Micronaxx

On Sunday we had a ball taking the lads to San Francisco’s beautifully redesigned & relocated Exploratorium. Here’s a little taste of the goings-on (minus the live cow-eyeball dissection or microscopic peeks inside termite guts!):

Who doesn’t love a Slinky?

Yesterday was a big day for Mr. Finnegan Nack – he mastered the art of two-wheeling!

Last weekend, after we got his flat tire fixed at the bike shop, he was eyeing a new “Mike’s Bikes” water bottle, and a new LED tail light for his bike. I told him that if he learned how to ride without his training wheels, he could get the bottle and light. Boy – had I known how well a little incentive was going to work, I would’ve done this ages ago!

We started practicing without his training wheels last weekend before I left for Germany, and spent about an hour going up and down the driveway with Finn pedaling and me holding him upright by the bike seat and handlebars. We had our second and final round of practice yesterday morning at the park down the street – which is perfectly laid out for bike practice! It’s essentially a big circular sidewalk around a playground. Finn rode to the park with the training wheels, and then when we got to the park, we took them off and started practicing.

I could tell it wasn’t going to take long, because I wasn’t really holding on to the seat very hard anyway. I was mainly acting as moral support – coaching a worried, semi-weeping Finny by running alongside and chanting a lot of “I think I can I think I can” (while he thought I was holding the seat). Of course he had a few spills and run-ins with the play equipment, but after catching his breath and wiping off tears, he was back in the saddle. I told Finny that he had to believe that he could do it – because if he didn’t believe in himself, it was going to be really hard to do it. He did not like that messaging, but it must’ve gotten through – because once he forgot to be worried and just focus on pedaling and staying upright, he did great!

The goal we set for earning the water bottle and tail light was two complete laps around the park without stopping. In less than an hour, our boy nailed it! We celebrated with lots of cheering and hugging, and Finny rode his bike all the way home – with many stops and starts, but without the training wheels! (You can see his happy yet exhausted-and-weepy expression in the photo gallery). We then proceeded to go to Manley’s for celebratory doughnuts before a stop at the bikeshop to pick out his prizes.

Crazy haircuts & beards aren’t just for punks & ZZ Top. Bubble bath helps our guys get stylish in the tub:

Meanwhile Finny has been singing the ABCs in Spanish incessantly, in a variety of crazy accents. Here he does his impression of “Chris Cornell” from Soundgarden:

During our recent SoCal sojourn, we spent a peaceful day noodling around LA, exploring local landmarks:

• (Pre-)Historically the La Brea Tar Pits (a sticky slick of naturally occurring asphalt) were great at ensnaring all kinds of ice-age animals, and over the years they’ve yielded hundreds of tons of fossilized remains. The boys loved exploring the museum, getting to watch scientists & volunteers carefully working to unearth & restore what’s been dug up. They were delighted to come away with two stuffed sabertooth tigers that they quickly named “Sabertooth” and “Snuggletooth.” (You’d kind of think “Saber-maran,” right?) In subsequent “T.A.L.B.” editions, these railroading Tooth Brothers turned out to be good at shoveling coal with their “steak knives.”
• Right next door is Los Angeles County Museum of Art, aka LACMA. We lucked out & came across volunteers who were letting kids make their own African arts & crafts. Of the clay “memory boards” Finn said, “They’re like iPads,” and they each crafted staffs with pictures of Mom-O at the top. They had a ball exploring the large outdoor art pieces, then were fascinated by the Metropolis II kinetic sculpture (see video below).
• Later we wound our way up to the famous Griffith Park Observatory (you might remember it from Rebel Without A Cause), exploring the grounds & watching their giant Tesla coil in action.

Here’s a little gallery from the adventure.