Come on Irene

With all the wind and rain, we spent most of Sunday inside the house. Finley seemed to have less cabin fever than the three adults in the house, but we all made it through just fine.

We started off the day with some pancakes, which were a HUGE hit. "Cancakes!" Finley must have spent 45 minutes at the table enjoying his breakfast and even took the last half of a pancake with him when he was ready to be excused. He kept showing it to us over and over, "Cancake, cancake!" Perhaps a new weekend tradition has been born!

He even needed some of my milk to wash it all down, unheard of!

We played in every room and spent a long time with his new Little People garage (a craigslist steal!!).

He also had fun bouncing on Rody in front of the front glass door watching the rain and wind.

However, the most unexpected part was when Dan took Finley down to the basement to play and while we heard them bouncing around down there at first, soon it was silent. Nothing. Eventually, it was time for lunch so I opened the door and called down only to find that they were just hanging out in Finley's play tent with all the little stuffed animals we have down there. Dan said Finley was happy as a clam setting them all up and playing with them. He became particularly fond of the hippo and what Dan told him was a mole (when it was in fact a platypus). A new favorite play spot was born! The hippo and the mole came up with him when it was time for lunch and now he can't be in the tent downstairs without them. Wish I had some pictures, but alas I got to relax upstairs with my mom :)

After a long nap, the weather had more or less cleared so we headed to Costco to use some sweet coupons and run around. Finley had fun with the musical instruments on sale.

All in all, we can't complain. We didn't lose power, only small sticks fell in our backyard, and Finley was a peach. Take that, mother nature.

More Grammy Time

We crawled the mall on Saturday to burn off some steam and the best part was checking out the fish tanks at the Rainforest Cafe.

One morning, after Finley enjoyed his very first episode of Thomas the Tank Engine on TV (yes, we finally sat him down in front of the TV to see what would happen), he immediately asked Grammy to go into the playroom to set up a track for Thomas and Percy.

While I have mixed feelings about letting him veg out in front of the boob tube, I was thrilled that it inspired him to play with his trains afterwards :)

Also, Finley happily showed "Gammy" to Rody works, boing, boing, boing!

Playground Fun with Grammy

My mom, Finley's Grammy, was here from Friday to Tuesday and we had lots of fun!

The day before and the day after the big storm, Finley showed Grammy his two favorite playgrounds these days. One is a new one that we discovered just outside Arlington center, whose main attraction is a little plastic house where Finley can cook us pizza, burgers, and coffee or sell us "tickets" which an older girl showed him how to do last time we were there.

The second is Robbins which is a five minute drive or a twenty minute drive.

Finley and Charlotte

Seeing Finley and Charlotte run around and laugh together is on my current top ten list of favorite things...see for yourself!

I'm sure it's hard to totally "capture" their experience, but trust me--it was pure joy. Drumlin Farm is always fun, but even more so with a good friend to share it with! Finley had a good time with Charlotte, I had a good time with Gabi, and baby Joey seemed to enjoy himself as well. A good way to start off a weekend that may keep us locked up indoors...batten down the hatches, here comes Irene!

Daddy Days

Dan and Finley had some quality time together this week as Dan took of Tuesday and Wednesday to be with Finley while Beth was on vacation and I was teaching my summer science class.

Dan took lots of pictures with his camera and his phone and I've finally uploaded them all. He didn't have time to write this post himself, but here's a photographic recap of their time together. I can't remember in what order things happened, so I just grouped the photos as best I could :)

Who knew that getting the propane refilled at the BBQ Barn would be so fun?

Finley even grilled up a burger for his dad.

The Arlington Fire Station was quite inviting and Finley got the royal treatment.

Much to Dan's embarrassment, when the firefighter asked Finley where he was going in the fire truck, Finley said "shopping." Ha! That's my boy! Whenever he "goes" anywhere, it's either shopping or work...I'm glad he chose the former in his big fancy red truck!

On Wednesday, they rode the subway downtown.

At South Station, Finley checked out the Acela and go to hop in the driver's seat of the commuter rail train!

Apparently, Finley got a little spooked when the conductor showed him how the whistle worked, but other than that he thought it was cool I bet he wondered why there wasn't a wheel to steer...but then it was off to the Common and the big playground...

And into the Frog Pond!

Not bad, Mr. Mom, not bad at all.

Finley's Aunt Caitlin

My kid sister, Caitlin, had to work really hard to see Finley this weekend. She got stranded at the Newark airport for hours on Friday, only to go back home to Manhattan and return before dawn to fly up to Boston. She saw him for a little bit Saturday morning and then after her camp reunion in NH, came back down on Sunday only to have him nap for over three hours and miss see each other completely. Ug. Thankfully, in Finley's case, her flight home was delayed and she turned her rental car around to hang out with us for another couple hours. He woke up when she called to say she was coming back and by the time she arrived, he was ready to play. He hadn't seen Aunt Caitlin in about two months, but you would not have known it! His "KK" (since Caitlin at Beth's house is called KK) got right down on the floor and the two had a blast.

Finley showed her how he likes to snuggle with his penguins on his blanket and pretend to go to sleep.

But things got goofy from there!

Finley with Arty and Caitlin with Agent P, it was a good old fashioned wrestling match! Then, Aunt Caitlin showed Finley how these flightless birds could fly and they both fly them around a bit before crashing into each other.

Finley was so silly and energetic with her, despite Dan and I both being in the room! Unheard of! The girl's got a gift :)

They tried out the racing ramp and built some block towers before heading out to the sandbox with Dan while I got dinner ready.

Caitlin took some pictures, too, so if she sends me them I will add them ASAP. Voila:

One of my favorite things to see if Finley bonding with people that are special to me and yesterday was quite awesome in that regard.

See you soon, Aunt KK! We love you!