Berkshire County Meets Finn

Finn completed the first half of his 2007 North American tour with stops throughout Berkshire county. You can see the photos here.

After being a great air traveler on the leg to the US, he reversed course on the trip from Cincinnati to Madison. He was displeased with the temperature in the cabin, which neared 95 degrees. Being a man more of action than of words (at least up to this point) he screamed and cried for the first 35 minutes of the 1 hour flight. I translated that to the stewardess who called the pilot who turned up the air conditioner. So, in effect, Finn was in control of the aircraft. Pilot Finn.

Giant German Bug Eats Finn

Finn was eaten by a giant beetle yesterday while we stood by and took this picture. We think that the World News or other tabloid might buy the photo for a huge amount of money.

Luckily the beetle fits Finn's clothes (with an extra set of arm holes cut in) and we are keeping him to raise as our child. His name is Bailey.

We took young Baily out for a hiking tour of France's Château Fort de Fleckenstein. You can see the pictures here.

At Fleckenstein there is a tour lead by Willy of the forest around the castle. We had a great time walking in the woods and seeing the gnomes and wolves.

Varsity Coach?

Centerville, Ohio - The drama is high in the varsity hockey program with the rumored non-renewal of the third year coach's contract. My assistant coach from the bantam team two years ago is putting his name in as head coach and asked me to be his assistant for defense and goalies.

I'm excited about the chance and hope things work out well for us and the kids. It'll be good to get back into hockey again. In Germany my only hockey contact was at the hospital while Sarah and Finn were recovering. There was a Peewee who came in dressed in his equipment with a possibly broken wrist.

Best day of his life

Yesterday, Finn decided to stop yelling, sleeping all day, and fussing all night. That was much appreciated by his parents. We went for a walk and he stayed alert the whole hour, despite the bouncing of the Baby Bjorn.

We decided that he looked tired and put him in his papasan in the bedroom by himself at 10pm. He talked himself to sleep. He woke up at 3 for an evening snack, but then quickly slept again until 7am. That means that I got 10 hours of uninterupted sleep.

If you just did the math and think there is a mistake, remember I am a heavy sleeper and slept through the 3am deal and after he woke up in the morning.

He is still changing and acting more alert and interactive. It's exciting to see him grow. Hopefully this doesn't jinx it.

Big Striped Pants

The three of us packed up the trusty car and headed South in search of Winter in the mountains of Switzerland. Finn took it all in stride, but seemed upset that no one asked for his passport.

We figured that we'd be in the hotel room much of the time, so we got a room right on the river in the old town that overlooked to the lake and mountains. Although we liked the view, Finn mostly stared at the timber beams inset in the walls. The contrast between the dark wood and white walls fascinated him.

We did get out of the hotel quite a bit, but Finn mostly slept while out. Exhibit A at right. We enjoyed it though. We walked the bridges, saw the buildings, and even ate out a restaurants.

Here are the photos.

Finn's an International Jetsetter

Finn has passport now. Like all pictures for identification, it isn't very good. See? --->

His head looks lumpy, his left eye hangs lower, and he looks generally morose. The best part is that the passport is valid for 5 years. When he is in kindergarten, he will still have this as his passport photo. However, it does mean that he can fly back to the States to visit all the eager friends and relatives.

Things are slowly easing their way into a routine. You can see some of that routine here in the photos. You can see our everyday events, like Finn getting mail, wearing big brown pants, and hanging out in the kitchen. He even seems to hate baths a little less than before.