Finn's first birthday

My little man made it! He survived being slapped, squeezed, pushed, bit, and trampled...all courtesy of his big sister (and friends). Some things that Finn is up to: 

• Finn is doing the gorilla crawl at the moment. He doesn't believe in being on all fours. He's got the grunting and roars to show for it too
• Speaks fluent 'Finnish', sounds like the Swedish Chef from The Muppets. He also says 'Mumma' on occasion
• Not walking yet, but he pulls himself up onto everything
• Loves riding in the Kiddie pack for hikes 
• Is fascinated by Lemon, our kitten 
• Cannot sleep without his blankie
• Currently plays with his trains, and any utensils or tools laying on the floor. Currently specializes in zeroing in on iPhones and MacBooks. 
• Signs 'more'
• Uses his index finger to point at things
• Loves to drum things
• And he makes that mohawk look good 

For his birthday, we started a mission fund for him (along with familial contributions...contributions are still welcomed). He did, however, get a book. 

He didn't get the idea behind ripping the paper off, so Madie pitched in. 

Mal made him chocolate pound cake with strawberries. We also pureed some frozen bananas to make ice cream. It was actually pretty good. 

First time eating chocolate...

Definitely a fan =)

Rochester: Day tw- what the heck, here's the rest of the week

We took so many photos for this trip. We'd love to share every single one for our family history, but the longer we stretch this trip out the further behind we fall with that's happening today! And please excuse my poor photography from the last Rochester post. I hope these meet Mal's standards ;)

Mal and the kids headed to Genesse Country Village and Museum. It's a 19th century village that has a slough of shops, blacksmiths, carpenters, etc...all from that era. Madie is leaning on a hot air balloon from the Civil War. Did you know they used hot air balloons during the Civil War?

The balloon from afar. 

A few baby sheep. 

Finn was captivated by something here, probably animals. 

This contraption was a blacksmith puzzle that Mal figured out. Great photography by Madie!

I can't vouch for Madie figuring out, but let's just assume she did and call it good. 

After I got out of the conference later that day, we went searching for a lighthouse set on Lake Ontario. We decided to take the 'scenic route' and bush whack a bit. 

We eventually made it, even though it was closed!

So we went and got dinner and ice cream. Ice cream is from Abbots, which was supposed to be this amazing,  hometown ice cream chain that started in Rochester. It was pretty good, but nothing to write home about...though here I am, writing about it....

Much to Madie's dismay, Mal was modeling Madies rain coat. 

Mal and the kids also went to the coolest museum ever, The Museum of Play...yada yada yada...

On Friday we headed to Niagara Falls to be real tourists for a day. We got the visitor pass that included a boat ride below the falls, unlimited trolly usage, free access to additional museums and observation decks. 

The falls from the boat. I would definitely recommend the Maid of the Mist.

Finn had absolutely no clue what was happening, other than wanting to rip off that plastic hood these people keep putting on his head. 

After we got off the boat, Madie and I walked up the stairs to get a close up view of American Falls. Why the long face for Madie you may ask? She was pretty disappointed we didn't hike to the very top. That's my girl =)

Lookin' good!

Madie was looking forward to seeing Niagara Falls the entire week. She was so cute when she was on the boat. She kept saying "This is so cool!"

The trolly was a huge hit. 

Love the curls. 

Finn was having a great time on the trolly until he nailed his tooth on the top of that piece of wood he is holding. He was actually bleeding a little bit and was understandably unhappy. Poor guy. 

Despite all of the cool things that we saw, Madie said watching the sea lion was her favorite. We went to an aquarium that had some sea lions performing for a show, and she thought that was so silly. 

On our way back home we decided to stop in Portsmouth, NH. We always pass by it on our way to Boston, and didn't know much about it. Turns out it was our lucky day because they were having an annual event called Market Square Day. It gave us a good chance to stretch our legs and get a feel for the area. The town was very beautiful along the water front. I'd never heard anything about it from anyone, so it was pleasantly surprising. 

Home sweet home. 

Fisms.

Before we continue with out Rochester trip, I just have a couple of these to share.

Miss T.
A couple of weeks ago Madie and I were at an ice cream party with her preschool. Everyone was invited, but we don't normally go on Fridays, so I was with her. Afterward we all went out to the playground to expend. When I called to Madie that we had to leave she was sitting on one of her teachers' laps. She ran up to me and said, "Can Miss T. come to our house?" "Sure. Someday, okay?" (We're working on an open house sometime in the nearish future, and we planned on inviting her anyway.) She ran back, told Miss T. something, and then we left. Now every time we're driving back to the house from somewhere she says, "Yep, we're going home and Miss T. will be there." Then we have to explain that, although she will come over some day, we would be extremely surprised to get home and find her there right now.

I was telling this all to her teacher a few days ago and she laughed and said, "Yeah, before she ran to you she asked if I wanted to come over to her house. I said I would, so she ran and said something to you, then ran back and told me to drive to the park, then turn left, then right." (Extremely inaccurate directions, but cute nonetheless.)

