Friends

Click here to see more pictures, courtesy of Stacy!

Summer is all the more fun when you get to spend it with friends! Finn and I had the best time playing with our Hauser buddies on Friday. We were just sad to be without Patty and Heidi.

--JAK

Noise face

Noises have increasingly attracted Finn's attention during the last few months. And when he hears a particularly loud or surprising noise, he reacts with this face!

--JAK

Driving the Wheel

Since the day he "drove" a firetruck earlier this summer, Finn has been interested in trucks, buses, and really any vehicle that appeared to have a wheel available for him to drive. The zoo parking lot was crowded with school buses one day and Finley declared, "Finley drive the bus! Finley drive the bus!" Other than a few chances to sit in the driver's seat of Mama or Grandma's car, the poor little guy was really feeling deprived.

Yet the days he spent playing with his cousins in Pennsylvania seem to have lent him an important new understanding...He can drive! He just has to stick to smaller vehicles. Finn now spends much of his free time driving trains and cars and trucks. He even keeps himself very entertained driving matchbox trucks while riding in his stroller. Yesterday he decided the candy and gum shelves in the checkout aisle at the grocery store were perfect platform for driving.

--JAK

Fresh corn!

YUM!

Funny!

Calvert was at the bottom of the stairs at bedtime tonight. Finn and I climbed half-way up and turned back to wave goodnight to Jason and to coax Calvert to follow us up. Finn encouraged Calvert up the stairs:
"Calvert, use the railing."

--JAK

Grandma Days

Finn loves spending his Wednesday's with Grandma, and usually gets to see Grampa (and his cookies) for lunch, too! Now that it is summer, both Finn and I have been going on all sorts of outings with Grandma.

So far we've hit the aquarium, Kiddie Land, Brookfield Zoo, and Navy Pier.

Click here to see more pictures.

--JAK

Friendly

I love that kids are so darn friendly. Finn is just the friendliest little fellow. This morning he waved at and said "hi" to people (and the park, the basketball hoops, the trees, birdies) out the car window on the way to Margie's house.

The other day Finn extended his friendly spirit to a local doggie. We were hanging out in the front yard and Finn noticed a familiar car parked a few houses down. We'd checked out this car before becuase it contains doggies! A local dog walker comes by every morning and a dog hangs out in the car while he walks other neighborhood dogs.

Anyway, Finn was very excited to see this white doggy in the car window and waved and said, "hi doggy" over and over again from the sidewalk. Then he walked up to the car, hoping to open the door to let the doggy out. "Come in Finley house, doggy, come in Finley house." What a friendly little invitation he extended to the doggy. Seeming to understand that he wouldn't be able to accept the invitation, the dog stuck his snout through the cracked window and barked back. Finn thought this was hilarious.

--JAk

Family Vacation Summer 2009 - Boston and Lebanon, PA

Click here to see more of our trip!

Jason, Finn, and I headed east for the Fourth of July to visit friends and family in Boston and Pennsylvania. Finn was a trooper of a traveler...on the way out there, our little man endured canceled and delayed flights and didn't sleep a wink until we finally buckled him into his car seat at 1:00 am.

Finn loved Boston for its trolleys, "Scotty's house," fun and games at Joe and Jen's wedding, and the Irish singer/guitarist at the Black Rose.

From the moment we stepped out of the car in Lebanon, PA, Finn played non-stop with his cousins, Ryan and Nathan. He spent the week in full boy-mode in heaven with trains, cars, motorcycles, bikes, drums, guitar, and on and on.

--JAK

Food!

After a food-filled day at the Taste of Chicago with Nana, Finn was looking forward to some ice cream to finish off the day. We paused in front of the ice cream booth, I leaned down and asked Finn if he wanted some ice cream, and he happily said, "yes!" I returned just a minute later with ice cream for Finn, Jason, and me. But, our sweet little boy was asleep! His ice cream sat and melted...






Luckily, after dinner at an outdoor concert, Finn got his ice cream with Grampa!





--JAK