We are in big trouble...

Tristan has discovered stairs.



Jen and Tom told everyone that they understood the dangers of wishing Tristan would start to crawl. Besides, he's been doing his rolling and commando "slither" for a long time. Perhaps he would just skip the crawling phase. Well, no such luck. While the rolling and slithering continues, he has added crawling and climbing to his repertoire. And, as pictured above, stairs do not seem to be an obstacle.

Pacific Baptism

Tristan recieved his baptism in the Pacific Ocean at his father's old surfing spot...the Huntington Beach Pier.

Legoland!

From Tristan's first amusement park ride, to deep fried apple slices, to replicas of yet to be built 9/11 memorials, the family trip to Legoland was great fun...and a long time goal for Tom. Even thought the weather was pretty cold, Jennifer insisted that Tom get to make a pilgimage to this special spot.



A special part of Legoland is the "Miniland" area where Lego's Master Builders have replicated many of the world's landmarks. Models of Washington, Los Angeles, San Francisco, New Orleans, Southern California's beaches, New York's skyline (and coming soon) Las Vegas can all be seen in incredible detail. There were two surprises in the collection:

On the outskirts of the New Orleans model, along with Jackson Square, Cafe du Monde and a Jazz funeral near Cemetary #1, there was a model of Houmas House, a classic southern plantation. This just happened to be the plantation that Jennifer's friends Lori and Rich got married on. There was no model of the bus with a flat tire, but everything else was there, only smaller.



The other unexpected model was of Ferndale, CA. This is a town in Northern California (near Eureka) that Tom decided years ago would be the site of his retirement. (This was apparently the first Jennifer had heard of this.)

Dixon reunion

On this trip to California, Tom was able to finally introduce Jennifer (and Tristan) to his buddy Adrian and his family. Tom has known Adrian and his son Andrew for over 20 years...even though Andrew is now only 17.

Here is a picture of Tom and Andrew (along with Tom's dog Snortles) from around the last time they had gotten together. On the right is a picture of the two families now (Adrian, wife Gilda, Jennifer, Tom w/Tristan, Andrew, Daniel w/Ethan)



Good luck to Andrew with his wrestling (he won a championship the weekend we were out there) and to Daniel with his quest to get into USC.

Long ago (after rebuilding the engine in his kitchen), Tom sold his Kawasaki GPz750 to Adrian. He has taken incredible care of the bike...and it appears ready for Tristan to take over in the future!



Check out the video of Adrian's synchronized Chistmas lights. (Next time I get the audio as well!)


(click for video)

Visiting Great Relatives

Tom and Jennifer took Tristan out to California to meet his Great Uncle Harold and Great Aunt Lida.



The Trip also introduced Tristan to cousin Lida Ann and her son Jeff


During the New Years week visit, Tristan discovered his first helium filled balloon. He still doesn't quite understand while it falls "up", but he was very willing to experiment over and over again to see if it would act "normally". Apparently, the experiments were extremely funny.