Finn's favorite restaurant (this week)

Blue C Sushi in the U-Village. He calls it "Dushi" and he is very serious about it. Of course we don't give him the raw stuff, outside of that there are plenty of delicious options for him. I gave him some unagi (eel) and he LOVED it. Honestly it's not the best sushi (not the worst either), but the food is fast and the atmosphere is vibrant and fun.

Last weekend the family hopped on the No.7 Metro bus from our house to downtown. Finn has really been interested in buses recently, so we thought he'd enjoy an actual ride on one. We almost missed the bus, but we ran to catch it. Finn was in the stroller, so that was fun for him. Then we got on and of course there was the obligatory stinky guy sitting close by and the pods of little, old Asian women with their bags of groceries. Finn was pretty intrigued with all the non-English speaking. Although there was a tense moment when one of the asia ladies practically sat ontop of an old white guy that had the whole row of seats to himself. He propmtly asked her to remove her ass from his lap and she did, but afterwards you could cut the tension with a knife, or with a song, which is why I broke into "My milkshake." Good times.

So we took the bus downtown and walked around Pike Place Market. One of the best places to people watch in the world.

Finn's Birthday Song

Finn turned 2 on May 4th and we all had a good day together. Finn got really into his new train table and the fact that it was his day. Check out this clip of him singing and being the happy little boy he is.

My Birthday

Is coming up on the 9th. I'll be 33. I'm like 7 years from 40. That's crazy. No big plans this year. I kind of want to do a family hike on my birthday, but with Finn almost 2 years old, I don't think it would be the best idea. It's been so long since Jinnah and I have been out and about in PNW nature. However, I'm not keen on schleping Finn's not-so-pint-sized-butt in the backpack either. That's just no way to celebrate a birthday as far as I'm concerned. So I don't know. Maybe we'll just do the Arboretum thing and put a lease on him or something.

UPDATE: Well it was a great birthday. We had an excellent dinner at the Tamarind Tree restaurant where they serve amazing provincial Vietnamese food. The atmosphere, service and food were all fantastic. It's really cheap too.

Then we went to Greenlake yesterday and had a great time walking around the lake with Finn. He had all sorts of fun checking out the ducks and geese that were everywhere. He also loved saying "hi" to all the dogs and babys that were there too. Here is a little clip of Finn playing at the lake.


Finn sings his version of Happy Birthday:

CSB - Your source for sick deals.

This guy finds the cheapest deals on the internets and posts them on his site.

Seattle's Best Foodie Blog

Seattle Bon Vivant is an excellent site for reviewing some of Seattle's best cuisines. The photos and descriptions are always a treat.

Bloglines is a great way to follow your favorite blogs

I follow a ton of different blogs and I only have so much time at work to do it in. Bloglines helps me see what sites have new entries before viewing so I only need to look at those, instead of the same old crap I've already read.

Did you know there is/was a nuclear reactor in Seattle?

Use the Internets to Stalk from Above

If you haven't already tried it, check out Microsoft's new local.live.com. Just type in an address and use the "Bird's Eye view" to scope things out from the perspective of a low flying airplane. Pretty cool stuff. They also have the satellite perspective as found with Google Earth too.

Bath time

I can't figure out how to wash Finn's hair without making him scream and try to climb out of the tub. I try to talk him through it and be as gentle as possible but every time he acts like I'm trying to drown him. I wet his hair and shampoo it and then pour the cup over his head from the back so it doesn't run down his face too much, but he still hates it. I used to just do it as quick as possible to limit his suffering, but that meant just pouring as much water over his head as quickly as possible to wash all the soap out. We even bought the special shampoo rinse cup thing, but now as soon as he sees it he wants out of the tub. I don't know what would help. Maybe we'll just hose him off out back. Does anyone have any advice?

Habeus Schmabeus

The radio show, This American Life broadcast an in depth report about the legal and constitutional shortfalls of Guantanamo Bay. Check it out here.

Our troops medical care

Check out this amazing 3 part series by the LA Times about the medical treatment provided to the injured troops in Iraq.

Cali Trip Recap

Jinnah, Finn and I went flew down to Cali 2 weekends ago to celebrate the birthday of our friend Amy Ramirez and to visit some other good friends. We had a blast! We flew into Oakland and rented a behemoth SUV and drove into the Mission where we met Erica and Ben for brunch . We had authentic Mexican style brunch and it was good. That's where Finn met Mr. Pickle. Mr. Pickle was across the street from the place we ate (name unknown). Then we drove to Santa Cruz and partied with Amy, Garrick and a bunch of other fun people including Amy's parents Alan and Patricia. They have one cool pad. Finn tried to terrorize Shasta their standard poodle, but he wasn't having it. The next day we drove to San Rafael and had dinner and stayed at Chris and Anto's place. Margaret was there too! Chris and Anto have a couple of extemely cute boys, Harper and Calder, that Finn LOVED hanging with. At one point they just started to morph into one big pile of cuteness. It that or they were re-enacting Wrestlemania. The next day we drove into downtown San Fran and had brunch with Amy and Uncle G at Cafe De La Presse. Service was poor but the food and company made up for it. San Fran is such an awesome city. Then we went to H&M which is a very cool place for clothes. Too bad Seattle doesn't have one yet, but we were tipped off by a sales person that we should have one here in a couple of years. Anyway it was a great trip and we miss our friends so much more after seeing them.

