11:18 a.m. - November 27, 2006
Museum Day!
Ah, a four day weekend. Tales to tell. Dinner to digest. Where to begin?
Well, let�s do a quick recap, shall we, and have the appetizer and salad, as Saturday was the main course.
Thursday was a good Thanksgiving. We went up to Lafayette to eat with the the family of Niece Nurses� husband. There are about 50 people that come up to this, and we see most of them just on Thanksgiving. But there�s always plenty of grub and good times and no one is spiking the mashed potatoes with Polonium 210, so it�s all good.
Then we took some leftovers over to Mom and Dad and visited there for a while. But we were all tired and full and turkey-drugged, so it was a relatively short visit.
Of course, I followed the time-honored tradition of all males during Thanksgiving: I fell asleep watching football after dinner. And what�s worse, Liz called me out and asked if she could change the channel.
�I�m not asleep! I�m watching the game!�
�You�re snoring!�
�But still....�
Friday was a lazy day � almost too lazy. Liz was going to prep painting the utility room and finishing up the quarter-round that they put up around our new vinyl floor. Katie was being a helper too, so during Kristin�s naptime I went to the store in the afternoon. I called a few people just to see how their holiday went and then�
�I realized that I had made an appointment to get my car serviced that morning. Ooperdy-dooperdy.
Turkey hangover, no doubt.
Ah well, such is life. I made another appointment for Saturday morning.
The rest of Friday was fairly uneventful � well except for more falling asleep watching football faux pas.
Saturday was supposed to be the day. Liz was going to start painting big time, and I needed to get the girls out of the house for a while. So we were going to the Children�s Museum in Indianapolis.
I dropped my car off of the repair shop, and walked back home. Ah, life in a small town!
As you recall, my last experience at the Children�s Museum was definitely a lot of work, but I had a plan of attack this time. I also had a double stroller, a diaper bag, coffee and two kidlets to lug around.
About 20 minutes after we went the house, Liz called. She was trying to get stuff off of the wall in the utility room, and had trouble with the mirror over the sink. (The utility room has our pantry, washer and drier, and a half bath. Definitely a utility room, eh?)
Well, she found out that it was a medicine cabinet. It was recessed so it wasn�t obvious, but it was a big ol� medicine cabinet.
We�ve lived there for two years and never knew that. Oh, my.
Then about 10 minutes later, the phone rang again. It was Liz. When she took a light fixture down from where the toilet was, she discovered something that a previous owner had put on the walls.
It was wallpaper.
Gold lame wallpaper.
No, really, in a bathroom.
Gold lame.
Holy Brady, Batman!
Katie and Kristin were fairly well behaved on the trip over there. Fairly as in there was no bloodshed or raising of voices � well not too loud. Katie did always want to know the ETA to the museum � and then said that I took a different way than Mommy did. Ah, well.
We got to the museum, and wonders of wonders, I put the stroller together without a hitch or a phone call to Liz. I buckled Kristin in (who was not happy and had this look like �Hey, I just rode in a car for 45 minutes and you�re buckling me in AGAIN??? WAAAAAH!�)
The museum was packed. Santa was there, and they had a slide to slide down after you saw Santa. It was yuppie couple heaven, too. Everyone looked so homogenous and all. (The parking garage should have told me something � I parked next to a Lexus and a BMW SUV).
But we had a plan � first we go to Playscapes � where Kristin and Katie can play with all kinds of stuff and learn while playing (imagine that!) � then lunch � then the Dinosphere. By then, they should be tuckered out and ready to go home.
I drove the stroller up the ramp for three floors, and there was Playscapes. Mind you, the stroller was NOT easy, and I think it should be part of a workout. With a loaded diaper bag and a loaded 17 month old, it�s definitely a great workout.
Playscapes was busy but fun. Kristin needed to be watched all the time, of course, but loved to be able to romp around and play with pert near everything.
Katie went over to the area where they have construction equipment, and climbed onto the machine that looks like �Scoop� from Bob The Builder. Well, it�s actually one of those real-life machines, with an ominous safety sticker on it � saying what you absolutely should not do. The headline of the sticker??
�Warning: AVOID DEATH�
Well, yeah, that�s a given, I guess.
The girls had all kinds of fun and laughter and running around. Kristin only cried once when she fell down, but it was OK.
We then went down to the first floor to the food court. They have changed from McDonalds to Burger King, but that was OK. It was just a different paradigm of a kid�s meal.
However, I got a great lesson in the skill it takes to be a single parent. How do you keep track of an almost 5-year old while pushing a stroller with your baby and balance a tray of food and not spill or drop anything and also find a place to sit amongst the food court and make sure you get a high chair for Kristin. Don�t forget your drink, or napkins and a spoon for the applesauce. Oh, and make sure you also pay for Katie�s one treat � which was candy corn.
Whew.
Lunch was had with only slight hitches in the git-along � Kristin decided that most of her burger looked better on the floor and Katie thought Kristin really wanted some of MY fries. Sigh.
Then it was off to the Dinosphere! Katie loves that place � she gets to play in a pretend fossil dig, play a computer matching game, and look at all kinds of dinosaur bones and exhibits. I don�t know what it is about kids and dinosaurs, but they just love them even though they are scary and ghastly and all that. Even Kristin loved that exhibit.
Dinoed out � and with a slight detour on the train exhibit � we left for home. On the way back, Katie claimed that she REALLY wanted to go to the Zoo. Sigh, grumble, grumble.
The trip could be best summed up with some silly USA Today -like numbers:
Number of times Kristin fell down while running: 7
Number of times I said, �Katie, slow down! Now!�: 12
Number of times Katie said that there used to be an �Old McDonald�s� here: 6
Back home, Kristin went for a nap, and Katie started her long, slow, descent into pilldom, thanks to the candy corn. Sigh. But hold that thought�
The rest of the weekend was OK. Liz decided she needed to paint the pantry and moved everything from the pantry into the kitchen, so it was decided that instead of the planned �adult� dinner on Saturday night, we would go out to dinner as a family on Saturday. I also watched the Notre Dame / USC game and gained the trifecta in falling asleep in front of football.
Sunday we had a good morning at church, and then Liz made some excellent progress in painting. I made excellent progress on my iTunes projects and actually watched a football game WITHOUT falling asleep.
But then there was Saturday night � the Battle of Steak �N� Shake. Tune in tomorrow � it�ll be riveting.
