Finnster & G-Man recently helped their Pasitos buddy Jesse celebrate his 4th b-day. Downside: They’re not into spicy Mexican candy. Upside: Hen walked off with a papier-mâché dino leg in which to store future treats. 🙂
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Category: Videos
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Happy Birthday, Big Finn!
This post is a bit belated, but the party wasn’t: Happy Birthday to our big, bright, blonde boy! We had a ball (my totally sore, bouncy-house-strained neck notwithstanding ;-)), and we’ll post photos soon. Meanwhile, let’s sing!
Hear the chaos!
See the uncooperative candles that keep threatening to go out!
Celebrate our big blonde guy turning 6!
We had fun exploring the driftwood-laden New Brighton Beach (which we’d somehow missed all these years) with the boys’ preschool buddy Clark & his dad Alex a couple of weeks back. Here you can get a glimpse of them constructing a “Beach ranger station” and burying their amigo. 🙂
Beach ranger station:
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A perfect day
Saturday was just unbelievably lovely. Here’s a quick peek:
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Spin for the Win
We had an absolute blast exploring Big Sur yesterday, visiting my friend the photojournalist Bruce Haley & family beneath the Bixby Creek Bridge. We’ll share photos soon (I took a *ton*). In the meantime, here Bruce’s wife Deborah shows our fascinated boys the spinning wheel she uses to make yarn:
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Wakey Wakey!
The view from my pillow, 6:47am. (Yes, those are my legs.) 🙂
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Beholding Grandpa’s old typewriter
Margot’s dad recently sent us his trusty old writing machine, and the boys have been fascinated. “Many an essay has been written on that!” notes Auntie Laura. “Grampa has had that since he got his Bachelor’s at CU.” Check it out:
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Finn’s-Eye View (aka, “Wheeee!”)
Prepare yourself: You’re about to become 3.5 feet tall, and blonde, and a bit less than steady on your bike. 🙂 Check out a kid’s-eye view of Rancho San Antonio, as captured from the helmet of Finn thanks to the new GoPro camera Mom-O got us for Christmas:
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World War Z(erbert), then & now
It’s fun to compare 4-year-old Henry trading zerberts with Mom-O…
…to an old clip of 8-month-old Henry turning her into his private musical “instrument”:
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Nacks On A Plane
“Man, I’m glad our flights didn’t get too screwed up in & out of Denver,” said Margot just now. Well, give her credit for looking on the bright side of things. It’s true that our flights weren’t canceled, but look at the “fun” the boys & I had while moldering on the tarmac for a couple of hours, awaiting the de-icing truck:
Henry proceded to pass out, and then—once we were in the air—puke all over the place. (“Why didn’t you grab the barf bag??” demanded Finn, quite reasonably. Because your old man doesn’t have cat-like reflexes, son.) Amazingly, as we finally dragged our bones through the door in San Jose, Hen lit up and said—without a hint of irony—”That was the best trip ever!” ;-P
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Brief Notes From a Big Elf
It’s pretty great knowing a little elf in Kansas City—our pal Maria—who can put her calligraphy skills to use helping the boys hear from the big elf up north. Check out the boys enjoying their letters from Santa!
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Microcoaster of Love
What’s better than tots enjoying a roller coaster? Tots enjoying a roller coaster in slow-mo to the sounds of Red Hot Chili Peppers! 🙂
Check out Finnster, our friend Malachy, and especially Henry braving Happy Hollow’s Pacific Fruit Express coaster last Saturday.
Lions and Owls and Cones Oh My!
This year, since we’re heading to Colorado for Christmas, we decided to let the boys open their “big” gifts a few days early. Finny continues to be obsessed with lions – so his gift was kind of easy. I was walking through Costco the other day and they had these enormous animal beanbag chairs, one of which was a lion. Done and DONE! I knew I’d regret it if I didn’t get him the chair because it is such a colossal feline.
As for Henry, his latest fascination (in addition to owls) is traffic cones. Whenever he sees them, he’s like a moth to a flame. He cannot walk by a construction site, or a playground with cones on it without stopping and moving the cones around in an effort to “block things off for safety.” John had the fantastic idea to buy Henry his own real, construction-and-traffic-control grade cones. I logged into Amazon, and wouldn’t you know it, they had many sizes, weights, and styles of cone to choose from. We knew Henry would go absolutely mental when he opened the cones, and as you can see from the gallery, he did not disappoint. He was also pretty pleased about the owl pajamas I made him, and is thrilled when bedtime rolls around and he can lounge in his owl peej before hitting the sack.
You know that moment near the end of a very long flight, where your plane is floating over the runway & you want nothing more for it just to touch down so you can get on with your life, and yet it seems to hover endlessly? That’s how putting the boys down for the night can feel: So close to relief, yet so far away.
Thus the other night I was right at the proverbial finish line, having deflected the boys back into bed for the last time, when Finn announced, “Wait, Dad-O! I have songs, with hand gestures!!” He was so excited to show off his moves for the upcoming holiday celebration at school, and though the timing of his reveal was pretty terrible, he put on a heck of a late-night, top-bunk show for Henry & me.
Here you can check out the whole class singing Christmas & Hanukkah songs in English & Spanish. Fair warning: It’s one of those stereotypically terrible parental videos, shot from the back of a crowded room in which one can barely see the kid. Look for Finn on the right-hand side right by the wall. (Full-screen viewing recommended. Hit the little button in the lower-right corner of the video, Mom & Dad. :-))
For a much more personal performance, check out Finn’s reenactment by our Christmas tree:
Saturday night was unusually warm, making for a perfect outing to ride the little train in nearby Los Gatos. As has become something of a tradition (starting in 2010 at the Oakland Zoo, and continuing in Los Gatos a year later), our little friends Bettie & Quade joined us for the ride, this time with their little sister Juliette. Check out the action below, and in this little gallery of photos.
When life gives you small, highly animated, pre-6am lemons, you can try making this sort of lemonade. 🙂
For some reason the guys arose insanely early the other day, and Henry was inspired to build quite an elaborate setup for Thomas & friends. Here’s what we whipped up before school (and amazingly, it’s still standing today!).
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Happy Birthday, Uncle Ted
From the little guys to the big guy. 🙂
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Chariot of Squire
a.k.a., Finnster frolicking in the Santa Cruz waves this afternoon. 🙂
The dudes & I had a ball trick-or-treating last week—or as they put it, “Trick or Meat!”/”Trick or Mouse!” (y’know, being a lion & owl & all). This baffled neighbor after unsuspecting neighbor, but I loved that they stuck with it. When we returned home, the guys got their first shot at handing out candy themselves! Henry was so into it that when we ran out, he dipped into his own bucket to share with visiting kids. (Not bad—and quite charming—for a kid who’s always scrapping with his bro over who got more toast, butter, etc.) This quick video gives a taste of our evening:
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We Are The Champions
…of biking in circles around Hummingbird Park, anyway. 🙂 Onward & upward for bike-meister Finn.