Uncle Jay's visit to Seattle

We had a great time when Jinnah's brother Jay visited from Indiana last Saturday. His son Mike, who's stationed at Ft. Lewis came up too. Finn and Mike are best buds, so Finn was really happy to see his cousin again. Finn really took to uncle Jay too. They had that Pinto connection. We went to the new Mioposto for an early lunch and had dinner at our place later in the day. It was a good time. Jay has a sweet Ipod loaded with all sorts of Pixar shorts and complete seasons of Monk, that Finn enjoyed. So far the only shows he gets to watch are Little Einsteins, Charlie and Lola, Clifford, Jakers and Sesame Street. Now Jinnah and I have the Ipod bug and it's the new thing we got to have. And by "we" I mean me.

Rip Van Winkle?

It's been a long time since I've last posted. I guess life has been keeping me busy or my busy life has me kept. Whatever, it's been a long time. We have much new to tell.

For those of you who don't already know. I've started a new job working for a solo practitioner. We have a great office near Pike Place Market with a wonderful view of Puget Sound and the aging Alaskan Way viaduct. It's a huge improvement from my last job. Without a doubt. The market is such a great place to explore and there are so many good mom and pop type shops that I enjoy being a regular at. Drop me a line if you want any good lunch suggestions.

Also, Finn has started sleeping in a toddler bed this week. He was very excited from the moment Jinnah and I brought the bed home. He exclaimed, "Yea, yea, yea!" Oh yeah, he's talking up a storm these days. His vocabulary is impressive, but the best part is that we can understand each other when we communicate. He asks for things he wants by name and even says "please." Anyway, about the bed, he helped me set it up and put it together with his little plastic baby tools, while I used the real things. He turned imaginary screws and tightened imaginary nuts and bolts with great determination and pride. When the frame was together he got his blanket off his crib and laid it out on the wooden frame. As soon as the matress was in place he hopped on and streatched out with a hug satisfied smile on his face. It's almost as if it unlocked some psychological door to "the next level" and he walked right through it.

Back Home

We got back from Hawaii last week and were welcomed home to Seattle and its winter weather. It was so cold when we got off the plane. Not really, but it definitly wasn't appropriate to wear shorts anymore. So we threw on our fleece and picked up our incredibly heavy luggage and went home. Finn finally got to bed at about 1am. The trip to Hawaii was a great sucess. Finn got to meet and bond with his grandmother, aunt and three of his cousins. he really enjoyed the visit to Oahu and when we got to Maui he was really missing them. But we had lots of fun in Maui too. The beaches there were great and the sites were fun. I haven't been that relaxed in a long time. Vacationing with Finn made the vacation more relaxed in that we weren't able to do too much. We did one special thing each day in addition to goin got the beach, which in it's self was a treat. I will miss Hawaii.

Hawaii

Dudes! One day till we leave for Hawaii. Mooka laka iki! We are pumped. I am worried about Finn holding up during the flight. We borrowed a portable DVD player from Kim and Chad. THANKS GUYS! Finn will either like that or hate it. Will I be chasing him up and down the fing aisle the whole time? God I hope not. It's a 6am flight. Maybe he will sleep the whole time. HA! I really hope we get a bulkhead seat . I'll need the leg room. You know people are getting bigger throught the generations and airplane seats are getting smaller. What's up with that? Also Seattle bus seats are made for midgets. Anyway ALOHA!

T.O.T. for TOTS

Finn went trick or treating as a bear. It turns out George Lucas got the idea for the Ewoks while taking his son trick-or-treating who happened to be dressed in a similar bear suit. The plan was for us to meet up with Leo and his mom and dad for some door to door fun and then settle down to a home cooked meal. The evening started out great. All was well except for the staple that Finn picked up and got stuck in his mouth. It's just that he is really into picking up little bits and putting them in his mouth. This time it was a sharp metal staple and it stuck him good. Don't worry he got over it very quickly knowing that we were about to embark on some halloween fun. After a couple of glasses of wine we suited up and headed out. We handed Finn his trick or treat bag and a flashlight and he took hold of both with a mighty grip. I carried him to the first house and then momma did the same for the next, but quickly Finn noticed a pattern and took great interest in this strange ritual. He was driven. He went with little help, to the next house and slapped the door and when it opened he grabbed a piece of candy and dropped it in his satchel, nodded with eye contact to his host and was off to the next house. A great time was had by all.

Hunting Squash

Today we all went with our friends Arissa and Leo to a pumpkin patch. The place was an organic farm called Jubilee Farm about 25 miles out side of Seattle proper. We got there 5 minutes after they opened and there was already a line of people with their kids waiting to catch a hay ride to the fields of squash. They also had pony rides ($5) and a pumpkin catapult that flung pumpkins about 150 feet. Cool! I caught some good pics of Finn and Leo but our battery ran out in the s50.

It's a dog'$ life

While we have family visiting from Florida we boarded our two dogs, Bean and Lola at the Bone-a-Fide Dog Ranch for 9 days so they could be free and we could be low stress. It was a great idea, but a little pricey at $50 per day. It was reported to Jinnah when she went to pick them up that Lola, our 30lb. schnoodle was bullying the littler dogs. She was probably pissed because Bean kept eating her food. I know this becasue Bean came back looking like a stuffed sausage and Lola looks like a furry Karen Carpenter.