Last night was kids' night at the local Silver Diner, complete with pony rides. We had a pony ride, dinner at the diner, and then another pony ride. It was the best dinner out EVER.
When I was just out of college, I dated a man who thought I wasn't serious enough about important things like biking long distances, hiking, or rock climbing. I recall a weekend when he wanted to go out to the mountains, and I objected that it didn't sound like fun to me. Somehow my irritation at being forced into an outing that I wasn't interested in became known as my "search through the state park for a carousel." I wasn't really looking for a carousel -- I just wasn't interested in sitting quietly for hours while he attempted to scale every vertical face of rock we found. This was before it dawned on me that I could actually ALSO learn to rock climb -- a phase in my life that was very short, and ended when I turned out to be innately better at it than my first husband, but I digress.
In retrospect, that trip would have been a lot more fun, if there'd been a carousel. Or a 4-y-o to hang out with.
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Sunday, October 05, 2008
My secret is out....
Over lunch the other day, a girlfriend pointed out that I needed to have a child so that I'd have someone to hang out with who shared my interests. I stand guilty as accused.
We had the most fun I can imagine yesterday. A leisurely morning, but then a trip to the Smithsonian's Ripley Center to see Jim Henson's Fantastic World. A small exhibit, overall, and crowded on its final weekend, it let me briefly worship at the shrine of a 1970's-era Kermit the Frog, along with Bert and Ernie, Gobo Fraggle, and a variety of characters and props from movies such as The Dark Crystal.
There was a great resource room with books of material for the adults while children could draw storyboards, add features to velcro faces, and play with puppets on a real puppet theater where they could see through a glass panel to a monitor that showed them what the scene looked like on camera, and which was televised to 1970's era tvs in other parts of the exhibit.
I came away inspired to start making puppets, something I've always wanted to do, but hey! Now I have a partner in crime who will work on it with me! My girlfriend is proven correct in her assessment of my reasons for having children....
We left there and went to the Natural History Museum for a quick bite to eat in the Fossil Cafe ("Don't go extinct!") and a quick trip around the dinosaur exhibit, then a quick romp into the new Sant Ocean Hall, and a trip to the gift shop resulting in two more members for the ever-growing dinosaur collection.
What trip to the Mall is complete without a spin on the Carousel? Someone beat us to it on our first trip, but we were able to cleverly wait out an entire cycle so we could pick FIRST and ride the "dragon" -- and there was much rejoicing.
I carried a very tired 4-y-o and his two new friends through the Ripley Garden on the way back to the car, and a very sleepy boy conked out during the ride home. We were just too tired to do anything else for the rest of the day, and it was a quiet evening.
It'll be a tough act to follow, but I think maybe the zoo is juuuust the thing!
We had the most fun I can imagine yesterday. A leisurely morning, but then a trip to the Smithsonian's Ripley Center to see Jim Henson's Fantastic World. A small exhibit, overall, and crowded on its final weekend, it let me briefly worship at the shrine of a 1970's-era Kermit the Frog, along with Bert and Ernie, Gobo Fraggle, and a variety of characters and props from movies such as The Dark Crystal.
There was a great resource room with books of material for the adults while children could draw storyboards, add features to velcro faces, and play with puppets on a real puppet theater where they could see through a glass panel to a monitor that showed them what the scene looked like on camera, and which was televised to 1970's era tvs in other parts of the exhibit.
I came away inspired to start making puppets, something I've always wanted to do, but hey! Now I have a partner in crime who will work on it with me! My girlfriend is proven correct in her assessment of my reasons for having children....
We left there and went to the Natural History Museum for a quick bite to eat in the Fossil Cafe ("Don't go extinct!") and a quick trip around the dinosaur exhibit, then a quick romp into the new Sant Ocean Hall, and a trip to the gift shop resulting in two more members for the ever-growing dinosaur collection.
What trip to the Mall is complete without a spin on the Carousel? Someone beat us to it on our first trip, but we were able to cleverly wait out an entire cycle so we could pick FIRST and ride the "dragon" -- and there was much rejoicing.
I carried a very tired 4-y-o and his two new friends through the Ripley Garden on the way back to the car, and a very sleepy boy conked out during the ride home. We were just too tired to do anything else for the rest of the day, and it was a quiet evening.
It'll be a tough act to follow, but I think maybe the zoo is juuuust the thing!
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