If you’re going to drive hundreds of miles with small children, then lie in bed for hours while one jumps excitedly on each of your outstretched arms… well, you could pick a far worse destination than redwood-rich Northern California.
Our trip up to Fortuna, CA saw us…
- stopping off to drive through the colossal Chandelier Tree
- picking up a toy ice cream & VW for the boys (“Like… Jose’s Beetle!” says Hen)
- stopping for lunch beside a monster truck school bus, where the guys climbed onto a forklift (“Driving Guido!” from Cars)
- losing the ice cream truck at a gas station (big freak-out!!)
- amazingly, finding the truck at the same station the next day!!*
- listening to Henry narrate the Avenue of the Giants (“Tree tipped over, Dad-O. Scooper [garbage] truck did it.”)
Without further ado, check out the gallery!
* Finn recounted the experience rather breathlessly to Mom-O: “I was just so excited about it, I couldn’t even give the truck a smooch!!”
A recent cosmological discussion at Chez Nack:
Little Hen is, let’s say, not shy in expressing his wishes, especially now that he can toss some words around. Lately he conveys his desire to be held by saying, “Dad-O, hold you??*” We’re trying to teach him to have a little patience, but he’s wily: Seeking to draw me nearer his high chair, he’ll offer to pet us. Example:
Yesterday as Mom-O did a 10-mile walk (putting the “go go” in “Margot”), the guys and I fooled around with neighborhood trash cans, “rescuing” some discarded Swiffers & mops from the gutter. (Hey man, cheap thrills, and they were as happy as clams!) After hauling home our loot, we spent much of the day redistributing leaves around our driveway; here’s a 
