is for sure, they're sure making out on us here in North
Carolina. Each trip has more and more fantastic tales of how he's managed
to beat down the infidel merchants. It'd be nice if he could spend a few
weeks and whip our Target and Wal-Mart into shape up here so that we get
the immediate 90% discount as well. We're lucky if we see a sale of 15%
off and that's a rare thing.
It's funny to hear how deeply Gramps has gotten into these stores. He
knows the pre-programmed discount schedule at Target by heart and can tell
from the tag when a reduction is coming. I think Target is his favourite,
well...target! He certainly raves about their technological prowess. Now
if we could get them to make their return policy much less byzantine, they'd
be a clear winner.
We had some incredible plans for dinners for Gramps but those were scuttled
when he wanted to eat light for the trip. We soon found out why...apparently
there are these medical tests that can truly tell if you've been naughty
or nice and tell you when you were naughty. Far be it from us to spike
the naughty reading on Gramps...he gets enough grief from his doctors as
it is. So we'll let him slide...this time!
After dinner, we got to break in our new Mexican Train domino centerpiece.
We actually managed to find one of these things at Meijer in Westerville.
It looks like the eight-slot centerpiece from the domino set except that
you have a slot for the starter domino and nine trains. Push on the domino
in the slot and you get train noises (tooot! tooot! chugga chugga chugga!
ding! ding!). OK, it doesn't take much to amuse Mommy and Daddy... :)
Nicholas popped over to his pediatrician's for a shot of something called
Synergis. This stuff is recommended for preemies in their
first year to give them an added boost to fight off
respiratory syncytial virus (RSV)...the common cold to
those of us who don't speak the Greek of the medical profession. He's
such a trooper...though I dare say he's probably going to hate his next
visit as he's likely to have five or six shots in quick succession.
(Ouch!!!)
And who knows, maybe it will help ward off some of the other nasties
that Mommy is exposed to at the WakeMed Children's ED. All I know is
that it's supposed to be very helpful, it costs a boatload of money,
and insurance is paying for the ride. Woo hoo!
Packed to the gills with luggage, baby stuff, and of course an impressive
haul from Longaberger...we headed back home to North Carolina. Of course,
we did have to stop for some more apple cider slushies at Renick's farmer's
market and take pictures of Nicholas amongst the pumpkins.
According to the web sites, our return voyage was at the peak colors on
the trees and they sure didn't disappoint. We actually hit some major
traffic snarls in Greensboro (and passed a couple of accidents) all the
way to Burlington. Dinner was at On The Border in Cary
which Mommy had been drooling over the prospects of margaritas since
she saw their store in Worthington. We were surprised to find the Cary
police searching the parking lot for something...hope they found it,
whatever it was.
There is something to be said for traveling...but I will always cherish
that feeling when you pull back into the garage and shut the engine down
and realize that you're home. And yes, there's no place
like it!
Thanks go to Patrick and Suzette for being wondeful hosts...who knows
when the winds will blow us to the northwest again. But we will look
forward to the trip!
No trip to Ohio would complete without an outing to the mother ship of
all baskets, the Longaberger Homestead near Frazeysburg about an hour east of
Columbus.
Along the way is some seriously pretty scenery. Now imagine this...east of
Columbus we're starting to get into foothill territory. A mountain is to
the left and all of a sudden out of a flat valley terrain appears a huge
office building in the shape of the Longaberger market basket on the right.
What a really cool building...and so unexpected just after being in downtown
Newark, OH. Twenty miles beyond that on a really nice highway is the homestead.
OK, I must confess...before I knew Julia and Ms. Pat, I didn't have a clue
what Longaberger was or why someone would collect baskets. A very short and
intense period of education and I'm about as big a basket geek as there is. I'm
not quite to their level (Ms. Pat sells 'em, after all)...but I'm a quite
enthusiastic amateur. When I got to the homestead, it was plainly obvious
that the idiot we encountered outside of Aunt Catfish's who hated the
baskets his wife collected was just that...a blithering idiot. I was not alone
at Longaberger Central (and you know the place is cool when you're hauling bags
out to the Escape and you get cheers for doing well in the shops!). So a word
to the wise for those guys out there who are introduced to Longaberger baskets
by their significant others: really pay attention to WHY they love these
baskets and find ways to use them. You will not have to work hard...I kitted out
my home office with several of the baskets and wrought iron items and that
was just the start. And maybe, just maybe...Karen won't have to lament about
what it takes to snare a guy who not only loves the baskets but is willing to
give them as gifts. We're not alone...just ask Gramps! He has yet to break
my record show...but I wouldn't put it past him!
