Category: Photos

This past weekend our Argentinian friends Adolfo, Romina, and their son Bruno rolled into SJ for a visit. When we last saw them in Vegas last spring, Brunito was only about 7 months old. Now he’s a big, mobile, curly-topped 18-month old, and I think he had a pretty good time “kickandalo” with our guys.

Adolfo took some great pics (HTML) of all the guys (Dad-O included!) goofing around in the backyard and at “Traintrackpark.” At one point, Finny was clearly enjoying his chocolate milk, and then later Bruno was really digging the bottle, which was dubbed “Coca!”

[Of the “Audi Assault” photo, Adolfo writes on Facebook, “Bruno wearing an anti-anti-riot helmet as he fights capitalism with a curl making device | Bruno con un casco anti-antidisturbios, mientras combate al capitalismo con un artefacto hacedor de rulos.” Or as Finn puts it, “Bruno tried to bonk the Ocho!” 🙂 –J.]

Sometimes with kids, a friend once told me, “The days are long by the years are short.” Last Monday, though, I think Finn & would’ve been content to spend all night watching a team of tree trimmers ply their trade among some nearby telephone wires. It was a beautiful spring evening, and having passed the crew on my way home, I rushed in to tell Finn the news. He wolfed down the remains of his dinner, and we spent the next hour or so watching & narrating the proceedings: “That truck have little feet… What that dude in the cherry picker doing?… Dude got a leaf blower!”… and so on, Finn said, taking little breaks to “help” scoop up woodchips using dual spatulas.

I kept hearing Lou Reed’s “Perfect Day” playing in my head. The only thing better would be to have Henry and Margot along for the ride, though I think it’ll be a bit before the little guy can handle the roar of a wood chipper. 🙂

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Fun: Birthday party in the park with pals and cupcakes.
Ultra-mega-fun: Birthday party in the park with pals and cupcakes and a free cape!

Superheroic Finn & a whole posse of little partygoers were the happy recipients of stylin’ felt capes–complete with their big initials–thanks to fellow Las Madres tot Mabel and her mom Elizabeth.  Thanks, guys!

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Grandma Nack was in town to help us celebrate Finny’s birthday a few weeks ago, and although we’re admittedly late in getting the photos posted, here they are! Just as cute as the day they were captured.

There were lots of adventures, and here is a little gallery (HTML) of them. Among them, you’ll see Finny unwrapping Grandma’s presents, enjoying some leftover birthday cake (chocolate, obviously) with Henry riding shotgun, and Henry munching on one of Finny’s gifts–BugBonz from our pal MrsW.

Oh, and there were plenty of Grandma’s smooches, Finn enjoying his new bike (a zike bike, perhaps?), and a goofy exchange of glances between Mom-o and the boys in the kitchen.

Finn has been having a ball commanding the ol’ iron horse around our house. He’s awash in great Thomas the Tank Engine wooden train pieces (found via Mom-O’s homework project to buy something via eBay*), and he’s even sporting his own engineer cap, bandana (which he calls “banana!”), and train whistle. (Special thanks to pals Erica & Zachary for those.)  Check it out (HTML)!

* This caused some funny confusion: Finny was a little concerned that when Mom-O was headed back to work, she’d take the trains back to eBay!

For father-son bonding, there’s nothing like a little trespassing on heavy machinery.

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Acting on a tip from Mom-O, Finn and I scrambled around a big piece of equipment (an asphalt-devouring Wirtgen 1200 F cold milling machine, I’ll have you know!) that was parked in our neighborhood.  Finn (and Leo) got a big kick out of sitting in the driver’s seat, playing with the steering wheel (but not the God-forbid-it-turn-on knows/switches), and plugging various lights into the tracks.  Our boy now knows what a grease gun is. 🙂

I think Finn may have been born about a century too late for his true calling, that of fainting silent movie ingenue. Check out his swoon over the new one-of-a-kind acorn hat that Hoot & Alex commissioned for his birthday :-):

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Happy Valentine’s Day, everyone. We had a ball today with our lads. First Finny & Dad-O went on a secret mission to score Mom some flowers plus her favorite dessert: red velvet cake! Finn got so wound up from the cake, he was literally bouncing up and down on my leg saying “Boing-a Boing-a Boing-a!!” as we video-chatted with the Liggett GPs. And after dinner, when he heard me mentioning the cake to my folks, he shot me a serious look and said, “Eatitagain!”

Somewhere in the midst of this we took Henry on his first trip to “Rolly slide park” & had “Dueling Snackers” in the kitchen, brandishing hot dogs & squirreling away grapes. Here are our pix (HTML).

Here are some shots (HTML) from Finny and Henry’s first bath together in the tub! Both boys were really enjoying themselves, much to our delight. I honestly thought it would be like tossing two cats into a pool–lots of fighting and tears!

Clad only in a bubble bath goatee, we think Henry resembles a tiny, infantile Colonel Sanders. He sampled the seafood (purple Octopus cup), and tried on a bubble mohawk, which Finny proceeded to “shave” with a small tube of toothpaste. Dad-O proclaims the brotherly antics “Dynamite!”

Yesterday (Superbowl Sunday, for folks overseas) our pals Tom & Sarah brought their lovely little Harper (10.5 months) over for a visit. She and little Henry had a good time on the playmat, and she was especially patient as he started making some “illegal use of hands,” tugging on her shirt & trying to get some attention. The poor guy got rejected by the lady, and you can see he wasn’t entirely thrilled about that! No harm done, though.

Too bad our big linebacker Finn slept through all the proceedings, waking up just as the Hogarties got in their car. Ah well; here are the pix (HTML).

Kind of speaks for itself, we think. 🙂

Somehow in my mind, I hear Lady Gaga singing, “Ta-Ta-Ta-Teething Faaace…” Our little SuperHen has developed a whole variety of facial expressions to complement his newly arriving chompers (we’re on the verge of six!). My favorite is the one at left:

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In remotely-possibly related news, the G-Man is experimenting with tongue clucking, and whenever I join in, he takes notice & seems to recognize that we’re speaking the same “language.” It reminds me of how Finn and I started coughing back and forth (video) at roughly the same age.

January came and went in the blink of an eye! We’ve got a serious backlog of photos, so we’ve put together a little gallery (HTML) of miscellaneous goings-on from last month. The rain kept us inside quite a bit, so the camera was always at the ready. Highlights include:

• Henry sitting up in the bath
• Rocking chair storytime with Mom-o
• The boys doubling up in the new 2-passenger stroller
• Assorted “Finny the Carpenter” hijinks
• Henry’s first meal in a high chair
• Finny and Mom-o reading about eBay
• Blue Play-Doh elephant snoots
• Everyone in hoodies while we wait for the furnace repair guy to show up
• And assorted smooching, relaxing, and “kickandalo” in the living room

Okay, we know this is an offbeat & slightly unflattering shot of Henry, caught at a weird moment–but for some reason we find it charming.  It’s a little as if he’s raising an eyebrow at any floor-surfing girls who might happen by, luring them to the “cat mat” for some delighted cooing. 🙂

Leprechauns, Unite! 😀

The four of us were treated to a spectacular double rainbow on Saturday. Clearly our little Irishman got a kick out of it, saying “Pot o’ gold over by Adobe!” The light show provided a nice recollection of the rainbows that decorated our wedding.

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