Feb. Fun

That is it; please, no more photos.

Walk around the clock

Despite all the glorious hype about the roominess of the Toyota Camry, When you pack in three adults, one midget sister-in-law, and a fully loaded baby car seat, things can get a little like a sardine can when it comes to long distant trips. Nevertheless, noting such could be considered a patient observation more so than a complaint, considering the worthwhile time we all had with our trip to Milwaukee.

We went to visit Uncle David and Aunt Pat. David is about to undergo some new medical therapy to treat his cancer, and we wanted to pay a festive visit before new medications make festivities lethargic and burdensome. So we loaded up the car and made for an exceptionally social weekend.

We were hosted by the Watsons themselves. Many an extended family member (some actual, some unofficially adopted) stopped by to pay a visit to the homestead while we were there. Li'l sis Faith got to go ride a horse, and Uncle David's son John stopped by to load a new tune in the juke box. The tune was Bill Haley's "Rock Around The Clock;" an elusive 78 record we brought down to round out Uncle David's collection. It is an album he's been searching for at antique stores across the country for 40 years! He could not stop saying wow when we presented it to him.

Quinn had a blast too. With carpeted floors everywhere, she didn't have many reservations about attempting new stunts. Here she is on her first attempts at flying solo:

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Next on Uncle David's wish list is a 78 of Chubby Checker's "The Twist." So if any of you out there come across it, please pick it up for us and we will gladly pass it on to him.

Heavy Metal

In the ongoing quest to keep ahead of Quinn in the perpetual child-proofing saga, we've found that we've needed to do a bit of shopping. We've looked at formaldehyde-free carpets, purchased non-toxic paint for her room, and recently, I (David) made a trip to a salvaged hardware store to find replacement lock for the stereo cabinet doors.

When I walked into the store, Quinn and I were greeted by the clerk and a customer, both of whom were women in their early 70s and seemed to be retaining dated biases about dads with infants when they criticized me for Quinn's lack of complete mummified bundling that ought to be required when transporting a child from a warm car to a warm store. After obtaining the appropriate hardware for the cabinet, I then asked if they had any radiator covers. The clerk said that they go too fast to keep any in stock. This was followed by saying that they only served to decrease efficiency anyway, so I might want to avoid them. I told her that I was simply looking for one to cover the one radiator in the house that has paint chips falling off of it.

This is when the sales pitch for childproofing really began to reveal itself. Both of the women thought I was foolish to take concerns about lead paint seriously. The customer-lady asked if that was one of the silly things they are teach young parents in those goofy parenting classes. This was followed by the 2 women walking down memory lane, finishing each other's sentences when it came to things like playing with the mercury beads that they obtained from broken thermometers (“...rolling it around in our hands” they both said simultaneously). That was when I really began to study the women, noticing that the customer-lady was wearing no other makeup with the exception of a very unnatural shade of Barbie-pink lipstick. I also realized then that the clerk had been struggling the whole time I was there to remember some simple terminology related to her profession, such as “brass” and “paint”. That is why I was overjoyed when the clerk finally relented her pro-heavy metal stance to provide me with an alternative to radiator covers; a sand-blasting service.

Who knows what future generations of elderly people will be able to accomplish when they aren't bogged down by the repercussions of eating too many lead paint chips.

Morning Glory

Bitter cold is forecasted for this weekend. Time to don the long underwear, parkas, scarves, hats, mittens, gators, and anything else you can find in your closet. Though some Minnesotans may take offense to this quote about St. Paul from a New York reporter back in the 1800's, I (Heather) am beginning to wonder if he was on the right track; "another Siberia, unfit for human habitation." This quote is credited as a reason why the St. Paul Chamber of Commerce started the Winter Carnival in 1886.

Though we haven't partaken in any of the carnival festivities yet, there are hundreds if not thousands of people nutty enough to venture out in this cold to celebrate winter. Although our high on Sunday will be a balmy -5, we may still venture out to catch the car races on ice. You see, it has been a whole 3 months without Nascar and we are getting anxious to see some racing again. The green flag will drop on the next season on February 18th. Daytona 500 baby! Place your bets now. Tim...any predictions?

Back to the cold...On the way to work this morning I caught this glorious sight of a sundog. I've heard about sundogs and seen pictures but had never seen one for myself. Though mother nature can sometimes be cruel, I cannot curse her for creating such a beautiful sight on such a cold morning.

A growing child

Inspired by my (David's) recent upload of some cell phone videos, Heather suggested that we post some of the higher quality videos that we've been taking with the digital cam-corder. So that is just what we've done. These videos show the progress Quinn has been making in terms of physical and mental growth. Let the record show, however, just in case it becomes relevant in the distant future, that in the chronology of these videos, Quinn was kicking a soccer ball before she learned how to crawl.

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