Aquariums back home

Finn has a yearly pass to the Newport Aquarium so he can go nearly as often as he'd like. I'd like to move in there, but that's just not possible.

One of is favorite things is turtles. One of first words was 'turtle'. Here he is at the exhibit looking at the turtles climbing out of their eggs and scrambling to the safety of the sea.


The shark exhibit is amazing. To see these sharks that are 20 times his size and filled with sharp teeth is exciting.


A question we ahd was when would Finn stop blindly running over the windows in the floor and become scared of the holes. Clearly, we've reached that age.


The full series of pictures can be seen here.

Hockey season begins

I've had summer hockey conditioners the last couple weeks. That is the time that the team can meet, practice, and play a few games to shake off the summer rust.

Finn has also started hockey practice. One of the parents from the team gave him a hockey stick and ball last year. He has taken a liking to it and hit the ball around with the stick. Sometime he does it while wearing a 'do rag made out of his shirt.

I don't get the new fashion trends these kids have.

Bike riding in Cincinnati

One of our standing weekend activities is going for a bike ride. Finn likes it and likes that the route usually goes by one of the city's many parks where he can play on the jungle gyms. He likes the slides and climbing up the stairs. Of course, all that activity can make a very tired boy.

The ride also makes a very tired set of parents. The city is beautiful, partially because of the hills throughout, but that makes for a tough ride.

Another tough aspect is that riding on the streets can be a problem at times. There are many people who don't think that bicycles should be on the streets and don't give the room that they should. One, probably thinking they were helping, hit the horn right before passing us. For the record, that's not helpful.

We've started driving our bikes out to a suburb where a massive set of trails starts. Trail riding has no car traffic and very few hills since it is on the old rail bed.

There are plans to extend the trail all the way to the river and build a riverfront trail through downtown. That would be great and give us access from our house.

Here are more pictures from our ride.

Cincinnati Zoo is super

Although we loved visiting the National Zoo, it's a little too far away to go on a daily basis. For that we have the Cincinnati Zoo. It is a great zoo and has some very neat exhibits. In fact, it is so big and filled with wandering paths, it is possible to be lost.

Our family joined up with Elena's family to visit the zoo early one Saturday morning. There was not much of a crowd and the monkeys were howling. Finn was as interested in the animals as much as ever and had a big smile on his face the whole time.

He got so excited that he would run off ahead of us if we let him out of the stroller to find the next animal. He's getting fast enough so that we actually have to jog to catch up with him.


He concentrates on the big animals which are much easier to see than the smaller one. I have trouble seeing the small cats hidden in the rocks.


His favorite viewing spot in on the ground so he can run wherever he wants. That is followed by riding on our shoulders so he can see over the crowds.


His favorite exhibits continue to be the water animals. The zoo has an unbelievable manatee exhibit. Here's a video of him running around to watch the fish and manatees.

Real time update:Happy Birthday!

Happy birthday Sarah!

Although your foot is broken and surgery is on the horizon to repair it, take this birthday week to enjoy a break in the sun.


By the way, yes, that is the view from our dining room, out onto the patio, and into the Caribean. It's as relaxing and great as a vacation can be. Sarah even hobbled down to the beach for a bit.


You do so much at home and never get a break. This is well-deserved. No worries for the week and just relax and listen to the reggae music coming up from the beach.

Enjoy the peace and quiet and the return trip home to Finn so he can say "Happy Birthday!" in person.

Greatest photo of all time

What's going on out there?

He's been interested in the outside constantly and climbing up in to the windows. We can no longer open our windows frm the bottom, but have to slide down the top half of the window. He loves the business and excitement of the outside world and like telling us all about it. Here's a video of him explaining what's going on.

Holy Mole'!

We made it back to Cincinnati fine and easy. There was some discussion on CityKin, a downtown Cincinnati parent's blog, on where are good places to eat with kids downtown. Margarita's was mentioned and gave us a hankering for Mexican food.

Finn loved it. Sarah got the some enchiladas and I got chicken mole'. Finn ate it all. Beans, chicken, sauce, guacamole, everything.

He's been eating a lot this Summer, which may have lead to his giant growth spurt. He ate this entire sweet potato. It was as big as his head, much like a
La Bamba's burrito.



Although we've said it before, it bears repeating, we fear for his teenage grocery bills.

