In California, sledding is an event. Last weekend we went to Pinecrest, on the way to Yosemite, to go sledding. We spent Friday night at my brother-in-law’s place in Tracy, about 45 minutes a way, and then in the morning we all piled into his SUV and drove 2+ hours. We brought Sammie and his 2 older girls. The night before we had to make a Target run to buy some snow boots – back in Ohio, people just had that sort of stuff. It was kind of expected.

Anyway, we played in the snow for a few hours on this big slope with a couple dozen other families (it was crowded, in typical California fashion), and we all had a pretty good time. The weather was nice too – a balmy 45 degrees. Sammie was pretty freaked out when we went sledding, but she loved throwing snowballs. Apparently kids nowadays don’t make snowballs the old fashioned way, they use snowball makers. I wish they had those 20 years ago. Aside from nearly knocking myself out trying to take a small jump on the sled, I had a blast.

All in all, it was fun but somewhat of an ordeal. Not that I’m complaining – I don’t like playing in the snow enough to have to live with it.

I was there to attend a management training course for work and the other two were tagging along for a mini vacation. The course was called the “Foundations of Leadership” and despite the fluffy-sounding title was extremely interesting, and could be aptly called “Understand your own personality and how you relate to others.” Over the course of two and a half days we were run through both a Meyers-Briggs Type Indicator test (I’m and ENTP) as well as a FIBRO-B personality test, followed by a Conflict Dynamics Profile. This was all topped off by several role playing sessions on conflict resolution, persuasion skills, and delivering feedback. Fun, eh?

It was actually really fascinating. I never put much weight into these sorts of things before, but after seeing my results and reading into the interpretation of the data I was shocked at how accurate a lot of it was. For example, now I have an understanding about why I get so irritated when I find out about something at work through the grapevine — it’s in conflict with my high desire for inclusion . Similarly, I wouldn’t necessarily strike up a conversation with somebody in an elevator but I’d be happy to chat with them if they initiated — that’s a mid-range expressed affection coupled with a high level of wanted affection.Of course these don’t present excuses for behaviors, but they do provide a really interesting perspective with which to view personal habits.

Probably the most useful thing is that I now have a slightly different lens through which to look at myself and try to interpret my own behavior. And hopefully that will mean that I can take advantage of my natural tendency to be [spontaneous/disorganized/easily bored and distracted/conversational/wishy-washy/etc.] instead of fighting it, and be a little more sensitive to other people’s quirks.Far and away the most valuable thing I got out of the experience was that I should spend more time reflecting on what I want to do and how I want to live, and make sure that my career and my personal life both head in that direction. It’s common sense now that I think about it, but we ENTPs apparently don’t spend a whole lot of time reflecting .

So while I was having all that fun, Huong and Sammie hit the town: the San Diego Zoo on Wednesday, which included Huong getting a migraine and Sammie throwing a huge tantrum (and Huong telling an old lady to “go back to the old folks home” after she made a snide remark about Sammie’s screaming), an 8+ hour day at the Wild Animal Park on Thursday, and some kids activities on Friday. I joined them that afternoon, and we were supposed to go to Legoland but there was a torrential downpour all day so we stayed indoors and went to a kid’s playland.

Friday evening we spent out at dinner with my family, my aunt Esper and uncle Emilio plus my 2nd cousin Sonji. We had to trick Sammie into thinking we were going to see Huong’s sister, but once we got to the restaurant she warmed up pretty quickly and in a few minutes she was drawing pictures with my uncle like she’d known him forever. It was great to see them since it’s been several years since I last went down south to visit. They’re a lot fun, so I regret not spending more time down here.

Overall, I thought it was a pretty good trip. Huong…not so much since she had Sammie all to herself. Would have been better if I’d actually been on vacation, but we’ll take what we can get.

Sure, she was scared at first (she didn’t like the skeletons at the very entrance), but the exhibit really emphasizes life and is really tastefully done, so there are lost of giant pictures of people of all ages including young kids, and those helped make her comfortable. We did get some disapproving looks from other people, but we ignored them. Children are surprisingly resilient, emotionally as well as physically, and when we got to the section on fetal development Sammie was really into it. She kept wanting to the see “mommy” and the “baby” even after we’d already gone to the end of the exhibit. And later on in the exhibit, she didn’t give the cadavers on display as much as a 2nd glance but instead seemed more bored than anything else.

As for myself, it was interesting but not nearly as moving as I’d expected. The exhibit was rather short, shorter than the other versions I’d heard about elsewhere in the country, and the plastinates seemed almost fake, which took away the emotional impact. Intellectually it was interesting, but it was more like touring Madame Tussaud’s and not as visceral as I would have hoped. I thought I would have left with a much stronger sense of my own mortality, but instead I thought I’d simply learned a few things and seen some ‘neat stuff’. On top of that, there were a few of the displays that seemed to be almost a bit gratuitous where they seemed to have used the body more as a material for a piece of art as opposed to a work of art in and of itself. Nonetheless, it was fascinating and worth a trip — even with kids.

I have no idea how she got out of her crib without falling, but now it’s time to move her to a kid’s bed. And time to get a lock on our door.

Sammie: What’s that, mommy?

Huong: It’s a deer.

Sammie: It’s a dog. (giggling)

Huong: (I’m about to correct her but her giggles make me stop to think for a sec) It’s a…cow!

Sammie: (giggling even more) No. It’s a deer, silly!

I was laughing my ass off.

As more children arrived, I was quietly observing Sammie, waiting for a “my ____!” moment. To my surprise, it wasn’t until the end that it happened. But it was a mild one and because there are so many of the same toys, the situation was quickly diffused. Our first day was a success! My only complaint was my chore duty. I was relieved when I learned my duty was to sweep the floors. Score! No cleaning up art supplies or toys. I got the easy one. Wrong. I was the last one to finish! The only broom they had was one of those old stiff witch brooms that don’t sweep up crap! Well, since I am now officially on the Board as Purchasing Chair, I will make it my personal goal to get a Swiffer for God’s sake. I mean, who uses those brooms anymore anyway?