Solstice

I'm keeping pace with my quarterly cadence, I suppose. We've had a lot of things transpire since I last posted in April of 2019. Let's get you all caught up, if you're interested enough to be reading this blog. If nothing else, I can save this for myself for my retirement when I look upon my glory days, when I'm not hooked up to a feeding tube or something. Yikes. Let's move on.

Shortly after Grandma Reese's funeral, we decided to take a trip to the LA Zoo, since we had never been.

John basically makes a point of riding every carousel he sees. Zoos tend to have them, so here's his obligatory tiger ride.

A very fun zoo; lots to see that I did not capture on my camera. Of particular note I enjoyed the birds of prey "show" where they had hawks dive bomb the amphitheater all the way from the top of Griffith Peak.

Most important acquisitions of the day

In April, Haley finally returned from her Las Vegas. As it happens, Amtrak fits a very nice niche for the Los Angeles-Tucson route, traveling overnight between the two cities at ~$40 per person. Can't find flights for that cheap, and driving is tiring. The train only runs 3 times a week, however, so Alison wasn't able to come until later in the weekend due to teachers not being allowed days off.

We did the usual Tucson things, like going to parks early in the morning when it wasn't stupid hot.

We did a Desert Museum trip, that is a bit infamous in our family history now. The pictures below were taken shortly before The Scrape.

Obligatory "Look at the size of those ears"

 The Scrape happened just outside of the bat cave. John tripped and scraped both knees. He shrieked and screamed, but not just wordless vocalizations. He ranted about how awful the place was, how he should have never come to Arizona, and this is the worst thing that ever happened to him. He refused to walk, so I carried him ranting and raving back to the front of the museum where we could get some bandages, with the Arizona public staring transfixed at the magnificent fits of rage my child demonstrated. Haley, trying to help, suggested that only his pride was hurt. To the ears of everyone within 100 yards, John misheard her and screamed that you "DON'T MAKE JOKES ABOUT PRIVATES."

Ice cream serves as a palliative

Following his tremendous meltdown, John took the rare measure of napping on the way home.

Dad, ever the hiking aficionado, took us out to Catalina State Park. I think he may have had intentions of doing a multi-mile hike, but John isn't exactly a high-endurance kid without proper motivation. Shortly after taking the picture of John balancing precariously atop riverstones, he fell into the stream and got his feet soaked, and that was pretty much the end of the pleasant travels. As long as we kept telling him we were heading back, he was OK with going anywhere with Papa.

Haley introduced John briefly to the glory of the Gameboy. Unfortunately, without reading comprehension, his enjoyment is limited. But it's only a matter of time.

Obligatory Easter Malfunction

Alison and I drove back home before Haley could deliver her homecoming address, which wasn't scheduled until a couple of weeks after she came home anyway.

We got to make the rare trip out to the Los Angeles Temple, which was actually my first time going inside. We've gone to Redlands instead, since the commute time is more reliable in that direction, but early on a Saturday morning is pretty easy either way.

We then visited the temple of commercialism, the Arclight in Pasadena, to behold the entire theater devoted to The Avengers.

John and his burgeoning ice cream business

We had Debby over for Easter. I don't have the "nice pictures," just the ones that I have.

Our next infamous John story takes place at the Fathers and Sons campout for our stake. It was his first time camping. Overall, he did well.

He even went to sleep in our tent without a night light or anything. The next morning, at earliest light, around 5:30ish or so, I woke up to use the restroom. He was awake when I returned. He asked if he could get up, to which I replied if he got dressed warmly, he could. The entirety of my camping experience is almost exclusively hot and miserable...in California you actually get nippy in the morning.

We had warm clothing, of course. I told John to get dressed while I put some things back in the car. When I returned, he was sitting in his sleeping bag with a bare torso. He had decided that his warm clothing was too cold to put on (it hadn't occurred to me that he would take off his current layer; I though he would just layer up). I told him to put on his shirt and jacket.

"BUT DAD! IT'S SOOOO COLD! I CAN'T BELIEVE IT'S SO COLD! I WISH I NEVER CAME CAMPING! THIS IS THE COLDEST DAY EVE--"

*stage whisper* "John stop yelling and put on your clothes, you're waking everyone around us up!"

Our tent was just about touching my fellow ward members' tents. We were tightly packed into the campground. Snickers started to be heard around me.

"IT'S TOO COLD TO PUT ON MY JACKET I'M FREEZING DAD IT'S SO COLD"

I ended up having to force the clothes on him while he screamed at 5:45 AM. He calmed down, exited the tent, and peed his pants.

John had a "Spring Sing" to end his school year. He's going to Kindergarten in less than a month.

I really wanted to go to Legoland. So we did.

I could have spent longer in the park just looking at the awesome Lego sets.

I've had several tell me that it's "not as thrilling" as other amusement parks. And some told me that it was a mistake to visit during the holidays (like Memorial Day). But compared to the Disneyzoo, this place was incredibly easy to navigate and enjoy. They have real good food there and lots of rides that are perfect for our kids' ages. Perhaps they'll outgrow them by middle school, but that's a ways off yet.

They did have midway games, which are just awful for a 5 year old with no impulse control. Nonetheless, I managed to win a Pikachu for him, and for the day, Dad was a hero at basketball.

John struggled with the Ninjago ride. He couldn't figure out the controls, and he got too scared to move correctly. He says he'll never ride it again, but I think if he can get some better motor control, he'll do fine.

We took a swim at the hotel pool before checking out. The weather was actually rather overcast and threatened rain almost the entire time we were there (but never actually did rain).

John was impatiently awaiting the opportunity to watch Detective Pikachu. So I took him on my off-Friday. We had a good time, although John was agonized to have to wait until 11 AM for the theater to open.

That takes us to the beginning of summer. Which I'm going to do later.