Deplaned.

Boy does this suck.

Flying with two kids is not for the weak

We are delayed, on a plane, in Detroit. UGH.

Nico: Wow. 7 bucks for a cocktail. That's crazy!
Andrew: I know! Can I have 28 dollars?

cell phone! cell phone!

The first 10 seconds of this video make me laugh so much.

The rest of it is sort of entertaining too, for those of you who haven't seen Finn in a while and are curious about his coordination (or lack thereof.)

Aunt Ruth

Finn and Tess's Great-Great Aunt Ruth passed away yesterday, the last of her generation on the Barber side. In the past few months, Ruth had been declining and not getting out much, but Andrew and Dale occasionally took Finn by to see her. I think he always liked going by to visit and of course she loved to see him. Unfortunately Tess never got to meet her but we'll be able to tell stories about Ruth and the rest of the Barbers for many years to come.

I love this photo, taken Christmas 2008.

She sure loved Finn!

PS. On a happier note we are SOOO happy that Granddad is back home. I'm sure that Finn will be asking to "see you on the computer" today, so let me know when you're free to talk. We love you!

Why is it so quiet around here today?

She's enjoying the breeze on the porch...

new haven friends

We were SO excited that our friends Annie, Jim and Emilia stopped by last week on their way back to CT from Rochester. It was fun to watch Finn and Emilia play together again. I swear even though we moved when they were only 16 months old, they totally remembered each other. Then again, we met when they were only 2 months old (in our baby yoga class).

Last year we had a joint bday party since Finn's is August 7 and Emilia's is the 9th. We'll be thinking about her in a few weeks and wish we could be there for the 2nd birthday celebration. We miss you and all of our little (and big) friends in New Haven!

Oh yeah, I remember you!

Emilia showing more interest in Tess than a certain sibling ever has.

Super fun!

saturday in the sandbox

The best part about the following email from my father-in-law is that it arrived while I was still in bed.

To: Andrew, Nico, Heather
From: Dad
Subject: Finn Does More Before 8 AM Than Most People Do All Day
Time: Saturday, July 24, 8:33 AM

Finn was up at about 5:45 AM today, in a great mood. I had to make a run to the grocery store and by the time I got back Mimi had made oatmeal for us for breakfast. I left the house a few minutes after 7 (while Mimi was getting Finn dressed) and made a quick run to Porter’s. Finn has a copy of the weight ticket to show Mama and Dada that his sand box now has one ton of sand, as measured by the scales at the pit. When I was getting the truck weighed Ralph asked me what I was doing – told him sand for a 2 year old grandson and he said he was glad that I was doing something important this morning. Got home and Mimi had Finn on the deck to watch the sand being dumped into the sand box. Just about then Dale the State Line garbage truck driver came along – so Finn had to go say hi to him and ‘give him 5’ – and watch the BIG garbage truck drive off. I had turned the truck off and Finn helped work the dump lever to make the bed go down – he seemed to like that OK. I watched Finn for a bit and broke a rule, I know – I had to move the dump truck back to the barn so Finn just sat next to me and we did not go over a couple miles an hour. Then we came back and I leveled the sand out a little – Finn liked watching Papa work the scoop shovel. By then Mimi was out with his bucket and tools, hat, sunscreen, etc. So here are pictures of Finn enjoying the sandbox before 8 AM this morning. He has since added the yellow plastic loader, truck, dozer, etc. We will work up to the larger Tonka stuff. But he appears to be enjoying it so far and they are still out there.

early lessons in tools

Last night I was sitting on the couch with Finn reading his Richard Scarry "Busytown" book. Specifically, the Woodworkers page.

ME: Oh look, Finn - there's a hammer. And a saw.
FINN: Nails! Screwdriver.
ME: And this bunny is using this uh, flat thing to scrape ... (trailing off)
FINN (sigh): A trowel.
ME: Right. A trowel.

I'm glad he doesn't know how to roll his eyes yet.

snooz

It was so hot last week, we just caught our winks when and where we could - in this case, on the sofa in Tess's room...

Stre-e-e-etch!
Oh, I love that little belly.

fun fourth part two

We had a houseful of excellent visitors on the holiday weekend (ahem, two weeks ago) and here are some pics from our gathering that day. Such fun!

Little flower.

