Volcanoes!

A little early but Fin has been on a volcano kick.

Super Finley

To the rescue!

It's Coming!

It's coming and it'll be gone before we know it.

Probably at the next high tide!

Thanksgiving

What a great Thanksgiving we had with Marinos and Yuka!  History tells us to beware of Greeks bearing gifts, but I am pretty confident that Yuka made these.  I'm a little jealous.

The visit was filled with eating lobster,

Finley eating sand,

And a lobster trap Christmas tree!

 It was nice and warm for the end of November.

Good weather for digging in the sand.

Thanks so much for coming to visit Yuka and Marinos!

Tigers Fever

Verlander is on the mound and the Tigers are up for now.  Fin feels like it's time to celebrate.

(We're potty training.  That should explain the lack of pants.)

Shoe shining

Finley is wicked good at shining shoes.

What a good helper.

Pledge of Allegiance

God Bless America

The Finley Shuffle

Many of you may remember the Ickey Shuffle end zone celebration pioneered by Ickey Woods of the Cincinnati Bengals.  With football season upon us, Finley has been working on some touchdown celebrations of his own.

Not too shabby!  He's got his mom's moves.

What a Long Strange Trip It's Been

Hello again!  It's been a while.  Where have we been you might ask.  Well, we moved from Urbana, Illinois to Norway, Michigan for a month during the summer.  Afterwards, we headed east to Biddeford, Maine to start our new jobs.  Things are going well and we'll post more about our new area soon.  Finley is enjoying the new location and pursuing his passion for music in a variety of settings.  More to follow!

Affluenza

As we prepare to move east I am beginning to notice that we might have a bit more than we need.

All I need is sitting in the chair next to me.

No peeking

He's working on it!

Residual Current Device

Have you ever noticed how the outlets on your GFCI (ground fault circuit interrupters) look eerily familiar?

Perhaps the ghosts of Pac-Man are still with us...

Check your GFCIs monthly.

Keeping it green

This morning we all woke up early to watch the Illinois Marathon.  Finley really provided some early motivation for the runners.

Later in the day it was time to grocery shop and get gas.  Jamie and I filled up the Subaru today and it cost us $4.09 a gallon, total price $49.  Not too bad considering we only fill up a once or twice a month.  Fin has opted for an alternative approach using water.



Also, pretend fuel isn't the only use for water.

Easter Preparation

With Easter Sunday approaching it is time to color easter eggs.

Finley really got into it.



He also helped frost the bunny cake.

Ion-Dipole Intermolecular Forces

Here is some fun science at home demonstrating intermolecular forces.

(1)  Procure a balloon and a two year old child.

(2) Convince the child to allow you to rub a balloon vigorously on top of their head.  If needed bribe with M&M's or other candy.

(3) Place the balloon next to a small stream of water coming out of your faucet.

Rubbing the balloon on the child's head will build up a negative charge on the balloon.  The negative charge on the balloon causes the water molecules to orient themselves with their partial positive charge aligned to interact with the negative charge on the balloon.

The water stream will therefore curve around the surface of the balloon.

Life is good!

Two days ago Jamie brought Finley to a local Easter egg hunt.  When they left they met this guy.

A 2000 International Harvester garbage truck (actual truck not shown).  If you look online, accidents between passenger vehicles and garbage trucks are notoriously deadly.  Luckily, Jamie wasn't out too far into the road, and only the bumper and lights were torn off.

We are truly a fortunate family this weekend.  Cars can be replaced, family cannot.

And yes, it was 80 degrees out today!

Fresh air makes for a sleepy boy.

Home Sweet Home

It has been a very busy couple of weeks.  The elementary school that Jamie works at has a balanced calendar, so spring break was two weeks.  We headed home to the UP for a week.  While we were home I flew to Maine for an interview at UNE.

The location was beautiful.  The campus is situated right were the Saco river runs into the ocean.

After flying back to the Yoop, we drove back down to Illinois.  They next day I departed to South Dakota for another interview, this time at DWU.

Mitchell had a lot to offer for a small town, including the Corn Palace.

It is good to finally be home with no where to go for a few weeks.  It's Saturday, it's warm outside, and there are trees to climb!

Lordy, lordy, look who's two!

Two years ago, at 2:01 am on March 7, 2009, our beloved son, Finley Michael Johnson, made us a family of three.  Today (well actually five days ago) we celebrated his 2nd birthday.

We brought out the traditional, if two years can be considered traditional, birthday banner courtesy of Grandma Cindy.  I must say he is still very handsome.

Fin was just a tad excited about getting to the cake and presents.

Happy Birthday was sung and, finally, presents were opened.  No time to admire the wrapping!

Happy Birthday Finley!

Let's Go Band!

Recently I have been in the market for a trombone.  Why?  Simply because they rock.   I couldn't find one for a decent price in Urbana, so fortunately Pre-UNK Dan came to the rescue.  The only obstacle was finding something of equal or greater fantasticness to barter.  You can't beat a homemade winter hat, so I turned in my "man card", put needles to yarn, and crafted this beauty.

 

I think it turned out acceptable for my first one, a little rough, but you might say it has character.

In exchange, Dan's trombone.  A beautiful instrument.

Finley seemed to enjoy it.

After much practice, we were able to finish the visit with this short marching band performance.



Thanks a lot, Jessie and Dan, for coming to visit!

Here today gone tomorrow.

With snow on the ground and forty degree weather we decided it was a great idea to get some much needed "outdoors" time.  Of course, Finley went for the old standby, snow angels.

We told him that warmer weather was on the way and that the snow would be gone soon.  Needless to say he was rather surprised.

Sure enough, the warm weather arrived and the snow began to melt.  I've noticed if the weather station even forecasts rain in Illinois there are more galoshes on campus than I saw when I worked in Kodiak.  With the sloppy conditions outside we decided to gear up.

Fin spent some time working on his puddle sprints.

A great time was had by all!

Fresh Pow

I hadn't heard of fresh pow until this winter when my friend DW Staple I (Madison, WI) and my cousin Davin Blubaugh (Pickleville, Co) both used the term during conversation.  Urban Dictionary defines fresh pow as (n): newly fallen snow, particularly light and fluffy, excellent for skiing.  Another thing fresh pow is excellent for is making snow angels.

I didn't think Finley would ever want to come back in, but once his fingers got cold he finally agreed.

Finley decided it would be a good idea to put every stuffed animal available into his crib today.  It kind of resembled "The Claw" game found at grocery stores, with the exception of the diaper-clad toddler in the middle.

Jamie came in and informed him it was time to put the animals back; needless to say Finley was shocked.

 Shock quickly turned into brazen resistance.

A compromise was eventually mediated.  Elmo, Glow Worm and Woof-woof were allowed to stay.  Has anyone ever noticed how long the original Glow Worms were compared to the current ones.  It's almost creepy.