do-rag and idyllic sundays

On a particularly warm and pleasant Sunday afternoon we found ourselves leaving the house at 9:45 am, having already eaten breakfast, cleaned the house, baked a frittata and packed a picnic to join our other friends-with-child-therefore-awake-and-available-before-10am-
on-a-Sunday-morning friends up a Tilden Park for an idyllic day of picnicing, taking in the Farm and the always-a-hit Steam Train. Micah decided he wanted a "hat" like mama and sported this do-rag (which apparently "the term do-rag is itself an acronym derived from Drive-On rag, a term that first came into usage among U.S. soldiers during the Vietnam War. The original Drive On Rag or DO Rag was the compressed muslin bandage that comes in most military First-Aid Kits." Who knew?)

There were all sorts of fashionable head accessories, like the super-dorky-baby-hat, -er I mean, legionnaire's hat, worn ever so stylishly by Nikko here (Don't worry Nikko--ALL the cool kids are wearing them):
Speaking of Nikko, Micah enjoyed showing him the ropes at the Farm and Steam Trains on Nikko (and his parents') virgin voyage:
A goose's-eye view of Micah at the Farm:

Creative choo-choo building

As Amy talked to her mom on the phone, Micah got creative with the choo-choo. He integrated the balls-n-rods magnets into the Brio choo-choo. This video doesn't show the fully integrated finished product.

In and out towel

The Little Farm

We recently met up with Abby and his parents at the Little Farm in Tilden Park. Micah and Abby enjoyed chasing each other around and feeding the animals. In the video below, we are rounding the sheep paddock. Notice Micah's use of the word which I'll transcribe as "cay-you". He hears us asking, "do you want me to carry you?" and thinks that "carry-you" is the verb, leading him to implore "cay-you Micah?" or "Micah cay-you" when he wants to be picked up.



We went for a walk through the nature area part of the park. We had a tough time steering the lads clear of the poison-oak-lined fringe of the trail, but at least Micah got an opportunity to show off his trail running skills:



We spotted several turtles as we rounded Lake Jewell. By the time we got to the part of the trail with the cool overhanging tree branches, the boys had round out of patience for things like posed portraits.

Ride from Jackie

Leave Micah alone!

Spot the Grandma

Micah jumps

We had dinner at Ben & Eleanor's house. Ben's dad sent us this nice video of Ben and Micah jumping on the bed. Fortunately, no one fell out and bumped his head.

Fun with Shira

Last night we had dinner with neighbors Ity, Adi, and Shira. What did we do before dinner? I'll give you a hint: "cat" is to Micah as "_____" is to Zack. Ok, the picture gives it away...



That's right, we watched some scenes from The Jungle Book (movie) featuring King Louie (Zack's first word, as "cat" was Micah's).

After dinner, we read some books in English and Hebrew (Shira speaks both)...



... and then had a frantic rapid activity period (FRAP).

Grandma & Grandpa's gymnastics footage

These videos may someday help explain why Micah didn't grow up to be a gymnast:





Ok, to be a bit more charitable-- Micah did have fun on the trampoline:

Best. Playground. Ever.

On the way out of Monterey last weekend we stopped at Estero Park. Holy Higgs bosons-- do they know how to build playgrounds there!

There were tunnels:

bridges:



sand:



and slides:



But these paled in comparison to the main attraction. Micah must have thought he was in heaven when he saw the real, live...choo-choo engine!!!

Transcontinental Funk-Off

Cousin Joey has been stripping down and funking out with George Clinton and his Flashlight. Here's some archival footage of another Funky Kingston jam session with Toots & the Maytals. Watch Micah bop 'til he plotzes. Sadly, we lost Micah's dancing necklace at the beach in Santa Cruz. This evening Micah requested Toots again and before the music came on he asked for his necklace. Sniff.

Monterey Bay

We had a busy weekend on the Monterey Bay. We went down to Santa Cruz to visit Rachael and Rodrigo and assist them in consuming the 10 pounds of garlic thay had on hand--one of Rodrigo's "perks" as a produce buyer for Whole Foods. Here we are at New Brighton Beach, enjoying the sand and surf:



We left Sunday morning with garlic sweating out of our pores and headed 45 minutes South to the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

There were jelly fish:




And tidal pools:




Beautiful vistas:

Micah's buddy, "Black-white!" Black-white" otherswise known as a male sheepshead fish:

Missing gan-ma and gan-pa

Micah enjoyed the photos grandma and grandpa G sent us of their recent trip to visit us. He pointed out "gan-ma" in this photo amidst excited "Choo-choo! Choo-choo!" pronouncements. This photo was taken while Zack and I were on a date at our partners acro-yoga class. Grandparents are the best.

Chep-up

"More, more, more chep-up!" I write these things down so that when months have passed I will remember how Micah would pronounce ketchup. I've stopped correcting him. I rather like "chep-up". Unfortunately Micah rather likes chep-up too, and now his dinner is merely a vehicle for the chep-up and the condiment is the dinner instead of the other way around. I've taken to switching chep-up with tomato paste which makes me feel better given it hardly has any sodium and lots of vitamins C & A and decent dose of fiber. Micah hasn't noticed as long as its red, saucy and prone to stick to everything: