30 Days of Happiness, Day 7: A Visit from Uncle Wade

Charlie's Uncle Wade (my brother) came out from Minneapolis for a short visit last week. It was his first time meeting Charlie. We spent a lot of time close to home base, but on Wade's first day here, he did humor me and let me take him out to Mr. Rex's Dinosaur Adventure in the desert. If you've seen this fine piece of cinema, then these pictures will probably ring a bell.



What we didn't realize is that there was a robotic dinosaur museum in addition to the two giant dinosaurs you can see from the freeway. For $5, you get access to the "museum" (which is really a big patch of dirt with lots of totally real looking dinosaurs hanging out and looking like they totally belong in Southern California) and the gift shop. Score!

And if you are in a wheelchair, you can get in free! (See sign below.)



Here we are posing under the big ol' T-Rex.





Scary!



This Army guy was hiding in the corner in the gift shop. Hunting dinosaurs, no doubt.



Making friends with the dinos





I was completely taken aback by this crusader hiding out amongst the dinosaurs. Later on I figured out why he was there.



The owners of the museum took many opportunities to remind us that we were being watched. Too bad they never passed their spelling tests in elementary school.



Dinosaurs are friendly!





And then we found ourselves at the main attraction, the huge T-Rex.



This is, I shit you not, the first thing you see when walking in.



Turns out the T-Rex was filled with signs proclaiming evolution to be fundamentally flawed. Interesting...

Charlie was unaffected by all that religious rhetoric. That's my boy!



I climbed up to the top of the T-Rex. This was my view.



Awesome sign!



When we left, we were each gifted with two DVDs titled "Dinosaurs in the Bible" and "By Design, Not By Chance." Of course we went home straightaway and popped those suckers into the DVD player and were instantly saved, thanks to Mr. Rex's Dinosaur Adventure.

(If you want to experience some of Mr. Rex's religious rhetoric for yourself, click here. Have fun!)

Later on at home (after being saved), Wade gave Charlie a dancing lesson.



For the rest of Wade's visit, we stayed local, hit up a music store, ate at my favorite Thai place, went to the mall, and did a fat music exchange.

As a going away gift, I gave Wade a new toothbrush. Here's his old one.



We took some really bad photos of ourselves.




Wade's visit was really brief, but it was really awesome to see him again. I really can't imagine a better companion for our dinosaur adventure, since we're both recovering Catholics and all. And it was nice that Charlie got to meet his uncle. Not to mention the experience of having Uncle Wade give him a dancing lesson.