Abby always sets up the blanket at the top of the hill, then Sawyer and I venture down to play in the waves. You can see him racing ahead of me at the beginning of this video. I’m not exaggerating, am I?

His shorts are completely soaked, and his sleeves aren’t far behind from far too many falls in the water, but none of that slows him down. You can see he’s still chomping at the bit to go back in. Look at the way he unlocks his shoulders when I lift him up. Sawyer, you little stinker!

Tired, cold, or both, he eventually conceded and let me carry him back up to the car. Pepa T would have been appalled at the all of the sand we tracked into the car.

I love living so close to Baker Beach. Sure, there’s only a handful of days in which it’s really worth going, but they more than make up for the rest. And there’s nothing like the setting, with the Golden Gate Bridge on one side and the vast Pacific Ocean on the other. What a treat!

Beach! Ocean! Sawyer!

The waves were huge, easily six feet or more:

And it was high-tide so I really had to pay close attention:

He could play here all day long:

But it’s good to take breaks with Mama on the blanket:

I love the way he walks in the sand, and since it slows him way down, he’s relatively easy to catch. You can see how long he sits still, what was that all of two seconds?

Here he is with Abby walking back down to the water:

Abby captured an excellent video of me and him in the water, you’ll see just how crazy he really is. Look for that tomorrow. It’s a good one.

Here we are enjoying the close quarters:

Half way up Geary Street this morning, while stopped at a light, Sawyer looked at a building beside us and said, “Octagons!” Except of course he pronounces it, “ockagons.” Sure enough, the building had five octagons on the front of it. I have never noticed it before, but he sure did.

Here’s a link to it on Google Maps. Can you believe this kid?

I casually mentioned that he could see some boats this morning, and he emphatically replied, “I wanna get on a boat.” Recall that he did get to board a gigantic boat after his first Soccer Tots class last summer. No doubt he’s not forgotten. So off we went this morning, in search of a boat to board.

He really loved the cable car turn-around from last weekend’s adventure, so I figured he’d like to see it again today. As you’ll soon see, he couldn’t care less:

He and I walked down and out on the Hyde Street Pier. None of the boats looked quite worth the price of admission, so I tried to convince him to walk back with me. He chose instead to sit on what I believe is called a mooring bollard for some time. At least I caught three good pictures of him and the Golden Gate in the background:

Of course, he never sits still for long.

After we left, I noticed a fire engine parked down an alley. We walked all the way around it and then I stepped back to see what he would do with it. With as many times as he’s watched the move Cars, I always think he must be disappointed that these things won’t talk to him. He talks to them!

I’m sure it was quite a conversation.

A short walk later, hoisted on my shoulder of course, we came upon the SS Jeremiah O’Brien. It was built in 1944, in only 57 days, for battle in WWII. It’s one of only two ships that were kept to commemorate this time in our history, and has been restored to its original condition for tours. It’s huge too:

That’s Alcatraz in the distance:

There is a rickety-old staircase that takes you to the main deck of the boat, which made for a somewhat tense beginning to our adventure (holding him in one arm and the railing in the other while trying not to miss a step was unnerving to say the least). Once on board there was nothing but more and steeper steps to climb and descend. I did manage to find the wheel room though, much to his delight at first, then dismay when he learned he couldn’t touch it:

Some great views of the city, Coit Tower, and the Transamerica Pyramid:

Bay Bridge:

And Alcatraz again:

That’s Sutro Tower way off in the distance, with Russian Hill in the foreground:

After a quick lap around the bow, he and I came upon two volunteers, one of whom offered to show us the engine room. We wound our way back into the ship’s quarters, down a flight of stairs, and into the top of the engine room. And that’s when he told me that there were four steep flights of stairs to get to the bottom. By this time Sawyer was ooohhing and aaahhing so I held him and the railing as tightly as I could and made my way to the bottom. I have to admit it was really cool, outside of the heat, smell, claustrophobia, and anxiety of Sawyer getting into something he shouldn’t.

I managed to get one shot of the room:

And another of the pistons:

Neither one was very good, unfortunately.

