Category: Photos

Oh, hello there. 🙂

Yesterday morning certainly started off with a bang…and by that I mean Finny slamming his head into the edge of the car door as we were leaving for school. I had opened the car doors so all the boys had to do was come down the back steps, walk into the car, and buckle themselves in. Finny came bounding down the stairs, and ran for the car – not realizing the open door was pointed right at him. He ran straight into the edge of the door and then crumpled to the ground shrieking and gushing blood.

I was standing on the other side of the car when it happened, ran over to him, and picked him up. He was holding his forehead and his face was covered in blood. I shouted at John to grab some towels, and mopped Finny off enough to see the big, deep cut on his forehead. We jumped into action – all piling in the car with me pressing a giant wad of paper towels onto Finny’s head. John got behind the wheel and drove us to the urgent care clinic just down the street (thank God!), while I tried to calm my panicked, crying, hyperventilating child (while his poor little brother looked on…). He dropped us off and we made our way into the clinic. John then proceeded to take Henry to school so he wouldn’t have to witness all the chaos.

The crying and moaning and shrieking continued as I tried to fill out the required paperwork at the clinic. Thank God for the mom who was waiting there with her sick 6 year-old son. She came over and continued to press the towels to Finny’s head while I filled out the seemingly endless paperwork on the clipboard. She took the clipboard back, and we were soon ushered into the exam room. I managed to keep Finny calm by just talking and talking and talking to him about whatever I could think of. As long as I was talking, he was ok. I explained everything the nurse and doctors were doing while he got his vitals taken and they examined the cut. Luckily, it was just shallow enough to avoid stitches (Finny worriedly asking “Will they put my head under a sewing machine?!”).

John reappeared with the Leomarans just as the doctor was about to patch Finny up. Finny squeezed them (and Dad-o’s hand) tight while the doctor cleaned up the wound, squeezed the edges together, and put Dermabond (superglue for skin!) on it. Within a couple minutes, the glue was dry, he had a fresh bandaid on his head, and we were ready to go. The little boy and his mom who helped us out in the waiting room peeked in to see how Finny was doing, and I gave the mom a GIANT hug, thanking her for her help.

We went home and I kept an eye on my boy just to make sure he didn’t show any signs of a concussion. We watched a movie and went to the grocery store and car wash, and I kept wondering why we were getting all these strange, empathetic looks from people around us. I mean, Finny just had a bandaid on, it’s not like his entire head was wrapped in gauze! It was only as we were standing in line at the grocery checkout that I realized we both still had our bloody clothes on! No wonder we were getting weird looks!

After a long afternoon nap, Finny seemed to be feeling much better, despite the big knot on his head. I think the only thing that’s really damaged is his vanity…he was very emphatic that he did not want to go back to school because he didn’t want Magdalena to see him with the bandaid on his head! And he didn’t want to go out for sushi and have the sushi ladies asking about what happened, either. I told him he could disguise it with a hat, and he’d be fine. We did go out for sushi, and he’ll be seeing Magdalena and his other amigos at school tomorrow.

Why hello there, Henry. 🙂

Will there come a time when the sight of any construction activity doesn’t hold our boys in its total thrall? Yeah, and much sooner than we’d like, I’m sure. For now, though, they remain transfixed by things like our neighbors Long & Suzanne getting a new lawn put in. It provided a whole weekend’s worth of entertainment, as you can glimpse below:

This past Sunday, the four of us headed out to Santa Cruz to experience something called “Al Smith Day” at the Swanton Pacific Ranch. Our acquaintance from the San Jose History Park, Motorman Erik, hipped us to this special event. Once a year, the Swanton Pacific Railroad, which runs through the ranch (both owned by Cal Poly University), is opened to the public for train rides, tours, live music, and BBQ. As soon as Erik told us about it, we knew we couldn’t pass it up. (Turns out Al Smith is the Cal Poly alum who gave the ranch to the school & created the railroad.)

