Life in Manteca #5 *Beckman Park in Lodi.

The past couple of weeks have been a slower lifestyle in Manteca.  Sheri and I have really not explored any new restaurants.  I took Tony to a park yesterday, in Lodi, Beckman Park.  We decided to try it out as it is next to the Lodi Stake Center where Caleb was practcing for the dance festival.

It was a major disappointment for us.  I guess it is a flood drainage area, and used as a dog park when the flood waters are down.  It was mostly fenced in with one gate.   We spent some time walking across the park.  We had to go through the one open gate and then we walked to a tree on a hill.  The tree was too high for Tony to climb.

We could hear the music from the rehearsal at the church.  There was a fence and a canal keeping us from walking strait to the church grounds.  We watched the dogs running and playing.  There was a pond and some of the dogs would get wet, and then shake themselves off.  Some of the dogs could run really fast, and they had plenty of room.

WE found a pile of poop, left by some dog.  Tony wanted to show his skills by jumping over it.  While he was contemplating this, a little dog came along and in greeting Tony, stepped in it.  Then of course the little dog had to smell it too.  Tony still wanted to jump over it,  but it was spread pretty good that I didn't want to have anything to do with that, so I lifted him over and pointed him to some trees where I could help him up.  We found some of the little maple balls, and had a super hero fight throwing them at each other.  I did help Tony into a tree with the rule that he could not fall, which he obeyed very well.


We then walked and tried out the swing.  This was the only playground equipment at the park.  It was too high for good swinging, but I pushed Tony for a bit.  There was a cricket game going on.  It was Greek to me, or should I say Punjabi.  I didn't understand the game at all, but it seemed like they could run on foul balls, which didn't seem fair.


Finally we gave up on the park, and went to the stake center and played in the grass there.  They also had a tree Tony could fit in.  He also played with his superheros.


This past week i went to my first Manteca concert.  The Sierra High  School choir was singing.  Alysa is part.  They sang a song with no words, but singing two notes at the same time.  I don't know how they did it.  They also sang some of Mark Twain's witticisms.  "Better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you a full, than open your mouth and remove all doubt."  The music program is smaller than Cupertino High School--no men.  I encouraged Caleb to ask the director about men for next year, but he didn't.