Cincinnati area soldier found

The parents of a local soldier who has been missing for 4 years have learned that he is dead. Listed as missing or captured for the last four years, the parents now know where there son is and maybe what happened.

I can't imagine what they've been going through or what they felt when they heard he was found. I can't come close to understanding, but even thinking about something happening to Finn makes my stomach knot.

I can imagine that knowing the truth would be better than the horror of possibilities that would go through my mind. Our sympathy goes out to them and the countless other parents who have suffered the unbelievable tragedy of losing a child.

The Boss

On our way home from dropping Memé off at the airport yesterday we passed the Def Jam, Rick Ro$$ tour bus. That inspired me for this week's Music video of the week.



I am always excited to see that big name shows are constantly coming through Cincinnati. Though it seems that I only see hip-hop and WWE tour buses. Perhaps that's because they do a better job at self promotion than the Jonas Brothers.

I sure that last night's Rick Ro$$ show was awesome and loud. Unfortunately, with a little baby, our days of rap concerts are well behind us. However, while Finn napped today, Sarah went down the street to the Cincinnati Ballet's final performance of 1001 Arabian Nights. I'm sure it was as awesome, but probably not as loud. I'll get the full report when she gets back.

UPDATE: The ballet was fabulous. The costumes were amazing, the dance entertaining. Sarah would recommend it for everyone, except that was their last show.

Myrtle Beach Photos

I've finally put the pictures from Myrtle Beach up on-line. There are sharks, kids, "New England", birds, sand, and waves. I promise most of the pictures are more pleasent than this one of our "rot tub". The owners were nice enough to knock a couple bucks off the price of the house since no one could use it without sever risk of developing a body fungus.



It was a fun time in the sun on the beach. We learned than Finn loves the beach and we'll try and get a couple more beach vacations in as soon as we can.

Congrats to Cailin and Nicolai!

Our friends back in Madison, Cailin and Nicolai, just had a beautiful baby girl named Amalia. They've started a blog of ther own at Our Amazing Amalia. It sounds like things are off to a terrific start. Our best wishes to them as they begin to establish their lives as parents.

Music Video Update

This week's video goes against most of the criteria, primarily high dancibility. However, it seemed very appropriate following our trip to South Carolina.

We found that she is a fine representative of the South Carolinians. The state has a beatiful exterior. The views from the house were absolutely amazing, with the sun rising over the pier each morning and the full moon coming up each night.



The beaches were fantastic, if not a little cold. Finn loved everything about the beach too. He would run out into the ocean, play in the sand, help his papa dig a hole, chase the seagulls while signing "bird", and wave to all the dogs being walked down the beach. There will b many more pictures of the trip to come after we resettle back into our house.



But, behind that pretty front (read: shoreline) there is not much to enjoy. The drive from I-95 to the beach down a small state road took us through parts of the state that appeared unfriendly to us "Yanks". Being election season there were many signs for "Big Al" and "Major McClellan". Many houses were burned down and left that way. Most homes were portable. The battle flag of the confederacy was spotted a number of times as well. Finally, we passed a diner called Tarbaby's.

Still, we really enjoyed the pretty beachfront and laughed at the rest. On reflection, those things aren't actually that funny. For example the diner owners don't see anything wrong with the name Tarbaby's. It's just like the Miss South Carolina isn't that funny if you realize she was really trying. But what else can you do? I suppse that you can still laugh...

New Shoes

Now that Finn walks around all the time, we figure that he should have real shoes and not just the slippers that he's been wearing. Don't get me wrong, wearing slippers all the time sounds fantastic. I think that I would like to do that. However, we are down in South Carolina with the The Daily Squinkers. We went for a walk on the beach this morning and Finn's feet got wet when hi slippers soaked through.

We headed off to the shoe store this afternoon and selected his first pair of real shoes. They are a nice brown sandal style. Practical, yet sassy.


He's a size 3.5-wide. The lady said that his feet are very thick or tall; clearly he has his mom's feet and not his papa's ski-feet. She recommened that we get 4W to have room to grow. Yikes, that made me remember that kids outgrow their shoes monthly.

Well another big step has been crossed. Anyone know of a good shoe bronzing company?

This week's song of the week

Last week's snow reminded both of us of our youth spent "way up north" and got me thinking about visions of snow piled up as high as cars. For people from Madison, that also conjures images of the old Pizza Pit ad. So I have chosen that classic ad, with the kids singing, as the Song of the Week as can be seen in the bar to the right.

Our neighbors made a life-sized (Finn-sized) snow man in the median. Finn tried to make friends with him, but figured that that he was just too shy.


Snow is a very interesting thing for a little boy. It's very cold. It falls apart. It disappears if a small piece is on your hand. The world gets so bright and white.

