Super Happy Fun Week, Take 2
There's a week (technically, a week and a half) between the end of summer camp and the beginning of school for Sparky. Last year, word_geek and I took turns taking Sparky out on daytrips. Last year we did Hershey Park, Philadelphia Zoo, Franklin Institute, and some geocaching.
So, of course, when we reached the same point this year, he wanted a repeat of Super Happy Fun Week. Not wanting to repeat things, we started out at Dorney Park. Which turned out not to be as fun for him as Hershey Park was. He was about 1.5" - 2" too short for several things. The water park was especially designed for taller kids, but looking at the map there appeared to be several things we could do. Unfortunately, after we had changed into our bathing suits we discovered half of those were closed. At least he and I got to do one racing slide. That was fun.
After that, it was a trip down to the Baltimore Aquarium. Fortunately this is an indoor aquarium as it started raining as we drove down. We both enjoyed the dolphin show. Sparky noted how similar the training and tricks of the dolphins were to his new favorite computer game, Zoo Tycoon 2: Marine Mania. He also liked the spiral down through the ocean layers with the sharks at the bottom. Even if there weren't any hammerheads.
Next was a trip to the Ludwig's Corner Horse Show and Country Fair. I forgot that at country fairs everything costs extra, but we still enjoyed ourselves. The best part there was seeing the pony club doing competitions. Galloping in and out of poles, popping balloons, spearing milk cartons. He won a bunch of junk (er, toys) at the games tent, and then we called it a day because it was hot and humid.
And the finale was the Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire. Neither of us had ever been. We were there about 5+ hours and did a fraction of it. There are a dozen different stages with shows every half hour or hour, so it is impossible to see everything. We saw an archery demonstration. The master archer was able to hit the target from outside the ring (probably about 120 yards). After that we rooted for our Russian knights in the jousting competition (he won, yay!). Sparky didn't understand what a sword-swallower was, so we had to watch that one for a few minutes. Fortunately, after the entertainer swallowed a coat-hanger, Sparky let us leave (I didn't watch any of it). There were several rides and a maze that he did. We had good ol' 16th century paninis for lunch and cookies n' cream ice cream for a snack. That's slightly better than the Mexican food stand, isn't it?
And now it is 2 days of quiet and errand-running before school starts.
So, of course, when we reached the same point this year, he wanted a repeat of Super Happy Fun Week. Not wanting to repeat things, we started out at Dorney Park. Which turned out not to be as fun for him as Hershey Park was. He was about 1.5" - 2" too short for several things. The water park was especially designed for taller kids, but looking at the map there appeared to be several things we could do. Unfortunately, after we had changed into our bathing suits we discovered half of those were closed. At least he and I got to do one racing slide. That was fun.
After that, it was a trip down to the Baltimore Aquarium. Fortunately this is an indoor aquarium as it started raining as we drove down. We both enjoyed the dolphin show. Sparky noted how similar the training and tricks of the dolphins were to his new favorite computer game, Zoo Tycoon 2: Marine Mania. He also liked the spiral down through the ocean layers with the sharks at the bottom. Even if there weren't any hammerheads.
Next was a trip to the Ludwig's Corner Horse Show and Country Fair. I forgot that at country fairs everything costs extra, but we still enjoyed ourselves. The best part there was seeing the pony club doing competitions. Galloping in and out of poles, popping balloons, spearing milk cartons. He won a bunch of junk (er, toys) at the games tent, and then we called it a day because it was hot and humid.
And the finale was the Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire. Neither of us had ever been. We were there about 5+ hours and did a fraction of it. There are a dozen different stages with shows every half hour or hour, so it is impossible to see everything. We saw an archery demonstration. The master archer was able to hit the target from outside the ring (probably about 120 yards). After that we rooted for our Russian knights in the jousting competition (he won, yay!). Sparky didn't understand what a sword-swallower was, so we had to watch that one for a few minutes. Fortunately, after the entertainer swallowed a coat-hanger, Sparky let us leave (I didn't watch any of it). There were several rides and a maze that he did. We had good ol' 16th century paninis for lunch and cookies n' cream ice cream for a snack. That's slightly better than the Mexican food stand, isn't it?
And now it is 2 days of quiet and errand-running before school starts.