…we traveled. It was a super-long day and in some ways just as horrible as I’d pictured and in others simply a breeze. It’s hard to remember it all because right now I’m sitting up in my old bedroom on my sister’s bed, drinking some coffee that my brother made while I blog and catch up on emails. I have the window open so I can enjoy the cool breeze (it’s 60 degrees outside) and listen to the rain.
Calm. I feel so calm right now. And happy to be home.
I’ll tell you all about the travelling some other time, but it’s a long drawn-out story (of a long-drawn out day) and I really don’t have the courage to look back on it right now. Remember – calm and coffee-fied. Instead I’ll tell you about our outing today. We – my brother, sisters and I – took the girls to the Science Center. It was a favorite hang-out of ours when we were little, and with the cool, wet weather, an indoor children’s museum seemed just the thing.
The girls had a blast. The museum has two floors of hands-on exhibits. A play area with puppet-shows, a massive boat, a caged ferret, a magnetic table, so on and so forth. An interactive lights display. Displays and telescope stations with bugs and sea shells. And some exhibits that were still there from when we were little. A room full of stuffed animals from the African plains, rocks and gems and geodes, and lots of animals: snakes, owls, and more varieties of turtles than I knew existed.
[As I'm typing this from my spot next to the open window, I can hear people downstairs because the kitchen window is open. I had forgotten that about this house. Ah, sweet nostalgia.]
After tearing through the inside of the Science Center, we decided to traipse around the outside of the museum, where there are plenty of animal exhibits. It was varying between a steady mist and actual rainfall, and we only had the one umbrella, but we just didn’t seem to care. We’re on vacation, remember? So off we traipsed. We saw their famous polar bear, Kenda. I remember when Kenda was born 25 years ago. She was frolicking in the water and the girls got to see her swim underwater through a huge window. Kenda would swim up the glass and seem to play with them before swimming away and repeating her routine. We saw foxes and vultures, pheasants and owls. We tried to ride the train, but it was closed until 3 p.m. So we strolled over to the otters on the other side of the center…only to find the otters were closed, too. Uncle Joey proposed to Gracie, who was upset, that the otters were fixing the train. Thankfully, after stopping by to check out yet more owls and the Bald Eagles, it was time to ride the train. The otters are excellent mechanics, I must say. At one point, the train loops back through a dark tunnel and the children are encouraged to scream. Gracie turned around and announced, “I screamed!” to which her uncle responded, “Ice Cream?!” Gracie busted out in giggles like he had told the most hilarious joke in the whole entire world. It sounds like just a ho-hum day to everyone else, I’m sure, but to me it’s like coming home. Only better, because I have my two most favorite people in the whole world here to enjoy it with me. And that puts a whole new spin on things.
God, I can’t wait to see what other craziness this vacation has in store.
Tags: vacation
June 21, 2009 at 4:46 pm |
So glad you arrived safe and sound. It sounds like you had an incredible first day of vacation. Your telling made me smile. Can the otters do work around the house too?
I hope you went and got ice cream after Uncle Joey brought it up.
Enjoy the rest of your vacation.
June 22, 2009 at 9:32 am |
Sounds totally wonderful to be there!
July 2, 2009 at 7:36 am |
[...] and I enjoyed the first time around as teenagers hanging out in my room. We ate Niko’s, visited childhood haunts, toured my alma mater, and hung out with family. We even made a day trip up to Weirs Beach, where [...]