Stumbling into a wedding

Fifth street was closed back around Memorial Day, which provided great opportunity for some folks having a wedding to take pictures in the middle of the street. Based on the number of cameras and video cameras they must be important, or at least think they are. Perhaps they are part of "The Other White Meat Tour '08".


That same weekend,The Other White Meat Tour '08 was here for the Taste of Cincinnati, which was very popular this year. We're glad that they moved it down to Fifth Street from our street. We don't miss the butter left over on our doorstep.

Here's a shot of the crowd, the amount of trash left after the weekend is staggering.


Congrats to the wedding party whoever they are!

Real-time update: Broken ankle!

Sarah went to dance class Wednesday night at Rythm in Motion and rolled her ankle. I assured her that it wasn't broken. Thursday Finn had a doctor's appointment and Sarah shares the same doctor, so she had her look at it.

The doctor recommended that Sarah get some x-rays done.

Here is a normal front view of a foot and ankle. Notice the lack of a floating bone chip in the outside part of the foot. Follow the pinkie toe bone up to the gap in the bones. Nothing's there. That's normal.

Here's Sarah's foot. In the bottom right of the picture is the same view on the other foot. Following the pinkie toe bone up you can see the same area that lacks bones, except for the bone chip floating in the middle of it. Yikes.

Here is a normal side view of a foot. Follow the pinkie toe bone back to the big triangle bone. That's normal.

Here's Sarah's. The end of that bone leading to the pinkie toe is gone, ripped off and at the tip of the triangular bone behind it. Double Ouch!

So the vacation we're going on will be even more relaxing than we ever imagined it to be. When we get back, it'll be straight to the operating room to reattach that chip. That's not as fun as vacation.

Drawing pictures of animals

Finn likes drawing. It's one of his favorite things. We got him a Magna Doodle to use between Crayon drawings to keep him happy when we don't have time to set up at the table. There's a big holder thing to help him, but he likes to switch the colors so often that just holding the little crayon works better.


Here are a couple of pictures that he's drawing. There is a difference between his sketches in January to now. Here is an early one:

Not too shabby for a one-year-old, but things have progressed significantly since then.

Admittedly, the difference is not that significant in there appearance. However, he now tells us what is that he drew. This one, he says is a snake. All animals look roughly the same, but he is very adamant that some are snakes, some are dogs, and some are cows.

The latest development is that the strength of the drawing is increasing, the length he is attentive is increasing, and their is more intention in what is is doing.

Maybe someday he'll be like uncle Lanny, a great, creative artist going off to college to study art.

Urban Storage Solutions

Our friends upstairs said that they are going to view living with children in a smaller downtown place as life on a boat. It was some good advice that we also decided to follow. The key is to create storage opportunities everywhere you can.

We had a big wall that cried out for floor to ceiling storage. We finally answered that call. Here' a picture of Finn excited about a blank wall.

You may notice the huge number of wall plates on the blank wall. Part of the new shelving was moving the outlets up to new access points, installing can lights, and installing a new dimmer switch for the can lights.

We aren't the only ones building new shelves. About the same time we did this (that'll show how old this "news" is) Jeff and Angela added book shelves too.

Here's the final product:

We got them from California Closets. They saleswoman said that they have only recently moved from exclusively closets to cabinets and shelving. The expansion has lead to many people, like us, in downtown expanding their storage options and their business is booming.

Finn decided that it was a good purchase and now can play with his toys in their storage location. He doesn't have to leave them out on the floor. We all appreciate that.

Congrats Eliza!

Our neighbor and Finn's friend's momma graduated from UC law school. They held a big party which was the perfect venue for Finn put to the moves on Elena. He took her over to the beer bucket and said, "anything you'd like, babygirl."

Well, it seems that she wanteed the balloons. Finn needed to redeem his honor and challenged the balloons to "take it inside". There was a heated exchange and then Finn tried to be the bigger man and walk away. Those ballons just chased him. Feeling threatened, Finn turned around and beat the balloons with his milk cup. That'll teach those balloons not to steal his girl.

It was all caught on video:

Life is a balancing act

The key to life is balancing the loads and pressures on you. Finn seems to be learning, or at least demonstrating, that lesson at an early age. Another key lesson is to persevere despite frustration. He also displays a working knowledge of that lesson.

