Last summer, Lexan became obsessed with boats, to the point where on
our Cape Cod vacation, he would try to get on to boats and would get really mad when I wouldn't open gates so he could go on them. I bought him a book called Boats Go, which caused him to lead his preschool class in singing "O Sole Mio". Eventually, in one of my greatest parenting moves ever, I realized we live 10 mins from a ferry stop, so I took him to South Street Seaport on a boat. He spent the whole 13 mins ride concentrating with all his 26 lb being on the boatness of it all -- and 2 days later, he dragged me back to the dock and we went on another boat ride. I had no idea what was on Governor's Island, but that's where the boat was going and I was pretty sure we could make it back.
I didn't plan for every vacation this summer to have a nautical component - and frankly he's a little over it by now - but somehow it happened. Over Memorial Day, Jon had a family bar mitzvah in Las Vegas, which turned out to be epic but I'm still glad I went on vacation with my mother and son instead. My mother suggested we take Carnival's newest ship to Bermuda, but it seemed like a lot of effort and expense to entertain a 3yo (especially since I'd already booked a cruise for the whole family later that summer). I suggested we drive to Mystic, Ct instead, which I didn't really remember from a trip we took when I was Lexan's age. It turned out to be exactly right.
Saturday morning, we drove the 2 hours there, stopping at Beach Donut for fried deliciousness. Mystic Seaport lived up to everything I hoped: the historic boatbuilding stuff was really cool, given how much Age of Sail stuff I used to read. There was a playground my son still talks about, months later. I liked the Viking special exhibit, even if my mom pooh-poohed by saying she saw Viking stuff in Scandinavia. They had a $4 boat ride that showed the boats in the harbor. The fried oysters in the tourist trap restaurant were AMAZING with a little ghost pepper (from my mom's purse) and tartar sauce.
Sunday, we went to the aquarium in the rain. I'd never seen real beluga whales before. My son loved the cheesy sea lion show so much, we went twice. I touched sharks and rays, there was a special exhibit about frogs, and I learned they turn on the heat for the penguins in the winter. Afterward, we went swimming at the hotel pool. If we'd found a decent sitdown restaurant, it would have been the best trip ever.
Jon and Lucky had a conference (not kidding) over July Fourth weekend, so having spent Memorial Day with my mother, Lexan and I went to Maryland to visit my lady love. Well, Lexan spent 1.5 weeks at Grandma's house, going to swim camp in the morning and being spoiled in the afternoon. I took a delightful static trapeze class July 3rd, before heading to Ct. My brother stopped by on the actual Fourth and we went for a run. The next day, my mother took us to the train and we were off on another adventure.
I'm still amused that 'belle agreed to take me to her local sushi joint, but only if I promised to tell her other partner it was my idea. They have really cheap sushi, so 'belle, her 3 partners, and my son pigged out. Her husband was as good as his word and put Lexan to bed.
Her husband had to work on Friday, so drove into Baltimore to go to the aquarium. I had very fond memories of it from a trip with Just Play friends and it lived up to my memories. Lexan loved their shark exhibit and was fascinated by the tropical rainforest exhibit. The Australia exhibit brought back happy memories. I like that they have exhibits about their local wetlands, but I don't understand why aquariums have fish from such exotic places too. We had lunch at
a tea restaurant 'belle took Jon and I to years ago and stopped by Lush before heading home, where 'belle's husband made us delicious margaritas.
Saturday, we went to the Amish market for breakfast, which was delicious, and then on to the zoo. The babysitter took my son to the Central Park Zoo once, but this was my first time going with him. He thought the cave and the goats were scary (not kidding), but rode the giant slide like a trooper. I'm glad he had his first carousel experience with me, although I'm pretty sure his favorite part of the day was getting his face painted like a butterfly. It was really impressive art.
'belle's husband watched Lexan so we could go on a date to a fancy Indian restaurant near her office. The cocktails were good and the food delicious, but the conversation probably cleared the air too much.
'belle blew my mind once by casually mentioning she'd made a cake for someone's birthday, so one of our activities Sunday was making a cake. Lexan was impressed and still talks about her stand mixer. We went back to the aquarium briefly, so we got to see the awesome jellyfish exhibit, and then visited 2 of the ships in the harbor, the submarine Taney and the USS Constellation, before hopping on the train home.
This post was made on Dreamwidth & crossposted to LJ.
The dreamwidth post is here:
https://katestine.dreamwidth.org/1380214.html and has
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