Our tour guide was somewhat oblivious and kept showing us more things until I finally had to bail on him. I was disappointed not to get more pictures but I did find two really amazing 360° panoramas on the boat’s website. These links are well worth a click. NOTE: you can pan around these images by clicking and dragging your mouse up and down:

• The first one is from the bottom floor, and shows the pistons and gauges on the wall. I know there’s a bunch of more meaningful things happening here, but I can’t remember any of them.
• The second one is from the second floor, and shows two levels of stairs that Sawyer and I had to make it down. That’s the top of the pistons. The boat still sails on this engine just as it did some 60+ years ago.

I was more mentally drained than anything else at this point, so we headed back for the car. Sawyer really liked this bird:

The entire way home, I watched him in the mirror as he fought to stay awake. I know all too well that a five minute power nap in the car leads to no real nap back home, so I had to sing “Wheels on the Bus” to keep him up. It worked and I was able to watch my basketball Buckeyes in peace.

All in all it was a very fun day, I love wearing you out like that, Sawyer!

Sawyer’s playgroup came over on Friday morning, so Abby pulled out the monster bowling ball and pins for them to play with. Apparently it was quite a hit, and Sawyer kept at it well into the night. The living room was too dark for the video, so I convinced him to line them up in the hallway. That also gave him plenty of room to run. He did not disappoint:

He and I have been working on “Dada, help me” for a while now. He somehow thought the phrase was “Dada, help you” which obviously isn’t quite right. He often says it wrong out of habit, but quickly corrects himself. I’m especially fond of how he gets right in my face to say it.

There’s a second line-up of cars on the other end of the couch, as meticulous as this one. Eventually the back and arms of the couch were full of cars too.

I love the way he sees the world, the opportunities it presents, and the insanely creative things he does with both. This particular example is really quite remarkable. You never cease to amaze me, Sawyer!

We hopped out at Union Square, and then walked down Powell Street so he could watch the cable cars. He really liked the cable car turn around, and pleaded with me to go on one. I would have happily said yes had the line not been so long. Next time, Sawyer.

After that, he tolerated some shopping so I could buy a pair of much needed jeans. We then jumped on a street car for ride up Market Street to grab lunch at the Ferry Building. We scored a great table on the street so he could watch the street cars and motorcycles go by.

I got him some chicken fingers, normally his favorite, and some fries. He wouldn’t touch the chicken but devoured every last one of his fries:

This might be the first uneventful video ever posted here. He seemed set on spilling his honey mustard sauce all over him, constantly moving it closer and closer to the edge of the table, but somehow I escaped that fate. Maybe he’s growing up. Or maybe I just know his game too well.

After that, we walked behind the Ferry Building to see the boats. An older gentleman was playing his clarinet so I gave him a small donation and he played three songs for Sawyer, “Old MacDonald,” “Twinkle, Twinkle,” and “Frère Jacques.” I love giving him a chance to see and hear music being made up close, but he was more interested in the train ride I promised him.

So off we went to go underground for the final leg of our trip, just two quick stops on the Muni train to meet Abby at Town’s End. We played around out front while she finished up, and once in the car he completely passed out:

Unfortunately I woke him up when I got him out of the car, so I eventually had to lie down on the bed in his room to get him to go back to sleep. He woke me up a couple of times by snoring comically, no doubt in response to me snoring in my sleep. Eventually he fell asleep and slept for over three hours.

Believe it or not, this was the most relaxing weekend I’ve had in a long, long time. Exhausting, but well worth it. Thank you, Abby and Sawyer!

Thankfully I was quick, and had a glass ready for him when he came running for me. I started him with his favorite monkey straw, but the shake was too thick. Once in the living room, Abby and I ditched the straw and let him drink it straight from the glass, all by himself. He did well in the beginning:

Then, as always, he got ornery:

Thank you, Mema D!

Now he knows his ABCs too:

It’s 9pm now, and he’s been in bed for the last hour or so, but he’s still singing away in his crib. I love you, Sawyer, but Dada is tired. IT’S TIME TO GO TO BED.

I must have been completely lost in my computer because I looked up not even two minutes later to see that he had packed his pajamas full of cars. Watch him add the last few and then pull them out one-by-one:

And yes, I actually say, “It’s like Christmas morning. From your pants.” In the end, I counted 27 cars and he knew almost every one of them by name. I especially love the way he says, “Octagon.”