Despite our pleadings, the number of toys he has increases rather consistently. Here's the typical toy he likes, an old earphone case that I was going to throw away before he stopped me. He also likes an old-style wooden puzzle. In this video, he combines the two to show the innovation that makes his engineer father proud.



Two simple toys create a fascinating game of balance. That creativity and excitement is always the best part of watching him. That last smile beams with pride and accomplishment.

The Least Deadly Catch

The lodging at Langley is very nice and recently rebuilt. Our room overlooked one of the many inlets off the Chesapeake Bay. Finn would stand in the window and watch the planes take-off and land. We could also watch the wave lap calmly against the shore.

Most of the boat traffic was the blue crab fisherman checking the cab pots. I'm sure most of you are familiar with The Deadliest Catch or as we call it "Crab Show". If that is your concept of crab fishing, you would be very surprise at this.

The buoys are a small Styrofoam cylinder about the size of a football, not a pair of giant balls. The traps are cat carriers sunk to the bottom of the 6 feet of water. There are no snow storms or ice flows, but the water is a smooth as if it were frozen. I don't know the death toll this season, but I would be surprise if the biggest injury were anything worse than a rope burn.

In any event, the crab are delicious and any trauma that the fisherman go through is worth every drop of drawn butter than ends up staining my shirt.

Worst diaper in history

The worst diaper experience yet happened after the visit to the zoo in DC. We tried to find a place to eat before the drive to Langley and stumbled into an indian place that looked good. Finn sat down in the chair, then promptly and audibly filled his diaper. Super.


Sarah went to change him bck in the bathroom, but it was too small and lacking in horizontal surfaces. Sarah saw a McDonald's across the street and knew that they would be kid-friendly. She loaded up the diaper bag, picked up Finn and headed off into the rain in search of a changing table.

I waited...and waited...

About 45 minutes later Sarah, Finn, and quite a story returned. McDonald's wasn't as kid-friendly as expected.

The bathroom was a pay toilet and Sarah left her purse back at the table with me so she had no change to pay with. Not wanting to carry the stinkiest boy around the whole district in the rain, she did what any sane mother would do: changed him on the stairs to McDonald's front door.

The diaper, once unwrapped, revealed itself to be worse than either the sound or smell would belie. Sarah grabbed the wipes, while turning her head away from the rot and noticed that the container was empty. The hand wipes served where the wipes failed until the also ran out.

All the while there was a parade of hungry people expecting a burger and getting a big surprise at the front door. Some turned away, some thought the McRib was back.

She mounded up the big pile of dirty hand wipes and threw them out and walked back through the rain to the Indian restaurant where the food awaited them. Finn didn't seem to care, but for some reason, eating a sloppy curry with peas didn't seem appetizing anymore to Sarah.

Finn loves loud planes

It may be hard to tell in this picture, but if you click on it to expand it, then you will see three F-22's taxiing for take-off. Finn's favorite activity during our stay at Langley was watching the planes take-off and land. This picture was taken during a walk around the base.

The noise from the engines forced us to cover his delicate boy-ears when they flew overhead. No one was there to cover my ears at work where I heard them constantly roaring overhead. I'm sure Finn is very jealous.

It is a little different than up in Dayton where an e-mail alert was sent out because an F-22 would be coming in to practice a fly-by for an airshow. Admittedly the F-22 is more exciting to watch than the C-5's they have in Dayton. Not to mention that the two F119 engines are more powerful and louder than all four of the C-5's TF39 combined.

DC Zoo is awesome, filled with animals

Finn is a big fan of water and animals. You get them both at the National Zoo in DC. The polar bears, the seals, and the best of all, the amazonia building.

Our trip took place on the Sunday between my Reserve duty in DC and Langley. We took the time to go on a family sight-seeing excursion. Having already been to many of the museums, we figured Finn would like the zoo better than a second trip to the natural history museum.

Tucked down around a corner behind the construction site is the Amazonian building. We would have missed it except for following the best restaurant and travel advice ever, ask an employee what the best thing is.

Finn could have stayed at the Amazon River cut away and stared at the fish and rays forever. We moved on to the monkey room and bird room. Each place was as cool as the next.

A complete photo album is available.

