A walk awalk awalka

We went for a long walk Sunday and it was really great. If you ask Finn how it was he'll say "Pretty good." That is his answer for just about any question you ask him. He says it in such a nonchalant way too. We wandered through the fields of the sports complex across the way. Stopping to watch some Little league baseball, women's soccer, and the skater boys watched over by a line of parents in their S.U.V.s. We cut across the street to the Nike World Campus and meandered the bark trails. We walked up to Costco and had a lunch of pizza and frozen yogurt. We made our way back home through side trails of ducks and play grounds. Finn was in and out of the stroller a number of times on our 3 hour walk and played on 3 different playgrounds. Henry slept in the swaying hammock oblivious to the many rain showers and even hail. It was nice Portland day, and a great long walk around our new world.

News and Weather at the top of the hour

It has been hot and sweaty here lately and I am not enjoying it at all. Hot is fine it is the freaking humidity that is killing me. I know, I know, every year at this time with the humidity whining. What can I say I got nothing interesting to say lately. Finn is growing well if a little soft. He gets picked on by Asher, which is fine since Ash-man is beast, but he also gets picked on by impish Cosi. Finn cries when Asher picks on him but smiles the whole time he is around Cosi. He gets as excited to see her as he does when Kate or I come home. I am not sure where the three of us rank in his hierarchy. I think it goes Me, Cosi, then Kate but don't tell Kate that. Finn also screamed like he was being tortured in CIA secret prison when we brought him out into the Lake up at Kate's parent's house. I tried to reassure him he was OK but he would have none of it and cuddled with Grandma while he tried to calm himself. Next time we will try to introduce him to the lake from the shore instead of the middle.

Allergies, Sunshine, and snow

In the Midwest the weather is a big deal. Much bigger then it was when we were in Santa Barbara. Apart from the June Gloom there wasn't any real mystery with SoCal weather. It's gonna be nice, real nice! Here in the Cross Roads of America is a different story though and nothing shows the difference like the last two weeks. Two Sundays ago we had Sunday dinner at our house and ate in the back yard under a warm setting sun. It was a wonderful spring evening with great friends and even a traveling musician playing some Southern Blues and Gospel tunes with the kids helping on the chorus. The warm weather continued for another week and then it went from 75 degrees in the afternoon to snow flurries the next morning. There was a 50 degree drop in temp in less then 24 hours! In between the Sun and snow was a Thunder storm, or more aptly a lightning storm since the Thunder doesn't really bother me as much as the thought of getting hit with one of those bolts, that turned the sky green and dropped copious amounts of rain and hail. We had Tornado warnings, Thunder Storm Warnings, and Flash flood warnings for a triple crown of Midwest danger. During all this craziness my allergies have been flaring up like mad. It is really bizarre to have itchy, watery eyes when it freezing outside. I have been in a medicated haze that is particularly unique to allergy medicine.