Monday, January 7, 2013

Wombats in Rhode Island

Saturday began with having a doctor visit our house. It was like an old-timey house call. It was quaint except that instead of a guy smoking a pipe and holding a leather case with his stethoscope in it (and, presumably, a flask of sippin' whiskey) it was a woman who mostly just asked us questions about our family medical history so we could finalize our life insurance policy. That and complain bitterly about the lovebirds she kept in her bathroom.

At least I think she was a doctor.

Elliott Fascinated with Adam's Shirt

"Tell 'em Larry sent ya!"

Facetime with Martin and Don

Elliott and Grandpa

After that nonsense was over we made a mad dash up to Rhode Island to visit the place of my birth and their fourth of These United States. The first stop was my parents' house where they were the starts of a massive open house where they met a huge number of close family and friends. The Wombats were in top form after sleeping through every single minute of our three-hour commute. This made for some very fun family time and allayed all of my fears of a possible over-stimulation meltdown.

North Coast Brewing Company Red Seal Ale

After the long drive and afternoon, however, I couldn't resist sampling this Red Seal Ale from North Coast Brewing Company I found in my parents' fridge.

Nate Asleep on the Couch

Then I couldn't resist falling asleep on the couch knowing that my family would not only look after the babies but wouldn't miss me all that much while they were occupied.

After a nice family pasta dinner we packed up the babies and headed to our hotel. It is a little strange as this is the first time I've ever stayed in a hotel room in the city where I was born but necessary as not to take over the house and life of any of our family members for the evening.

A Tad Chilly in the Hotel Room

When we entered our hotel room it was a bit like walking into a meat locker. A quick check of the thermostat revealed the temperature was 58 degrees. I went to blast the heat and found it only created noise by the heating unit with no movement of air, warm or otherwise.

Pyramid Beer and Honey Dew Maple Glazed Donuts

After a quick room change, and walk through a marijuana smoke-filled hallway, we warmed up with some Rhode Island classics: maple glazed donuts from Honey Dew and Pyramid Beer. The Outburst Imperial IPA I picked up from across the street and it reminded me of my life in Rhode Island in the 90s. The Pyramid Breweries are not actually located in Rhode Island. They are located in Washington State but they are not distributed in New York so this was a rare treat. Pyramid was one of the first craft breweries I ever had. I selected it initially because I was fond of the pyramids on the label. It seems that little has changed in the approach to my selection of beers over the years.

I don't remember the Outburst from the 90s. It probably is a more recent beer as I don't remember Imperial IPAs being much of a thing in the 90s. Jen and I enjoyed it immensely after we lulled the Wombats to sleep and watched the USA defeat Sweden in the men's under 20 ice hockey finals.

Just another wild Saturday night.

Cousins

Sunday morning began with little breads at Aunt Pauline's house and a meeting of the Wombats with their cousins.

Elliott Eating Kolbie's Finger

This was particularly exciting for Elliott because it meant there were brand new fingers that he had not yet chewed on.

Auntie Vi with Martin

Steven Holding Elliott

Henry hugging Martin

Auntie Vi with Elliott

After breakfast at Aunt Pauline's we returned to the grandparents' house for round two of the open house here the babies met up with a bunch more relatives who were all eager to hold and entertain the babies. This was great because it meant something very important . . .

Nate Asleep on the Couch

. . . I got to nap again.

The Blame Game Circle

The final event of the trip was a baby extravaganza at Uncle Jeff and Aunt Liz's house where all manner of babies were bandied about, showed off, dressed up in silly shirts, and posed for memorable family photos.

What's the point of having babies if you can't use them as fun props?

The Feeding of the Wombats

I forgot the Bumbos in the car so that when I brought them in they were ice cold. Nicole and Liz volunteered to act as human Bumbos while Jen and Jeff were the feeders. Even after warning them of the mess we need to clean out of their Bumbos each evening they were both willing to make this sacrifice. That is true friendship.

Blue Moon Spiced Amber Ale

While they wrestled with that I helped myself to a Spiced Amber Ale from Blue Moon Brewing Co.

I did my part.

Martin's First Avocado

Elliott's First Avocado

Tonight, after returning from day care, we gave the boys their first taste of avocado. It was a smash success, far better received than the green peas of last week. Elliott consumed massive quantities of peas and Martin had a small amount but spent much of the time fiddling around the spoon and kidding himself into thinking that he was feeding himself.

Cisco Brewers Winter Shredder

After a rather lengthy battle getting the babies to bed we settled down with some beer, this Winter Shredder from Cisco Brewers. It was unseasonably warm today but this beer went down nicely. Of course, after the two-hour ordeal we had putting the Wombats to bed anything would have tasted like heaven.

Mummy with the Boy Who Wouldn't Sleep

By the time we'd struggled to have dinner Martin was still wide awake. Jen set him up on the couch to watch The Shop Around the Corner in a last ditch effort to get him to doze off. Nothing really worked until I rocked him with my foot for forty-five minutes while I wrote all of this nonsense.

We're hoping tonight was just an anomaly after an action-packed weekend. Two hours of wrestling with fussy babies is trying. There is no finer dream than the fantasy that after getting them to sleep we would be able to follow up with sleep of our own. Unfortunately once the babies get to sleep our work has only yet to begin.

Bring on the dirty bottles!

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