Finn enjoying a fruit skewer (more ... fruit ... skewer, Mama!)

The crew on our porch.

A fun and exhausting day!

Averil and Tess, deep in thought

Smiley girl.

fun fourth part one

It's really taking me an inordinate amount of time to post photos from two weeks ago, but here are a few really cute ones... We spent Saturday of that weekend at the Barber Pond with a bunch of friends (photos of them to come) and Finn had a great time with his toys in the yard while Tess slept through the afternoon.

more trucks!

These were taken a couple of weeks ago ... I'm catching up on posting photos while Finn naps and Tess and I watch the World Cup final.

(Written by Papa): After Finn took an all too short nap (wind blew a door closed and woke him up after about 90 minutes) I went searching in the barn. The old trunk that we used for a toy chest still held a lot of treasures. Here are some of them. All were given to Andy when he was little, and played with a lot – except for the brown dump truck. Andy played a lot with that one also, but it started life as one of my prized possessions back in the mid 50s. We always laughed the year Andy got three orange dump trucks from three different people – must have been a favorite of Tonka that year.

Farmland

What you lookin' at, Goat?

Oh boy do I have a lot of catching up to do on our blog today. The past few weeks have just been soooo busy. I'm going through them today to post a whole bunch of fun ones. In the meantime, this is from a couple of weeks ago when P&M took Finn to Farmland. He loved it all, but especially the sandbox full of trucks. Natch.

vintage

Heather, 1976

Tess, 2010

This was too cute not to post. Courtesy of Papa:

Nico came to pick Finn up today and of course Tess was along for the ride. To use one of Finn’s newest words, Tess had a HUMONGOUS diaper that leaked; so she got cleaned up but needed some new clothes. No fear, Mary Ellen to the rescue – ‘I found some of Heather’s things the other day’. So here is Tess modeling an outfit that Grandma Barber bought for Heather back in 1976. And the funny part is I actually remember the outfit.

pretty

We had a great weekend with friends visiting from Brooklyn and I'm going through the 500 photos deciding which ones to post, but since it's been a few days since the LAST post I didn't want to make you all wait any longer. This is Tess last week - we were enjoying a cold snap that necessitated long-sleeved footie pajamas! Of course we're now in the midst of 90+ degree days ... looking back fondly upon those chilly nights.

sticks

I know that Tess is totally getting the shaft lately on this blog, but I had to post this video of Finn at his grandparents' house because it's just so cute.

he's come around

Last week, Finn hated the swings. Wanted nothing to do with them. Then, he changed his mind and now he loves the swings again. Phew!

Story for you. Yesterday, I was sitting on the couch feeding Tess when she spit up with no burp cloth in sight.

Me: Finn, could you get a kleenex for me?

Finn runs to the other room, returns with a kleenex.

Me: Thank you so much!

Finn runs to the other room, returns with the entire box of kleenex, and starts systematically taking them all out and handing them to me.

Me: I'm all set! You can put the kleenex back.

Finn: Finn wash hands!

He runs into the bathroom. I hear the faucet running. Next I hear Finn say, "Mama, waterfall!"

This is probably not good. So I run into the bathroom to see an almost-full box of kleenex in the sink under running water. He was so proud of himself. I'm all for encouraging creativity but his obsession with the bathroom faucet might need to stop. Any helpful hints, aside from keeping the bathroom door shut? That is easy enough...

Big Suit

This is the special "big suit" Finn wears to swim in the Barber pond. He is crazy about the pond. I'm so happy he's turning into a water baby and that he wasn't scarred for life by the Infant Swim classes of 2009. I doubt that any of you who have been reading this blog for a while need me to link to the video of him turning over in the water then loudly voicing his displeasure about the situation. This year he's all smiles.

Katy's upstate trip

My sister Katy was in the city for a meeting last week, so she was able to skip up to Corning for a couple of days to see us and visit Mom in the hospital (she's since home and doing much better, thanks everyone for asking.) It was so much fun show her around - and for Tess, who was on her best behavior, to meet her aunt for the first time! Thanks again for coming up and we look forward to seeing you and Dario and Massi and Enzo in a few weeks.

Swimming!

We are loving the Corning club pool this week. Which I'm so glad about because I love the pool on these hot days. Tomorrow I'll try to get a pic of him wading in the baby pool (or as Finn calls it, "Finn swimming.")