City of Rocks weekend

This past weekend we got out of town for some climbing at the City of Rocks, thanks to some master group organizing by Craig. We camped at the Breadloaves group site (somewhere around twenty-five of us) and took turns kid watching so everyone who wanted to could get on a few routes. Saturday night we did potluck style burritos. These were hands-down one of the tastiest camp meals I've ever had (and all I had to do was cook up some tortillas). We're typically so good about photos, but somehow we drove away with only a handful of Finn photos and not a single climbing shot. Although, I think this sparked an interest in both of us to want to get out climbing more. With that in mind, there should be upcoming photo opportunities.

Renae entertains Finn and Kaya with bubbles, bubbles, bubbles... "Hey, do you have your helmet?"

Finn thinking about climbing safely already.

Four other kids to play with and so much room to roam, what fun! Finn was all over the campsite. He'd wander off into the sagebrush or across the vacant parking lot, turn around to wave "bye" then continue to wander farther. He's definitely becoming more independent.

Affinity for the Backyard

After years of aspiring to have "dueling hummingbirds" in our yard, we've succeeded. We've spotted at least three individuals visiting the scarlet runner beans and various Penstemon flowers, or sipping nectar from the two strategically placed hummingbird feeders. Most recently this female broad-tailed hummingbird has been fiercely defending the entire backyard as her territory. Both Chris and I savor sitting for hours on end quietly watching them flit around the yard and hearing their high-pitched chirps and whirrs.


It is not just the birds that have an affinity for the backyard. We have an abundance of bees that make their way from flower to flower. They are especially abundant in the mint and the cosmos. I've seen damselflies and even had a huge praying mantis stalking insects on the Sacred Datura plant near the mint.

Finn is taking advantage of his newfound mobility to make the rounds in the backyard. Not only is he picking tomatoes from the garden (with no consideration of whether they are ripe or not), he is now ravenously eating the Finn sized tiny yellow cherry tomatoes. I never thought I'd keep up with how fast they were ripening, but as of yesterday afternoon he's effectively wiped out all of the tiny little gems.
Behind Finn you can just see a glimpse of our enormous pumpkin. Soon it will be pushing on the sides of both raised beds. I'll have to get a picture when we pick it

The bountiful harvest we returned to after vacation

Homelife

Finn relinquishing his "mommy-mode" for Daddy time. He just lights up when Chris gets home from work. Below: he's crawled up into Chris's lap to share an after work snack of chips and garden salsa (omitting the salsa for Finn since it has a bit of a jalapeño kick and he's not too fond of tomatoes yet).Finn's creative play shining through. He's stacked each drum on its own step and is pushing them all around the house, giggling as he goes along.

Simple Pleasures

Finn got some Fall clothes in the mail from Grandma. He was way more interested in the packaging than the content. Who knew that a few sheets of packaging paper could be so much fun?

Post II of II: Adults Had Fun Too

OK, here are the rest of the photos!

This was the start of Finn's magnetic attraction to the ocean!

Finn ready to call it a day

Typical Fort DuRoss

Requisite shower shot

Papa and his clan

What's up "cuz?"

Somehow I managed to capture this storm off the coast to the south. The bright white light above the trail of taillights is the Cape Hatteras lighthouse.

Finn's first ocean swim! He loved it.

Stingray?? Doubtful. They stay away from the surf - it was probably just a cloud of sand. Actually everyone is looking for a lost sand toy.

Papa enjoying some much deserved rest.

Finn checking out the waves. That's me in the red shirt in the background.

Papa and Judah. Judah knew from day one that he needed to be in that ocean.

Post I of II: Giant Sandbox

OK, it's time to get posting - even Chip and Audrey posted their NC shots and they were a week behind us! Our excuse is that we all recently came down with the stomach flu (seriously).

Here are our Outer Banks photos (hard to narrow it down from 400+ photos!). We really had a memorable time, and are thankful to have had the chance to catch up with Derek and Hope (miss you guys already!), and see the three kids go crazy together. It is so amazing how unique their personalities are. Of course we also loved seeing Nana and Papa soaking up all the kid time ("I'll be at the beach if you need me!") - and can't thank them enough for doing so much to make our time together so special.

Here is the "kid collection" of photos:

Finn predicting that large waves will fall upon us

Finally, the pool all to myself!

Judah and Finn workin' in the sun. That bucket eventually became Finn's favorite resting place!

Success! Papa and I had doubts that that "inflatable kite" would actually fly.

Finn's first fins. Daddy I saw a fin just like this in the water behind you!

Judah clearly has the best style. One of my favorite photos - amazing that they all sat still for so long (4 seconds).

Look at the hole I dug!

