Finn is playgroup pals with twins Bettie & Quade, subjects of their own great baby blog. Their mom Tara reports that Quade was recently checking out a fish and referring to its “hand.” Tara pointed out that fish have fins. “And Henrys,” Quade prompted observed. 🙂
Without further ado, here’s our second installment (HTML) of Yosemite park photos. I hope the ghost of Ansel Adams will forgive my hammy black & white attempts!
In addition to the photos we took, we’re really eager to see some shots from the pro photographer Margot commissioned to snap some family portraits. She captured Henry exploring some flowers, plus Finn hanging out in his beloved “meedgit hole” (more on that later, maybe), Leo getting to know Patrick’s Pup, and more.
“Not to denigrate your photography skills,” Margot said last week, “but it’s kinda hard to take a bad picture around here.” She’s right: Yosemite is ridiculously picturesque & I was snapping away like mad, just trying to take in the good stuff. Sure, every one of these sites has been documented six ways to Sunday–but not with the eyeball-melting cuteness of our little dudes in the foreground. 😉
Trying not to wear out anyone’s eyeballs, we’re breaking our shots into a few galleries & spreading them out a bit. Here’s one (HTML) we hope you enjoy. It depicts the crew shortly before & after getting doused at Bridalveil Falls; us visiting the “Dad-O Falls & Goonie Falls;” and Finn modeling his ubiquitous “acorn hat.”
Finn-O isn’t the only little Nack who flips out over changes to his sleeping setup: check out Henry making his crib a cackle-rich environment (with an obligatory pause for light inspection):
One of the highlights of our visit to Yosemite this week was seeing all the tremendous, thundering waterfalls in Yosemite Valley. As we made our way to Yosemite Falls, which consists of the upper and lower falls, Finny proclaimed the upper falls “Dad-o Falls”, and the lower falls “Goonie Falls” since they were smaller than their parent falls up above. We all had a good chuckle at Finny’s observation and nomenclature while we walked through the mist coming off the falls.
We continue to have a ball here in Yosemite, where the weather has gone from cold/rainy to lovely to downright spectacular. While we work through a growing backlog of photos to share, here’s a video from last week. Henry is following in his brother’s footsteps, falling in love with light fixtures just as Finn did at this age. Here’s a little video of our electrical inspection/isometric shoulder workout regime:
Today marks our first full day in the famous wilds of northern California, just a couple miles from the south entrance of Yosemite National Park. We are here celebrating my Mom and Dad’s (a.k.a. Grandma & Grampa Liggett!) 50th anniversary, so the whole Liggett clan is here–me, John and our boys; my sister Laura, her husband, and their two boys, and of course Mom and Dad. Finny and Henry were total champs on the car ride out from San Jose yesterday, alternately snoozing and happily chattering in their carseats.
Today was cold and rainy, but that didn’t stop us from having a really good time. This morning we took a ride on a steam train that was formerly used for logging, which was great fun. Finny was fascinated by the huge, steaming, chuffing engine and the wooden passenger cars we rode in. He sported his Thomas sweatshirt and his acorn hat–both very appropriate to our setting out here in the forest. Henry was happy to be snuggled into the sling and ended up dozing for about half the trip–periodically woken by the steam whistle on the engine. Check out the gallery (HTML).
This afternoon, after a cozy nap in front of the fireplace in our cottage, Finny and Dad-o headed towards the indoor pool at the main lodge for an afternoon of splashing. Henry and I hung out with my folks, sister, and her kids. Then Grampa Liggett, Henry and I sojourned to the grocery store to pick up provisions for dinner in the cottage with the fam.
Tomorrow we’re off to the park itself to ogle the giant sequoia trees, waterfalls, mountains, and other natural wonders. We can’t wait!
Some months ago, Finn started taking a real shine to windmills (“Make it turn-turn-turn!!”), even seeing them in any cross-shaped object (e.g. looking at the lights hanging above the Safeway produce stands, “That a bunch of windmills up there!”). Around the same time, Adobe HQ was being outfitted with a bank of new Windspire windmills. Finn has been eyeing them from the freeway, and on Friday the whole family got a chance to see them up close.
Fascinating as the windmills were, I like how Finn keeps his priorities straight at the end. 🙂
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:
“Where is the G-Man and what have you done with him??” –J.
John was up in Seattle for a few days this week, and upon spending some time with Henry when he returned, he asked me whether I’d swapped Henry out for a new model! Our littlest dude has undergone some major internal and external development this week. Even I noticed it. He’s much more tuned in to what’s going on around him, he smiles more readily, he’s getting really absorbed in the toys he’s playing with, and even his face looks different…older and more like a little boy than a baby. Oh, and he’s babbling a lot more! He definitely knows who “da da” is, and I swear he tried saying “banana” tonight as I was feeding him one. He said “na na” a couple of times as I was talking to him about it.
These are truly welcome changes. He went through a really rough phase for the past couple months–very clingy and fussy and averse to changes in his environment. But happily, those days are over and he’s really quite a pleasure to be around and to observe. He saw his brother making “fish lips” the other day at the dinner table and made them right back! He also seems to understand when something is silly and laughs right along with the rest of us. And his demeanor, which is far calmer than it was before, is fantastic. It’s just so nice to see him fiddling with toys and keeping himself contented with far less intervention necessary from Mom-o and Dad-o.
Oh, and last but not least, today was the first day that Henry has not tried to eat the book I’m trying to read him–he was actually interested in looking at and turning the pages himself!
The Nack family has welcomed a new Buddy in Blanketude! Our little Henry has finally bonded with his own little soft blankie buddy. As you know, Finn latched onto Leo, his little buddy, at about 7 or 8 months old. Henry never needed a pacifier or any kind of soothing tools to get to sleep–he found his thumb very early on and just pacified himself. Lately, though, Henry’s been protesting quite a bit when we lay him down in the crib–like he doesn’t want to be left alone (although he makes it clear he does not want to be held!).
Luckily for us, back when Henry was brand new, I preemptively picked up a trio of little owl blankies made by the same folks that created our beloved Leo(s). I decided to try offering one, dubbed “Ollie” by Dad-o, to Henry last week when he was starting to get upset about being put in the crib. Boy oh boy did that do the trick! As soon as he grabbed onto Ollie and rubbed Ollie’s little face into his own, he calmed right down and went down without another peep. It’s so incredibly sweet to see how happy Henry gets when he clutches his little friend and cuddles up in the crib.
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.
In addition to taking some great pix during their visit, our friend Adolfo captured a video of me plus our three boys in the park. Note Finn & Henry’s subtle but impassioned battle for control of the lion-buddy. 🙂