Walking around

We try to go for walks in the many paths all around our house. We need to avoid the horses and the mines that leave behind. On the other end of the spectrum, there are plum trees along the path that Finn likes to shake and pick up the fallen fruit.


There are saddled horses, free-roaming horses, and even carts pulled by horses. Lots of horses. But they do make plenty of photograpahy fodder.


What does a kid do after all the fun of walking strap to their father's chest? Throw-up during a bath in the sink! It's all just too much fun.


Having gotten a good feel of the area around our place, we started to venture a little further away.

Getting here and finding a house

We got to the airport and saw that they changed our seat assignment to a bulkhead row. Worse than that we were in seats D, E, and G. I went to the counter to see if we could get seat E instead of G. They laughed at me. I felt shame. It turns out we got the bulkhead in business class and there was no seat F.

Far from acting like we've been there before, we broke out the camera and lived it up. I immediately felt bad for everyone else; as did they when they saw two kids sitting down next to them.


Finn ate the trail mix we brought and drank the juice (not out of the wine glass). Things were fine until the middle of the night when Finn woke up confused and unsure of what was going on. He cried for about 20 minutes causing Liam to also cry. That was a rough stretch of pacing and bouncing.

After landing, we had to find a place to live. It was quite a search, but we found a great place out in the country, backed up to a horse ranch.


Finn and Sarah both found the interior pleasant. We have two bedrooms and plenty of room for playing in the living room. The landlord lives below us and has been great to work with.


The home was figured out and ready for everyone. We're walking up Maslow's hierarchy and have checked off shelter and food.

Interlude: Cincinnati

Went got back into Cincinnati and had an 8 hour layover. Justin, Eliza, and Elena were nice enough to have us over for the afternoon until our overnight flight.

It was right back into the old mode again. We went out on the back patio again and ran around the wisteria bush time and time again.


They also sat down on the bench together again. I wish I had the picture of them doing that where they were 9 months old with me so I could compare the two.


Once we got back inside, the piano became a big draw. Finn not just banged on the keys, but made something similar to music. He also ate chicken (no transition sentence needed). It was great to have one last home-cooked meal before a series of snack, airline foo, eating-out, and take-out.


After a great break, we headed back to the airport for leg two of the flight. I'm not sure when we will get back into Cincinnati, but hopefully it won't be too long.

Going to Germany: Leg 1.

To get the family to Germany, we boarded a flight through Cincinnati to Frankfurt. This first leg back to Cincinnati was Liam's first flight and Finn's first since being able to communicate orally.

Finn took the opportunity to brush up on the safety features of the aircraft. He seems very interested in how the plane turns into a boat.


Liam seemed less concerned in safety and much more full of wonder at his mom. Who can possibly care about the plane when their mom is holding them.


The flight went well, especially for me when I sat in my own seat on the otherside of the aisle. I drank my coke, read my book, and took pictures of the other side of the plane. No big crying, but past performance is not necessary typical of future returns.

Last Stateside Pictures

I'm blitzing forward in time to our trip to Germany, but needed to delay one stop to cute pictures of Liam and Finn. The day before we left, my work had a big picnic with lots of things for the kids too do. Finn was a little overwhelmed by everything.

He wanted to wait in line for to throw a ball at the dunk tank, but then backed out after reaching the head of the line. He's got quite and arm, but I think he thought it was too mean to end up dunking a guy.


The fire department had a strong presence at the picnic. They came up the Potomac in the fire boat, with full hose-shooting.


There was also an engine parked by the tent that Finn climbed into and pretended to drive. After getting out of the truck he got a plastic helmet from the fireman.


The whole day made Liam very dirty. After a bath he had some tummy time and looked extra cute.


With a clean set of boys, we were ready to go on our German trip. More to follow.

SUPER BIG POST!

This is the blog's 500th post. Plus I haven't posted anything since we left the US, and even then I was almost a month behind things. Most importantly, this is Sarah's Birthday post!

I asked Finn if he'd like to help Sarah have a great birthday. When I mentioned cake, Finn's eyes glowed.


was hard to get the boys away from the boys away the best mom ever; she was as busy as ever, feeding one son and reading to the other one. I took an alternate approach and brought the cake and took the pictures both myself.


We've definitely had a lot going on this last year.
- Sarah broke her foot.
- I took a new job.
- Trip to St John's.
- Moved to DC.
- Sold the old house.
- Bought a new house.
- Had a baby.
- I lost both Grandmas.
- I was off at work 12 hours a day.
- Went off to Germany for 6 weeks.

Sarah's been the glue holding the family together. She plans all our trips/moves and makes sure we have everything we need. And she even picks out her own cake.


Finn was very much pleased with her choice. Happy (belated) birthday and hopefully this next year will be a little less hectic.