This is a post where New Dad tries to remember what fun/new things we did this year with the boy...because otherwise he'll forget it.
So, apologies in advance if this feels like a personal journal entry, because, well, that's pretty much what it is. (But you might learn some fun things to do with your three-year-old! But probably not.)
Bowling. Turns out, this activity is not just good for overweight middle-aged men. It's great for kids, too! Also, they had an air hockey table. The boy loves himself some air hockey.
Voting. The boy comes with New Dad to vote in a city election. He learns that voting is fast, and that he can come inside the booth, and Daddy can hand him the ballot to give to the ballot takers, and for some reason it's cute, and not a possibly illegal way of voting.
Hiking and BBQing in the mountains. Not in that order. Also, a lot of driving. Good fun, though.
Lancaster Air show. Lots of planes. The boy fell asleep before the Thunderbirds, which was good, because one "Thunderbird" was sick, which led to a lot of "More like gentle storm birds" jokes. And by "led to," I mean, just this one, right now.
Natural History Museum. Butterflies! And other natural stuff.
Local carnival with friends and their kids. Rides, cotton candy, and he got to throw darts again this year, which was scary (again), yet also really brave of the carnie to turn their back while our 3-year-old and his 3-year-old friend with a wicked arm threw REAL DARTS at balloons. And by "brave" I mean, dumb. Real dumb.
Camping with friends and their kids. Turns out, letting kids run around out doors tires them out. Next summer, the plan is to camp every day.
San Diego with grandparents and cousins. So much fun. Thanks for renting a house a block from the beach, grandma, but next time, ON THE SAND. What are we, savages? Why do we have a cross a street to get to the beach? (This is a joke - house was amazing. Thanks again!)
Mammoth with grandparents and cousins. Another great trip. Saw a lot of the cousins this year, now that I'm writing this all down...
Descanso Gardens with friends and their kids. Good gardens with the smallest train ride in the world, for not the smallest ticket price.
Driving range and putting green. The boy loves it! For 10 minutes.
Sky Zone. A trampoline park. So much fun. New Dad loved it...for 10 minutes. Then New Dad got tired. The boy got tired after 45 minutes, and then noticed an air hockey table...
Cal Poly Pomona Pumpkin Patch. Arguably the most crowded pumpkin patch in Southern California. Somehow, that day in October was the hottest day of the summer. (Get it, it's actually fall?) Amazing corn maze, though, and I don't say that lightly.
Thanksgiving Plane Flight to San Francisco, Drive to Central California. The boy loved the plane flight - mostly, he loved playing Asteroids on the plane. The boy loved San Francisco - mostly playing air hockey on Pier 39. The boy has my genes.
Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) Connected up the old system to show the boy Duck Hunt. Turns out, the light gun doesn't work on "new" TVs. Played Super Mario Bros instead. Turns out, that game is SUPER INTENSE compared with the Angry Birds and Pokemon Go games of today. Example: Mushrooms and venus fly traps are TRYING TO KILL YOU. And if you're not careful, you fall down a hole to your death. And that's just the first half of level 1-1.
By my count, that's 15 new things. I thought that was a lot, but now I'm thinking there are 52 weekends in a year...
Next year we'll shoot for at least 26 new things.
And more camping. And doing things where the boy can just run around and the parents can just sit around.
Seriously.
-ND
