Welcome Kitty

We now have a cat. Alisha wanted one for her birthday and found a real cutie she got from a foster mom who just about cried when we asked for her. The cat's name was Compass, but so far the closest thing to a name Finnegan has given her is Mao.

Summer 2010 So Far: Bowling

Sunday night I had to miss a fundraiser I slightly helped pull together. I regretted it as I went about the duties that drew me away. But upon returning to see these pictures and hear from Alisha how much fun they had, I regretted it even more.

It was a fundraiser for a great not-for-profit called Reach for Youth which provides counseling opportunities for at-risk children and teens. A great organization and a worthy cause. The fundraiser was called Roll for youth and was held at what is apparently a beautiful bowling alley called the Woodland Bowl.

Alisha took Finnegan and their night went a little something like this.

Start with some tasty cheese pizza and when mom points the camera at you say what type of pizza you are eating, "Cheese!" Check.

Begin with some skee-ball just to reintroduce ourselves to rolling heavy non-bounce balls.
Didn't collect a lotta tickets, but the concept has been laid out. Check.
Next, get the young person cheats in place. Check.
Select a pretty blue ball from the broad and delightful array of technicolor balls. Check.
Accept a little help in aiming from a qualified adult. Check.
But you gotta get a feel for the ball and it's weight, as well as its shininess. Check-erino.

Roll it. Wait for it... Wait for it.... Wait... Wait...Wait...
BINGO! Clap when stuff falls down. Check! And the joy passes to another generation. Now I gotta get him a bowling shirt.

Summer 2010 So Far: Playdate

Today, Finnegan and I ventured to the east-side for a play-date hosted in the home of Anne-Marie and Tim and their lovely daughter Evyn.
Four children total in the house, with Max and Nathaniel, plus three more parents and Andrew a childless friend of us all who mixed mojitos and marveled at the well-behaved kids.
I have to say, if you were gonna go to your first multi-child playdate, this was a great one. They were all in incredible moods and shared better than I've seen.
They took turns playing Tim's grown-up drumkit in the basement, which Evyn is really pretty good at. There was this great toy I'd never seen before called an Elefun which blows butterflies out its blue trunk into the air for kids to catch with nets.
They were all so well behaved to allow for some decent adult conversation to take place. Goldfish helped though.
After some goldfish our hosts offered up the mojitos and kale lasagna which was really great and, to my amazement, was very appreciated by the increasingly finicky Finnegan.
It was a great time had by all and I really appreciated Tim and Anne-Marie hosting. They definitely out did our efforts which usually just involve some grapes and juice and crackers.
Next time we host, I'll feel compelled to get a keg of good beer and do some barbecuing. Tim and Anne-Marie have stepped up the game and now we must all follow suit.
They all played well and we fit a brief bit of story-time in with Nathaniel and Finn on my lap.

Summer 2010 So Far: Summer Love

I don't know who this fetching young lady was, but she absolutely owned the affections of young Finnegan at the playground on the beach of St. Joe, Michigan on a lovely July day. He met, pursued, charmed, did tricks for and eventually lost this beautiful beach damsel.

They were enthralled and then as suddenly as this, his first summer romance had begun, it was over with a sweet but heartbreaking, "I gotta go see my mom now." Stunned at her sudden departure he scanned the horizons with a pensive painful stare, but like a good man, kept his chin solid and took the punch to the gut. Later he drowned his sorrows in fruit snacks and a nap.

Summer 2010 So Far: Gard'nin, Part 2

Pickle cucumbers, hot peppers, basil and one serious squash.

Summer 2010 So Far: Gard'nin

We started a garden at our old house with our good friend Nicole who rents it these days. I got us/lucked into some free ready-made boxes from the nice folks at Indy Glass Center and carried some too wet, too heavy Mike's Mix from Indiana Mulch to fill them in April and May first Nicole and I planted some of each of our seedlings.

Nicole has done most of the weeding and daily maintenance of the garden, but every now and again I pop over with Finnegan to ruin things. But try as we might, food still grows.

Tonite's dinner featured one hot pepper in Alisha's delicious tequila-lime chicken and a green pepper in her black bean and corn salad.

The project started for me as something to do with Finnegan. Until this week, he has only been interested in the throwing of the dirt. He now seems to get the plants as part of it, but I know he loves to do the watering.

In this clip, the quality isn't very good, had to lower resolution to fit it in the blog, you can hear him call it, "gard'nin." He was soaked at the end, but he said "gard'nin" and "wat-ter" all the way home, or at least 16th street where he passed out in the car.