Toys, schmoys: All a guy needs for comic gold are some food props and a bit of cheek (in every sense).
“Hey Dad-O,” says corn-chip-wielding Finny, affecting a Southern drawl, “Aaah a hayseed! Lookit mah hay!!” And in the second shot below, he’s stuffed his cheeks (Brando-style) full of grapes, then fascinated himself by driving them around his mouth.
On Sunday the lads had a go at milking “Contenta,” a plywood cow on display at San Jose’s History Park. I’m not sure we’d impress our relatives/ancestors back in Ireland yet, but not bad for a first try, I think.
Previously: Eggs, cows, & more on Tommy’s farm.
It’s hardly a secret that our dudes dig all things railroad (note to self: Post birthday Lego pics ASAP!), but even I didn’t know they could get this into “training”: the boys spent easily two hours today attending to “Little Buttercup,” an 1899-vintage steam engine on display at San Jose’s History Park.
No snack breaks, no potty shots could stay these intrepid workers from the greasy completion of their self-appointed rounds. Back and forth they went, toting every filthy bolt, nut, “dipstick,” and piece of wood they could find to “Engine” (as they named “him”). We were aided & abetted by the almost-as-old retirees who patrol the shed (read: drink coffee & grumble about Obamacare). The boys would shove bolts into holes, pile up wood on buffers, etc., and I’d reward them with a booming “Oh, thanks, guys–I feel much better!” Again, this went on for hours… Here’s a little photo gallery.
At last a conductor finally asked us to stop, and the guys were pretty crushed: “I miss Engine!!” they blubbered almost all the way home. (Let’s blame the lack of food & nap a bit, too.) Still, we had a pretty terrific time; Engine now features prominently in T.A.L.B.; and the guys can’t wait to drag Mom-O back to the shed. (Hah, tag, you’re it, hon!)
Oh, that reminds me: Margot is in Europe this week (hence the lads’ free-range filth exploration), and this morning she sent a note detailing her ride on an electric train in Oslo. The guys loved it, as you’d imagine, drawing a fun response from Henry. Here, have a listen:
[audio:http://www.jnack.com/micronaxx/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/WHAT.mp3|titles=WHAT]
(In case the gray triangle above doesn’t work for you, here’s a direct link to the audio file.)
Aerial mayhem with a team of little hams? Yeah, we’ve got that. 🙂
I think my iPhone pretty much nailed this suggestion, don’t you? 🙂
Donkey kicks, “Mad Birds,” and “The Biting 4-Year-Old,” oh my! Check out some good times from the Wiggins’ back yard as we helped Juliana celebrate her birthday:
Being totally unclear on the concept is no barrier to huge enjoyment. 🙂
Self-proclaimed “bacon devil” Finn & his little bro have a Jack Spratt-style arrangement when it comes to meat: Finn grabs the protein while Henry carbo-loads via buns. This works especially well on “meat hut” sandwiches as Hen quite willingly (and amazingly) parts with his bacon; brotherly sharing at its finest!
In any event, I saw this image and thought of our big guy. (Click to get the full-size version.) Maybe it could make even Henry see the greasy, greasy light. 🙂
A few weeks back Finn took a real shine to Johnny Cash’s version of Soundgarden’s song “Rusty Cage.” I played him the original version and found him captivated by lead singer Chris Cornell’s screeching. That’s led to some Finn-as-Chris-Cornell renderings of popular hits–in this case, Harry Belafonte’s “Day-O (Banana Boat Song)”:
[audio:http://www.jnack.com/micronaxx/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/ChrisCornell.mp3|titles=ChrisCornell]
(MP3 link)
Over the weekend I showed Finn a little bird-puppet animation, after which we had a little career chat:
And here’s the crazier part: I subsequently shared this with one of my new colleagues who asked, “Does he know that my dog is named Pretzel?” I guess I know who (or what) I’ll now be reporting to!
The parenting racket can, on occasion, be a bit lonely: It’s hard to be spontaneous, to go places, to catch up with friends. Every so often, though, it’s great to remember that we’ve got some great friends and, hey, they can come over!
Yesterday we took advantage of the perfect weather to host a little backyard shindig featuring Margot “The Thrill on the Grill” Nack’s expert BBQ stylings & a variety of treats (guacamole, cobbler, and more) from visiting pals. The small fry ran around like crazy, tiring themselves out pretty completely (see the last photo in our little gallery for proof from Finn). Who knows, we just might have to make a habit of this. 🙂
Now listen (no pun intended): I have no illusions that almost anyone would want to sit through 8 minutes of bedtime lunacy involving a bandit-chief raccoon, a banana slug named Bonobo, brother firemen, Kawasaki Ninjas, and Chief McGillicuddy’s “flavor savor”–but just in case that sounds up your alley, press the little triangle below:
And if you’re on a machine (phone, iPad, etc.) that doesn’t have Flash installed, here’s a link to the audio file itself.
