Snow Day
The kids were hankering for a snow day and in Arizona that
takes some doing. We drove up to a town called Payson about
90 minutes north of Chandler that I hoped would be the
closest snow. Luckily we found some. We started out building
a nice little snowman. Then the boys thought it would be more
fun to throw snowballs at the snowman. Then they thought it
would be even more fun to throw snowballs at daddy. Things
quickly degenerated from there.
School Stuff
Jackson's school is always putting on presentations, usually
in connection with a holiday. Jackson's second grade class was
in charge of the President's Day performance. Jackson had a speaking
part. He didn't seem nervous beforehand. When it was his turn to
speak he stood there for a few seconds, but when he started talking
he was fine.
At the end of the school session, Jackson gave a presentation
of his work to Lisa and I. He showed us his reading, writing,
science, and math work. I especially liked his stories.
Jackson also has an artistic side. His school was having an
art contest and he wanted to enter. His chosen medium was crayon on
paper. The title of his work was "Springtime in the Botanical
Garden" (it's the upper left picture). It was a magnificient
picture with hummingbirds, fire cactus, and more. In the greatest
travesty since the "Fellowship of the Ring" failed to win
Best Picture, Jackson didn't win a prize.
Trip to Seattle
Jackson had two weeks off from school in March. Rather than
having him at home all day long, Lisa thought it would be easier
to take a 4000 mile, 19 day road trip to Seattle. I managed to
merge it with one of my business trips so I could drive with them
to San Jose.
The two single greatest affordable inventions for family
roadtrips are the walkman and the Gameboy. They keep the boys
busy for hours. They would occasionally fight over the
games and CD's but overall the little electronic helpers make
things go much smoother.
Going on roadtrips means eating in restaurants and staying
in hotels. Zachary is a bit of a bed hog, so we usually had
to mediate bed territorial disputes at night. Jackson, who
gets up really early every morning, was very good about
playing his gameboy quietly until everyone else got up.
The first major stop on our trip was Legoland in Carlsbad, CA.
I had always thought Legoland would be rather silly, but I was
pleasantly surprised. It was smaller than the mega-resorts, which
gave it a more friendly atmosphere. And
there weren't that many people there when we were there.
One of the cool things about legoland is the rides are lego-based,
usually big versions of lego toys. In this picture, the boys and
I are riding the helicopter ride.
The ride Zachary really liked at Legoland was the Legoland Driving
School. They got to drive around real streets in lego cars. The
ride was for ages 6 and up and the attendants asked each kid
their age before letting them in. Zachary was only four at the
time, but I coached him to say that he was six and it worked.
Zachary did this ride at least four times. For $10 you could
buy Legoland driver's licenses which both boys wanted of course.
We didn't plan a whole day at the beach but one afternoon we
stopped at a beach near Carlsbad. We were only going to stay
for a few minutes. The boys didn't even have their swimsuits
on. Jackson wanted to get his feet wet. We said okay. The next
thing we know Jackson and Zachary are waist deep in the surf
their clothes soaked from head to foot. Lisa was not amused.
I was secretly a little amused.
After our adventure in Legoland, we made the long boring drive
up I-5 to the Bay Area. I was really surprised how much land up
I-5 is now vineyards. Maybe that's where they grow the grapes
for the 3 Buck Chuck. In this picture we are taking a break at
a rest stop a few miles south of highway 152.
Every time we are in the Bay Area we try to see our old
Friday night dinner friends the Hacker-Chancellors. Allison is
about the same age as Jackson. The boys had a great time
swinging in H-C's play structure, climbing their tree, and so on.
I even got to relive my childhood a little bit by going to
one of Courtney's swim practices.
Jackson is always excited when he sees something named "Jackson".
When we were driving to San Diego, he pointed out the Jackson St
exit. During our stay in the Bay Area, we visited Jackson Park
in Mountain View.
I'm a zoo kind of guy. One of the places we visited in the
Bay Area was the San Francisco Zoo. We didn't find the tapirs,
but our old favorite the pigmy hippo was still around (The pygmy
hippo is really old for a hippo). I stood in front of a male lion for awhile.
Boy,they have big heads.
I flew home from San Francisco because I couldn't really take
19 days off of work and who would water my tomatoes. Lisa's dad
flew down and he, Lisa,
and the boys continued on to Seattle. In this picture the boys
are playing a game they invented at Jackson Park. They lie on the
swings, hold hands, and run forward as fast as they can. The
trick is to keep holding hands as they go back and forth. At one
point Jackson called out "Hold on little brother".
Lisa and the boys went to the beach near Seattle. Of course, being
that it was March it was still the dead of winter in Washingtion,
so Lisa and the boys are all bundled up.
In this picture, two small boys are contemplating the enormity
of the Edmonds Ferry. I don't know what the conditions were for
this picture. The air temperature was probably 50. The water was
probably 50 as well, but the boys are in their swimsuits and
Jackson appears to be about to put his foot in the water.
One of the good things about going to Seattle is that Jackson
and Zachary get to see their aunt Angela - who apparently took
the boys to a bar. Of course, that wasn't the first time the
boys have been in a bar. If you look at this picture, Zachary has
Angela's eyes and mouth. The Reid genes live on.
Jackson's 8th Birthday
It's hard to believe it, but Jackson turned eight years old
in March. He wanted his birthday party at Peter Piper Pizza.
I used to be snobby about Peter Piper Pizza, but it's not
a bad place at all. The only problem is the kids go through
their tokens too quickly.
Home Office
One of the problems of working from home, is that you work from
home. Whenever I try to sneak in a little work in the evening
or weekend, the kids detect it and come swarming into the
office. Zachary sometimes tells me he wants to watch me
work and then climbs up into my chair. This lasts for about
a minute and then he tells me work is boring and can I go
play with him.
Spring Sports and Games
Zachary has played with a group of boys on a T-ball team
over the past six months. In the spring, the team switched
to soccer. They were a good T-ball team. They were not a good
soccer team. The team went 0-10 and only scored one goal
the entire season. In this picture, Zachary is gamely running
after the boy in the yellow shirt who is heading straight
for Zachary's goal.
Jackson decided he wanted to play basketball this season,
and I was the coach of his team. It's a parent coached league
and none of the parents on our team stepped up so I was drafted.
Coaching was fun but challenging. Basketball is a hard sport to teach.
There are a lot of things happening all at once. Only two of the
kids on the team had any basketball experience, and it was hard
to keep them from goofing off sometimes.
Jackson's team was in the same situation as Zachary's, they were
overmatched in their league. They did manage to win two of their
ten games, but some of their games were blowout losses. I didn't
really mind losing as long as everyone got to play and the kids
got a little better. I had some
trouble with my assistant coaches
(the two adults in this picture). We had, shall we say, different
coaching philosophies and goals for the team.
My goal for Jackson's team was that everyone should handle
the ball during games and I wanted everyone to score a basket
during a game. Of the eight players on our team, seven scored
baskets during games. Cassandra, the girl in the middle, was
a special project. She had never played sports before and was
a little bit "out there". But she practiced hard and scored
a basket in our second-to last game. Emily, the girl on the
right, had never played basketball before. In one of our games
she scored baskets on three consecutative possessions. She was
a scoring machine.
Lisa got Zachary started at Tae Kwon Do last year and he
has been taking a lesson once a week ever since. He is slowly
moving up the belt hierarchy. In this picture he is receiving
the prestigious orange belt. They're pretty lenient when it
comes to promoting the kids. Pretty much if they show up,
have a good attitude, and can do some of the moves, they are
given the next belt.
The boys do a lot more for recreation besides sports. In addition to playing
their GameBoys and computer games, the boys also like to play
the Game of Life. It's a classic game that teaches us whoever
finishes with the most money wins. We're still working on teaching Zachary to
be a good sport. If something bad happens to him, he will usually
stomp off and refuse to play any more.
Easter and Aidan
The boys still love to color, hide, and find Easter eggs.
Of course, Jackson and Zachary have the finding skills of
a potted plant. We have to hide the eggs in obvious
places, like on top of the patio table. If that fails, I try
to steer Zachary so he's standing within three feet of a
plainly visible egg. That usually works.
It's a good thing the boys have a mommy. Because I would
probably not have stuffed their Easter baskets with candy,
toys,and sunglasses. They weren't big fans of the Peeps, but
the rest of their candy haul lasted for what seemed like months.
Alicia and Aidan came for a visit in April. This was nicer
than the last time we stayed with Aidan in that he wasn't
sick and howling all night. In this picture, Aidan is joining
a scrum taking place on the TV room couch. Alicia is either gazing
adoringly at the boys or making sure
Aidan doesn't get crushed.
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