Our brilliant friend Dave (of whom the boys are longtime superfans) has reworked the Dancing Robot routine of then 5-year-old Finn into this crazy little gem:
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From the archives:
Morning convo:
“Henry, Grandma’s coming tomorrow.”
“WHAT the—? YOUR mom? She’s the BEST!! (She really plays with me!)” 🙂
The dudes were not disappointed when Grandma Nack rolled in two years ago today. Here’s a little gallery of that day’s proceedings.
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Behold, The Mountain!
We’ve long been big fans of the big men who toss around cars, refrigerators, battle axes, and more in strongman contests, so it was a treat to meet Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson—the World’s Strongest Man & the actor who plays notorious head-squashing character “The Mountain” on Game of Thrones—at this weekend’s Highland Games in Pleasanton. We’d promised Henry a chance to see the big guy “toss a Henry-sized object over something the height of the garage,” attempting to set a world record in the process. We didn’t stick around quite long enough to see whether he succeeded, but we were just happy to meet him & get away with our heads un-squashed. 🙂
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“I can do it, I can do it!!”
Our man Henry has finally mastered two-wheeling on his own! We’ve been pretty inconsistent with practicing, and therefore it’s taken a lot longer to get him riding solo than it did with his brother. But last weekend we spent a TON of time with him, coaching him as he rode many (only slightly-assisted) laps around his school building. Then last night, John took the boys to Hummingbird park to cement Henry’s confidence.
Hen, as usual, was a tough customer. He went into the training with his typical “I can’t do this, this is too hard, I’ll never learn how to do it” attitude, and it took every shred of positivity and parental encouragement to get him to believe he could do it. As I ran around the school next to him, I kept chanting “You can do it! You can do it! You are doing it! Pedal pedal pedal!!” He asked me to keep it up, and finally, after what seemed like a million laps, I could hear Henry chanting along with me, believing he could do it.
Last night, at the park, Henry’s self-confidence finally kicked in, and as he rode around the park, he was saying to himself “I can do it…I can do it!” (which you’ll hear at the beginning of the video above)
And he DID! We could not be more proud of him, and it makes a mama’s heart glad to hear her little guy really truly believing in himself. Now, of course, he wants to bike everywhere all the time!!! So the fellas are going out for a ride after Dad-o gets home from work tonight, which I’m sure is the first of many, many family rides to come!
Update: Alternate techno remix! 🙂
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Athenry Knights
The lads keep cool modeling some great shirts that Grandma & Grandpa Nack got during their recent trip to Ireland. (Thanks, guys!)
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Family Fun Night
Back in May we enjoyed Family Fun Night with the dudes at school, and they greatly enjoyed the cotton candy machine (in front of which Henry had anxiously parked himself ages before anyone else lined up). This little video montage got stuck in my camera until now; enjoy!
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Diggable Tahoe
Our shovel-lovin’ lads Finn (armed with Root Chop) and Hen (armed with Seymour) teamed up with Dante, Vienna, and a whole squadron of random lakeside kids to turn the shore of Lake Tahoe into an elaborate system of canals, jumps, and other earthworks. Here’s a little taste from the shoreline:
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Juice Jams
The lads recently got zesty in their pal Marina’s back yard, furiously pulping a whole tree’s worth of oranges:
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Chalk-rockin’ Hen
Rolling up the driveway this week, I discovered a new bridge to cross. I’ll let the artist explain things from there:
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Flume of Doom!
On Sunday the guys & I lived it up at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk. With the wholly unnecessary help of their goggles, they braved the daunting log flume with me. Check it out:
And here’s our splash down captured in ultra slow-mo:
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The Old Men & The Lake
Up in Tahoe I rang in the start of my 40’s just two days after our friend Hans started his 50’s. Just as last year we shared a cake, and this year Margot & the boys took the sting out of mortality by giving me “Benny’s Spaceship Spaceship SPACESHIP!!” from The Lego Movie—a loving throwback to the 80’s-vintage sets I had growing up. Amazingly (miraculously!) despite our cabin being darker than Carlsbad Caverns, we built the beast and got it home without losing any parts.
Here’s a handful of photos from the festivities—including impatient Henry realizing that yes, he will actually get to eat some cake 🙂 .
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Big Men on Campus
Q. Who’s got four thumbs and is (almost) ready for the first day of school?
A. Theeeese guys. 🙂
(For comparison: First day of first grade/kinder 2014; first day of kinder 2013)
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Spherical Tahoe
I like to go beyond what a simple photo can capture, so I really enjoy capturing 360º spherical panoramas of our travels. (The fam is nice to indulge me as I lag behind on hikes, etc. in order to make these.) To look around some of the Lake Tahoe-area sights we encountered last week, you can click and drag on any of the photos below, or—better still—you can click the “View on Google Maps” link on each one to view it much larger.
Stormy Skies
Sunset
Easy Sunday Morning
Fallen Leaf Dam
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The Twilight of My Thirties
Few people really want to age, but getting to spend the final sunset of my thirties with these chaps on the shores of Lake Tahoe—well, that wasn’t too bad. 🙂 Here’s a little gallery of the boys digging their giant earthworks project, returning a tiny clam to the water (Henry was quite sentimental about this), and “Ninja Warrior” Finn clamoring up the pier & leaping into the sand.
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Lords of the Paddleboards
Greetings from Lake Tahoe! Despite facing some unseasonably cool & blustery weather, we’ve been spending a good amount of time down by the lake. We’ve become paddleboard “lords” only in the most ironic sense, but it’s been fun zipping around the long, very shallow stretch in front of our cabin. Here are a few pics.
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Some excitin’ kitin’
We had a ball checking out Berkeley’s Kite Festival last weekend. The boys were especially intrigued by the enormous octopodes stretching their tentacles out more than 100 feet. Check out a little gallery of the proceedings.
Five years ago today we were riding the rails with Thomas!
And just two years before that, here’s what went wobbling its way through our kitchen. 🙂
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Of Krakens & Kites
Here are a couple of video glimpses of our fun, windblown day out at the Berkeley Kite Fest. (Click on either one to play it.) Pics to follow!
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Port of Call: San Diego
Having previously explored the USS Hornet, Iowa, and America, the boys were eager to see what the naval hub of San Diego had to offer. They weren’t in the least disappointed to scurry through not one but two submarines (the deep-diving recorder holder USS Dolphin as well as an old Soviet Foxtrot-class boat), the 100+-year-old ferry Berkeley (which helped rescue people after the San Francisco earthquake), the 19th-century Star of India (the world’s oldest active sailing ship), and finally the aircraft carrier USS Midway. Check out a gallery from the day out.
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Henry: 6; gift wrap: zero!
Our lad Henry marveling excitedly at the Birthday Lego set he has waited for!