Ocean Beaches ------->

Here is a photo-video from our recent trip to Oregon and Washington. We had a great time - and soaked up as much time with Chip and Audrey, cool port-town air, wet rain forests (redundant), and incredible ocean beaches as possible.

Thanks again to C & A for sacrificing much, and for making our stay super memorable. Enjoy the video (sorry, kinda large)... C & E.

Boy Ages 6 Months in 6 Minutes!

We just gave Finn his fourth haircut! Here is a before photo:

And the "after" photos:
Now that his hair is "#7" short, he looks so much older - especially combined with him walking around!

He's been loving climbing all over our gear for our upcoming trip to Oregon/Washington! So much for traveling light. We're definitely going to be maxing out our luggage poundage limits as well as every bit of free space Chip and Audrey have.

And here is a quick photo from our garden. Our first Jalapeño peppers! I was thinking that they would be a little less hot - reasoning that the spiceyness reflected the local climate, but boy was I wrong. They are mean little green things.

Centenial Post!

Just now, the thought crossed my mind: I wonder how many posts we've racked up, and if it's anywhere close to 100...cause it would be cool to post a 100th post. So I looked, for the first time mind you, at the number, which unbelievably was 99!

So here you go. Our 100th post (in 9 months)! Probably our 92nd post of Finn. That kid is going to have a record of his upbringing suitable for a presidential library. We're doomed as parents as he'll easily be able to pull up posts in support of feeding hudson, dressing up hudson, refusing to eat, or making a huge mess (when eating, just in general).

My favorite post? That's hard. Drummer Boy is probably my favorite. This is right about the time when we wondered what happened to our cute infant who slept all the time! Hmm, I also really like Snowy Sunday Hike, which recalls our first official hike together. Of all the firsts, this one seemed pretty meaningful to me.

My least favorite (or rather, hardest moment to recall)? Parting Shots

Most comments? Surprising I Passed! That was a big day for me though.

Most meaningful? Easy. Reflection and Renewal. Still gives me goosebumps.

More to come...E still needs to weigh in.

-Chris

Experiment 2-a

We didn't stray far from home this weekend but regardless, it was enjoyable. In continuing to prepare for our upcoming Oregon camping adventure, we set up the tent in the backyard. Finn certainly enjoys being in the tent, although it is entirely possible that he has too much fun crawling, bouncing, looking out the mesh sides, etc and will have a hard time sleeping when the time comes.


As an addendum to the milestone list from Chris's 13 month post.....
Finn is now able to walk! Not that he has converted to this as his main mode of locomotion but he has the know-how and balance to at least get across the living room.

I'm 13 months!

Now that I'm 13 months old, I have basically mastered everything. I now know how to...

Hold my spoon:

Eat my applesauce:

But you should see me - I can really get after it:

Also, for those wondering, I can also:

Walk a step when I feel like it
Say: daddy, water, down, hello....All with my secret language (da-da, da-der, dow, doh)
Grab books to read (attention span = 11.5 seconds)
Feed Hudson
Manipulate my parents into letting me sleep in their bed
Help daddy clean my bum
Turn on the shower
Talk to Judah on the phone and use all of da-da's minutes
Help mom cook (you wanted that powdered sugar in the second bedroom right?)

Absorption

Evidence that we've officially entered the sponge phase:

Fouth of July

We celebrated Finn's second Fourth of July in Driggs with our friends Stefan and Jess and their daughter Greta. It was such a relief to escape the 101 degree temperatures of Salt Lake and get out for some stunning hikes on both sides of the Tetons. It seemed like we'd stepped back a season. The foliage was so lush and the wildflowers abundant. As always, we took a lot of photos. Alaska Basin and Death Canyon

Here are just a few of the many wildflowers we saw. Forget-me-nots, columbines, monument plant, etc... I'm not sure what this nodding purple flower is, or the yellow one below it. Any ideas?

Growing Green

Ok, so now that the photo has been posted for a number of days without text, I'm sure there is some question as to why I, having never been fond of watermelon, would put a photo of it in a collage. Two photos to be precise. Why would we even posses a watermelon in our house considering Chris has never liked them either, (or any other melon for that matter)? Is it just because watermelon is so iconic of summer? No...I can't seem to find a credible source, but I will go with the explanation our taste buds are transformed every 5-7 years (not that I am losing taste buds with age and becoming less discriminating). I distinctly recall the first inkling of liking watermelon. It was another sweltering day in the Galapagos Islands. I was in my fifth month of pregnancy with Finn and was was resting in a patch of shade at the edge of Biological station's organic garden. We had just completed the morning's physical labor. In addition to helping lug buckets of water to plants down the long rows, my individual job was to fill several larger buckets with tomatoes I harvested from the vine. Tired and thirsty I watched the coordinator pull a watermelon from a tangle of leaves, raise a machete and whack it into multiple pieces for us to savor. The high water content was what I was craving so I gave it a shot. Much to my surprise it actually tasted good. I thought that would just be an isolated instance but that was not the case. I've given watermelon another shot out of politeness when it was offered after a dinner with friends and it seems to be growing on me. The ironic thing is that Chris's taste buds have transformed right along with mine. On a hot summer day in Salt Lake, I'll take a sweet, fresh watermelon right along side Chris and Finn.

