Summer 2010 So Far: Mowing

The picture below with me wearing a red shirt, were taken at the Indianapolis City Market Farmer's Market last week. It is notable for two reasons: First, you will note Finnegan's crook'd finger and serious stare. You've seen the same look right before Sean Penn or Alec Baldwin takes the paparazzo's camera and busts it on the pavement. It would have been his first of what I suspect will be several such incidents over the course of his live and career. I talked the little tough guy down and fortunately for Will the cameraman, there were no fisticuffs.

Below you see the killer stare continues. The second reason is to point out this nifty ride along backpack. It has become a major piece of our summer gear.
It carried Finnegan around the 500 Festival Parade, it has hauled him around the neighborhood for short afternoon visits to watch soccer or flag football.
But most notably, it has become a part of our lawn care regimen. One day I needed to mow the lawn and was home with Finn alone and felt comfortable mowing in our backyard fenced in area, but didn't trust him to watch from the sidelines outside the fence. He has yet to truly learn to fear the street.So a lightbulb lit above my heard, which frightened and confused the tike for a second and in seconds I had loaded him on my back and started the lawn mower.

It was a revelation for the boy. He reached his arm over my left shoulder for the next thirty minutes and said "mow!" no less than 700 times. He loves it. Since then he has taken to riding a bit quieter and more relaxed. Last week, he had an open (as opposed to a sippy) cup of ice water with him for the whole front yard and I never wore it. Not a drop.It soothes him most times. If you time it right he'll go out on your back just as the clock strikes naptime. Out like the proverbial light bulb. It is one of the things I will always remember about this age.And for those of you wondering about my knee surgery, I had it on a Thursday and these photos are from mowing that Monday. So, I'll be fine. But thanks for the concern. Shh. Don't wake the kid.

Summer 2010 So Far: Racing With Pa

The rain and humidity of the early 2010 Summer not withstanding there is a lot of great fun stuff to report and I've got a backlog I need to catch up on. So here is the first installment of The Summer So Far:Lets start with racing. As previously published, our first-born is a big fan of the drag races and a while back got to be there, with proper protective gear as you can see, to stay up late and witness his Grandpa Larry win his division under the lights.
Finnegan says "Wow!" and "Loud!' a lot at the races. But mostly he just grins and giggles. claps and points at Grandpa Larry and says "Pa!"


Pa was pretty excited by the win and told Alisha as they headed for the winners' circle photos, "This doesn't happen very often. Lets get that boy up here with me."

I was home stripping furniture, more about that in a future post, and missed the whole thing and kick myself for it. In a few weeks Finnegan will be spending the weekend with Pa and Grandma in Michigan at a race and we know they will share with us great photos from that. But for now it's just fun to look at the boy at the track.

Mondays are for Swimming

Last year's swimming classes for Finnegan were pretty fun and he never seemed too scared of the water. This year he continues the trend. After five weeks of swim classes, he wakes up just about everyday and says "swim" in an excited sing-song fashion that just makes you wanna load up the car and hit the beach.

He's learning to kick, though he does it more when he's at home talking about swimming than when he is actually in the pool. But the concepts are getting there. Mostly though, he socializes.
He spends a lot of time hanging on the walls and the stair railings saying "hello!" and shouting out the names of other kids.

Below he is with his best swimming buddy, Bryce. Bryce's mom teaches the class (Monday's at the Jordan Y) and deserves as much credit for putting up with Finn's Dad during class as much as teaching Finn.

Bryce, as you might guess, is the best swimmer and as such he exudes a confidence that makes Finn want to party with that dude.

Swim class has made Monday's our favorite day of the week.

Saturday at the Drag Strip

Not that I want to, but it is becoming clear that it will be tough to keep the boy from the track. Finnegan's Grandpa Larry (known to Finnegan as Pa) and his Aunt Kara and Grandma Terry were in town from Evansville to race at the O'Reilly Raceway Park for IHRA drag racing


Finn spent at least one hour of our eight hour visit at the track attached to this scooter.


He spent at least another hour helping his mother, grandmother fly our kite. That kitew is getting a lotta play this spring.

Lunch time was spent largely with their dog Harley.

The boy is pretty good-natured when he's walked around the track. He brings quite the entourage.
Here is ain't Kara watching Pa warm his tires.

Grandma and Finn watched from the stands. He was pretty impressed.

But the little adrenaline freak just had to fade after awhile no matter how many cars there were to see.
There will be other opportunities.

Flying a kite at O'Bannon Park

It was a lovely day to fly a kite and since Alisha bought some friday, Finnegan hasn't stopped pointing to them and saying "kite, kite, kite..."
I rode past Frank and Judy O'Bannon Park on the Monon last week and saw some folks flying kites and it seemed the perfect place. So there we went.
The first one needed a better tail so we went with the better but weirder one. He liked flying it and pointed it out in the sky repeating his "kite, kite, kite" refrain.


Alisha got these great shots of Finn with the caboose at the park. He is just plum tuckered here, but it looks like he's shooting a hip album cover.



This is supposed to be an octopus, but it sure looked like a jellyfish to me. Especially as it wrapped itself around the boy.
This last shot pretty much sums it up. Alisha and Finn sitting in the park on a stunning day flying a kite. It was a great little trip.

Finnegan: Ringbearer

Erin Go Bragh

If you name a boy Finnegan, you really oughta take him to the St. Patrick's Day parade. So we grabbed Grandma and hauled her off downtown to see the parade on what had to be one of the nicest days this town has seen in at least 120 days.

My mother is not known for her photographic prowess, but I have to admit she documented the day pretty well and it was a good time had by all.


Finnegan's favorite moment was either the giant white dog we met or the civil war re-enacters firing their muzzle-loaders. He wanted to follow them for the rest of the parade.






Miss Indiana was especially kind to take a shot with the boy, even if he seems a little stern. But when you're mama's as pretty as his, it's hard to be too impressed with beauty queens.

Even grandpa got a little irish spirit at the end of the day.

Snow Shovelling

You just gotta hope this boy keeps his enthusiasm for the snow shovel with him into his teens.