Are you getting the impression that Mommy and Daddy can really do some
damage here? Are you getting the impression that Grammy could be as
dangerous if not more so here? Good...you've got the picture.
The homestead itself is a combination show place for the baskets (I think
the main store went to Grammy's house and ripped off her wood architecture
for the interior wood fixtures!) as well as manufacturing facility. So
not only can you get anything and everything Longaberger here (except,
not surprisingly...the baskets other than the homestead exclusives!) and
you can also tour the factory and the Crawford Barn. We didn't do that
as our main objective was unabashed consumerism...we'll hit the factory
next time. I wouldn't mind turning my hand to actually weaving a basket
(and they have people there to help you out so you don't make too much
of a fool of yourself...ah, they know Daddy well!).
Nicholas made it apparent that he wanted a bottle soon after getting to
the store so I parked us at the stage and got a concert for my troubles.
Jordan (one of the singers) really played to the kids in the audience
inviting one of the youngsters up on stage with her. Nicholas, not to be
outdone, kicked into cute baby mode extraordinaire and actually
started flirting with her. You want to know something?
Today, we split our forces into two parties. Grammy had an appointment
in Cleveland so we headed out there...Mommy and Nicholas had a day of
fun with Karen Tulga who had visited us in North Carolina a few months
ago.
Getting to Cleveland from Columbus is pretty simple...take I-71 north
until you get there about two hours later. We had some fun getting to
her meeting point as Mapquest's directions are good, but not foolproof.
We ended up in this neighborhood west of Cleveland and took a right
when we should have stayed left. Fortunately, a nice lady walking
a dog got us to where we needed to be.
Whilst Grammy was off at her appointment, I had a few hours to kill so
I headed downtown. Next time, I'll take the interstates in...the surface
streets are beautiful with the trees and the nice old houses...but imagine
these asphalt pyramids every 20 feet or so. I guess I'll be taking the
Escape for an alignment soon.
Once downtown, it was readily apparent why the Cuyahoga River actually
caught fire once...there has to be more marine diesel in that river than
in the fuel bilges on the ships! There's a lot of heavy industry round
downtown which is almost an island with all of the bridges connecting to
it over the river. Navigating downtown Cleveland can be an exercise in
futility but I managed to drive by Jacobs Field and Gund Arena before
heading to my target which was the submarine docked near the Rock and
Roll Hall of Fame.
Sadly, the submarine (the U.S.S. Cod, GATO class) had already closed
for the season but the William G. Mather was open for touring.
The Mather is a 1920's era laker (a Great Lakes freighter...
imagine the Edmund Fitzgerald and you've got the picture). At the time of
her commissioning, she was the class of the laker fleet 618 feet long
capable of carrying 14,000 tons of iron ore from Duluth to Detroit and
Cleveland at 13 mph. (Not knots, you say? According to one of the
engineering mates who worked her in the 1950s, it was a Commerce Department
regulation requiring speeds of commercial ships/planes/trains to report
speeds in miles per hour...since then, planes and ships again report
knots). She entertained the company brass and guests whilst moving
the cargo hither and yon and was renowned as the ship that built
Cleveland. She had one major engine overhaul from 2,300 hp diesels to
5,000 hp diesels...and she gained two miles per hour under full load. But
that meant you made Whitefish Point off Michigan a day earlier than the
competition which was key to getting the business. She'd eventually be
outclassed by the huge super-lakers (like the Fitzgerald) and
retired after fifty-plus years of service. She now serves Cleveland as
a grand reminder of the early Great Lakes freighters.
The one interesting thing was that it often took much longer to secure
the Mather's cargo holds (there are eighteen holds, each with
about a hundred huge bolts that took three guys to turn with a special
crowbar) than it did to drop the iron ore into the holds in the first
place. If you've ever been to Duluth/Superior, you'll have seen this
firsthand. Essentially, the laker pulls in and the hatches are opened.
