Tidepools near Monterey

While we were staying in Monterey over the weekend, we made a point to look at the tide tables and seek out some tidepools at low tide. If you drive into Pacific Grove, along the appropriately named Sunset Drive, you’ll discover the Asilomar Marine Reserve and some amazingly rich habitats for tidepooling.

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Best clothes for the tall guys

Have I mentioned that Aron is 6’8″ tall?

Every now and then I get questions from a reader with a similarly tall (and lean) husband or boyfriend about where on earth he finds clothes that fit. The answer? Online.

Actually, Aron is lucky to be able to buy most of his pants off the (in-store) rack, but virtually all of his shirts have to be sourced from shops with dedicated tall sections online. I have a few favorites that quickly come to mind (J. Crew button-downs and sweaters—and ties!—and Gap’s tall t-shirts are in heavy rotation), but here’s my usual list:

Gap and Banana Republic tall sections are great for staples.

L.L. Bean and Lands’ End both carry tall sizes and are great for jackets and parkas.

Brooks Brothers will measure you and do custom tailoring (good for special occasions).

Nordstrom‘s dress shirts are the best and come in a range of sizes.

And my friend Rebecca suggests that American Apparel‘s basic cotton tees are longer than most “and fit pretty darn well considering they don’t offer a specifically taller size.”

P.S. This is what he was stooping to look at in the photo up top. Just a few sea lions along the 17-mile-drive this past weekend in Carmel. This whole part of California’s coast… just wow.

Personalized gift books for kids

While we’re jumping ahead to Christmas…

Hudson has been reading a Santa book from last year’s Christmas pretty much year ’round. He even does a little dance-wiggle when he points to the snowman, recalling perhaps how there’s some magic in that old silk hat he wears? I am so curious to see how he takes to all of the holiday tradition this year (particularly Santa, as he was not a fan of the fellow in person)—and am more excited than ever to start new family traditions with him (and, eventually, his sister) in mind.

First order of business? A new Christmas book for us to read together.

The always lovely Chronicle Books has a division called MyChronicleBooks that makes a customized version of the classic poem, The Night Before Christmas: Hudson’s should be arriving soon—with his name included throughout, as well as ours and Sawyer’s and where we live (important details for Santa, of course), so that we can read it together leading up to Christmas eve.

After all, he has to know the story so that when my dad one day tells him the naughty-ish version of the poem (from memory no less), he’ll know the difference.

There are some great alternatives to this Christmas tale, however, if you like the idea of a personalized gift book but this isn’t the right one for your family’s holiday traditions. Eric Carle’s The Very Hungry Caterpillar, and Goodnight, Goodnight Construction Site are both huge hits around here. And they have the Petit Collage Baby Book that we got for Hudson when he was born, which would make a nice gift for new parents.

Thank you to MyChronicleBooks for sponsoring this post and supporting Hither & Thither.