December 8, 2005

• This
  past weekend, my friend Lehnert and I drove out to Rochester, MN to
  visit our friends Jake and Jenni who now have a new baby. It was my
  first trip out to see their new home, and I wish I had gotten there
  sooner! By the way, Lehnert is going with me to New Zealand. In fact,
  he leaves on Saturday for a long layover in Hawaii then on to meet up
  with our buddy Jojo.

  Research tells us that babies' morphology triggers a physiological
  reaction in adults. I can confirm that. Jake and Lehnert? Motorcycle
  riders, even racers. Lehnert has 8 bikes. Jake crashed on one of
  Lehnert's bikes and started a wildfire. These guys climb trees for a
  living, run chainsaws. You name it. They're hardcore. Jake told his
  wife a year ago that he and Lehnert and Jojo were going to Wisconsin,
  but they had a pit stop in Southern California that his wife heard
  about this year. They drove non-stop and made it round trip in a
  weekend - the car was turned off once!

  

  Enter Olive. Jake is holding his daughter and going "ba-ba-booo,
  ba-ba-booooo" with the softest look on his face. Jenni says, "she likes
  that" and Jake responds, "it's from Chapelle." Jenni no longer likes
  that. Olive is in training.

  

  As you can see, Olive's big eyes are part of the morphology of babies
  that makes them adorable. In relation to their heads, their eyes are
  huge! Their minds are actively learning at this stage - very quickly
  picking up new things. You'll see in a moment.

  

  Periodically, we as guys would lapse into our old selves. Leaving child
  rearing to the mother of the house, we took off in a high performance
  Ford Escort with a switch on the dash (circled in red) to turn the heat
  on high or not at all. Basically you get to the point of being
  uncomfortable then you turn it off until you reaach the point of being
  uncomfortable. Repeat. The car also has no dashlights, can play
  Dashboard Confessional loudly, but you cannot see how fast you're going
  at night as you skid across the icy
  freeway in a snowstorm at 70mph like I was doing to get back to plow
  snow because we got dumped after I left and I can't be gone and Lehnert
  had to plow for the City of Waukesha and I'm rambling.

  While out there, we stopped at Cabela's to pick up supplies for the trip to New Zealand. I found wool pants for $6 but not in my size. Instead I found some waterproof zip-offs. Um, Under Armour is on my Christmas wish list.
  

  

  Back to training. With her naked bottom sitting on my head with her
  about to pee at any second, Jake asked what Liv should wear. Jenni says
  she doesn't care. I mean, she poops every 15 minutes so changing is a
  constant process. Jake says are you sure. Jenni says yeah I don't care.

  Psychological training has to begin at a young age. Jake instinctively
  knows this and dresses her in a "Good tree people do not top trees."
  shirt, a quote by Dr. Alex Shigo. If she is to live and breathe trees,
  this early start is essential.

  

  Look at her eyes! See what I mean?? Jake is such a good dad.

  

  No, this is not my daughter. Someday, Nick, someday... This is my adorable sister Victoria Zoe.

  

  And the lovely recovering Miss Christina who is now walking!

  ---

  PS: I love my camera phone! Some
  of these pictures bombed, but the Olive ones surprised me! Um, as long
  as I'm mentioning it, some hiking boots would be nice and a camera for the trip. It's cheaper than this on eBay. Mom? Are you reading this?

  ---

  Edit: Just found out that all you
  need to be a Nobel Peace Prize nominee is for a professor of history or
  some social science to nominate you. That would be a good gift idea...

  • 11:46 am
  • 10 Comments