Dog Days of Summer

Mom accused me of not updating this blog in the current calendar year. I'm not only going to prove her wrong, but I'm going to make my SECOND post this year. Hah!

We took Spring Break off to go to Houston. We enjoyed the IHOP Easter decorations.

There was an early morning photo session--only 3-4 other families had the same idea. I'd include the actual pictures taken, but that would be hard and it's easier for me to post my meta-pictures taken while taking pictures.

Tommy started proto-crawling.

He also continued to mouth anything he could fit in his mouth.

He made a goofy face when we went to Corkscrew BBQ (really good, anyone in the N. Houston area should try it!).

A week rolls by fast when at Grandma Debby's. Before we knew it, we were looking at the weird stuff they put in the recently renovated United terminal at IAH.

Back home, John made some new friends in the community where Alison wishes we lived if the school district weren't so bad. They had a bubble machine.

Our Tommy is a very serious boy.

Just before our Houston trip, we got a big waterspot on our living room ceiling. Turns out it was from the bathtub sealing along the edges. When John takes baths he splashes a lot, which is why we hadn't noticed it until he took an especially violent one. The hole was made by the plumber who was checking to see whether the issue was caused by pipes.

It only took a month to get it repaired, after getting a mold inspection and getting insurance involved. A lovely sight in the meantime.

In other news, we are sub-optimal parents (at least I am, I suppose) and we make our children cry by offering them food that is not chicken nuggets or hot dogs. This is John's reaction.

All is forgiven when you turn on a cartoon.

The first weekend in May there's an airshow put on by the Planes of Fame museum in Chino. Our family went there while I was in high school and really enjoyed seeing the historical aircraft, especially when we got to see a couple of them flying. Here they take all kinds of WWII and Vietnam era aircraft out for flight demonstrations.

I took mostly video, and since video plays so poorly with the blog I'm just going to share the stills I took. It was like 35°C that day, the hottest day of the year so far. I wish we'd brought more water. Instead we got gouged by the Scouts selling it at the airfield.

We had a brief get-together with the cousins. John discovered the horrors of Candyland.

Tommy got "sick" (well, he did have a mild fever) so I got to hang out with him for a day and watch a rocket launch.

For Mother's Day we took "Grandma Debby" out to the Bazaar, one of those "molecular gastronomy" joints that apparently are a thing. Don't look to me for deep knowledge about culinary culture; I only write what I know. All I know is that the tapas served here are strangely delicious and, of course, pricey.

In the foreground is the remains of our cotton candy virgin mojito. Shown on the table are the cotton candy lollipops with a foie gras center. Don't knock it 'til you've tried it.

Also, dessert graffiti. My favorite part was the LN2 douse at the end of the presentation.

What you feel like after eating that much food.

More food--Mother's Day breakfast.

Lest you think our lifestyle is too fabulous, I took another vacation. This time, to the far off desert climes of Tucson, AZ. Since John's preschool was closed for the week, I figured it was as good a time as any to take him to see "Papa and Grammy." Alison is still teaching, so she stayed at home with Tommy.

Only the finest transportation for us--we took the Amtrak from Union Station. It's about a 9 hour journey, overnight.

Yes, Amtrak is a train. We did the cheap seats because we're too fancy for a sleeper car. I got about 4 hours of sleep with John wriggling about. He slept much better. I felt much better after having a nap at home. Otherwise, it was a pretty slick trip. I think if I were to repeat, I'd opt to hop on at Pomona or Ontario rather than having to drive downtown. The distance wasn't bad, but the dropoff lanes were less than awesome.

Strangely enough, this was our first visit to Tucson during the summer since I was married. John wanted to swim, but Eric and I had a Solo movie to catch.

Uncle Eric is still a favorite with the kids.

We were lucky to have him--I hadn't seen my brother in nearly 6 months, and I'm not sure when the next time would be. He only stayed until Monday, Memorial Day.

No visit to Tucson is complete without the nausea-inducing trip up Mt. Lemmon. John enjoyed clambering on the rocks at Windy Point.

