Discovering the Science Museum

Today Sam and I set out for our first trip to the Science Museum, thanks to free tickets from our trusty neighbor, Ted.  Thanks, Ted!

The building itself is just gorgeous and teeming with history.  Built in 1917, it began its first life as as "Broad Street Station," a grandiose train station reminiscent of Union Station.  After serving a huge hub during WWII and later struck by lightning in 1953, it became the Science Museum of Virginia in the '70s.  Anyway, I loved the building and the fact that many of the old railroad signs insignia had been preserved.

Sam was definitely a bit young for the place being only three-and-a-half.  (Note to self:  I guess that's why kids three and under are free!)  However, he did enjoy the exhibit downstairs called "Science Unplugged" where kids can build bridges from blocks as well as erect buildings and then see if they can withstand an earthquake.  Pretty cool stuff!  The added bonus was being right by the doors leading outside to the five or so antique trains out back.  Unfortunately it was a really cold day, but it was neat to check them out in all their glory for a few minutes.  It got a little trickier trying to get back inside since the doors locked behind us.  (Next time - remember to prop door open.)

The biggest hit was the gift shop where Sam announced, "I buy something now."  (He got his shopping gene from me.)   I was tempted to say no just so he doesn't always assume he is going to get something, which he apparently already does.  Oh well.  No Mother of the Year Award for me!  Once he came across the mini-spelunker's hat, though, I couldn't resist it -- or stop laughing for that matter!  Hilarious!  It's a kid-sized plastic construction hat with a battery-powered light on front, like a coal miner, just what every boy in Suburbia needs, right?  OK, maybe not.  Well, it was my attempt to boost the economy, one toy at at time.  (I can rationalize anything, you see.)

What do you know, but the next morning at the ripe old hour of 6, it actually did come in handy!  Before we could get the lights on downstairs, Sam had charged down there in the dark and was spelunking it up, exploring the "cave" and discovering a "wild animal" (our pudgy yet fierce kitty, Louise.)  So I'm ready to star in a remake of "Coal Miner's Daughter" called "Coal Miner's Mommy."  Move on over, Loretta Lynn!  I do promise not to sing, though.

LibbY

Ode to Chick Fil-A

Ah, life would not be the same without Chick "Delay" as Sam and I affectionately call it.  This nickname is a progression from when he used to just call it plain ole "Chick," sorta like how "Cher" and "Charo" don't need a last name.   Needless to say, Sam and I eat there all the time, usually at the free-standing building across the way from Chesterfield Town Center.  And when I say all the time, I mean ALL THE TIME, several days a week at least.  It's like Cheers to us there because everyone knows our name, that being "Sam" and of course "Sam's Mommy."  Our regular total comes to $8.53.  Not bad for a fun playroom, relatively healthy fast food, and the best diet lemonade I've ever had.

Recently though, we have discovered another reason to love Chick Delay.  As much as I hate to be disloyal to our regular haunt, the Chick Delay on Pump Road at Short Pump has Kids' Night EVERY Tuesday from 5-7 PM.  We stumbled upon it two weeks ago after meeting friends at Short Pump Park, amazed when a circus clown arrived and began painting faces and making balloon sculptures to celebrate Circus Week.  Of course we were back again last week for Sponge Bob Night with one humungous Sponge Bob waddling around high-fiving all of the dazed and confused kiddos.  Sam and I had a blast making a sticker picture for out-of-town Daddy Mac, plus Sam's meal was free.  What's not to love?  Oh, and another added bonus -- Sam slept oh-so-soundly that night!

And guess what day is today -- Tuesday!  I'm not sure what the theme is for tonight, so you'll have to go check it our yourself.  However, I do have inside information from the Marketing Director that Spiderman Night is coming up soon, right after St. Patty's Night!

If you get there before us, please save us a seat!

LibbY

The Circus!

It was a first for all three of us, a quick first might I add.

