May Chills

Last night I left work and, despite the holiday weekend, managed to make it home in under two hours! It was an odd feeling to have Jen pick up the guys and meet me at home. Coming straight home after work made me feel like I was forgetting something, namely the two maniacs who were eagerly kicking their feet on the floor in front of me.


We gave them their first taste of cantaloupe last night. They enjoyed it, though not on the scale of the honeydew we fed them at Jen's parents' house a couple of weeks ago.


We also gave them their first taste of beets. For Martin this was a full body (mostly face) experience, mostly because he enjoyed spreading them out all over his highchair tray then lying the side of his face down on top of them.

We have realized now that the dawn of the daily baths is upon us.



Uncle Paul and Auntie Caolan came over after dinner and, shockingly, we had one of the smoothest and quickest bedtimes ever. If the guys are going to be on their best behavior when we have company methinks we need to recruit friends to come over for dinner seven days a week from here on out.


As we enjoyed a dinner of pizza and roasted cauliflower (an odd combination) we also had these Dry Hopped Pale Ale from Founders Brewing Co. This was a very interesting pale ale, different than I'd been expecting. While I'm a huge fan of Founders I've always put this one off because the label, quite frankly, is a little strange and off-putting. I'm just not sure why.


With dinner I also had this Goldmine Light Lager from World Brews which was pretty much what you'd expect from a light beer: bland and devoid of most flavor.

This beer comes in at 3.2% ABV. When we went to the Brooklyn Brewery last year they had a beer on tap called Oishi which was 3.8% ABV. The Oishi was extremely flavorful, light, and refreshing. It was fantastic. There is a huge, gaping void in the market right now for good-tasting light beers. I think Brooklyn should jump in and start bottling that stuff. It would be great for them.

And, let's face it, it would be great for me.


This morning it was freezing cold and rainy, a perfect start to Memorial Day weekend. Because of the dreary weather the guys decided they were going to sleep in. This was especially upsetting to me since I had to get up at 6:00 AM to go to work. As jealous as I was I felt a happiness for Jen who would be able to enjoy a tiny slice of extra sleep.


While at work many things happened, including Martin getting some toast stuck to the side of his head.


Apparently they did not want to nap simultaneously (always annoying) so Martin gave Jen a cooking clinic while Elliott napped.


Elliott showed off his amazing ghost impression while Martin napped.


Then they both teamed up to completely destroy a newspaper.


I got home in time to help wrangle them, and to pick out tiny, soggy pieces of newspaper from their mouths.


We decided to take them out for a walk despite the cold and rain. Mostly, I think, because Jen got a chance to try out their awesome new shoes. Shoes that will never actually touch the ground.


By popular demand, another video of the babies before the walk, fussing, and fighting over the New York Times. No, not an op-ed they read, but possession of the paper itself.


When we got home we had an embarrassing dinner of whatever we could find in the fridge along with this Le Vie de Chateau from /le Grimoire Microbrasserie. This was another from our Quebec trip, an amber beer flavored with dark rum. It was better than the cognac-fortified version but I don't know that I'd go rushing out to try either of them a second time.


For the second time this week we made pierogies, this time so that we could share them with the Wombats.



They loved pierogies, as any right-thinking person would.


After dinner we gave them a bath in which Jen sneaked up behind me and tossed something into the tub that started to turn the water bright blue. This scared the crap out of me as I thought that some mysterious chemical had fallen into the tub to eat away at their tender baby flesh.

I requested better communication on this practice in the future.


After dinner I settled back with a Simple Malt Scotch Ale from Brasseurs Illimites in Quebec. This was a far superior beer to the previous Quebec brew and a delicious way to cap off the evening, particularly with some dark chocolate.

Dark chocolate and a poor-quality feed of playoff hockey. The month of May would not be complete without either.