Who knows what got into the dudes this AM? Having gotten up early, I thought I’d sneak downstairs to do a little work—only to be intercepted by G-Man standing in the hallway at the bottom of the stairs. Both boys announced, “We’re ready for brutalizing!!” and demanded a little “sugar fuel” in the form of chocolate ice cream (a tiny dose of which I was happy to supply; hey, I grew up on Bill Cosby). Finn literally pumped his fist (below) over some buttered bread, after which we were off to his room for a solid half hour of wrestling (me: Doug the Dog; Henry: Doug Jr.; Finn: a dog named “Skateboard”). To borrow from the Marines, “We horse around more before 8am than most people do all day.” 🙂
Sometimes a guy just has to be a good bad uncle. 🙂
For years we’ve driven past a large collection of rusting, abandoned mining equipment, along with a bunch of huge rocks that get used in each year’s Boom Days drilling competition. We’d never stopped to explore them, though—until now. On Thursday nephew Patrick joined the Micronaxx & me on a little excursion. Because the gate was locked & marked “Private Road!,” we parked nearby, then swung the “minor miners” across a little stream & scrambled up a 20-foot slope made of loose rock. “Brea-kin’ the law, brea-kin’ the law!!”
At this point if you’d imagine I was thinking of Will Ferrell’s hilarious bit about George W. Bush exploring an abandoned mine shaft, you’d be right. 🙂 Happily we avoided all manner of scrapes, tetanus, lockjaw, cave-ins, lightning strikes, and more. (Seriously, it wasn’t dangerous, or I’d never have taken the guys there; it just seemed a bit rakish & daring.) The four of us hoofed it to avoid some impending rain, and the next day we returned with Mom-O. Here’s a gallery that combines shots from both visits.
Finnegan meets neighbor Finley. 🙂 (Click for larger.)
Finn’s explaining some grim tales to Henry regarding their “family” of plastic dump trucks:
The mom died last summer. The dad will probably die on a trip, so they’ll have to live with the grandma & grandpa. Instead of blood coming out, it’d be oil and gas. She went to Moffett Field when they were working on that big hangar, and it still had the skin on, and she got some bad chemicals. She ate a lot of chemicals, like fuzz & grass and stuff. Probably people will find her & make her a mummy & toss her in the air, then put her in a hole to bury her up. And the kids will say, “Waaaah, where’s our mommy??”
This isn’t the first time mortality has come up. A few months back poor Finny got tearful talking about death. Things got pretty heavy until he blurted, “A-a-and, we won’t get to eat any dinosaur meat!”
We survived! Our guys are officially seasoned campers, chomping at the bit to go again.
Margot & I brought the boys over to Big Basin the Friday before last, rendezvousing with another 15 (!) or so other kids & their parents. Because she had Pilates training on Saturday & Sunday, Margot didn’t sleep over with us, but she did a brilliant job packing & helped us set up the tent. Without her I’d still be out in the woods—if I even got there to begin with!
We borrowed camping gear from my friend Dani at work, but it didn’t occur to us to get air mattresses until we saw all the other families pumping up theirs. The first night was more than a bit bumpy, literally & figuratively. (Note to other parents: When introducing kids to camping, maybe don’t pick the longest day of the year!) The guys bounced around the tent for hours like a couple of popcorn kernels. I was the old maid.
The next day, however, our friend Shay showed up with some good news: “I’m the camping fairy!” she announced, then went to get something from her car. Finn turned to me: “Is she really a camping fairy?” No, she claimed: she was just a “mattress mule,” having been recruited by Margot late the night before to carry a brand new set of air mattresses to us!  As I had no phone coverage at the camp site, this was a terrific surprise!
Can I claim we then slept like kings? Well, not exactly. Ensconced in our tent, I thought of the Passover scene from The Ten Commandments: I kept hearing periodic wailing arising from other tents & just thought, “I don’t know who that is, and I don’t know what’s happening, but man we’re just staying behind our door and riding this thing out!” In any case, our backs sure appreciated the “close air support.”
Oh, by the way, parents: When it comes to kids in sleeping bags, it seems there’s about a three-inch window that separates “cozy” from (on one end) “hypothermia” and (on the other) “asphyxiation.” I kept waking up to find Henry totally exposed & turning blue, and then (having remedied that problem) completely missing, having slipped entirely into the bag. Yeesh!
Here’s a gallery of the goings-on. Other random bits from the adventure:
I think G-Man’s aerodynamism is a bit impeded by that spare tire. 😉
Just a typical Thursday night at La Casa de Micronaxx. 🙂
