The Kid and His Truck

Here is The Kid on his favorite day of the week - Garbage Truck Day. T-Bear and Monkey aren't so sure they understand the excitement. T-Bear, being a bear, find garbage tasty but really doesn't understand the obsession with the actual truck, and really doesn't understand why you would give away all those tasty snacks. Monkey mostly just wishes there was more banana oatmeal.

The Kids Watering Technique

Neither T-Bear nor Monkey are exactly sure why The Kid is so focused on the watering of his toe. T-Bear thinks maybe it is some how related to Sherpa training and learning to focus the mind to stop the effects of frostbite. Or The Kid is just really excited he now knows the word water.

He also says "water" a lot when trying to get Dork Boy to follow his sophisticated watering technique.

The key to The Kid's special watering technique is the use of two hands.
This allows for maximum accuracy when flipping the bucket upside down,
as opposed to waiting to pour the water.

The Kid Celebrates Fathers Day

The Kid tries to be a good kid, and do nice things like find Grumps and Bilbo good father's day cards. However, due to his regular association with the slightly sarcastic T-Bear, The Kid doesn't have a great love of the sweet and emotional cards. Unfortunately, the grandfather based cards tend to be of that variety. So, instead of sending a card to the grandfathers,(and it was totally because of bad cards and nothing what so ever to do with Dork Boy being completely unorganized) The Kid decided to demonstrate the things he has learned from Bilbo and Grumps. So far The Kid seems to have learned two things: an appreciation of macro-brews in cans and a love of golf clubs.

The Kid Relaxing With A Nice Cool Can Of Beer. Excellent for soothing teething.

The Grandpa's may want to work on the kid's stroke or start teaching him about hockey.

The Kid Learns From Grammy And Poppy

The Kid is a good kid, and as a good kid he has a great deal of respect for his elders. Two of the elders he has the most respect for are his great grandparents, Grammy and Poppy. Due to his great respect he has begun to try to emulate them, not always with the greatest of success, but always with the best of intentions. The Kid's Grammy is an excellent gardener, and The Kid has begun trying to do some of her gardening tricks. Unfortunately, The Kid hasn't quite mastered Grammy's skills at getting flowers to grow in the garden, but he is very good at adding sticks and removing dirt and seedlings from the garden, which he is convinced will help the flowers grow.

The Kid decides which of the plants deserves his special gardening treatment.

The Kid's attempts to emulate Poppy, have taken a strange turn. Rather than try to imitate Poppy's legendary tennis game or his epic skills at navigation, The Kid has taken to sporting a Poppyesque beard.

Two mighty fine beards.

Water Training

Recently The Kid took a break from Sherpa training to focus on his water skills. Escorted by The Wife, Monkey and The Kid's current preferred travel companion (but The Wife's least favorite), Rattle Dog, The Kid headed down to San Diego for a few days of intense training. The trip started out on a more relaxed note, with The Kid spending some time enjoying his new favorite past time...Aeronautic Observation.



Once in San Diego, The Kid began his training by taking a closer look at underwater friends and foes.

The Kid learning about underwater friends

The Kid demonstrating his technique of dealing with underwater foes

Once The Kid was up to speed on underwater life, he headed out for his first intense training session.

The Kid leading the hesitant Wife and Gigi into the water

The Kid getting some assistance with toe strengthening exercises

The Kid working on sand sprints

We are not exactly sure why The Kid decided training would go better without pants

After a tough workout in the water, The Kid practiced digging sandpits and spent some time directing beach traffic.

The Kid using the Porter technique to dig his sandpit

The Kid is surprised how dirty sandpit digging can be

The Kid brings in the big guns, as some times a small yellow shovel just isn't enough.

The Kid heading back for another water workout

Luckily, The Kid's water training coincided with a visit with some of the Family Elders and allowed him to check in on his side kick, Gumbo's training.

The Kid and The Wife with Crazy Aunt #1 and Gumbo

The Kid and The Wife visiting with Gigi, Crazy Aunt #1, Gumbo and Great Grammy and Poppy

Gumbo showing The Kid how his flight training is going

Of course The Kid's Sherpa training wasn't totally forgotten as he did manage to fit in a quick climb to Bilbeauxz Plateau.