For Finn, the snow was even more fun as we walked through it. I imagine from a baby's perspective it looks like your foot disappears if you step into the snow. When you kick through the snow, watching it break apart and scatter, it must look like the amazing creation of new things out of the ground. Plus boys like to see things break and splatter. I figure that was the appeal of Gallagher.




So you can see, he really liked watching me kick the snow. Too bad that won't happen again until next year.

Last week's Song of the Week

Last week we picked Timbaland's The Way I Are as the Song of the Week. It has two things going for it: one, a disasterous use of grammar and two, a beat that forces Finn to dance.

Up until last week The Way I Are was in heavy rotation on Sirius Hits One. But as of last week, it fell off of the Top 40 playlist being surplanted by other *great* songs like Flor Rida's Low and Miley Cyrus's See You Again.

So, good-bye Timbaland! We'll see you again when your next kickin' beat appears on channel one. Until then I'll just have to "sta-sta-studder when you ask me what I'm thinkin' bout"...

Deliveryman Finn

On the same day as his friend Rowan took his first steps, Finn finally let go of our hand and walked on his own too.

It took a little trickery and some excited clapping, but he decided to walk. We still think that he won't choose to walk too much. He seems extremely risk adverse in personality; He hardly likes to stand on his own.

It is a big accomplishment on his 14-month birthday.

Bockfest Means Spring?

Long ago, monks would have to find something to make the Lenten fast more enjoyable. Naturally their thoughts turned to beer. All that not-eating made them hungry too. So they thought, "What if we made a meal we could drink, and it was made out of beer?" The result was bock beer. The 7-9% alcohol content may have been a survival tactic of those German monks to forget they were living in a cold, unheated abbey at the end of winter.

You may remember this blog was once entitled Strangers in a Deutschland. While we lived there I picked up dullard's German and can now tell you that the word "Bock" is German for "goat". Of the potential ways bock beer was named, my favorite, as likely least probable, story is this.

A knight challenged a monk to a brewing/drinking contest. The monk had just finished developing this new type of beer and brought it to the competition held in a barn (for no apparent reason). Each competitor traded their lager and they proceeded to drink. After a few "Stein" of beer, the knight started to feel the potency of this new brew and feel off of his "Stuhl". "Was ist passiert, Herr Ritter?" asked the monk. The knight looked around and saw a goat nearby and blamed it for having knocked him off his chair. The monk replied "The only Bock that knocked you off your chair was the one I brewed."

The association with Bavaria, monks, goats, and spring has stuck whatever the real origin of the brew. With the Reds in spring-training and daffodils sprouting, this weekend's Cincinnati Bockfest was supposed to be a good-bye to winter. Unfortunately, winter had other plans.



Cincinnati is under a snow emergency. That usually means that we got about 1" of snow, but this weekend we got a full foot. The bockfest parade had to be canceled. That meant that the Sausage Queen wouldn't be able to lead the procession this year. It also meant that the financial success of a great Cincinnati tradition would be in great peril.

Call us community advocates, but when a beerfest with an "oomp-ah" band is threatened, we know we need to help. We braved the blizzard and walked over to the Bockfest hall just in time for the blessing of the keg and playing of Roll out the Barrel.



We met Elena and her parents over at the fest too. The kids loved the music and danced to The Bier Band. Finn even got to play the bass drum. He loved dancing the polka with papa and listening to the music of the Vaterland. After each song, he kept signing "more". Sarah had a Mettwurst from Kroeger & Sons Meats, the annual supplier of our Megabash's sausage fest.

We stayed out later than we had in quite some time, getting home around 8:15. By then we saw that more people were braving the snow-mergency and filling up Bockfest Hall. It seems, thanks to our selfless act, that the tradition is safe for another year.

Kitchen Fun

Despite all the chaos associated with being home with Finn, Sarah has managed most nights to have dinner ready when I get home, like a real 1950's housewife. This is awesome; especially since the commute takes away a lot of the time at home it maximizes the amount of "buffoonery" when I am home. Finn has been helping out too.

He gets out the extra pots and pans and cooks his own food. He may be in line to follow the paternal line of folks who like to cook. Although the daily influence of his dear mom's home cooking cannot be understated.

The other fun part of the kitchen for Finn is the presence of Mr. Pibb's food dish. Like all kids, he seems fascinated by pet food. His favorite things is to switch which side the food is in in Pibb's bipartite bowl. Another good aspect is Mr. Pibb often goes to his food bowl and can be taunted.

A nervous détente has been established between Mr. Pibb and Master Finn. Finn won't strike out against Pibb and Pibb won't immediately run when approached. I think the key to the deal was the cat toy. It built mutual respect.

The kitchen sure is a fun place for Finn. I suppose that is why the kitchen has always been the center of happiness in the home.