From the redwood forest... this land belongs to you and me.

We decided to try a short hike through the redwoods in the Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park. We tried a loop that's a bit under a mile.

Anders really enjoyed taking in the view. The trees were fascinating. As were the sticks. And the dirt. And the fence. And the leaves. And... well, you get the picture. The hike (including a quick lunch in the middle) took longer than the 75 mile drive back home!




By the middle of the hike, Anders was getting quite cold, but still refused to keep his hood on.


This is a very big tree.


How big? This big.


Here he is... during one of the fast parts of the hike.


Toward the end, Anders was getting tired—a mile is a long way when your legs are that short!—and he gave up on all of the silly walking.

Between the hike and the drive home, we listened to a cool little group out by the nature store.

Get y'r train tickets!

Anders loves trains. He's passionate about them. But only, as it turns out, if they're toys or pictures. Up close, trains are so loud they can be a bit scary. Don't you agree?


After hearing the train whistle repeatedly, Anders wouldn't even get near it when it was quiet.

He was even a bit tentative about walking in the vicinity of the train.


But then he saw some people getting their pictures taken in one of those costume-board setups, and he figured he'd give it a try—he just walked up on his own!

Costanoa

We zoomed off to Costanoa for the weekend. Anders wasn't so sure about the place at first, but he warmed up to it

Snazzy PJs.



Hanging out on the back porch.


Hiking through the pampas grass was not a hit. It was a bit windy, and Anders did not like that at all. He also didn't care for the backpack carrier. About twenty minutes in, we gave up on any serious hiking, let him out of the pack, and walked back. Slowly.

The view sure was nice.


And eventually Anders started enjoying himself.


The pampas grass was a hit.


Not only was the pampas grass fun to wave around, but you also could pretend it was a horse.


It was also useful for keeping your parents in line.


Later, Anders and I went off exploring a bit, including some quality time with the pumpkins and bales of hay in the parking lot.



After dinner, Anders explored the lights, which was very cute, but for the most part not something that was light enough to be documented using the iPhone camera. But here's a shot of him examining the sign near our cabin.

Exhausted

Someone played really hard with his cousins last night at Thanksgiving, and stayed up super, duper late. He was so excited he woke up a few times in the middle of the night.

On the other hand, he slept in until 10 a.m. I'd say it was the tryptophan in the turkey, except I don't think he ate any. Does finger jello have tryptophan, too?

Happy Thanksgiving!

He cleans up nicely.

Rare sighting: momentarily calm boy

I was just reading in National Geographic about the amazing biodiversity in the Tsingy de Bemaraha Strict Nature Reserve in Madagascar (well worth clicking on that link - crazy limestone formations!). All sorts of never-before documented species.

Well, I spotted a very rare beast in our own house today - Anders sitting still!

Opus 2

What comes after Opus 1?

The Pantless Dance

pain au chocolat

Chestnuts!

We've done it before, and I have to think we'll do it again...

This time around picking chestnuts, we made it to Skyline Chestnuts much earlier in the season, when the chestnuts were far more plentiful. There were also a lot of people picking, including quite a few Koreans (we Koreans, we like our chestnuts).

The chestnut gathering goes much faster when you have a helper.






Check out the loot!






This, by the way, is what seven pounds of chestnuts looks like.

Fresh, indeed!

home improvements

He's definitely a climber.




In the last two pics, you can see the excellent work Anders did patching the ceiling.