Category: Photos

We had a great time celebrating the 4th of July with our squirrels. It was a gorgeous, sunny day (“nottoohot!” as Finny would say), and we spent most of it outside. First off, Dad-o and Finny hit the hardware store for some mulch and tomfoolery with plumbing fixtures. At one point, Finny dubbed Henry “Flying G” after seeing us lift Henry up off the ground by his arms to get him up stairs & over curbs while he practices his walking. We think that’s a pretty terrific nickname to add to the list! Then it was off to a neighborhood barbecue at lunch time, complete with water balloons, games, hot dogs, and popsicles. When we returned home, our long-dormant fountain was burbling away, thanks to our supercool neighbor Richard.

After naptime, we played in the yard then headed out for a BBQ with some friends and their kiddos, both of whom are Finny’s age. Henry really dug the Radio Flyer and eating ice from the cooler, and Finn was having a ball in the cardboard box fort and riding around on kamikaze-style on a scooter in the driveway, crashing it into the bamboo like the Japanese chimp in one of his favorite YouTube videos. Here’s our little gallery (HTML).

As for Mom-o and Dad-o, we enjoyed the company of some other adults (woohoo!) and the fruits of our friend Derek’s labor over the Weber grill. Our dudes were pretty exhausted by the time we got them home and rolled into bed. We didn’t hang around long enough to catch any official fireworks, but the M-80’s being detonated a few houses down the street kept us (but not the dudes!) awake for a while.

[PS–I’m guessing Margot was more comfortable this year, not being insanely pregnant this time around. 🙂 –J.]

I’ve long thought that the phrase “kid in a candy store” should really be “kid in a hardware store.” Finn & I have enjoyed untold hours cruising the aisles of the nearby OSH, futzing with flanges, banging on PVC “drums,” marveling at weed whackers, and more.

This past Sunday he somehow conned talked me into buying a little clog-busting “drain snake”–just a peg and a handle on the ends of a flexible metal rod. He was enthralled all day with it, at one point fashioning it into The World’s Least Efficient Utensil. Here’s a handful of images (HTML).

[Tip o’ the hat to our friend Maria, lover of basic home improvement as well as the culinary arts. Clearly Finn’s a man cut from the same cloth.]

The Nack Family Homebody Emancipation continues! On Sunday Finn & rolled to the bike shop to score a new helmet for Henry, meaning that he’ll soon be able to join us for rides in the great two-man Burley trailer that my folks gave us at his birth. Let the rolling son-der begin!

Dad-o and Finny were feeling adventurous–and hungry–yesterday, so they decided that some chocolate-chip cookie-making was in order. You’ll notice in the gallery (HTML) that Finny’s got his helmet on, just like the “little dudes” in one of his favorite books, Who Made This Cake by Chihiro Nakagawa.

In the book, a squadron of teeny tiny construction workers are employed to make a birthday cake. Donning their helmets, they set off with their dump trucks, bulldozers, cranes, helicopters, and semaphore flags to complete the mission. While not as tiny as the dudes in the book, our small construction worker had a blast with the measuring cups, spoons, and stand mixer. Dad-o, as general contractor, ensured that all the ingredients were accounted for, and I, acting as quality control, made sure that the cookies actually got baked and were suitable for consumption. Vacuuming Finny seemed like the easiest way to get him de-floured, and he seemed to enjoy the little brush.

Later in the afternoon, I fired up my new Weber kettle (thanks John!) and we had a Nack family cookout–corn on the cob, steak, fish, and pork chops. There’s nothing better than a warm Saturday, good barbecue, and goofando in the backyard. Except for topping it all off with cookies!

Last summer we gave Finn his first taste of pickle, with colorful results. Ever since then we’ve had a nice rapport with the folks at the “meat hut” (the smokehouse down the street), with us calling the proprietors “Pickle Man” and “Pickle Lady,” and the latter calling Finn her “pickle baby.” They’re always quick to furnish Finn with a pickle while we wait, and we brought them a print of the image below. Unfortunately I misplaced the digital copy until now:

(Here’s a larger version.)

Thanks to Caroline Gardhouse-Begg, mother of playgroup buddy Alex, for capturing the Finnster & me making sure the SJFD is running a tight ship:

(Here’s a larger version.)

Father’s Day with the Nack boys was a lot of fun. Sunday marked John’s first Father’s Day with two squires! We packed in as many kid-friendly adventures as possible. Here’s a little gallery (HTML) of the day’s proceedings, including Dad-o and Finny enjoying Dad-o’s surprise piece of chocolate cake, our visit to Wienerschnitzel for corndogs (at Finny’s request), and some late afternoon pool-time in the backyard.

