The Best Laid Plans...

This morning Timmy said he would like to see the fishies. Fine, not a problem. First he wanted to watch some of his TV shows (whatever makes him happy) and then we got dressed and were off. We made it all the way downtown and into the parking garage for Discovery World before we noticed it was closed to the public this week (that was not on their scrolling announcement sign outside). Instead of parking I fed the ticket back into the machine and we were off to the zoo.

I've had a few checks to deposit for a while and I just so happened to bring them with me and thought, well we can stop at the bank on the way. Got off on Hawley Rd. and was all set to turn to go to the bank when I noticed National was closed for about half a block. Took a little detour, and made it to the bank. Now I remember being a teller and needing to get referrals in but I am not a fan of that through the drive, nor am I a fan of the teller obviously ignoring me talking to someone else (in this case Timmy). Not a huge deal in the scheme of things, just annoying enough.

We get to the zoo where we have to use my driver's license to get in (because I had planned for Discovery World instead and don't like to bring my purse and we don't really need his backpack anymore). It wasn't crowded at all, but it was a good day. The weather here has been a little cooler but not this week! Even though it said it was only 74 I swear it was hotter. We walked around a bit, at first Timmy only wanted to hang out in the gift shop (which is weird because we rarely go in there at all) but after 5 minutes of convincing, we finally ventured out to see the animals.

First we went to see the Humboldt penguins which we haven't been able to do all summer because their area was being remodeled (for those that go to the zoo, it's the penguins in front of the monkey house). Timmy was so excited to go in the monkey house again...and then disappointed that there weren't trains again (last time we went was Zoo A La Carte). Eventually he got over that and we saw some gorillas and he sat and talked to the baby gorilla statue. I have noticed that he is really into mimicry, especially of other children. He normally doesn't care for looking at the other monkeys/primates but today there was another boy about his age looking and he copied everything he did. I don't mind it too much, I just hope the other parents and kids don't get annoyed!

After that we went to the ARC (Amphibian and Reptile Center) where he enjoyed looking at the fish, turtles, and especially the snakes. I tried to cut the trip short by taking the path down by the brown bears but he wasn't having any of that. We went to the small mammal house where he was interested in the smaller monkeys and I was more interested in this dad with his kids--none of whom had shoes on! Yuck! I just keep thinking about how dirty my shoes get at the zoo and how unsanitary that is for everyone.

We saw the bears, the camel, the rhinos--very exciting because Timmy loves to see the rhinos, the giraffes--which was also exciting because 2 of them were right by the fence eating grass, so close you could almost touch them! We watched the elephants eat their lunch which reminded Timmy that he was also hungry. After stopping to check on the hippos (they were just fine) and a few other animals, we were on our way to the car. Or so I thought. We detoured into the gift shop and since he had been so good with the change of plans, I decided he could get one thing. He decided to get a small pack of cars that were on sale. Not a problem!

On the way home we hit up McDonald's and I got a chocolate shake. Mmm...it was so good. I don't usually get shakes but this one was awesome with extra chocolate drizzled on top and everything. Delicious!

Timmy and I lay down for a nap (he hasn't napped the past 2 days) and I left out his McNuggets that he didn't eat. Just got up a little while ago and came into the living room to find...the McNuggets still on their plate! Way to go Bud! Resist the temptation of food at your level that Timmy leaves around.

Well, that's our day in a nutshell. How was yours?

Last Weekend

Last weekend was Mother's Day and since it was nice, we decided to head out to the zoo.  Well, that was our intended stop, but when we got there the line to get in was so long (forgot about moms being able to get in for free...) that we opted to just go see the fishies instead.  So we headed down to Discovery World instead.  Apparently there was a brunch going on there as well, but we didn't have any problems parking or viewing the different exhibits we wanted to.  It was really a good time and I'm glad we went.  It's nice to have a relaxing day, well as relaxing as a 3-year-old will let it be.

 Timmy by some fish

This is the sea snail that I talked about here

This is the Challenge

Daddy and Timmy experimenting

Water Water Everywhere But Not a Drop to Drink

Since spring has decided to run and hide, I thought taking Timmy to Discovery World to run off some of his energy might be a good idea.  He loves to go and see the fish (or the fishies, as he calls them) and that's always a good time.  

Today we watched the fish, found all the turtles (even though he's a little creeped out by the soft shelled turtle), and played in some water.  Well, technically he was trying to touch the sting rays but his arms are WAY too short for that.  We both touched the sea snail which was pretty interesting.  It almost feels like water and you can only tell you are touching it because you can see yourself doing it, if that makes sense.  It was pretty neat, regardless.  I was a little surprised that Timmy wanted to touch the sea snail because, although he is a boy, sometimes he's a bit of a wuss when it comes to those things.  Unfortunately, he wanted to take the sea snail home, but I didn't think that was a good idea.  Maybe Uncle Paul can smuggle one of them out for us .  

Upstairs there is a new exhibit called the Liquid House (I think...I'm not very good at paying attention to what the exhibit is called, just making sure Timmy doesn't break anything).  We've gone in there before and for whatever reason, it seems like they are having a lot of issues with parts of the house breaking.  That's not a cut, I think it says more about the people that use the exhibits than anything else.  Anyway, there's a wall of water and Timmy saw some older boys putting their hands in it so of course he had to as well.  Then he knelt in the water that splashed out and got the knees of his jeans all wet.  You can see pictures of him with his hands on the water wall below.  At least he had a good time.  Right?

Discovery World

Since it's been pretty cold around here lately (with the exception of last Tuesday), we decided to take Timmy down to the Discovery World on Sunday to run off some of his energy.  Yeah, really a good thing we did.  He really enjoyed the new exhibit on water and ringing the bell for the boat.  Here are a picture to give you an idea of how much Timmy loves the fish and the rest can be viewed here.

USS Freedom

On Sunday we took Timmy down to the Discovery World to see the fish (because he LOVES them).  While we were there we saw a Navy ship over by Veteran's Park so we decided to drive on over and check it out.  Turns out that it's the new Navy ship being commissioned next week.  How awesome is that!?!

Here's some more information on the USS Freedom:

Navy

USS Freedom  

TMJ4

Here are our pictures.

The 501st--Vader's Fist

Yesterday we had the opportunity to go down to the Discovery World (where my older brother works) for a Star Wars group exhibit.  It was a reenactment group that dresses as Stormtroopers or other members from the Empire.  There was also a group that made R-series droids (like R2-D2).  All members of both groups make their own costumes/droids.  It's an expensive hobby but actually really cool.  

We were able to watch a guy mold a mask for Chewbacca and he discussed how it was made and how the mouth is made (each tooth created separate).  It was really neat.  There were also a lot of props there that people could handle (carefully--these people made them themselves for goodness sakes!) and so we have a few pictures of that too.

Timmy had a good time.  He was a little scared of the people in costume (maybe because he couldn't see their eyes?) but didn't freak out or anything.  Erik, of course, was in his element.  We had contacted a few other Star Wars fans but they were unable to come (really, studying is more important?  On a Saturday??).  While I have been tolerant of Erik's enthusiasm for Star Wars and have even read a few of the books myself (also known as the extended universe) I was never as excited over the prospect of this event as Erik.  However, that being said, I would totally go to something like this again.  It was so neat to be able to talk to the people behind the costumes and to see everyone enjoying the event.  There were a lot of little kids there dressed like Stormtroopers (so cute!) and a few dressed as Jedi.  Apparently the Chewbacca guy actually dressed up in his costume later but we had already left.  There was also a Darth Vader walking around but we came on his lunch break (what!?!  Darth Vader eats lunch like a regular person?).  

Again there are more pictures here.