Finn Goes to the Dentist

Finn had his first dental appointment today and he did great! Ezra was due for a checkup as well so he went first — x-rays, cleaning, etc. — and Finn got to watch. As is his habit the last month or so he said, “This is taking SO long!” But finally it was his turn in the chair, where he got to watch Toy Story on the TV hanging from the ceiling. I never heard another peep out of him.

Finn's first dentist appointment

Intro to Kindergarten

Ezra started his summer school Intro to Kindergarten class at Hamilton yesterday — a five-week session, four days a week from 8:00 to 12:00. I was too traumatized by leaving him in a strange place yesterday to even think about a blog post, but I’ve finally stopped crying so I thought I’d put up a couple of pictures. He seems to be doing pretty well, although he — like some of his friends in another class — seems a bit shellshocked by the new environment. I’m sure we’ll all get through it, but right now I feel like I’d like to keep him at Cottage until he’s about ten.

Here he is checking out the classroom.

He looks around tentatively

He found the box of blocks immediately, and met a little girl who also liked them.

He finds a playmate for building

4th of July

We had Bob, Vanessa and Thomas up for a 4th of July celebration (and to celebrate their move to the El Segundo area — woohoo!). We improvised a delicious barbecue dinner and the kids had a great time playing in the backyard — giraffe pool, zip line, gardening tools, etc. They all ended up filthy, and Finn was bruised after his run-in with the shovel, but it was a good time nonetheless.

No small miracle that no one got hurt at this point in the evening.

Boys with gardening tools

Finn complained that the safety “googles” didn’t fit.

Finn complains that the safety "googles" don't fit

Earlier in the day, Finn attempted to put a shovel through his foot. Here he is with the Lightning McQueen ice pack.

Finn ices his foot after the shovel injury

At dinner, Thomas took on the watermelon. His technique of indiscriminate chewing of the red, white and green parts followed by spitting out the pulp was unmatched.

Thomas v. watermelon

After dark we headed over to see the Rose Bowl fireworks display from a bluff above on Armada. I don’t have any good pictures because I was in charge of Ezra and he was a little worried that we were going to get hit by them and he didn’t like the noise. But he didn’t want to leave either, so we wandered around some and caught bits and pieces of the display.

I did get a shot of Ezra atop Uncle Bob’s shoulders while we waited for the display to begin.

Ezra and Uncle Bob before the Rose Bowl fireworks display

The Langleys Visit from Indiana

Saturday afternoon we got a quick visit from Lori and the kids, who are in Temecula/San Diego for a few weeks and made a day trip up to Pasadena to visit the hometown crowd. The kids got reacquainted quickly, as kids do. Here are a few shots.

Trevor tried out the zip line. Devon (8-1/2) was too tall for it.

Trevor tries the zip line

Lori and Claire (“Baby Claire” is a baby no more!).

Lori and Claire

The bigger kids in the sandbox.

Finn, Devon, Ezra and Trevor in the sand box