Full Day
(As an aside, I do appreciate all the people who commented on my health update. Mostly it was to get all the stuff out of my brain, but THANK YOU. You guys are awesome.)
Today, Paul, Harris, Kristal, Joe and I went to the Franklin Institute. I chuckled a few times on the walk there from the subway, as we passed several other groups of people with a child/children, all exactly quoting, "Yes, okay? Yes! We're almost there!"
The only thing that kept me from screaming in incoherent rage at the sun was the continued chorus of 1776. It's hot as hell - in Phila-del-phia!
When we took a snack break outside at one of the vendors, I watched a child of about 4 or 5 argue with his father that the car parked within sight a block away was too far. It was only funny because you could see the father trying to be patient, not with his son but with the heat. You knew by his face that he just wanted to yell, "Well we're all fucking MELTING, AREN'T WE?"
I believe that we adults had more fun with Element Island than the kid did. Joe and I hung around the top of the lighthouse for a bit while Paul and Harris checked out the boat/waterworks, and Kristal wandered through the hall of mirrors. At the earth station, I mimicked a rock configuration with a hole in the middle using a bunch of blocks and the little kid graphs at the panel; Harris rolled his eyes at me. I suppose that wasn't nearly flashy enough for him, or any of the other kids, since I seemed to be the only one playing with it the whole time we were there. Eventually, he had to pull us onward like, "C'MON, I'm BORED!" when we got distracted with the water-pulley system.
Harris was all about the huge walk-through heart, the soft pretzels, and the space exhibits. Once we walked into that, Harris decided he was Pablo the Astronaut for the rest of the exhibit. Unfortunately, we had to hurry through the K'Nex Mars Rover section to find him a bathroom, and by the time we were done, he didn't want to go back. Then again, that might just be my inner child wanting to put things together. ("But I wanna see it!")
Galileo was neat, but not half as much as the Star Trek exhibit. Standing on the bridge from Tasha Yar's station was FUCKING AMAZING. (For those not in the know, my journal title: "Trigger happy rabid female at tactical" is a reference to Tasha Yar, the first head of security on the Enterprise D.)
Deanna's blue-green dress thing looks even worse in real life. Guinan's outfits still look classy, even up close to see the awful polyester, and Patrick Stewart is much taller than I thought. Y'know how the bridge ramp thunks a certain way when people walk up it on ST:TNG? Well, the set makes that same sound.
They won't let you take pictures in there, instead they have some poor college students walking around to take your photo-- $27 for 2 6"x8"s. I didn't even look down the list to the more expensive ones; I have no desire to be robbed. Perhaps when I have more money, I won't mind it so much, but I had no idea the Franklin Institute had a horror exhibit.
We saved the Star Trek exhibit for last, thinking that Harris would flip and absolutely love it, at which point we'd be dealing with Super Manic Boy. We took him to the space exhibit as one of the first ones. This was a bad idea in retrospect. He ran, yelled, jumped, and generally wore himself out. By the time we got to the Star Trek exhibit, and then the Galileo exhibit last, he was asking us every five minutes if we were leaving. For being bored of out of his head and trying desperately to entertain himself with what he did find interesting, he was amazingly well behaved.
We took him to the Sports Playroom last, then discovered bottled water at the Cafe was also a horror story. That's why I love refillable bottles and water fountains. We almost got him hyped up for the Science Park, but thankfully Paul caught that it was closed before we made the mistake of announcing where to go next. Dark clouds were coming over the city by that point anyway, and if he would've gotten rained out I think the reaction would've been much worse than a shrug and request for more pretzels.
I did not in fact ride the Skybike because I think it's crazy, and I'm far too fat to test it.
By the time we got to City Hall station to eat dinner, it was all mumbles and eye-rubbing; from him and us. Thankfully it didn't rain until we were exiting the subway to get back home. Kidbit is now exhausted, fed, and singing along to Animaniacs in the living room.
