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Tonight I posted some new photos of Garrison in the Photo Gallery for interested parties.

This past weekend Sarah, Garrison, and I flew out to Massachusetts to see some old friends. Some of Sarah’s friends from college were throwing a baby shower for one of their number, and we decided to go out as a family for a mini-vacation.

We stayed with my friend Mike and his wife Michele at their place in Winthrop. It is almost impossible to overstate how much more convenient it is to stay at someone’s house than a hotel when you’re traveling with an infant. Mike borrowed a pack’n'play from a co-worker so that we didn’t have to bring ours with us or rent one once we got there. We were able to put Garrison to bed in our bedroom on the third floor of the house, and stay awake with Mike and Michele on the first floor. If we had a hotel room, we likely would have been stuck sitting quietly in a dimly lit room once he went to bed since we probably would have had just one room. Mike’s place had a fridge where we could keep Garrison’s medicine, a comfy sofa on which we could sit, a sink in which we could wash the boy’s dishes, and numerous other little perks. Thanks again, Mike and Michele, for having the three of us.

We spent most of Saturday at the baby shower, where the new mom-to-be was showered with all manner of baby gifts. On our way back to Mike’s we stopped at Nick’s House of Pizza, and brought back a pizza and a pair of calzones for dinner at Mike’s. Nick’s was among our favorite pizza places when we were in school, so we always like to stop in and avail ourselves of their mouthwatering calzones whenever we have the chance.

On Sunday, we helped Mike and Michele install a new chandelier in their dining room, since the previous one was broken. In the middle of that process, we decamped to Plymouth, MA for a mouthwatering lunch at the legendary Lobster Hut. I ate both a fried scallop roll and a fried clam roll. It has been a long time since I’ve eaten at Lobster Hut, and will probably be even longer until the next time, so I had no shame about ordering two sandwiches absolutely overflowing with fresh, fried seafood. Mike and Sarah showed a bit more restraint, but everyone (with the exception of Garrison) left the lunch table stuffed full of fried seafood.

After lunch, we took a long walk on Plymouth’s Long Beach. Sarah and I enjoyed walking on the beach when we lived in Plymouth, and we still like to take walks on it whenever we get back to Massachusetts.

Some people might be wondering how Garrison did on the airplane flights. I would say that he earned a B, overall. He is just too independent-minded at the moment to enjoy being cooped up on our laps for long periods of time. He won’t nap when he’s put in stimulating environments like an airport and a plane. He often won’t eat when placed in those same environments. That meant that he was extremely fussy on that last flight home. Would we fly with him again? At this point, we wouldn’t consent to take him on a flight that lasted over two hours. That’s about his time limit. After that, he starts to meltdown and everyone on the flight suffers.

For interested parties, there are photos from the trip in the Photo Gallery.

Sunday, Sarah and I both wanted to get out of town for a while and Sarah’s idea of taking a picnic to Devil’s Lake State Park won out. Sarah put together lunch while I loaded the car and off we went.

We stopped on the way and bought some cheese (for home) and some cheese curds (for the picnic). About an hour after we started, we pulled into the parking lot. The park can be fairly crowded in the summer as it is the single most popular state park in the Wisconsin. On Sunday, while there were plenty of people there, it was far less crowded than it often is during the summer.

We spread out our blanket in the shade under some trees and enjoyed a pleasant picnic. Garrison played with plastic lids and a carrot that Sarah brought along for him while Sarah and I ate our lunches. Dalla spent her time waiting for hand-outs and patrolling the nearby greenery for critters.

After an hour or so we brought our picnic gear back the to car, changed into our hiking boots, and hit the trail. Sarah put Garrison into a new baby carrier that she made and he was asleep relatively rapidly (he didn’t manage to take a nap in the morning so he was pretty cranky and tired by then). She hauled his sleeping self uphill for the better part of a mile as we climbed up the East Bluff Woods trail. At the top she transferred him to me and I put him in the baby backpack that we have. He spent the rest of the hike on my back and most of the time he was asleep.