The other photos depict garden harvests of beets, cabbage and peas. I love the bullseye stripes of the Chioggia Beet beets and the deep purple torpedo shaped cylindrical beets. They were both excellent roasted with carrots, parsnips and garlic. I'm still stunned at the size of the cabbage I pulled out of the garden especially since it was the first I've ever grown. I wish I had weighed it but at least having a photo next to Finn gives a good sense of scale and the fact that it took two different recipes to use it all.

Lastly, there is a photo of my ring. For more months than I care to think about it sat in my drawer for fear that the diamond would fall out due to a worn prong and a lack of knowing who to trust with it. Finally we took it across the street to Charlie Hafen Jewelers and had it repaired. The trip was worthwhile in multiple respects. It was good to finally satisfy the curiosity of what they had in their store/gallery as well as to meet Charlie, our neighbor. I was nervous to have the crown totally redone but am thrilled with the new look. It is lower and despite the fact that there are more prongs it seems to show off the diamond even more.

Saving Energy with a Passion

In concert with Chris's recent post, Experiment 1-a, stating a propensity to commit before figuring out all the details of how to do something, he bought himself a road bike to commute to work. This is something that he has wanted for a number of years for exercise as well as commuting. After the bike came all the other unplanned accessories: helmet, shoes for clipless pedals, a light, reflective clothing, water bottle, bike pump, tire repair kit, etc. In addition to accessories there were the logistics of extra toiletries to shower and clean clothes to change into once he got to work, plus all the extra food required to replace approximately 600 extra calories burned biking 6.8 miles each way. Next there was the experimentation of route finding with considerations such as what is the most direct route with roads that are the best in terms of least traffic, lowest number of traffic lights and won't have a passing train obstructing the path.

Chris seems to have worked out most of the kinks and claims to be truely enjoying his new mode of transportation, even though he comes home sweaty every day from exerting himself in the mid-ninety degree weather. With gas prices being just over $4/gallon, he figures that biking to work five days a week saves nearly $100/month. That's pretty significant. Now if I can just keep up with the laundry and the nourishment required to support this endeavor....

Forward Progress

Finn has reached a few more milestones. Now that he's a year old, he's decided that it is o.k. to sleep through the night. Of course this progress comes from changes on our end too, such as creating the consistency of a nightly routine including a bath and story time.
We've had one glorious week of solid 8-10 hour nights but..... just because that is becoming the norm doesn't mean it will be every night from here on out. Case in point, A newly emerging tooth (number seven) has hindered sleep the last two nights.

Finn is also learning to stand up without using props. He's still a little wobbly at times but improving rapidly. Here is a video showing off his new standing skills.
It won't be long now before he starts walking...

I love the adorable double-kiss towards the end. That is the first time I've ever seen him kiss anything. Could it be that he sees himself reflected in the stove?

Experiment 1-a

OK, this is generally how we do things: commit ourselves to something and THEN figure out how to do it. For example - our house (enough said). Another example - a couple weekends ago I took the ratty old doors off the shed - now I'm committed to figuring out how to replace them. And finally our upcoming trip to the Pacific Northwest - we have plane tickets, plans for a weekend trip to the Oregon coast with Chip and Audrey, and then we're off to Olympic National Park - to ahh, hike many miles...with Finn. Today, we experimented with our pain thresholds and went for a moderate (short by the standards of our non-kid-bearing friends) hike. We drove up to the High Uinta Wilderness and hiked toward Amethyst Lake.

The hike was amazing and a perfect way to kick off summer: 90+ degree heat in Salt Lake City and we were enjoying 60's, sun, and nothing but the sound of some raging water. We had big ambitions of making it to a lake about 4-5 miles in, but decided we were seriously pushing our luck at about 3.5 miles in and turned around. No big deal though - we got some great views of a crazy "creek," Finn did amazing (only one lunch/diaper stop!), and we returned to the car refreshed and energized for our future trip. On the way back we indulged ourselves with milkshakes, which handily undid four hours of hiking in 20 minutes.

Entering the High Uinta Wilderness

Ostler Fork of the Bear River - runnin' mad

Maiden of the Mist

Hayden Peak in the background...maybe Experiment 1-b?

E and Finn kicking back after 7 miles of bliss