We set out for the circus on Friday afternoon for the 3:30 show, armed with some $10 tickets I got through the Times-Dispatch.  (Thanks for the nifty bargain, RTD!)  As planned Sam passed out in the car on the trip downtown, and we stopped to pick up Daddy Mac at the James Center. Then we lucked out on parking, finding a garage literally right around the corner from the Coliseum.

When we walked into the building, we were overcome with the hustle and bustle as well as the many stands filled with toys for sale.  The show was starting just as we arrived, so when we got inside to find our seats, it was pitch dark in there.  And I mean DARK, as in you can't even see the outline of your fingers in front of your face kind of dark.  Even more shocking than that was the deafening acoustics, out of control loud for no real reason.  Sam was still half asleep, so he was totally freaked out.  He even begged for me to pick him up and hold him, something he hasn't wanted to do for at least a year.   As he burrowed his head into my shoulder, I was already thinking to myself, I am so glad we got the cheap seats!  And I got more and more glad as the adventure went on....

When we finally fumbled our way around and found our seats, they were actually pretty darn good!  On the grand scale of things, the Coliseum is much smaller than some other venues such as Boston Garden, Key Arena in Seattle, etc.  Since it is not so huge, no one is really too far from the action to take it all in, a nice plus for the Coliseum, another reason to love Richmond.

The show was really entertaining, much more so than I expected.  (Then again I didn't really know what to expect since I had never been to the circus before.)  The acrobatics were beautiful and quite complicated.   Then they marched 11 elephants out, the tail of each tucked into the tusk of the one behind it.  As they ambled around in a circle, I finally persuaded Sam to take a look, and he was enthralled.  They had all kinds of horses prancing around, some standing on their hinds legs for quite a while.  Then there were some cool dog tricks and a disappearing elephant trick.  Things were heating up!

That was when Sam announced, "I want to go buy something."  So we did -- he picked out a shiny silver motorcycle.  As Daddy Mac and I tried to figure out what to do next, Sam announced, "I want to go home," which made the decision quite easy.  Why make life more difficult and push it?  We had a great time, for all 20 minutes of it.  Again, the refrain echoed in my mind, "I'm so glad we got the bargain seats."  We got back to the garage, almost got "had" by the surly parking lot attendant (I'll spare you the enraging details), and dropped Daddy Mac back off at the James Center.  And before you knew it, we were back south of the river chugging down Huguenot Road, home by 5 PM.  We'd only been gone for a little over two hours. Sam immediately transformed the bannister into a trapeze and gathered his stuffed animals to create his own circus, so looks like he enjoyed himself.

All's well that ends well, and it ended well.  It's just too bad the middle wasn't longer, but, hey, just seeing 11 elephants parading around was worth the price of admission.  Next time I'm bringing ear plugs, though!

LibbY

ACAC, the Fancy Gym

I've come along way from Camp Bedrock, Bosnia.

Yes, we finally succumbed and joined what I call the "fancy gym."  A fancy gym?  Isn't that an oxymoron?  Well, what else do you call a gym that gives you a red carnation for Valentine's Day while offering up to three awesome workout classes at a time?  Fancy, like I said.  Don't get me wrong -- I'm not complaining!  I like it like that!  I've been tempted to join for years but always felt too guilty spending the money.   Once I went to some classes for Ber's Bowl, I was hooked as was Sam in their new "fancy" Kid Zone, a veritable amusement park for kids.  Seriously, Sam gets all excited to go there, and I can't blame him!  "Spider Mountain" looks like a blast!

I'm definitely not used to such fancy-ness as a former female Army JAG Officer.  Heck, I was once deployed on a 6 month stint (more like a mud bath) to Camp Bedrock, Bosnia, with an all-male infantry unit and also spent a year in Seoul, Korea.   (In the context of Korea, though, Yongson was verrrrrry fancy indeed,  with its ultra-modern Dragon Hill Hotel, compared the quonset huts dating back to the Korean War still up north at Camp Casey.)  Heck, I'm used to "PT" (physical training) at 6:30 AM  five days a week doing pushups in the mud and often in the dark.  And just to make matters worse, your boss is usually right there at your side holding your ankles for sit-ups, curtailing any overwhelming desire to complain profusely.  So I appreciate fancy when I see it.  Bring it on!