The weather was extremely pleasant, with temperatures in the upper seventies and sunshine. A handful of trees were turning, and many of the plants on the forest floor were browning up, heralding the arrival of fall in the next couple of weeks.

After hiking for a couple of hours, we started back to Madison. Everyone, except Garrison, was tired from hauling water, food, and/or an infant on their back up and down the bluffs. We took the scenic route back to Madison, with the windows down the entire way, and took the Merrimac Ferry across the Wisconsin River. We had to wait twenty minutes or so to get on-board, but it made for a pleasant end to our trip.

There are a few photos from the trip in the Photo Gallery for interested parties.

There are a handful of new photos in the Photo Gallery of Garrison as he approaches seven months. We haven’t been as diligent about taking photos of him lately, so there weren’t many worth posting.

Sarah recently made a YouTube video of Garrison at seven months.

In his latest attempt to become the dominant Cute Baby on YouTube, Garrison’s new video depicts him at five months.

In his latest YouTube video, Garrison sings his favorite song, The One Note Song. He sings it for at least an hour every day, often while in his saucer, but by no means does he limit his performance space to the same. He’ll sing in bed, while being fed, in his stroller, on his lambskin, or just about anywhere and any time the urge strikes him.

Garrison recently was given two new toys by our relatives. A new video on YouTube shows him playing with the toys.

Garrison has been exploring his world a bit more in the last couple of weeks. He likes to spend some time by himself in the morning, swinging his limbs and looking at dangling things. He’s also started to grab on to things. Another YouTube video has some footage of him in action.

We don’t have many photos or videos of Garrison with his eyes open, but I cobbled together some footage today and put a video on YouTube that gives you an idea of what he looks like with his eyes open.

We put together a short movie of Garrison’s bath this morning. The special effects are basically non-existent, character development is minimal at best, and the plot isn’t much to write home about, but if you’re a fan of noisy wet infants, this one’s for you.

A pair of new photos end the series we took at the hospital. We’re all at home now, discovering how we all will live as a family so I don’t expect that I’ll update the site again for a few days.

By popular demand, there are now a few more photos of Garrison in the photo gallery.

This morning I spent about ten minutes brushing Dalla in an effort to reduce the number of tumblefurs we get in the house. I took a photo of the results for the curious. It’s important to note that I stopped because Dalla and I both got tired of the process, and not because I ran out of loose fur to brush. After the photo was snapped, we pitched the fur outside for the birds to use in their winter houses. No sense putting it to waste.

Sarah and I just got back from a week in New Orleans and the surrounding area. Until I get a chance to write up some thoughts about the trip, some photos in the photo gallery will have satisfy your curiosity.

For one-third of April I slept somewhere other than at home. Part of the time, I was in the Twin Cities visiting friends and family. Tonight I put some photos from our Twins Cities trek in the photo gallery.

The last few days I’ve been in the San Francisco Bay Area at a series of conferences. In between sessions I did some sight seeing, including around Alameda, where Sarah and I lived for three and one-half years. Some photos from the Bay Area are also in the photo gallery.

The sleet outside the window has changed a heavy snow. It seems like a good time to revisit our trip to sunny New Zealand and share some photos from the trip.

The weather today in Wisconsin is miserable. Freezing rain, sleet, and snow have conspired to coat everything , including the roads, in ice. The State Patrol is telling people to stay home and warning motorists that if they fail to heed that advice that stranded motorists will likely have a lengthy wait for assistance. Eventually, motorists will be transported to a safe location but there is no hope for their cars to be rescued for a day or two.

Sarah and I saw this mess coming in the forecast, so we made sure to take advantage of sunny weather in the 20′s yesterday and get outside. We went snowshoeing and geocaching on the Ice Age Trail near Belleville, WI. There are a few photos from our trek in the photo gallery.

I’ve added a few pictures to the photo gallery that cover most of our time in New Zealand. In the next week I should finish up with the New Zealand photos and start with our Australia photos.

Photos of Dalla and Olive.