Where The Wild Things Are
I read this book to Madie for the first time yesterday. We picked it up from the library after I read it to her there and she has just fallen in love with it. Connor was over to play and he liked it too, which I think is a big deal since every time I suggest reading he suggestions the playground. (That boy likes to move.) Tonight I was reading it to Madie after I put Finn down and when it says that Max smelled "good things to eat" I asked (like I had before), "What do you think he smelled?" She said (like she had before), "Pasta with pesto." I made other suggestions--sillier and sillier ones. She laughed. Finally we settled on a sensible choice like soup and I asked, "What kind?" The winner? Chicken peppermint.

Rochester: Day One

 I love my job. I love my responsibilities, the experience I'm getting and how it's helping me develop as a professional. I really can't complain about anything. One thing my job requires me to do is attend some sort of week long conference or training for continuing education. I settled on one that was being held in Rochester, NY. It also occurred to me that these conferences could be considered getaways or vacations for the family...well, at least for some of us. While I'm in class or lecture, Mal and the kids are out hitting the museums and attractions. It's definitely work for Mal too, but the kids love it. So I brought the family along with me for the trip.

One advantage of living in the northeast is you can drive through and see a lot in a short amount of time (unlike driving through Nevada). We went through Portland, ME; Portsmouth, NH; Albany, NY; Syracuse, NY; and of course Rochester. You also feel like you are making a lot more progress by driving through these little states (again, unlike Nevada). 

Okay it's Mal here, taking over--sorry for the abruptness, but let's be honest, I'm the one who actually went on all of the outings. Mike can tell you about the OSHA respiratory safety conference if you really want, but we'll save that for later.

Dinner in Portland.

Washington Park in Albany, NY.

Real quick though, an overview of the drive out (I can tell Mike wants to): switched to a rental in Ellsworth (work's dime), stopped in Portland 3 hours later for a stretch and some food (it was okay, can't remember the name of the place), drove until Albany and picnicked at Washington Park, drove PAST our turn-off on the 90, kept driving, stopped at a rest stop so I could get out and yell in the parking lot, kept driving, 20 miles later we found the next exit, took it, paid our toll, got on the 490 and looped back to our hotel a full hour later than we could have and bunked down for the night. The kids did great.

Picnic in the park.

Ooooo, that was fun. Moving on...

Our first day in Rochester was beautiful so we hit up the Seneca Park Zoo. I have to say, although I've been to the San Diego, Oakland, Pheonix and National Zoos and the Animal Kingdom Safari tour, but the Seneca Park Zoo is, I think, the prettiest, funnest zoo I've ever been to. They have a great selection of animals, lots of zoo workers about to show you the coats, bones, paws, claws, and talons of animals, and best of all the habitats aren't overly large--we saw probably 98% of the animals at the zoo!

Madie checks out an emperor penguin.

The best exhibit was the baboons. They had probably 15 baboons in there which really let you see how they interact. The baboon exhibit at Oakland is a little disappointing. If you see any of them, they're just sitting on their big ugly butts with their backs to you. The Seneca Park exhibit was very active. They chased each other around, cleaned each other, and one of them kept sticking this bucket on her head and ramming her friends, who would subsequently yell at her and run off. Then she'd lift it enough to peak out and find a new target and go after that one. It was hilarious! We spent 20 minutes at that exhibit.

Finn had so much fun checking out the different animals--he loved the baboons and sea lions I think the best. They were very active and easy to see from his stroller.

Ya know, at first I thought, hmmm, these poor animals don't have sprawling habitats like they do in the wild, poor things. Then I saw the lions in their rather small, but nice habitat. Up close. Guess what they were doing? The same thing they were doing when I saw them in their vast sprawling habitats: sleeping. Here's the thing: they don't need to hunt so they don't need to cover enough land to have decent hunting. They're cats--they sleep. If we're going to cage wild animals (which is a whole other topic for ethical argument), then we may as well have them in habitats we can view them in. I've been to the Oakland Zoo a hundred times and I've seen the lion once, sitting very far off in the shade (the kids couldn't see him). He was also sleeping. 

Fun fact: did you know lionesses can jump 35 feet horizontally? Holy cow. (Or dead cow.)

After Mike got out of class we went to the Joseph Smith Family farm. It's been a while since I've been there, now they have all these cool replicas of some of the buildings that were lost--like the original Joseph Smith home. I'm pretty sure it was made using original methods too--the boards to build the home definitely looked like they were hewn with one of those old draw knives. 

Stopped by the Palmyra Temple on our way to the farm.

Inside the remake of the log home. It's a pretty tiny space.

Outside the Joseph Smith log home--a fabulous shot of Finn and Mumma taken by Michael Watkins, you may want to order one for your own family. Ya know what I don't get, HE picked these pictures to go on here--c'mon man. You could at least crop it so you don't ALMOST have my face in but not quite.

Inside the original frame house the family lived in.

One of the outbuildings--this is where the family worked their grain, which is what they did did. Ya know?

The rest of the pictures are from our walk to the Sacred Grove. Enjoy!

Madie loved the walk to the Sacred Grove.

Another classically flattering shot by Michael Watkins. He's got a website, ya know?