SkyPark Adventures!

Category: Parker

  • Bob’s Bees

    For the first 2-3 months of Covid-19 our neighbors were outside and kids were everywhere on the sidewalks, backyards, etc. While walking I met a neighbor, Bob, who brewed his own beer, made his own Kombucha, and fermented his own Kimchi and beans.

    Bob also maintained bee hives in his back yard. He had about 20 boxes of bees and he would harvest 90 lbs of honey during the most productive months.

    I went back to Bob’s house with the kids to check out the bees and Bob had extra bee suits for both me and the kids and he showed us the inside of the boxes and told us tons of interesting information related to bee keeping.

    The key to not getting stung is to move slowly and to breathe calmly. He didn’t even use smoke when peeking in on the bees hives and none of us got stung.


  • Cardarock Covid Hiking

    I really enjoyed all our time spent in nature during the early months of the pandemic. I suspect that as life gets back to normal we will not be able to get outside as much as I would like.

    The kids and I went to Cardarock two weekends in a month searching for this amazing climbing rock wall that I never found. We did find some great climbs, just not the one from my memory.

    I’d love to get some clicking gear and go back with the kids and try some of the more difficult runs.


  • Annapolis Boat Overnight trip

    A couple months into the pandemic and we hadn’t gone anywhere. All flights were cancelled and all corporate travel was cancelled for the foreseeable future. We decided to take a local off-the-beaten-path vacation and rent a 2 bedroom yacht for the weekend.

    Susan booked the stay but somehow forgot that she easily gets motion sickness. After our first 15 minutes on the boat, she was feeling queasy so we went into downtown Annapolis to grab some dinner.

    Nothing like some overly rich she-crab soup and saltine crackers to fix a seasick stomach! Regardless, Susan felt fine afterwards and we enjoyed the rest of our floating trip.

  • Mother’s Day 2020

    Mother’s Day during a pandemic was fairly low key. I don’t recall going anywhere, and the kids played outside with a new rope swing and their bunny aka “Snow Ball”.

  • Great Falls Waterfall Hike

    We were blessed with nice weather the first couple weeks of quarantine. Our second or third weekend home we went to Great Falls and hiked almost all the way to the falls.

    We were hiking for close to 3.5 hours, but we took lots of detours.

  • 2020 Parker birthday – 8 anos

    Parker would have preferred to have had a big party with all his pals, but in these strange times we are practicing social distancing and keeping contact with anyone outside of the immediate family to 6 feet or farther.

    Yesterday we were on a bike ride in the neighborhood and we saw a boy sitting on his front lawn with balloons and streamers adorning his chair, as his friends drove past in cars. They roll the window down, wish a happy birthday, and then head back home.

    We asked Parker if he wanted a ‘drive-by’ birthday party and he declined. We had fun regardless. Parker had his Bearded Dragon from the weekend before, and he enjoyed opening more gifts and visiting with his grandparents.

    We ate crabs and had soup along with birthday cake and Korean pancakes that Skylar and Hadabogee made together. The pancakes were far better than the cake and I think we may have established a new grandparent tradition.

    We also celebrated Hadobogees birthday with cards made by Skylar and Parker.

    In the afternoon Parker, Skylar, and I went for a bike ride through the creek and we wrapped up with showers, screen time, and curating a music list for Parker’s new mp3 player.

  • Easter 2020

    Skylar and Parker were worried that the Easter Bunny would not make it to our house because of the Corona virus pandemic. Luckily, bunnies are not susceptible to the same pathogens as people.

    The Easter Bunny left lots of eggs all around the outside of the house. Some of the interesting items inside the eggs included trident gum, lollipops, stickers, buttons, individual tic-tacs, $1 bills, quarters, dimes, nickels, and paper-clips.

  • Parker soccer – Fall 2019

    Parker has gone through some incredible growth spurts recently and he dominated on the soccer field this fall. Check out some of his action:

  • Parker Hockey

    Parker has gotten quite adept at getting around on the ice. I’d say he has twinkle toes, but I don’t think he’d agree with my description – perhaps his polar feet!?

    Checkout a day of smacking pucks, drills, and a scrimmage below:

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  • Aulani – Disney Hawaii

    We spent a couple days at the Aulani Disney resort. The theme was Moana – there was a 40 foot “Volcano” with 2 slides coming down from it. We also went around the lazy river no less than 30 times. Susan and I were able to sit and talk for a bit while the kids did laps around it.

    They also made t-shirts and learned about Hawaiin art.  

    Staying a Disney is a study in psychology for me. Disney is expensive and largely artificial, so why in a place like Hawaii, where there is natural beauty all around, would you stay at Disney? I prefer making my way around the ‘real’ places, but a couple of days at Disney are entertaining.  Regardless, here is my answer:

    1. Great Customer Service: Disney’s customer service rivals the best in the world.  The staff know your name and your kids name, even if you’ve never seen them.  Not sure how they do that, but it is amazing.  Need ketchup, a knife to cut pineapple or a framed photo of Jeff Goldbleum to adorn your nightstand?  Disney will bring it to you within minutes.  I have stayed at luxury hotels and I’ve never felt as comfortable or as taken care of as with Disney.
    2. You can have adult time: I don’t go on vacation to do adult things, but there are plenty of people who do.  Disney kid club will take your kids for as long as you want them to – all day, or all night, or both.  From what I can tell the kids love it.  We spent our entire time with the kids, so it’s not for us, but I talked to plenty of adults via hot tub or while waiting in line for the slides whose kids were MIA.
    3. The Disney Story / Dream: Disney as a brand does one thing that no other company can do as well as them – tell a story.  The top of the hotel is shaped like a canoe.  At check-in girls get lays and boys get large beaded necklaces.  The lazy river is covered in references to the Moana movie.  Humans love stories, and Disney tells them like no other and then builds physical worlds that reflect those stories.