He did not enjoy getting a scrape on his leg which required a bandage. The most amusing part was not that the injury itself caused him to cry, but the fact that a bandage was placed on it.

He got better.

We had to drop off Grammy at the airport too, just a couple of days later. She went to San Antonio to stay with her mom.

John said "take a picture of me doing this." Here it is.

So it's just me, John, and "Papa." And the dogs, of course. We'll be here 'til next Sunday.

Make Way, Make Way

So, time for a quarterly update I guess. The past few months I have had a rather disruptive work schedule, which has a ripple effect on the rest of my life. Things are OK, don't misunderstand. Just...tired. Things are looking better though, for the next few months.

When I last left you, we were on the edge of a new year. We celebrated the coming of the year in regular Reese fashion, with dangerous gunpowder. John was excited, then suddenly scared. Here you can see him retreating to the safety of my parents' home.

Tommy continues to grow and now sits in a high chair.

Notes from John's chicken nuggets.

A Tommy grin.

John met Chewie for the first time ever. I had to coach him not to tell that his favorite Star Wars character is Boba Fett. He did well.

John's other idol, Lightning McQueen. I often make of silly variations, much to John's dismay. He very much is a purist.

That's not our son behind me. He's to my right and my phone doesn't have a wide enough angle.

"Faster, Dad!"

Entering the psychedelic world of Mary Blair.

I had never entered Small World during its Christmas conversion. It's kind of nice, actually.

John turned 4, if you can believe it. We had a party in an Azusan park, which required us to use an acquaintance as our middleman in reserving the place. Whatever works, I guess, as the fee is nearly triple for nonresidents. It was a superhero party.

Tommy watches TV like his brother.

John watches TV even when everyone else is asleep.

A "Daddy and Me" day at John's preschool. I'd have taken more photographs, but I was too often directly involved, whether I was being "shaved" or "hogtied." The pony ride was pretty fun.

Alison turned something years old. I'm not counting, although she's just a few months behind me. We went to the LA Opera to watch Kelsey Grammer perform Candide. Very good show, and more "muscial"y than your average opera. Apparently, it was originally a Leonard Bernstein production (yes, the West Side Story guy), and a critical flop in its premiere. I think the revival was quite good, however.

Shortly after Alison's birthday, Tommy's breathing became more labored. He had some kind of respiratory virus, and we were advised to take him to the ER to get oxygen. The hospital decided to admit him afterward. We spent 3 lovely days in West Covina as a result.

Burger Street was one of the perks. Peanut Butter and Jelly burger. Don't knock it 'til you've tried it.

Here's Tommy looking super sick in his hospital bed.

The family waited and waited to see if the hospital would finally let him come home.

They did. The pulmonologist said he had asthma and gave us medicine to gas him with every 4 hours. Like, literally every 4 hours, even at night.

That lasted about 2 days. We complained to our regular pediatrician, who said that every 12 hours was enough.

He still wheezes a bit, but the doctor says he's not getting much more benefit from the medication and told us to discontinue administration. He seems fine to us.

Disney had enjoyed a sizable percentage of our income for the past couple of years. We decided that it was enough, so we made one last trip to Disneyland before our passes expired. Mercifully, it rained this day, meaning that the park was awesome.

Some friends invited us to a Korean BBQ joint. I took this picture of the establishment so that I wouldn't have to remember the name, because I don't think I could memorize it if I tried. It was really good. Temple City is an interesting area.

Tommy is starting to learn to crawl. He can only mostly go backward, but he is good at extending himself.

Here John shared his preschool commitment with his class. He promised to pick up his toys and put on his shoes. I try to remind of him this daily. He might get it one day.

We visited the Children's Museum of La Habra. It's a pretty nice place built in what appears to be a former train station. There was a Chinese New Years' celebration which I didn't photograph because I was on Tommy duty.

Life in Southern California can be fun, but it is awfully expensive. With our second child, we are pretty well stretched thin. I'm hoping we can buckle down and make it through the next year so we can get John into public school. It's a difficult position, as we both like our jobs and feel that it would be a mistake to leave. I still feel like it is where we need to be for the moment, so we will do our best to keep moving forward. I guess that means fewer nights on the town...