I think it's an early night for me and I'll be sleeping the sleep of the dead.
Today, Paul, Harris, Kristal, Joe and I went to the Franklin Institute. I chuckled a few times on the walk there from the subway, as we passed several other groups of people with a child/children, all exactly quoting, "Yes, okay? Yes! We're almost there!"
The only thing that kept me from screaming in incoherent rage at the sun was the continued chorus of 1776. It's hot as hell - in Phila-del-phia!
When we took a snack break outside at one of the vendors, I watched a child of about 4 or 5 argue with his father that the car parked within sight a block away was too far. It was only funny because you could see the father trying to be patient, not with his son but with the heat. You knew by his face that he just wanted to yell, "Well we're all fucking MELTING, AREN'T WE?"
I believe that we adults had more fun with Element Island than the kid did. Joe and I hung around the top of the lighthouse for a bit while Paul and Harris checked out the boat/waterworks, and Kristal wandered through the hall of mirrors. At the earth station, I mimicked a rock configuration with a hole in the middle using a bunch of blocks and the little kid graphs at the panel; Harris rolled his eyes at me. I suppose that wasn't nearly flashy enough for him, or any of the other kids, since I seemed to be the only one playing with it the whole time we were there. Eventually, he had to pull us onward like, "C'MON, I'm BORED!" when we got distracted with the water-pulley system.
Harris was all about the huge walk-through heart, the soft pretzels, and the space exhibits. Once we walked into that, Harris decided he was Pablo the Astronaut for the rest of the exhibit. Unfortunately, we had to hurry through the K'Nex Mars Rover section to find him a bathroom, and by the time we were done, he didn't want to go back. Then again, that might just be my inner child wanting to put things together. ("But I wanna see it!")
Galileo was neat, but not half as much as the Star Trek exhibit. Standing on the bridge from Tasha Yar's station was FUCKING AMAZING. (For those not in the know, my journal title: "Trigger happy rabid female at tactical" is a reference to Tasha Yar, the first head of security on the Enterprise D.)
Deanna's blue-green dress thing looks even worse in real life. Guinan's outfits still look classy, even up close to see the awful polyester, and Patrick Stewart is much taller than I thought. Y'know how the bridge ramp thunks a certain way when people walk up it on ST:TNG? Well, the set makes that same sound.
They won't let you take pictures in there, instead they have some poor college students walking around to take your photo-- $27 for 2 6"x8"s. I didn't even look down the list to the more expensive ones; I have no desire to be robbed. Perhaps when I have more money, I won't mind it so much, but I had no idea the Franklin Institute had a horror exhibit.
We saved the Star Trek exhibit for last, thinking that Harris would flip and absolutely love it, at which point we'd be dealing with Super Manic Boy. We took him to the space exhibit as one of the first ones. This was a bad idea in retrospect. He ran, yelled, jumped, and generally wore himself out. By the time we got to the Star Trek exhibit, and then the Galileo exhibit last, he was asking us every five minutes if we were leaving. For being bored of out of his head and trying desperately to entertain himself with what he did find interesting, he was amazingly well behaved.
We took him to the Sports Playroom last, then discovered bottled water at the Cafe was also a horror story. That's why I love refillable bottles and water fountains. We almost got him hyped up for the Science Park, but thankfully Paul caught that it was closed before we made the mistake of announcing where to go next. Dark clouds were coming over the city by that point anyway, and if he would've gotten rained out I think the reaction would've been much worse than a shrug and request for more pretzels.
I did not in fact ride the Skybike because I think it's crazy, and I'm far too fat to test it.
By the time we got to City Hall station to eat dinner, it was all mumbles and eye-rubbing; from him and us. Thankfully it didn't rain until we were exiting the subway to get back home. Kidbit is now exhausted, fed, and singing along to Animaniacs in the living room.
I think it's an early night for me and I'll be sleeping the sleep of the dead.