Jack turns 7

The happy birthday boy.

Blowing out the candles on the "Lego" cake.

Gifts, gifts, and more gifts!

Gonna Party Like It's Your Birthday

Jack turns 7 years old in a few days. This past weekend was his party with his friends from school. Jackson chose to have a 'karate party'. 

The party gives the kids a quick class in basic moves, listening skills, respect for others, and provides a fun introduction to martial arts. Plus, there is pizza and cake!

Yes, someone let the boy have control of a samurai sword.

 And yes, the boy used it!

The birthday party was a success! It was a busy afternoon -

Boards were broken. 

Gifts were opened.

And babies were tuckered out!

Fall Farm Fun

Jack visited the Cox Farm near Centreville,Va for some fun in the 'country'. 

Here he sits on a pretty cool wooden model of a Farmall tractor.

A really big slide.

Jack and Gray clowning around.

Grayson trying to mimic De Niro...

"You lookin' at me? Are you lookin' at ME?"

The kid's just too happy to pull it off

Jack channels Lady Gaga

 (Google the 2011 Grammy Awards if you are not current on pop culture!)

Another big 'ol slide.

Jack picked this costume to wear for Halloween last year.

 And then he didn't wear it.

 Before the costume was given away this year so another child could enjoy it,

 Jack decided to see if it fit.

Candy Corn Oreos

There was recently a posted plea from a candy corn addict hoping to get a fix with the latest and greatest incarnation of the wonderful candy corn flavor.

http://northernbaby.blogspot.com/2012/09/urgently-needed.html

Well, as it turns out, the cookies did indeed arrive in stores on September 10th. On September 11th, a package of the cookies arrived in our home...

 A quick culinary review- the cookies are presented in a brightly colored outer wrapper that sets a festive mood. Upon opening the package, one is greeted by a slightly sweet aroma that hints at the tasty goodness awaiting your taste buds. The top cookie twists easily and cleanly off the two-toned frosting filler...

The initial taste of the new candy corn flavored Oreo leaves you a bit bewildered. Isn't this cookie supposed to have CANDY CORN flavor? These Oreos taste pretty much like every other Oreo cookie. Which is not a bad thing! After a crunch or two the taste does yield a candy corn flavor that is quite enjoyable. Of course, as required after eating one Oreo you of course have to eat another. And then another. 

 Rest assured Northenbaby Clan, there will be some of these cookies for you. Possibly even sooner than Christmas time. As long as the UPS man doesn't get ahold of them first!

First Child's First Day of First Grade

First Day of School Fall 2012

Hope the teacher is ready for an energetic year!

Car Shopping

With a family growing larger and cars growing older, Daddy has been on the lookout for newer vehicles to replace the current fleet. Please realize that this search for a new car is merely a fantasy, a daydream to keep Daddy's mind busy during drives to and from work. Until money starts falling from the sky, or car dealers starts handing out keys to free cars, the Volvo and Buick are going to have to soldier on.

Daddy has been thinking recently about the advantages to driving a van or possibly a station wagon. Both styles have lots of room for children and things. The coolness factor of a van or wagon suffers quite a bit. They're just not cool. Nobody will look twice when you roll up in a Chevy Express or a Subaru Outback. 

But rumble up to the curb in this wagon with all 470hp snorting and crackling through the dual exhaust pipes and the coolness factor of wagons goes way up! 

The truth is that while this wagon is cool, it is also a basket case. The body panels are majorly out of alignment, the dash is completely gone, the rear window is missing, and the driver's side window is shattered. 

This would make a decent project for someone with time and money. Daddy will stick with the Grand Wagoneer - at least the problems with it are already known!

I Don't Do Mornings

Jackson helping take care of Grayson. 

Jack's List

Jack saw Daddy writing a list of things needed from the store and he decided to make his own list.

For the readers that may not quite understand a six year old's spelling (and thought process), here is a translation of sorts...

*Earplugs (to block the "annoying" crying of the baby)

*Pencils (school is coming up)

*Balloons, Party Hats, and Cake (well, why not?!)

*Pizza (a kids gotta eat!)

Blog for the Newbie

Jackson would like to direct your attention to the following blog

http://littlebrothergray.blogspot.com/

This new blog will follow Jack's little brother as he grows from sweet baby into (hopefully) an adorable boy!

The addition of another blog will also challenge Daddy's ability to keep everything up to date!

Biker Boy

Jack has shown a strong interest in riding his bicycle lately. Not sure if it is because Daddy began riding his bike recently, or if Jack is finally over his fright of his two wheeler. (You see, there was a traumatic event a year or so ago where the bike tried to eat him. Or so he says...)

 Here's our super Biker Boy charging hard!

 "Jack, watch where you are going..."

 "What? What did you say?"

"You need to watch where you are....."

 "Oh. Okay!"

"That was fun! I'm going to do it again!"

BrickFair 2012

Jackson and Daddy visited BrickFair on Saturday. The event is an annual gathering that gives AFOLs (Adult Friends Of Lego) and other Lego fans the opportunity to show off what they have created out of Lego building pieces. This year was the first year that Jack or Daddy have been to BrickFair and we didn't know what to expect. After waiting in a very long line, we entered the Expo center. There were thousands of Lego creations on display! There were a few builds that were 'stock' Lego kits, but most of the builds were MOCs - My Own Creation. There were some very creative pieces along with a bunch of models that were just fun to look at.

 Hot Rod Tractor

 Steamer - complete with smoke coming out of the stack

 Coast Guard Helo with rotor wash

 This one had a bit of humor for the adults - these two minifigures enjoyed too much to drink while building this shed....

 Spiderman makes an appearance

 One of Daddy's favorites.

 A Porsche built out of Technics. There is no official Porsche kit from Lego, this builder did a pretty good job creating the body lines.

 Some of these builds have great details!

 A-10 Warthog. Sweet!

 Several other military aircraft. Again, these don't have kits, these guys just did an awesome job building these planes!

 An AFOL. 

(Inspires Daddy to new levels of facial hair)

 If you are going to model commerce, these are two fine companies to use!

 Here Jack uses a controller pad to direct the robotics Lego to shoot a ball into the diorama and attempt to knock down one of the 'villains'.

 This ship rocked! Despite it's large size it still displayed a large amount of detail.

 Small and simple. Again, no kit. 

 This is just a small sample of a very large farm land build.

 Both this carousel and the Ferris Wheel (to the left) were powered to turn.

 Another model of a combine. Farming was popular this year.

Chillin'...