Holidays in the Sun

I really need to get better at posting to Livejournal (or find an alternate blogsite). For friends and family - here's some pictures of Finn (and associates) over the winter:


Here's Finn and I in Sonoma County. Finn did brilliantly on a very long drive from Arcata (near Eureka) to San Francisco.


Finn and I going for a walk in the Redwood forest of Humboldt State Park.


Finn is looking less and less like a baby and more and more like a little boy.



Finn modeling his winter gear. It got very cold this winter in Berlin, although most of our snow was packed in December and January.


For Fasching (the German Mardi Gras), Finn got to dress as a dragon. Since it is a little cold still, even dragons have to wear a jacket.


Here's the full effect without the jacket. Fear the mighty draconic Finn!!!!


Draconic Finn uses the bow and arrow to hunt down pesky knights.


Of course even Draconic Finn needs the occasional tasty bottle of water!

Man, I am bad about giving these updates to this site. OK, here's some updated pictures from the last week or so:



Here Finn rides his Olyphant like a good mahout. Lucius Aemillius Paulus - watch out for the Finn!



Finn watching "Fellowship of the Rings." We start them early in our household.



Finn is regaling me with stories while we wait at the Bahnhof in Essen.



Finn hanging out with Shere Khan. Apparently the bengal tiger makes an exception for Finn.



Finn loves Shere Khan!



And runs all around the flat with him.



Finn decides to walk in his old man's footsteps.



And here he is, just being "Finnish".

OK, it has been two months since I posted anything on this site. Bad me. Family have already complained they need a Finn update - so here it is!



Here Finn is riding his mighty blue elephant. Like Hannibal, except he has use of both eyes and is from Germany and not North Africa. Otherwise the details are pretty much the same.

Yesterday was Finn's first day of Kindergarten, so Claudia got him all styled up.



The Kindergarten is only a short walk from our place (and a very pretty walk at that).



Here Finn is at his first day of class!


Here the little bub is going for a walk with dad!



Finn is walking around the house (although he is still faster on all fours!).



They've got a big playground at the Kindergarten - here Finn is playing in the sand.



And here he is playing with a wooden wagon which carries his wooden duck around.

Here are some more pictures of Finn from recent weeks:

Finn checking out what is on the internet.


Here is Finn wearing his USA t-shirt and rooting for the US at the World Cup.


Here is Finn dressed up in his England football outfit with his new friend Wilfrid Brooke. How international!



Here's Finn in London traveling around in his light-weight buggy.



Here Finn is playing with another new friend, Elise Meints. We took a boat tour on the Thames with Rick, Karen, and the rest of the Meints family.



Here's Finn, fast asleep after a hard daying playing and socializing.

Earlier this month, Claudia, Finn and I went to the UK for a week to visit some friends and go to the biannual Continuum convention in Leicester. We had a grand time (London is a short flight from Berlin, less than two hours from Tegel to Heathrow) and it was great to catch up with some old friends.


Here we are at Tegel, Finn checking out everything he can.


Finn at the British Museum pondering Assyrian scenes of warfare and carnage.



Finn at Continuum, looking a bit bemused at the gathered con attendees.


We took a cruise down the Thames with the Meints family. Finn paid little attention to the sights but preferred to attack Claudia's iPhone.


The Loroff-Richard and Meints families assemblying legos.



Here's Finn with his England soccer outfit - a generous gift from Julie Brooke. We couldn't find a team USA or Germany outfit at the local sporting goods store in Lewisham, so England it was!

We took Finn last week to get some photoes taken by a good friend of ours here in Berlin. Hard to believe he is seven months old!!!

This is just a great shot of him being happy and "Finnish".


Finn trying out his vast musical talents.



Instruments belong in the mouth!!!



Like his father, Finn loves writing. Or at least he loves pens.



One of my favorite pictures: Finn and mom!



Finn playing with dad. Upside down!



The whole family. Complete with me making a silly face.

What everyone is demanding - more Finn pictures!


Finn showing off the bear outfit he got for Christmas!



Finn showing off his first two teeth!



Drinking out of a glass!



Eating food with a spoon (successful version).



Eating with a spoon (less successful version)



Playing with Poe the Cat.



Playing with Dad and Poe the Cat!



Poe's reward for playing with Finn: a shoulder bone of pork!

Since I last posted to Livejournal. Very busy last few months, and Finn does not give me tons of freetime for posting. Still I figure it is always timely to post a few pictures.



It has been a very cold winter here in Berlin, and Finn has had to dress accordingly. Here is our intrepid young adventurer getting ready to explore the icy wastes of Berlin.



As I said, it has been very cold this winter. We get a little snow every day and the temperature has been anywhere between 1 degree C and -20 degrees C.


The Spree River (near Hauptbahnhof, the left picture is looking west, the right is looking east towards Mitte) is frozen over, but the ice is broken up by barges so that some river traffic can use it. Those ice floes are a lot bigger than they look.


The Reichstag and Tiergarten in the snow.



All the canals and lakes in Tiergarten are frozen over. On the left is a frozen over canal, on the right people walk to and from an island in the middle of a lake.



Otto von Bismark in the snow. Bismark still has a very checkered reputation in modern Germany. He was the founder of the modern German state (out of the ruins of the Holy Roman Empire), built the German social insurance system, and transformed Prussia into a first-tier economic and military power. On the other hand, his system of alliances proved too complicated for his successors to manage and with a generation of his passing, the German Empire was wrecked by the First World War.

I had hoped right now to be on my way to Oldenburg to celebrate a friend's birthday and see the sites, but instead I came down with an acute case of bacterial bronchitis and a 103 degree fever. So sadly no Oldenburg.

But here are few pictures of our wonderful son Finn:

Back by popular demands, here are the current adventures of Finn Tecumseh Loroff-Richard.

Finn helping his dad out with some RPG project:


Here he is clearly up to no good:


Looking mighty comfortable:


I particularly dig this sweater:


And here he is sound asleep: