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:
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Category: Videos
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“Hide” & Seek
Being totally unclear on the concept is no barrier to huge enjoyment. 🙂
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G-Man B-Day!
Our little Mr. Henry Nack officially turned 3 today! We had a big birthday party for him while we were with the rest of my family in Colorado last week, complete with a VW Beetle-shaped cake, homemade ice cream, and presents; check out the photos. Today we had another, smaller party with our friends the Wiggins at the park down the street. This time we celebrated with a big ol’ pizza and a tiny little cake, and lots of running around!
Although Henry has not really grown much taller during the past year, he has made enormous leaps and bounds in other ways – both literally and figuratively! Figuratively, he’s become so articulate and conversant – especially in the last couple of months. He easily articulates pretty complex ideas and observations, and recounts events and conversations in great detail. He and Finny have extensive conversations and make up elaborate narratives while they’re playing. And literally, he has started hopping and jumping around like crazy, especially when he gets excited about something. For a little guy, he gets pretty good air! He also loves physical horsing around with all of us, and usually starts laughing uncontrollably when we tumble around with him.
His love of vehicles continues unabated, and he reaped many wheeled and winged presents for his birthday – including new variations of his favorites, Lightning and Mater (from Pixar’s Cars). He is also nuts for fire fighting, and was THRILLED to receive his fireman “backpack” – which is a tank you fill with water, then pump out the attached sprayer hose (usually onto his brother).
His fondness for owls is also going strong, and he received a couple of terrific owly gifts. Grandma Nack gave him a beautiful book about an owl flying around at night, and his Auntie Laura made him a super-cute little knitted, stuffed owl with big brown eyes, named “Roy,” just like the one his cousin Patrick has.
We can’t wait to see what Henry’s next year holds in store. He’s off to a terrific start!
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:
- During our hike to a nearby waterfall, Henry quickly migrated to my shoulders, but he hung onto his “walking stick.” The net result was that he held it in front of me, making me feel like a donkey chasing a carrot. Normally it’s the parent who get to dole out the carrot-and-stick routine!
- The guys were fascinated that bold raccoons kept infiltrating the campsite, even making off with a bag of marshmallows. Â They liked hanging out in and around the metal containers meant to protect food from raccoons & bears.
- Finn got a very quick & intimate familiarization with banana slugs, accidentally laying his hand on one of the big creatures in a log. He freaked out (hey, I would too), demanding that I wipe off the stickum. Soon, though, we incorporated a banana slug named Bonobo into our T.A.L.B. ritual, alongside a charismatic raccoon named El Bandito & “Ranger Mary” (pictured in the gallery singing to the guys at the ranger station).
- Our friends Doug & Jodi occupied the tent right next to ours, and Doug remarked on my patience dealing with the guys’ “20 questions” routine. It was a nice bit of encouragement. Your can see their son Dillon sporting an eyepatch with Finn in the little video clip below.
- Seeing all the kids coming & going from tents reminded me of the German phrase “Nein fisimatenten.” It means “no foolishness,” but it’s said to derive from a French occupation of Germany during which French soldiers would call to German girls, “Hey, visitez ma tente!” (“Come visit my tent!”) You can see how Henry’s Graham-cracker-powered solicitations would be hard to resist. 🙂
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Our “Hot Air Balloon” Ride
How about an uplifting video for Monday?
Taken during a recent sojourn to Gilroy Gardens.
Man, who knew that for the last several years, a seriously terrific toy was sitting right under—or rather, over—our noses?
In the bath the other night, the guys became drinkin’ buddies, discovering the joys of chugging water straight from the tap. Here’s a little set of photos showing their antics, complete with requisite tummy-jousting (“Look how big my belly is!” “No, my belly’s bigger!”). The drinking has become a recurring ritual, and in seemingly related news, we’ve had to upgrade Henry’s overnight pull-ups to Extreme Deluge Control level. 😉
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Happy Mothers Day!
Man oh man were the Micronaxx ever eager to bring Mom-O her first breakfast in bed! Well, to be honest, they were excited to sample the fruits of our “secret mission” to nearby Flower Flour. (Finn kept gleefully threatening to “ruin the beans” by disclosing what we were up to.) In fact, both guys were excited to the point of being train wrecks, nervous that somehow Mom-O wouldn’t share, or (in Finn’s view) that I’d get sidetracked changing Henry before escorting them upstairs (“Don’t get into the poop stuff–it’s always a big deal, and he gets upset, and blah blah blah!”). Happily, a few bites of sugary goodness restored their pluck:
My only regret is that I couldn’t find a tube of brown frosting with which to change “Mom” to the much more fitting “Mom-O.” 🙂
Afterwards we all delighted in the boys’ first boating experience–something they found especially exciting given our recent nautical exploring (more on that shortly).
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Happiness is a Warm Gram
You know who loves being chopped liver? Me! 🙂
The lads had a terrific week with Grandma Nack. Normally the guys stick to me like white on rice, and every morning starts with urgent requests to hang out. Not last week, though: Finny would make a beeline into Grandma’s room, and Henry happily skipped past me to see her. I’d find them reading books (Mom started Finn on Little House on the Prairie, as she did with me at age 4) or rampaging on the pull-out bed (“Stunt Coursing!”). At one point Finn asked Grandma not to use the bathroom that sits between her room and his: “Well, I’d wake up & not know what that light was–and one time I looked through the key hole and saw a Grandma face in there!”
Here are a couple of videos of Mom reading to the guys. They’re not exactly action-packed, to say the least, but it’s fun to see the very first reading of Little House–and the thousandth of Henry’s “things that go” book:
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Stunt Course!
We had a ball at the Santa Cruz Mountain Bike Festival last weekend with our pals the Wiggii, future (heck, current) biking phenom Dillon Hall, and his folks & little sister. Our guys have been pretty indifferent to cycling, but the Finnster got caught up in the spirit of the day. Check out his ride on the “stunt course” (a term he’s been re-using all week for the various pillow obstacles he’s erected):
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Pick-a-Brick & the Legendary Turkey Leg
Lego.com wants to test the bounds of my sanity: its Pick-a-Brick feature had me dancing on the edge of madness, clicking through *hundreds* of pages of pieces, choosing great & offbeat ones I thought the guys would enjoy. After I made my selection, we’ve waited (im)patiently for weeks as the literal slow boat from China inched closer with our bespoke loot. And what do you know, it finally came! Here’s a little “unboxing” video, courtesy of Mom-O:
Too bad you can’t see their initial excited freak-out upon realizing what the white envelope contained. It was much like this clip, wherein Finny got a birthday Lego ambulance from his friend Cyrus:
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Presenting “Truck Show Firemen Everywhere”
The boys love watching homemade YouTube videos where kids show off their Lego collections. For weeks Finn’s been talking about creating “Truck Show Firemen Everywhere” (being very insistent about the specific title)–and now we’ve done it!
So, without further ado, please meet Jim, Nonsense, Sweaty, their “vehicle-shaped” vehicle, and more!
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A Beach Boardwalk Blast
How does a solo-flying Dad-O manage the Micronaxx? By stuffing them onto rides for some seaside “super-dizzying”! Check out Sunday on the Boardwalk with our friends the Wiggii:
As for the choppers, hens aren’t really known for flying high, are they?
My folks & the guys had a literal ball–or three–playing together in the back yard. After scoring a few big bouncy balls at Walgreens, my mom regaled the boys with tales of her illustrious basketball career, and the boys showed off their antics with the “Long Arm” (basically walking together while holding a stick, ending with a pratfall from Finn). We were charmed that the big guy picked up on my parents having actual names besides “Grandma/Grandpa,” and he started cheekily prefacing every toss to Grandpa by saying, “Time for Jim to have a turn!”
Here’s a little gallery of photos, plus a short clip:
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Goin’ Solo (Han & otherwise)
Our guys are pretty physically cautious. Whereas their little buddies bomb around on Strider bikes & swing from monkey bars, our guys tend to creep along.
That’s why I was so pleased to see how much they took to “giant bouncy land” on Saturday night. Both dudes threw themselves into the fun–literally–and kept charging up and down the big slides. Finn decided he was Han Solo riding a tauntaun, making me a ferocious wampa. Here’s a rough little clip of me chasing him. Would you believe that Henry not only followed in Finn’s footsteps, but solo-bombed the big slide himself?
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Greetings from Baby New Year
Here’s to a delightfully bizarre 2012. 🙂
John and I went out to the mall a few days ago to wrap up our Christmas shopping for each other. I really wanted to get him his own elaborate Lego kit, because there are not many things John loves more than Legos (me, the kids, and his camera, to be exact). I was gun shy, though, because I didn’t want to get him a gift that he couldn’t really enjoy with the kids, because they’re still a bit too small to manipulate and build with all those tiny pieces (or so I thought!).
So, I left the Lego store empty-handed. Turns out John had also visited the store, and was drooling over a model Chinook helicopter. “Or as Henry likes to call them,” notes Finny, “‘hello-copters.'” He too walked away empty-handed, and a little bit heartbroken, for the same reason as me. As we talked more about it, we both reached the same conclusion, which was that he should go back and get that darn helicopter kit and see if it was something Finny would be able to enjoy alongside him. Worst case scenario, Finny wouldn’t enjoy it, but John would still be left with a Lego helicopter! (Henry, surprisingly, is a fan of the instruction booklets, a.k.a. “constructions.”)
I think the pictures in our little gallery will tell you everything you need to know. I remarked to John that seeing the joy on his face while observing the two of them build the chopper was the true gift. I got to see one of his dreams of fatherhood come true.
Back in April Henry became a bit obsessed with the subject of Thomas (the Tank Engine) and the seaside. How great, then, that we discovered that Thomas was coming to our very own seaside! The four of us cruised over to Santa Cruz where we met Sir Topham Hatt & even Santa and his elves! G-Man was predictably standoffish, but Finny warmed right up and delivered his wish list. Afterwards we had a ball riding the huge boardwalk carousel & playing on the train tables. Here’s our little gallery, plus a very brief clip:
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The Rough House!
I have such fond childhood memories of partying with my Murray cousins, roughhousing on air mattresses (which we pretended were giant butt cheeks–don’t ask) and so much more. I was therefore especially delighted to get our lads partying with Sarah Murray, her friend Chernoh, and little Patrick Mahoney (Liz’s son). We all worked up a real sweat “brutalizing” the guys, turning Patrick & Finn into burritos, and trading aerial attacks (Crocs, Thomas hat, slipcovers–you name it). Here’s a little taste:
Later, back at Grandma & Grandpa Nack’s, the guys climbed the staircase and said, “We want to fire stuff down, like we did at Chernoh’s house!” Here’s to many happy returns.
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Squeasel attack!
During her recent visit, our friend Maria told us about her backyard being overrun by “squeasels” (squirrels & weasels). Finn got into showing off the squeasels in his shirt–then going after Maria’s. Check it out:
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Making icy lemonade
The bad: Getting stuck stuck on a frozen tarmac in Germany.
The good: Opportunity to make a video for the lads! 🙂
Now, please be forewarned that the following clip is going to be totally uninteresting to anyone over the age of 4 or so. I share it, though, just as an example of the experiences one can now capture & share while away from the fam. I love that I can shoot footage of ships in the Hamburg harbor, or of myself skiing, or whatever, then share it so that Margot can show the guys over breakfast. “These are the days of miracles and wonder,” sang Paul Simon; I couldn’t agree more.