The train & tracks are small-scale, like what you’d expect in a mine. They have both steam and diesel engines at work, and have built a really cute little yellow train station where you board. Cal Poly’s got a very active group of train enthusiasts who refurbish engines, and maintain the cars, roundhouse, and sheds. These guys range in age from 13 to late 80’s. They were all happy to talk our ears off about the various engines, track machinery, and assorted gear. Needless to say, the boys were fascinated. We spent lots of time in the round house checking things out (including a tiny ore car!) before heading out on the actual train ride.

Finn and Henry had a blast playing “conductor” and “snack man” in our little enclosed car during the ride. After the ride, we watched some guys from the Cal Poly logging program chop wood with various sharp implements. We also toured some parked full-scale cabooses, listened to the live bluegrass music, and enjoyed our BBQ in the beautiful sunshine. It was a great day, and we were thrilled to get in on the secret! Here’s a little gallery of our train-tastic adventure.

Saturday unfortunately marked the guys’ last swim lessons with their instructors at the San Jose State Aquatic Center. We signed up for a 4-week session, and were hoping to sign up again, but it sounds like the pool will be closed this summer for repairs.

You’ll see from the pictures that Finny has been making great strides on learning what to do with his legs and arms, putting his head underwater, doing some assisted floating, and generally enjoying himself in the pool. I think he’s going to be quite the little fish!

And our Henry has made strides in his own way…meaning that once he actually gets in the pool, he usually has a good time. It’s the getting in that takes forever and meets with a lot of resistance. He is incredibly slow to warm up to getting into the pool – he hems and haws and stalls to no end, and he usually needs a lot of cajoling from us and/or his super-nice instructor Kiyomi.

This week we showed up 20 minutes early to get Henry warmed up and in the water so we didn’t have to waste a bunch of his lesson time doing it. I sat with him on the edge of the pool, we stuck our feet in, we stood on the step, we splashed around a little, and I even got him to step down so most of his legs were in the water by the time Kiyomi came over. I figured he was ready to go, so when she came, I left to go use the ladies’ room. When I came out of the bathroom, I witnessed a hilarious low-speed chase, with Henry trying to outwalk Kiyomi around the edge of the pool, and Kiyomi trying to catch him and convince him to get back into the water. Henry kept looking over his shoulder and sped up a bit, heading for my lounge chair. He tried to hide behind it, then decided he would drag the chair behind him in an effort to convince us he would be happy just sitting in the chair near the pool. I laughed and redirected him back towards Kiyomi, who got him back into the pool in short order, where he proceeded to have a great time during his lesson.

Here’s the gallery of the guys in action.

Here’s wishing a very happy fifth birthday to our pal Cyrus Wiggin! (And yes, Cyrus, Dad-O is wondering whether he can come over and play with the cool Iron Man Lego we got you. ;-))

I’m pleased to announce that the Finnster officially takes after his parents, and particularly his old man, in really liking to snap photos! I came across one of my old iPhones, and he now loves snapping shots of random things (e.g. an extreme close-up of unsuspecting Henry; bikini-clad mannequins at the mall). The only downside is that, like me, he now brings walks to an abrupt halt, pausing out of the blue to line up a shot. Hoisted by my own petard! 🙂

I’ll try to share some Finnyfotos soon. Meanwhile, here you can see him showing Henry around Dad-O’s big cam. As my friend Scott Valentine captioned it, “And the peanut butter goes riiiight here…”!

I asked Henry to quote me his hourly rate. “Sixty bucks!” he replied. In fairness, it’s not every 3-year-old who can confidently manhandle a length of fence like that. 😉

Oh my—it seems that a looen & owl have invaded our kitchen!

