High Kicking BBQ

First meal involving kung fu.

Grass Dragon

We went to Volunteer Park to see a play. There were a couple of points where I thought, "I may hate stage acting", but then a part would come that was solid and funny. There was a heron sitting in a fir tree above the koi pond. I overheard a girl say to her friend while taking her photo "Now look frightened." She was wearing thin high heals. Shoes can look comfortable or sexy and so forth but can a shoe look scared? A group was playing horseshoes; a game I hope to play before the summer ends.

First time at a play.

Sidewalk Fruit

There are so many fruit trees around. Some Peach tree's are ripening. Linda and I went and filled a bag with plums from trees along the streets. They taste especially good because of the danger. What if someone stops you and says "Hey, save some of those for me!" What then? A child has to be raised without a father.

First time Enjoying the bounty of public land controlled by private homeowners.

The Smell of Green

We went out to Couger Mountain today. Finn laughs and gets excited about vertical faces. I don't know. The back of a booth. The back rest in a car. A tree trunk. All that texture in a big package. He slept on the way back and didn't even wake when I had to crawl under a fallen tree. I am going to teach him how to track possum next time. He does not have a hat in this photo. A rule is if it may have been lost more than a mile back you don't go back.
First time on a "real" hike.

Safety Dance

We went to Camp Long today. I used to live right below it in a tri-plex before we bought a house. It was two houses down from a "pawn shop" with a couple t-shirts and a nordicTrack out front. People were always coming and going and hanging out. Our apartment is now a condo. The "pawn shop" is now just a place that someone deals out of. I saw a coyote in Camp Long once. Much like spaying and neutering, coyotes help control the pet population here.

First time being in Tron: Stroller galaxy.

Face like a fist

At Alki we had sandwiches in tin foil. There was an American Bull Dog bouncing a medicine ball on its face and someone asked if it hurt. "No, his face is like a fist." That is what my first album will be called. There were also maybe a dozen large canoes on the beach where a group of tribes were traveling through the sound. They said there can be 50 canoes joined by the end which would be a beautiful sight.

first picnic on the beach.

Furless Baby Seal

Kendra had today off so we slept in and tooled around the house. While nursing, Kendra was using the "education suite" on our keyboard to learn how to play Sting's "Englishman in New York." During Finn's bath he has started trying to add other toys to his mouth without removing the others already lodged which leads to grid lock on the gum highway.
First time hunting purple fish.

Oh Astoria!

It rained basically the entire weekend. We rented a cabin at Fort Columbia State Park so we had a fire and a view and some wine. We played a board game called Dracula. The designer is from Germany where board games are an entirely more rich affair. At Astoria we walked up "the column" and threw a bulsa hang glider off. It swooped and swayed as promised and then landed in a Fir tree. Overheard: "We were in Las Vegas and we went up in the Stratosphere and we heard that if you drop a dime off it will dent a car."
First time in Oregon.

Sandcastles and Free Hot Dogs

Long Beach has the Largest Frying Pan in the World. It also is home to Jake the Crocodile boy which is, while offering some kitsch value, sort of a let down. They do have a huge parlor of Pin Ball machines though including Adams family and Medieval Madness. Still not enough to get you to stop by? How about religious iconography on oil tanks. Nothing says rainy day at the beach like a free hot dog.
First time at a sandcastle contest.

Cotton Candy

We had lunch in a hipster greasy spoon in Olympia today. A woman who worked there had thick and complicated black hair and was hummingbird skinny. She wore a pink sweatshirt and was eating blue cotton candy out of a long plastic bag. "My Lunch" she said.
My lunch was a club sandwich which is a dependable never very good but not horrible type decisions. Kendra had Clam chowder. I should have had the French Dip.
First time sitting in a diner provided high chair.

Color added to Menu

Finn enjoyed carrots today. By "enjoyed" I mean he "liked the flavor and overall texture" of them. Feeding with two spoons may be the way to go so that while he is bulldozing puree into his ears with one spoon, you can load up the other one. Does any child like having his face washed with a cloth? I did funny voices and everything. "I'm washclothapus and I'm gonna give you a really long kiss with my sharp little beak because wow this dried stuff is hard to get off and don't forget the adorable double chin estate..."
First time eating Carrots.

Englishman in NY

We found a Yamaha keyboard at a garage sale today. With this beauty you can play "Ain't Misbehanvin' all in car crash in the key of C. It's pretty rad. The woman was also selling a leather jacket that she had just bought for her husband but he left drunk and now she is selling it. The jacket didn't fit but the piano certainly fit my cultivated sensibilities with the demo song being Englishman in New York. It shows you which keys to push via a little screen with digital hands clapping and a stern voice occasionally yelling "if you don't practice harder Lee Kwon will shame you again" I think someone programmed that in and we haven't figured out how to change it yet.

Finn bangs on it and seems to prefer syncopated fifths. He enjoys "Banjo" and "Celestial" so far.
Finn's first time playing a Piano.

Captain vomit

This is from July. Finn went for a speedy ride with mommy in the hammock. How how they flew. What fun! Then he turned green and threw up.