Henry was working on his ballet moves and sunning his tummy, while Finny was primarily interested in bailing out the pool and watering the grass. You’ll see Leo sunbathing on the backyard stair-rail, necessitated by Finny’s sly dunking of Leo in the pool in an effort to give him a bath! Between catching some rays and a little time in the dryer, Leo was dry and ready for bedtime at the end of the day.

So, does Finn’s future career entail selling South African noisemakers or Swiss cough drops? 🙂

(Here’s a larger version.)

Want to see a little kid go totally mental? Promise him a trip to the fire station!

On Monday morning a big crew of little characters, some decked out in helmets and boots, gathered at the nearby Willow Glen fire station. Finny had been bouncing off the walls beforehand, saying, “Go! To! The! Fi-re! Sta-tion!! Let’s go there right now!!” At the station he got to shake hands with a (somewhat intimidating) fireman in full mask & gear, and he took a real shine to the truck-battery-charging power cord that hung down from the ceiling. Our visit concluded with the fire crew heading out on a real live call, sirens blazing. That meant no getting in the truck for us, but overall, what could be better? Here’s a little gallery (HTML).

What’s better than one big road ripper visiting the neighborhood? Answer: two big road rippers, of course, accompanied by a backhoe, steamroller, and Bobcat–all unattended and ready for father-son trespassing!

The roads near our house are undergoing some much-needed resurfacing, so yesterday Finn & I were able to sneak over and check out the little motor pool. We thought Uncle Ted would be proud as we “steered” the vehicles, manipulated the little joysticks (“That one peeking out a little bit!” Finn noted as they moved in sync), and explored the various tracks, buckets, and brooms. Not wanting Finn to get squashed, and being constantly warned by the various signs, I took just a handful of shots (HTML) to share.

The Micronaxx are always having new adventures and taking on new personas. Here’s a little gallery (HTML) of dipe-clad, pony-riding, Harley-loving buccaneers and their adult sidekicks galavanting around the Nack casa.

This weekend our pals Maria and Alex dropped by for a quick overnight visit, arriving in time to get an eyeful of our nature-boy elder son (“Finny a nudist!”) cavorting in the sprinkler. Having taught him to match my water-spitting ways means more chuckles–and more wet shirts–for me.

Meanwhile Henry was his chipper self, exploring (the very patient) Alex’s beard (“pull cord for service”?) before guffawing with Dad-O. Finn & Alex also disappeared for a bit to do some drawing, showing Maria’s Kansas City house being sucked up and (as he’d hope) carried to SF via tornado. Thanks largely to Maria, here’s a little gallery (HTML) of the hijinks.

Apropos of nothing… 🙂

Leo, Tom, and Finn on Memorial Day

Just because we fail to plan ahead each Memorial Day does not mean we are planning to fail! It seems the official kickoff to summer always catches us by surprise, and we usually end up bemoaning the fact that we haven’t gone anywhere or planned anything exciting.

This year, however, we decided to celebrate Memorial Day in our own “Nackyard.” We invited a bunch of friends over for a barbeque and plenty of kid-based tomfoolery. It was a gorgeous afternoon, unbelievably welcome after the wettest spring in memory, so we got out the sprinkler mat, the swimsuits, hotdogs and hamburgers, and had a really good time.

Here’s a little gallery (HTML) of the proceedings–including pals Tom, Sarah, and Harper; Bruce, Mira, and Anya; Chris, Devorah, Dominic, and Charlotte; and our own intrepid ringleader Finny and his sidekick Henry (both sporting their new Harley Davidson shirts!).

After foregoing all work travel for more than a year, I got back in the saddle last week, flying off to Seattle with fellow dad-o “Hoot.” The Finnfatha took my absence in stride, but I like this slightly wistful shot of him amidst my travel paraphernalia:

These days Henry’s activities are less locomotion, more frustration–but boy, the little guy is trying hard. He’s kind of at odds & ends all the time, not yet having figured out how to crawl, not content to sit still, and not able to stand unaided. He bobs and weaves like crazy, often tipping onto his face (with a predictable reaction). I snapped a few pics (HTML) of him working like mad to get that butt up in the air. Soon enough, I’m sure, we’ll be chasing both dudes.

Bonus photo: Henry was chanting “CoCoCoCo!”–right up until I started trying to record him with my phone, naturally.