Then the chutes drop from the ore loader alongside and start dropping
the ore into the holds. Good captains would have the crews securing the
hatches as soon as the next chute started dropping ore but the fill rate
pretty much ensured that they'd be about three holds away from putting to
see when load-out was complete. However, the paperwork to clear Duluth
often made up the difference so when the Captain came back aboard, she
was ready to put to sea.
OK, so I'm a naval geek as well. :)
Grammy and I met up after her appointment was finished and we stopped
by Panera which I had seen on the way into Cleveland for lunch. And a
mighty fine lunch it was...and of course, we had to bring brownies back
to Columbus and beyond.
Dinner was at a local Greek restaurant (Yanni's) which was very
good. The (obviously Greek) waiter was a real trip with a quick wit...he had a bit of
fun (unwittingly) at Suzette's expense when he made the observation that
he really enjoyed our party's conversation at table with the observation
that at German dinners, conversations were verboten but with the Greeks,
the trick was getting them to shut up! Suzette has German and Croatian
ancestry...oops! But it was funny in a way...just imagine a scene from
the movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding and you can imagine this place...
and the sense of humor. I could definitely be coerced into going back...
The obligatory game of Oh, Hell (which Daddy pretty much slept
through the bidding and playing, sorry guys!) and Daddy headed back to
the hotel in Worthington. Mommy and Nicholas had just come in from their
outing and were getting ready for sleep.
One thing does bear mentioning here...Nicholas had been laid down for the night in a
Pack 'N Play generously loaned to us by Patrick and Suzette. We figured
all was well and were settling down to some sleep and post cards. All of a
sudden, we heard this squeal of delight from the other room and looked at
each other with this look of what in the world was that?!?. The little
devil was playing and having a grand old time. One small bottle
of formula took care of those monkey shines... :)
Today was recovery day from the previous day's traveling. Nicholas was
up early at 0730 and nothing really would calm him...new diaper, bottle, nada.
He was not a happy camper and we eventually figured out he was probably
overtired from the traveling and hitting a growth spurt. He finally
snuggled in bed with Mommy and Daddy and we didn't wake until 1230
and didn't leave until after 1400.
We were pretty exhausted! :)
We popped over to Patrick's house and headed out to Easton, an upscale
shopping complex in Columbus. They've got all of the really cool stores
and restaurants. Their Old Navy is certainly better stocked for
newborns than the one in Cary...we found Nicholas some nifty shoes with
a soccer ball motif.
We then wandered about the main part of the mall looking at all of the
cool things. We sampled bread dipping oils at Williams-Sonoma, cruised
the aisles at Gap Kids, had some fries at Johnny Rocket's...and then we
nabbed some cheesecake at the Cheescake Factory. They have just
about every cheesecake imaginable (so it's not just a clever name) and
other food (which is reported to be pretty bogus and overpriced). Mommy
and Grammy opted for the Godiva anniversary cheesecake, Daddy went for
the key lime (go figure!).
Afterwards, we wandered round Pottery Barn Kids. They've got some
nifty pieces there...a cool work table and a kitchen set that is to die
for. Seeing that there are outlets in Raleigh, I suspect we might be
kitting out Nicholas' room at some point with their wares.
Dinner was lasagna and the trimmings at Patrick and Suzette's house...
and it was mighty tasty after a long day with little to eat. The
cheesecake was the perfect dessert.
Well, we pushed back from the gate about half an hour behind the original
departure time of 0600 on our way to Ohio. We made it to Circleville
just 20 miles south of Columbus round about 1600 where we needed to
stop for a bottle.
Daddy has always been big into geography and navigation. As a form of
entertainment when done with his schoolwork during the third grade (at
Douglas MacArthur Elementary in Ft. Leavenworth, KS), he had this habit
of going to the encyclopedias and reading the maps. OK, so he's a geek
with a geographical bent...he'd have no time owning up to it. So for
those fellow geeks out there who want the best flight plan from Clayton
to CMH (Columbus, OH), here it is:
Yep, that's right! We're packing up Mommy's Escape and we're heading
to Columbus, Ohio to celebrate the birth of Mairin and do a bit of
sightseeing whilst we're there. Who knows...we might well find
ourselves in Westerville and other wonderful places in Columbus (who
is up for a trip to Cornhenge...anyone?!?).
Planned excursions include a trip to Cleveland and to the Longaberger
Homestead (aka "Cool Basket Mother Ship")! I'm sure we'll have plenty
of tales to tell when we return.