It's Such a Perfect Day, I'm Glad I Spent it With You (HOL 45)

House of Laughter 45

I’m starting to think that we have a really cute kid. Don’t get me wrong, I always thought Isaac was cute, but I’m his dad. He could have a third eye, and a horn growing out of his forehead and I’d still think he is cute. There is no way I can be objective. Neither family nor friends (well maybe Alex Wayne) would tell us directly if we had a butt ugly kid either. But complete strangers tell us how cute he is almost daily. I think it is time to start entering him into pageants.

Nancy got a surprising shock from daycare this week that almost put her in tears. In the next two weeks, Isaac will be moving into the toddler room. I think it is pretty exciting. I think of him less as a baby now and more as a little kid. He also clearly told one of his teachers “No!” the other day. Nancy is not looking forward to the “No” stage.

This morning, Isaac and I went to the Natural Science Center. It was his second trip, but his first one where he could walk. This makes a huge difference. In a stroller, he is a passive observer. Now that he is walking, he is getting into everything. When we first arrived, we watched a huge kinetic sculpture for a few minutes. It is a large metal and wire system of tracks, bells, trampolines and loops, that sends a ball down a seemingly random path every few seconds. Unfortunately, we had just missed the traveling exhibit about monster trucks. They do have an exhibit about money but Isaac wasn’t at all interested.

The next exhibit was very cool though. It was all about insects. There were large fiberglass bugs everywhere, and the best part was that we got to see a Madagascar hissing cockroach give birth. The museum is undergoing some badly needed renovations, so the petting zoo was moved inside. Isaac petted a ferret, and sat on my lap while we watched five tortoises eat their lunch. The big hit of the day though was the dinosaur room. They have stegosaurus and triceratops skeletons and a life size model of a T-rex. The T-rex was Isaac’s favorite. He stood at the dinosaur’s feet and stared right up at it. It would periodically make growling noises, but Isaac never flinched.

In the afternoon, Nancy joined us and we drove to City Park in Burlington, NC. City Park has a few small amusement rides, a carousel, and a train ride. When we first arrived, I approached a family, and told them that this was our first time, and asked where we bought the tickets. The family was just leaving and handed me enough tickets for all of us. The three of us rode the train and carousel. Isaac rode in a truck convoy ride. There was an airplane ride that Nancy was a little leery of, but I convinced her it would be fine. There were seatbelts, and the child controlled the height of the plane. Since Isaac couldn’t reach the controls, his little “Red Baron” plane just taxied in a circle for three minutes. Everything was fine until two thirds of the way through the ride, all of the planes extended to their full height (about 15 feet up).

Nancy was not amused. Isaac seemed to love it. He also did all of the slides on the playground, even the tall spiral slide. He would get off and try to climb back up for another ride. Wow, he can be a lot of fun. Now I just have to get him to mow the yard.

Strength and Honor

Big Matt