Boneylegs

I did the second to last work day at Sunset School yesterday. Great day with all the kids I have come to know and love. Several times kids just came over, crawled up into my lap, and relaxed. All these wonderful kids have touched me deeply. I spend much of the morning painting faces, see Silas as Yoda below.



The highlight of the day was the Boneylegs play put on by Silas' pre-K group. Everyone was wonderful and Silas played the cat who helps the little girl escape the witch called Boneylegs. Laura does such a great job with these kids and the play was amazing, from the set, to the costumes to the memorized lines for the kids. They were all so engaged. We are going to miss Sunset School.

Dad I'm Board

I went down to Santa Cruz to see Matt and Cori, get some south swell and hit the O'Neill Memorial Day sale where I got Jasper a new surf board. He has been using his buddy Elijah's 6'0" Softops surfboard. By getting a new board, Elijah and Jasper can hit the surf together. So yesterday, after dinner, we met in front of the house and the boys surfed the fast inside with the help of the dads.

Even after a long day at school, Jasper was excited to get on his new board. The water was cold and the wind was up, but he charged it. He got at least 10 waves with over half being great cold water wipe outs. Every time he wipes out and tumbles under the water he comes up smiling. I am one happy father!

Twins!

Today at Lakeshore Elementary is the kick off of spirit week and the first day is twin day. Jasper and his best friend Ben-O bought matching shirts. Their irreverence comes through as the shirts say: "Your lips keep moving but all I hear is blah blah blah."

Coot Baby!

[Guest Blog: Gramma Ila] Please share with grand children of the Mia Rose, Silas, Jasper and little Hayden variety. Gramma Renee and Gramma Ila Suzanne saw about 8 babies that looked like this yesterday. They are baby Coots. A duck kind of bird that is mostly black. Aren't the babies strange looking?



Grown up Coot

Love and hugs,

The grammas

I Get Paid for This

After two days of meetings with my team at work we took a day to retreat and bond on Tomales Bay. It has been windy most of the week, but today dawned still. I have not had the boys for 4 nights so this morning I was up at 6:30am and in the water by 6:45 for a fun, but frickin cold surf. No one else was out, but there was size, wonderful, powerful size.

Then off to Tomales Bay for a sea kayak. My boat mate was Felice one of two new members to our team. Nine of us total went out to Hog Island and then across the bay to where a small gray whale has been chilling out for the last month. It was amazing to float next to this behemoth as it came up for 3 breaths (see picture below) and then dove down for mouthfuls of mud. We also saw a large herd of Tule Elk and one very large bull Tule Elk at the waters edge.

After several hours of paddling and floating we went back to the kayak base camp and ate ourselves silly on raw and barbecued oysters. We talked a little shop and discussed our Myers-Briggs results: I am an INTP. Does that explain anything?


That little bump is a gray whale. Thanks Peter R for the pictures.

Cousins for a Price

We brought our extended collection of Fisher Price play sets down to Del Mar to give to the the California cousins. This is, of course, an extended loan since I plan to retire by selling this priceless vintage collection on eBay in 10 years. The kids really enjoyed playing with the "Price" at the beach house, Silas even remarked that he was not quite ready to give them up even though he had not played with them for over a year. Mia and Hayden are the proud recipients of the Fisher Price house (pictured) and airport sets along with miscellaneous little people and accessories that I have accumulated from thrift stores, garage sales, and eBay over the last 10 years. Thanks for sending the picture from your phone Andy.

Enjoy my little nephews!

More Cousin Bonding

All four cousins got a lot of great face time together cruising around Del Mar and dinners at the beach house. Look at these beautiful kids, definitely related through the powerful Crocker genes.