Real Time Update

It goes without saying that we're more than a little behind with our blogging lately; the posts you're seeing this week cover the happenings in mid-May. I figure we should be posting about July sometime in October, and about Christmas maybe by next June. In the meantime, I thought I'd provide a quick Finn update.

I took him for his 18-month checkup yesterday and it seems our tiny, preemie baby has finally caught up. He weighed in at just over 24 pounds and he now stands a whopping 34 inches tall. These figures are in the 25th and 90th (!) percentiles respectively compared to other little boys his age. Big steps for a kid that hovered in the less-than-5th percentile range for most of his first year. For the first time ever, I did not leave the appintment with instructions to feed him more. I guess his huge breakfasts are paying off. It seems he's got the tall, thin genes like his cousin Atticus (see Mostly Atticus Moe).

And a bonus surprise from the pediatrician: news that Finn's got not one, but two ear infections. Good times!

Finn's already disillusioned to the government

While in DC, Finn got into a leisurely breakfast over the Washington Post. What a difference that made in his political outlook. Suddenly he feels part of the process and wishes he could make a difference.

That is evident in this picture. Of course you can't see his face, but trust me, it says "Why do you congressmen continually let me down. Why don't you think about the future that is left for my generation? Why is the Mall grass dead?"

That night over at the Watergate hotel we talked about America's energy policy. He's quite insightful and has a longterm vision that is not typical of 18-month-old kids. He lead a Socratic dialog:


-What is the lead time on a building additional refinery capacity?

-20 years


-What is the lead time to construct more offshore drilling rigs?

-20 years


-What is the lead time for construction of public transportation infrastructure?

-20 years


-Why are we only now addressing our singular dependance on foreign oil?

Website overwhelmed by visitors

People love B-list celebrities. I can tell from this website's traffic. More people are going to the Finn's mohawk blog post than any other page, including the homepage. More people go to that post than the rest of the website combined.



I suppose if you google Travis Barker or David Beckham, the Finn's-Mohawk-post must be somewhere near the top. People from all over are coming here to see their pictures.



This map represents a sampling of the last 500 page views we've had. It seems that the global response to David Beckham and Travis Barker is much wider than the population of those who are interested in Finn. I hope no one in Indonesia cares about Finn.

The most popular google result used to be the post about my car wreck. I guess a lot of people search "bloody head" and see my car wreck wound. Awesome.

Perhaps I should start a new blog called TkMZ: the 3000 mile zone. I can comment on celebs around the US and not just in LA. That would really drive traffic to the site. Then I can charge ad space and retire. That'd be the life.

Swim lessons

We've finished our swim lessons up at the University of Cincinnati long ago, but the hotel in DC had a great and warm pool. We brought him down there and the laughter began.

He seems much more comfortable in the water than he did in the past. He let us dunk him completely. He was pretty comfortably with his face underwater. In fact, I think that he was more comfortable with it than I was.

Floating on the belly is fun. Floating on the back is not as much. Papa blowing bubbles is super fun. Finn blowing bubbles is just OK.

This summer we need to take him down to the pools her in town and let him keep playing in the water. When the temperature reaches the upper 90's it is almost required to hit the pool if we are outside anyway.

Popping Straws

Bar Louie offered a second opportunity (the first being choking on an entire stalk of broccoli): teaching the boy bar tricks. You can never be too young to start learning bar tricks. They are very useful for either impressing you friends or impressing the ladies. Ladies love seeing you pick two quarters off the lip of a pint glass.

We started with a basic one, making a drinking straw pop. Grab it at both ends and bicycle the ends forcing the air into the middle of the straw. A friend then thwaps the straw which makes a big popping noise as the straw bursts. It's almost as much fun as spinning until you're dizzy.



The website showing how to pop a straw says that you need two things: a straw and a friend. Finn only had parents. no one was there to flick the pressurized straw. He didn't seem to mind.

Next week's trick: Butt in your face.

Breaking Competitive Eating News!

This is your chance to be like this guy.

News release for widest dissemination:

Camp Washington Chili Cheese Coney Eating Contest is August 1st, 2008 -- 12:00pm-1:00pm. The object of the competition is to eat as many Camp Washington Chili Cheese Coneys, without any condiments, as possible within the allotted time of 3 minutes! One grand prize of a trophy, t-shirt, hat and $50.00 Camp Washington Chili gift certificate will be awarded! Eleven runners-up will each receive $20 Camp Washington Chili Gift certificates. Competition is from 12:30-1:00pm; please go to the webpage to fill out the entry form!

Fr those interested, you can find a training program here.

Bar Louie, you could do better

Bar Louie is usually a great place. Where else can you get tater tots? It is one of the few places on Newport on the Levee that is tolerable. The others being the aquarium and Dewey's, although Dewey's has me mad for backing out of their proposed location in the 'Quarter.

So while in DC we were searching for a decent kid-friendly place to have lunch. We stumbled across Bar Louie and thought it was a no-brainer. They had the Bantam national hockey tournement on the TV which was a bonus. We ordered our food and a side of rice and beans with a side of broccoli for Finn.

The broccoli came out practically potted in soil it was so raw.

I know you want to charge $3 for broccoli, so you give a giant amount. However, you could do some prep work on it, like cut it! Maybe cooking it properly would help too.

But we like the tots.

This is the age of Aquariums

So another connection between DC and Cincinnati is the aquarium. The national aquarium was completely engaging to Finn as evidenced by the above photo. If that isn't the picture of pure joy and excitement, I haven't seen it.

His experience in Newport's aquarium, across the river, is exactly the same. For those readers in Cincinnati, Newport has a great deal on annual passes. Although the single entry cost is $18, the annual pass is just $36. What a bargain, especially for those with kids who love it.

DC, A glimpse at Cincinnati's future?

Perhaps the title is a little ambitious, or at least staring too far into the future, but it does link some of Finn's recent DC experiences with the direction that Cincinnati is headed.

First is Finn's love of water. Here is a picture of him fascinated by the new American Indian Museum's exterior. The building is as beautiful as the exhibits inside are interesting.


The possible Cincinnati connection is the new riverfront park which will use large water sculptures and fountains to tie the city to the riverfront. It will rival, or I suspect surpass, this display.

Another thing that Finn loved was the Metro system. The trains flying into the station, the crowds on-board, and the secret world underground are all strange and compelling to him.

With significant private investment, Cincinnati will soon (in a couple years) build a streetcar system that will connect the Northern Liberties, Over-the-Rhine, the Central business district, and the Riverfront.

All good things of interest to a certain boy I know.

A visit to the Air and Space Museum

During our trip to Washington DC at the beginning of May, Sarah took Finn to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. He loved it. He kept signing "Airplane!" and making the noise of roaring jet engines.

Most of the pictures didn't come out so well because it was took dark and Finn moves around a lot. But he seemed to settle down and focus hard at the large by-pass turbo fan engine display. Like father, like sun.

I imagine that he took out his toy hammer, struck the fan blades and measured their frequency response. I'm not sure he could build the finite element model to compare to the test results, but only because he didn't have his computer with him.

It's not so much that I like that he shows interest in what I do, but that he shows interest in almost everything he does. He likes the Children's Museum, aquariums, and airplanes equally. I think that having an intellectual curiosity is one of the determining traits in success in life, so I hope I can encourage that in him.

MVotW: Lightning Crashes

A neighbor of ours sent out this picture he took of lightning crashing above our Over-the-Rhine neighborhood. The storms have been strong throughout the Midwest to include Cincinnati. I'm not sure if this is a natural event or if Zuul is coming to meet the Key Master.

The picture made me think of a suitable song for the Music Video of the Week: Live's Lightning crashes.

Traveling to DC: A West Virginia Denny's

Finn, like all great Americans, has an innate love of diners and the greasy, salty, sweet breakfast foods they offer. This was proven one morning in West Virginia.

On our drive to Washington DC for a Air Force Reserve conference, we stopped for food at an old style Denny's restaurant. Finn ordered the Kids' Slam, which comes with pancakes, eggs, bacon, sausage, milk, and an orange slice. The boy ate it all to include the orange peel.

It was a massive amount of food especially as a percent of body weight. No mountain of pork and eggs with a side order of cake is too much for him.

Any drive goes a little better when you are really full and he was. He went back to sleep after the meal and slept until lunch, naturally. If we project out his appetite until he's 16, I fear the grocery bills. A dozen eggs, a pound of sausage, a rasher of bacon, 18 pancakes, and a whole orange. Yikes.