Recently the lads had an epic 7-hour outing to Happy Hollow with Yvonne, returning happy, tired, and crusty-faced thanks to a face painter. Henry really got into playing his part: “Dad-O, he was ‘hoo-ing’ for, like, an hour!” reported a slightly exasperated Finn. The boys even rocked their new look to the mall & Lego Store that evening. Boy was it tough explaining that we had to wash faces before bedtime…

Here’s a little gallery featuring our Beasts of the Northern Not-So-Wild. 🙂

Whether it’s the warm air or something in the proverbial water, our lads have taken a real shine to shedding their shirts and putting on “muscle shows.” Finn’s been captaining the “fighter team” of preschool superheroes, with G-Man as his able lieutenant. The other evening they asked whether they could do a muscle show involving some tug-of-war the back yard. When I asked whether Finn was sure he could compete with me, he was quick to retort, “Hey! I’m the boss of the fighter team! I do this every day of my life!” :-p Enjoy the pics.

I’m kinda charmed that the lads remain just as enamored of all things construction-related as they ever were. Yesterday Henry decided to try jousting me with a pair of tiny orange safety cones, declaring, “These are my hand-not-getting-hurt-ers, Dad-O.”

As for Finny, we dig him the most. 😉

Ironic “facial hair,” age 3. 🙂

Downside: A blizzard leaves you flightless & stuck in Denver for an extra day.
Upside: Bonus trampoline mayhem with cousins!! 🙂

Here’s a little gallery.

You know what this photo makes me? That’s right, Father Of The Year. 😉

The boys had all kinds of fun digging in the snow, firing snowballs at their cousins, playing “Wampa vs. Mountain Lion,” and more. I got a particular kick out of my young nephew Patrick creeping out from behind a tree, nailing me with snow, and announcing, “I call that one ‘The Oswald.'” I immediately gunned one back at him and declared, “Yeah, and that’s ‘The Jack Ruby.'” Here’s a little gallery of the goings on.

Man oh man… sometimes you know that an idea is ridiculous, but you proceed anyway. And sometimes that’s not so bad. 🙂

Last summer Finn spotted—and immediately fell in love with—a particularly gigantic Lego set at the store. That alone is no big deal, and as with most kid-crushes, we expected the infatuation to fade quickly. Not this time, though: For the last eight months or so Finn’s been totally hung up on the Lego Unimog. He’s constantly built crude facsimiles via his other bricks, telling me about how great it’d be if he had the real deal with its stabilizer legs, motorized winch, and more. A few months ago a friend’s mom asked him what he’d like for his birthday, and he dutifully reported, “Well, there’s this really expensive Lego set that’s meant for teenagers…”

So, what to do? I knew it was crazy (and Margot certainly felt that way), but I figured, hey, if a 4-year-old can maintain that level of focus for that long, it’s as if I’d wanted something for 10 years! So, what the heck, we ordered the “‘Mog” and had it sent to Colorado. As you might have seen in the previous gallery, he went totally mental upon receiving it.

Aaaand, that’s where things got tougher. Assembling this 2048-piece monster made me remember a certain acerbic poster:

Trying to build the huge vehicle while Finn & Henry danced around the table, constantly babbling & stealing parts (!), was a huge challenge. I mean, for crying out loud, this monster is an honest-to-God, self-propelled 4-wheel-drive truck that features independent suspension, a working differential gear, an elaborate pneumatic power system, and a screw of Archimedes! I started describing my status as “Unimugged,” and what I thought would be a father/son bonding experience kind of turned into a father/son/mother/brother/psychiatrist experience. Okay, leave off that last part, and give Margot huge credit for swooping in, helping me debug my handiwork, and building the big arm assembly. Without her I’d still be in Leadville, rocking back and forth, wallowing in my own crapulence!

But all’s well that ends well, at least so far. (We still have to somehow get this fragile contraption home!) Henry keeps claiming the ‘Mog’s a low rider because of the suspension, and Finn’s devised an elaborate story about a driver named Duck who fishes ducks out of a pond using the arm, then eats them. Here’s a gallery showing the finished piece.

In the end the whole thing felt like a metaphor for parenting: Insane, unbearable, and totally worth it.

Oh, and Henry, if you’re reading this: Getting a giant Technic fire engine for your birthday in July is a terrible, terrible idea! ;-p