From the days when El Finnster didn’t fight off a good smooch. 🙂
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Month: March 2015
Seven years ago today: Four “Jeeps” (GP’s, i.e. grandparents) + one very micro Finnster. 🙂 Not shown: the part where, if I recall correctly, Finn then peed on my dad. More photos from that day.
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Sunset Beach
“The best thing about San Jose,” I always tell people, “is that you can easily escape & quickly go somewhere more interesting.” We did just that last Sunday, taking the boys to horse around with sand crabs & each other at Sunset Beach (a bit south of Santa Cruz). Here’s our gallery.
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Home Run Hitters
The Bash Brothers’ mini-slugfest continues at T-ball. 🙂 Note the moment where Henry decides that a missed high-five is reason enough to reverse course.
[YouTube]
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Choco-boca
Glug glug glug glug. — Son #1 🙂
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Leprechaun Traps!
In advance of St. Paddy’s day today, the boys explained that they wanted to try and trap some leprechauns. This is not something John or I had done as kids, but apparently building leprechaun traps is a new practice for kids these days.
Finn explained how the traps were supposed to work, and we did some online research to see examples before we started building our own. Critical trap components include Lucky Charms, which Dad-O & Henry ran out to get, fake rainbows, clouds, and of course, the trap.  Finn and I stayed home during the bait run to devise cereal bowl and Lego-based traps. You’ll see in the gallery what we came up with – paper rainbow entrances with Lucky Charms and fake cotton ball “clouds” to lure the leprechauns into leaving gold at the end of each rainbow, before the cereal bowl trap fell onto them.
We set the traps out on the back steps before bedtime and listened for suspicious rustling on the back porch. John thinks he might’ve heard something but was too sleepy to go out and check. This morning, as soon as the boys awoke, the first words out of Henry’s mouth were:Â “Dad-O, could you shut off the burglar alarm so we can go out & see whether we captured any?”
Lo and behold, our traps worked! Well, partially… Although the little bootprints left at the scene indicated the leprechauns eventually escaped, they did leave a pile of gold coins (old Mexican pesos), and chocolate coins under each trap. The boys were ecstatic! Henry exclaimed “Now I know that leprechauns are REAL!”
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Ancient Hibernian Greetings
Erin Go Bragh, 2009-style! 🙂 (See previous St. Paddy’s images & videos.)
What happens when the Micronaxx take some Macronaxx to the Children’s Discovery Museum for some celebrations of the lunar new year? Why, a little trip through Saigon, of course. (More pics to come soon, I hope.)
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Hams by the Sea
Well someone is excited to visit the cliffs of Santa Cruz. 🙂
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Play Ball!
Yesterday marked the exciting first day of Little League season. We signed the boys up for T-ball this spring, to give them an opportunity to try something new, learn how to play a team sport, and do a lot of running around. Since neither guy has ever played ball before, we are starting with T-ball so they can learn the fundamentals without any pressure. They’ve been really excited about going to practice with their fellow Mets (inexplicably represented by the letter “B” and a cartoon bumblebee).
Prior to yesterday’s opening ceremony and first game, shown in this gallery, they’ve been learning base running, “base position”, catching, batting, and throwing. They’re both catching on pretty fast, and they are really enjoying themselves. Henry is actually pretty fast on his feet when he’s focused enough to remember to run! And Finn has a pretty good arm!
They had a blast yesterday, playing their first game against the Dragons, and are looking forward to Saturday match-ups with the Scrappers, Tin Caps, and Sea Dogs. We had an equally great time cheering on all the players and watching the constant tangle of outfielders, all trying to get the ball and throw it back to first base.
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A Boy, A Dog, and a Frog—plus a Grandpa
One of my favorite childhood possessions was & is a tiny boxed set of Mercer Mayer’s four books about “A Boy, A Dog, and a Frog.” Here my dad delights the boys—as he & my mom used to delight me—with a dramatic “reading” of one wordless tale. 🙂
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How To Stuff Your Dragon
Mom-O had the fun idea of celebrating Finn’s birthday with a trip to the nearby Build-A-Bear Workshop. Both lads got to pick out & create a new buddy—and both picked Toothless, scaly star of “How To Train Your Dragon.” Afterwards they introduced Grandma & Grandpa to the movie. Here’s a peek into the workshop:
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Happy Birthday, Big Finno!!
Somehow—to our absolute shock—we’ve done seven full laps of the sun since our once-wee man made his debut. (“The days are long but the years are short.”) Happy birthday, our blonde & dimpled treasure!
Stay tuned for more photos & videos from the celebration, but in the meantime check out a gallery of the marvelous Lego-themed cake Mom-O crafted & Finn decorated, on which each member of the fam + Grandma & Grandpa Nack appear. Here, let’s have Finn explain it; just don’t tell him I shared this clip with you. 🙂
[YouTube]