This fall the dudes made their first real foray into playing music, with Finn picking up drum sticks & Henry grabbing a trumpet. On Wednesday they treated us to their first-ever concert. Check out this little handful of pics & the video below.
Having explored the surrounding region (Jackson Hole, the Grand Tetons) on previous days, on the Wednesday of our trip we finally made it into Yellowstone proper—and to Old Faithful! The weather was pretty touch-and-go, but at least the boys heeded our warnings (and those of some friendly rangers) and didn’t fall into any hot springs & get liquified. 😬 In this gallery you can see some of our travels and the critters (both living & stuffed) we saw along the way.
“Waste not, want not”—true, but you might gain an unwanted reputation!
Around our house I (“The Goat”) am infamous for finishing off others’ chow a little too quickly—something I’ve largely stopped doing, though Finn will never let me off the hook for decapitating his gingerbread man years ago. In any case, this week I discovered that each boy had surrounded his cookie “Masterpiece” with cautionary text aimed my way. As you can see from Henry’s, it was “The opposite of Bon Appetite for Dad today!”
These days, by the time we get around to T.A.L.B. at 8:30pm, chances are that Ol’ Dad has been blowing & going since before dawn. Consequently, recent story quality has been… well, let’s say uneven. I was kinda proud of the new characters I invented recently—Mr. Robert Cat, a bobcat, and Moe Hunculus, a homunculus—although Finn just shook his head and said “I often wonder whether you’re having a stroke.” 😝
By contrast, when our friend Maria is in town, she really pulls out the stops. Whereas I just try to invent stuff on the fly, she starts mapping out characters & events ahead of time using a pen & notebook. I’m pretty sure that somewhere she has a wall that looks like this:
Anyway, Finn noted the other day that “T” quality has varied widely lately—largely depending on who’s doing the telling:
Happily, I’ve been working to up my game recently, and we’ve been having a lot of fun incorporating Finn’s Yellowstone buddy Bert the (stuffed) Buffalo—who, it turns out, is quite the dancer. A few collaborative sketches of Bert in action are below. 🐃😊
A year ago today, we found ourselves shivering all night in a stranded, barf-coated VW van clinging to the edge of a Yosemite canyon. Although we captured some cool photos that Thanksgiving weekend, I think the whole experience (which you’ve no doubt heard about many times already!) left us just shaken enough that we weren’t eager to dwell on the pics.
A year later, however, it’s fun to look through our gallery and see the before & after shots of the canyon (from blue sky to two feet of snow in a matter of hours!); the boys exploring our pop-top camper; Finn slipping into the freezing river; Hen photo-bombing his bro; our epic snowball fight; and more. Enjoy!—and if you’re really feeling nostalgic/bored, check out other Yosemite adventures from when the guys were tiny.
This Thanksgiving we’ve kept things pretty quiet, enjoying a feast at home with the guys (despite the gas on our oven having gone out; thanks, neighbors Scott & Karen for letting us borrow yours!), then heading north on Friday to enjoy California beach beauty at Point Reyes. En route Finn filled us in with tons of interesting details about the place’s history (featuring privateer Sir Francis Drake plundering Spanish galleons, coming ashore, and burying the booty!). He also couldn’t stop jabbering about his Christmas wish list, leading (as you’ll see) Margot to take matters into her own hands—literally.
Here’s a little gallery from our adventures so far. Now Go Irish!
Following our chairlift ride & snowball fight in Teton Village, we headed out to explore Jackson Hole & the nearby Tetons. We were thrilled to spot a bear rustling around maybe 50 yards away, but he scampered into the woods before I could capture his photo. Fortunately the mountains couldn’t run as fast, so we were able to get them on camera along with some pronghorn, deer, and historic buildings before enjoying some local Mexican chow. Check out our gallery.
Well, another great Halloween is in the books & in our bellies. Gone (for now) are the days of the dudes rocking Mom-O’s awesome homemade costumes, but they still looked cool in their viking & werewolf getups. Finn cruised around another neighborhood with his pals while Hen patrolled near our house with neighbors Henry D. & Sadie. Check our our little gallery!
Amidst all the fun the guys had visiting Grandma & Grandpa Nack in Big G this past summer, I neglected to share photos of our evening out exploring hot air balloons in Galena Territory with our Murray/Mahoney cousins. So, taking a little break from Yellowstone pics, here’s a little gallery. Note that this was during Hen’s unfortunate but mercifully brief “roll eyes to ruin every photo” phase, so at Finn’s urging I added a little something extra to the final shot. 🙂
“Hey Dad, call me ‘Hannibal Deflector!'” yelled Finn as he & G-Man duked it out with me in our long-awaited “epic snowball fight.” We’d climbed some 4,000 via the tram at Teton Village, where we were staying at the local hostel. While Margot wisely kept her feet dry, the rest of us trudged to the top of the snowy hill to glimpse the Grand Tetons poking through the clouds. Mippy (Finn’s robot dinosaur) made the ascent & an appearance, and we were treated to seeing a paraglider toss himself off the mountaintop. Oh, and happily we didn’t need bear spray. 🙂 Check out our little gallery from the adventure.
Driving up from Salt Lake City, we happened upon the charming little town of Lava Hot Springs. Although we found some amazing pizza & square-shaped ice cream cones (!), we didn’t have time for a dip in any of the local springs. Happily Margot was able to rejigger our travel plans & book us a place to stay on our return trip.
Check out a gallery & quick video showing the amazingly beautiful evening we got to spend taking a dip with our dudes!
The first full day of our Yellowstone trip saw us make our way to Jackson, Wyoming for a whole bunch of adventures, including:
For our first night’s stay en route to Yellowstone, Margot somehow found a super funky, sword-filled Quonset hut with its own treehouse. After driving through hours of snowy darkness (what we dubbed “the jellyfish,” given its appearance in our headlights), we were greeted by colorful & charming retired fire chief Jonathan. He told us that he’d built the treehouse for his grandkids & that he now runs ropes courses for student groups. The cabin itself had been built to house workers who’d been constructing a nearby dam, after which it was disassembled & moved up to its current location.
As you can see in our photo gallery and in the video below, we all had a blast staying there—especially the dudes!
Last weekend Finn & I joined his Webelos scout crew on what proved to be a rather epic hike in the Santa Cruz mountains just off Highway 1. As you can see in our gallery, on Saturday we climbed & climbed over the course of a six-mile trail, then set up our rather sad & bizarre little pup tent. Thankfully Sunday was mostly downhill, and upon returning to civilization, Finn was more than happy to take me up on my offer of an immense burger.
…add one Hen, apply liberally; observe from a safe distance. :-p
I awoke to find that Google Photos had made me this fun little retrospective of our beloved G-Man. Check out his evolution from squashy little blob to fun-sized goofball. 😀
Yesterday Mom-O & Hen buzzed over to San Jose’s Luna Park to check out the annual street-chalk festival. As you can imagine, the young art connoisseur flipped out over giant owls, soda-drinking goats, and more. Here’s a little gallery from the outing.
At Back-to-School Night this week, Margot & I got to drop in on the dudes’ new classrooms and teachers. We were charmed to find their self portraits hanging up. Note Finn’s inclusion of green racing stripes on his glasses, plus Hen’s generous application of freckles. 😊
I’ve been remiss in sharing a few last shots from our great adventure in NYC. As usual on Wednesday we packed things in:
Here’s our gallery plus a little video compilation of some random moments.
Look at these big, handsome beasts! The Walking Train is underway!
