4 Years, 8 Months

Steve and I try to get the boys out of the house as much as our general exhaustion allows. One such outing was to hike some trails in the Pogonip (parkland that backs up to the UC Santa Cruz campus). The first trail section we picked was crowded with mountain bikers, and the boys enjoyed watching for and dodging the riders. We then branched off to some smaller, less populated trails.

The boys pause for a snack (Jack left, Henry right):

Stopping at a spring box to admire the fish:

Exploring and building in the rock grotto:

Henry has had enough of the trails, I think:

On another day, we took the boys out to Ano Nuevo State Park. They dug in the sand and had snacks on the beach:

Steve has taken the boys on countless bike rides during the pandemic. Here, Henry adds air to his bike tires while Jack waits for his turn before they head out:

We got tennis rackets for the boys and our first outing to the court went fairly well.

Henry:

Jack and Steve:

Jack:

Jack had fantastic hustle and was working really hard to connect with the ball.

For an underwhelming Easter, I hid some eggs with candy inside... and that's about it. The boys seems relatively enthusiastic despite the minimal effort:

CANDY!

Jack

Jack has been working hard on his letters at preschool. The teacher pointed out to us where he'd written his name exactly backwards, which she said happens sometimes with preschoolers and I found very interesting.

Jack swiped my old phone and busied himself tapping the colorful touch screen, doing his best imitation of a technology-absorbed adult:

Jack, making his mark on the beach:

Jack doesn't always want pictures taken of him these days, which we respect. He's our wonderful little helper, assisting me with organizing and cleaning up, and enthusiastically accompanying Steve on errands. 

Henry

Henry has been finding his letters tricky, but has been working very hard.

Conquering the climbing apparatus during an outing to a new (to us) playground:

Styling his long, curly hair:

Raincoat Henry!

I said, "You look like a duck!"

"Quack!" said Henry.

Now, he's ready to go:

Henry's exuberance, in a series of pictures: 

When Steve asked what Henry wants to be when he grows up, he responded, "There's a lot of things I want to grow up to be! A baseball player, a firefighter, I want to do everything!"

Showing off some fashionable headwear: 

Upon seeing Mom, Dad and Jack all take a bite of the same popsicle, Henry declined to try it and exclaimed, exasperated, "You are all going to get sick and I don't know how to take care of you!"

Henry and Dad:

Henry is somewhat chaotic and can be extremely loud (he often comes home hoarse from school... I shudder to think what his teachers are dealing with), but he is very funny and definitely a character.