The Kid with Sherpa Great Grammy on the descent from Bilbeauxz Plateau

Into The Upstairs

The Kid, T-Bear and Monkey had been planning the expedition for months. They had been training for almost a year. Well, The Kid had been training, advancing from being completely immobile, to being able to support his head, to being able to sit up, to being able to crawl, and now he could finally pull himself up to a standing position. Monkey and T-Bear had mostly hung out eating bananas and honey respectively, but they could already walk, so there wasn't that much training to actually do. By mid-December they decided they were physically ready to table the awesome challenge of Mt. Gigishouse.

The Kid doing stove pull-ups as part of his intensive training program.

The Kid practices his climbing technique and use of an authentic climbing sweater on his local mountain.

Their crack support staff quickly took care of the final travel arrangements and insuring the proper visas, permits and inoculations were obtained. (Actually the final travel arrangements mostly consisted of figuring out how to cram all Kid and Pack Leader related gear into the car; visas, permits and inoculations would have been much easier.) With the preparations done, the crew set off on the journey to base camp. It was a long journey that took a lot out of the team, particularly on the support staff. In particular, Dork Boy needed a lot of rest after the journey because of some very late nights of navigating. While the logistic staff rested, the climbing team began preparing for the arduous climb.

Due to weather conditions at Mt. Gigishouse, the team had a limited window to reach the summit. Because of this, the team was planning on spending several days acclimatizing at base camp, and then making an aggressive rapid one day ascent and descent, as opposed to the more conservative approach of spending a night at the high base camp on Bilbeauxz Plateau.

The acclimatizing phase went very well. After several days T-Bear, Monkey and The Kid were all very comfortable with the environment. In fact, acclimatizing may have gone to well because when it came time to set out for the climb, T-Bear and Monkey decided rather than making a cold brutal climb to the harsh conditions at the peak of Mt. Gigishouse, they would remain in the warm cozy conditions of base camp where there where lots and lots and lots of snacks were readily available. Thus, The Kid set out for the peak of Mt. Gigishouse on a cloudy day in late Decemember with only his trusty sidekick, Sherpa Bilbo for company.

The plan for the ascent was to begin the climb up the long South Ridge to reach Bilbeauxz Plateau. Then take a quick rest, before making the technical tricky crossing to the North Ridge. Then a quick ascent up the North Ridge to the peak. Then they would have to make descent the way the had come and reach Base Camp before the weather window closed.

The climb began well. The Kid was climbing quickly and confidently. But as they reached the top of the South Ridge the altitude began to effect the The Kid. He began climbing much slower and less stably. It took all of Sherpa Bilbo's concentration to avert disaster several times, but they did reach Bilbeauxz Plateau on schedule. However, The Kid was very tired, and after a brief rest he considered giving up his dream of reaching the peak. But after consulting with the staff at Base Camp and Sherpa Bilbo, he decided to continue.

The rest gave The Kid a burst of energy, and he quickly crossed the Bilbeauxz Plateau. However, the short steep climb up the North Ridge was a brutal slog. The Kid had to battle cold and a much thinner atmosphere. But eventually because of the determination of The Kid and the skill of Sherpa Bilbo The Kid reached the mystical peak of Mt. Gigishouse.

The Kid celebrating reaching the peak.

After a great deal of celebrating his monumental achievement, The Kid had to begin the climb back to base camp. Unfortunately the prolonged exposure to the thinner atmosphere of The Upstairs had left The Kid highly disoriented. Either because of some death wish or because of his training to become the first drive of a co-ed bobsled team, The Kid insisted on attempting to make the descent head first. For several tense moments both the base camp staff and Sherpa Bilbo pleaded with The Kid to go feet first, but to no avail. Finally, Sherpa Bill was forced to restrain The Kid and carry him back to Base Camp.

The Kid and Baby D during an early bobsled training session.

After arriving at Base Camp, The Kid had a sippy cup, some Cheerios and some string cheese and was completely revived. He was so revived he tried to steal some of Dork Boys celebratory beer and enjoyed retelling stories of his epic climb.

The Kid Mountain climber and renowned beer thief

Challenging Grand Great Aunt Jamie.

The Kid may not quite be able to walk but he is mastering the use of the table as walker technique. He definitely has some good speed working, but he still has a few issues with steering. As soon as he gets those issues worked out, he's totally challenging his Grand Great Aunt Jamie(who is Dork Boys Great Aunt, as well as being generally grand and great) who is true master of the walker.

Although before that he may want to give Monkey and T-Bear a ride as they are a little annoyed the Legos seem to be getting a ride and not them.