Micronaxx

Our boy Henry has become well known amongst our friends for the “Henry Face.” He’s reliably grumpy about something or another when we’re out having a good time – like at birthday parties, the pool, holiday celebrations, you name it. In fact, our friend Shay’s daughter Tegan started making The Face herself after watching Henry melt down at his brother’s preschool graduation ceremony (“No one is playing with me, Mom-o! No one is paying attention to me!”). Our friends love to snap photos of Henry grumping out at parties. Here’s a prime example:

John always remarks, truthfully, that Henry was born frowning:

We recently had some family photos taken, and as Henry was getting grumpier and more short-tempered about the length of the photo shoot, we decided to go for broke with The Henry Face, family-style. Because when you can’t beat ’em, join ’em!

Our overnight trip to Sacramento to visit the Railroad Museum was a big hit with everyone, but especially with birthday boy Henry! The guys loved riding the Amtrak up to Sacramento with Grandma and Grandpa Nack. We got to pass by the mothballed navy fleet in the East Bay, and saw some other interesting sites on our way up, including an old C&H Sugar processing factory outside of Richmond.

Our motel was literally right across the street from the train station on one side, and across the street from the Railroad Museum on the other side! And wow, the Railroad museum was amazing. It is huge! 2 acres of historic engines, passenger cars, memorabilia, a dining car, sleeping car, surveying gear, model trains, a mail car…well worth a visit. It is beautifully maintained and well-presented with lots of docents around and neat exhibits.

Our motel had a pool, which was great because it was 109 both days! I forgot to pack my suit, but the guys all got in the pool Monday night. Afterwards, we hung their trunks on the balcony rail to dry overnight, but when we awoke in the morning, they had disappeared! The motel housekeepers claimed not to have seen them, nor the front desk, and we looked on the balconies below and in the bushes. Not a suit to be found – and we had planned on enjoying the pool until our noon train ride!

But – the silver lining: there was a Macy’s 1 block away on the *third* side of the motel. Finny and I headed over there at 10am Tuesday, found 2 clearance sale suits for him and Henry ($4.50 each! what a bargain!), and I picked up a clearance swimsuit for myself because I was HOT. We spent the rest of the morning in the pool, then dried off and headed for the train station.

Our original train was having engine trouble, so they moved us to a back-up train further down the platform. Then that one had no fuel, so we had to wait for the fuel truck, and while we were waiting, the first train’s engine got repaired, so we shuffled back to that one and finally took off around 2 hours late. The boys were fine with their iPad & movies, and the snack car. Henry was wiped out from all the fun, and finally crashed out on the train ride home for about an hour – a sign of a great adventure!

“Dad-O, this is me, thinking of you,” says Finn. Aw shucks—is this a great first homemade card or what? 🙂

For some reason a couple of months ago, Finn decided that once a month, Mom-O should do a sleepover in his room (cuddling with him all night). Never one to be left out, Henry decided that he should get a similar arrangement with Dad-O, and thus on Monday night we each headed to one of the dudes’ rooms.

Henry persuaded me quite foolishly to agree to stay in his room after I tucked him in, doing “homework” on my laptop in the lower bunk. Even after I shut its lid, he was so jazzed about my presence that he couldn’t stop monologuing into the darkness. Later I jotted down some of his bizarre utterances:

• Dad-O, why do you love Manti Te’o so much?
• I love Manti Te’o, too. We all do, ’cause we’re Irish people.
• [singing] I just haaate my daaad doing home-worrrrk…
• Your computer keeps winking at me!
• When do construction workers build volcanoes?
• Lava & magma are cousins.
• Sometimes when smoke detectors get dusty, they freak out.
• I’m playing tricks with that light [crossing his eyes]. Do you see??
• Air conditioning sprays out ghosts.

And so on, and on, for hours. I was of course tired, trapped, and frustrated (just go to bed, Goonie!!). And yet I finally just laid back & resolve to enjoy the ride. We won’t have the wee man just like this for long. 🙂

…it just might look like this. 🙂 Their desire for cheese sandwiches knows no bounds. Margot thinks they should start a tiny, orange-bandana-sporting gang, throwin’ cheese-signs and getting into scuffles with rival preschoolers (the Colbys vs. the Muensters, etc.).