Father/Son Outing

Note from Katherine:  This outing was a special treat for both father and son (and mommy, too, actually).  I had the worst of the hives this night and the guys headed out on an adventure after tucking me into bed at an insanely early hour!  There will be a lot more of these nights now courtesy of mommy's broken leg.  I like them a lot though --another blessing in this dark storm.

At the beginning of the Summer, James and I got to experience a nice father/son outing. Do you ever take your kid on an adventure or date?  Some of our close friends have scheduled "dates" where each parent has special one-on-one time with each kid (they have 3).  Not sure how they fit in all those, but it did get me thinking.

James gets lots of love and attention, but understandably, I have had to give most all of my time and focus to his Mommy during his short life.  I certainly hope that this has deeply communicated to him how he should treat his spouse some day, but nonetheless, I never want him to misunderstand his rank on my priority list, since love is so often spelled "T-I-M-E".

We ventured out on this brisk, early-Summer evening and jumped on the new above-ground metro that is just a few blocks away -- adventure #1, to be sure.  Public transit in LA is a bit untested by the Wolfs but this Expo line is cheap entertainment for the little guy.  In no time, we were near downtown by the USC campus where the outdoor music/movie/food truck event was held.  Despite being a pretty-picky eater, James hunkered down with some of the amazing eats, mostly fried.  He even got his first porta-potty experience -- adventure #2.

 James and I wrestled in the grass.  He got totally sugared up on the free "Naked" juice samples, then ran up and danced at the front during some "Napoleon Dynamite"-inspired dance contest (the movie showing that night).  James even met one of the more memorable characters from the movie, La Fonda...hilarious, only in LA people.  We actually left before the movie even started at 8pm, but we had already packed in a whole night's worth of fun by then.  I picked James up and carried him most of the way to the train stop, an act that is quite a bit harder than it used to be.  He nearly fell asleep on my shoulder on the ride home as the nighttime lights of the city of Angels blurred past us out the train window.

The adventures spent with kids are rarely like we envision them to be, and they can often be total disasters, but when you hear that spontaneous giggle or see little eyes light up at the sight of a new experience, even the most laborious outing is all worth it.  On that night, I felt so blessed to capture some moments with my little guy, after all, he's not quite so little any more.