After dinner, we noticed that there was an ultra rare Unown for the kid's favourite letter L. The location was a bit of a hike into a park, but we decided to brave the cold and grab this guy. There was a group huddled around GZ with flashlights by the time we got there. After some pictures, kid went on wife's phone to try to catch this Unown. After one throw, the Unown fled!!! WTF.
This was the first time an Unown ran away from us. The next day, kid said he was the worst Pokemon trainer ever... Niantic grrrrrr!!! This was worse than the previous episode.
Lapras was one of two pokemons left in our Pokedex that we have yet to find (the other requires a trip down under). We haven't been too happy with the new tracker which only showed pokemons near pokestops... we were missing out a bunch of nearby pokemons. Also, with the corresponding migration, we lost our stream of Pikachus and Squirtles (replaced with Nidorans.. sigh).
Anyway, tonight, as we were stuck in traffic taking the kid to Chinese school, I happen to notice a LAPRAS on sightings. With the pokestop tracking (and my Ingress knowledge), I knew exactly where to go. After checking with the crew that it would be okay for the kid to be late for Chinese school, we made the 2 minute detour. Passed my phone back to the kid, and he got serious, and tossed Razzie and Ultra balls. Quickly nabbed the rare pokemon.
Wife, on the other hand, was having trouble. She spent like 10 pokeballs already, without luck. You run the risk of pokemon running away at this stage. Good thing kid came to the rescue. Another raspberry + curveball, the kid caught Lapras on his "FIRST TRY!".
Kid can't stop asking: "Can you believe we caught a LAPRAS?!?"
We made it to Chinese school on time too! :D
Earlier in the day, kid and I saw a nearby sighting of a Dodrio... one of the remaining 12 pokemons we needed to catch. In fact, we've been walking Doduo for the past day, trying to gain enough candy to evolve one. Of course, catching one would be even better. Unfortunately, the earlier hunt was unsuccessful. After an awesome late lunch at Pasteis de Belem, we were waiting for tram 15 to Lisboa, when I noticed a new pokemon on my scanner! The infamous Dodrio!!! Kid and I have an agreement on who gets to catch pokemons.. the person who hasn't caught one yet would get first dibs. This being a new one, we'd take turns throwing one ball at time. I handed the phone to the kid, and his eyes lit up! He turned super serious, and dictated his game plan... raspberry then ultra ball. With a "GREAT" execution, the Dodrio popped back out.....
... and ran away. After one throw. WTF!!
The kid was stunned. I was stunned. He was like.... HE RAN AWAY!! I replied, "It's okay.. we'll evolve.. but you should have thrown a curveball." Kid rebuked with, "I did throw a curveball!"
We got on the tram.... saw another shadow of dodrio later on... but no real sightings... such a tease.
It wasn't our day. Kid asked me if I was sad... he obviously was disappointed. :(
This was bound to happen one day. As we were checking into our apartment, I was busy with the landlady when kid comes up to me with a quiet panic in his voice.. Daddy Daddy, I'm sorry, I don't know what happened! What do we do now?!? Apparently he accidentally activated a lucky egg! Since I was still preoccupied with the landlady, I had to tell him to wait, and he began to pace nervously around the room! Needless to say, in the long (more like 5) minutes for me to finish the checkin, kid's anxiety level went through the roof! We then immediately went and evolved whatever we can, which was hard since we were aggressively transferring crappy pokemon to get the 2x candy during this Hallowe'en event. Finished off with about 40k experience. Kiddo was so apologetic and promised to never let this happen again. I magnanimously told him it was okay. Just a game! A good learning experience all around. Then we had a blast the rest of the day in Porto!
Okay. No question we like this Hotel. We found this quicker than expected!
In a hotel on the outskirts of Madrid, I ask the kid if he liked this hotel... we are catching so many pokemons we don't usually see here! His reply: "What do you mean I like it? I LOVE IT!" :D
Wife and I were on our way to pick up kid from Chinese school. I made the off-hand comment that if I saw a Lapras sighting (still have yet to catch or hatch one. :(), I would go and catch it first, even if I end up 5-10 minutes late picking up the kid. Wife obviously thought I was crazy, but I retorted saying... the kid wouldn't expect any less of me!! ---- On the drive home, wife asks kid... Daddy said he'd rather find a Lapras instead of picking you up. Kid was like.. WHAT?!? I was like.. hold on a sec. Let me re-phrase... "If I saw a Lapras shadow... do I catch it first, but then might be late to pick you up (5-10 minutes at most due spawn time) .. or should I pick you up on time and skip Lapras. Kid immediately reply: "CATCH LAPRAS REALLY QUICK!!" I rest my case.
Little Pokemon master and I decided that today was a good day to use our lucky egg. We've been saving up a bunch of pokemons, avoided evolving any "new pokemons" since day 1. Since we just hit level 23, it was daunting to have to start collecting XP again. It didn't take much convincing for Kiddo in the morning. Better yet, he was all into doing his homework this time; we checked the IVs, and came up with a list of 20+ pokemons to evolve, and at the same time, collected a bunch of Pidgeys and Rattatas. Time came, we made our way to a bench at PMall, in range to two pokestops, and got into action. Evolution animation takes longer than it needs to, but kiddo never lost interest. He even knew to not check pokedex or the character moves in the interest of time!! While we didn't notice, wife told us that there were kids sitting beside us watching what we were doing the entire time... and as mesmerized too! When it was all said and done, we needed 18 new pokemons in our pokedex, and gained 77k XP! Highlight of the day. :D
While touring the exhibits at Carleton Martello Tower, I noticed a new shadow in my nearby POGO sightings. I mentioned to the junior Pokemon trainer that there's a butterfree nearby, and he wanted to check out the app. He then told me, that's not Butterfree!! That's the evolved form of venonat!! We decided to head up to the tower to catch it, and yes, it was a Venomoth! Damn. Kids these days.