LibbY

The Fireman Is Back!

Sam has had a longtime fetish with firemen.  Before he could talk, he was already obsessed with all things fire engine.  He saw his first fire engine when he was just over a year old at a play group at Rockwood Park.  He wasn't even fully walking yet but he was all over that thing, pulling up on it, more interested than the 3 and 4-year-old boys there.  And when the fire truck left, we were the last ones left in the parking lots waving goodbye and they turned on their sirens for us.  

And so it went for a couple of years -- many, many visits to our local fire stations, so many that it began to be embarrassing.  Then we started hitting up other fire station on the county, even heading to Henrico to share the fire-fightin' love.  We had the fire truck come for his second and third birthday parties, and he wore is red plastic fire hat ALL THE TIME, literally!  He wore it to bed faithfully at night, even having it on the middle of the night when we went to check on him.  He wore it in the bathtub, giving you a run for your money to take it off long enough to wash his hair.  Then of course he would slap it right back on his noggin, making us wonder if he would begin growing mold on his scalp.  The top of his head was always unusually warm, that was for sure, making us wondering if he brain was cooking inside his head from the trapped-in heat.

But slowly things began to change, he traded in the red fire hat for a black one.  And then the day came that he just didn't wear any fire hat anymore.  Daddy Mac had been looking forward to this day but when it arrived we were sad to see the fire hat go bye-bye.  And we realized that we never took a picture of him with it on in the bathtub or wearing it in the crib at 3 AM. Pirates came into vogue, Lightning McQueen and Buzz Lightyear and Woody from Toy Story. Ah, the end of an era... 

From Stage Left enters Sam's buddies Grace and Jack who gave him a belated Christmas present this week -- a plastic fire hat like the one he used to wear back in the day.  I watched sadly as he immediately passed it off to me.  But lo and behold, he had it on the next morning and wore it school and then wore it and wore it and wore it, declaring this was his "new fire hat from Grace and Jack."  Was this hope and change we could believe in?!  And it was -- he wore it the next day and the next.  Finally he was back in full fireman regalia, wearing his new fire hat, his fireman raincoat he hadn't worn in eons, and his cool fire hat t-shirt.  So where did we go to celebrate the return of the Prodigal Mini-Fireman?  Why, Firehouse Subs on Busy Street in Midlothian, of course!  

LibbY

A Valentine's to Remember

It is only 7 AM on February 14, and it has already been a Valentine's Day to remember.  Well, technically it was a Valentine's Day EVE to remember.  Why, you ask?  Because after three-and-a-half years of parenthood, a family outing went off without a hitch for the very first time.  In fact, it was downright enjoyable!  Now THAT is a memorable event, for us at least!  First off, Daddy Mac came home from work early, which is a rare to non-existent occurrence.  Off he went to the gym, also a rare to non-existent occurrence for him, much to his chagrin.  

And then the three of us -- Daddy Mac, Sam and I dared to go out to dinner.  And when I say "dinner," I mean a "real" dinner with a real live waitress, not that there is anything wrong with Sam's beloved cow-themed fast food place, Chick Fil-A, better known in our household as "Chick-Delay." (I guess they kept Sam waiting too long for his Kids Meal once and he never got over it.)

So anyway, my two Valentines and I headed out to the new Red Robin at Chesterfield Town Center, next door to "Baba Noba," as Sam-as-a-toddler used to call Barnes & Noble.    Believe it or not, all three of us had a great time with no meltdowns or indigestion from Sam -- or Daddy Mac for that matter.

I've got to say that Red Robin is a downright fabulous place to bring kids because it is so incredibly loud in there that no one, absolutely NO ONE, could be louder than the din in there. Trust me -- there is no tantrum big enough to really embarrass you there.  We were lucky to get a booth so we could trap, I mean, seat him next to the wall with Daddy Mac next to him, preventing him from relentlessly wandering all over the place.  Plus they have TVs planted strategically around the restaurant playing some Smurf cartoons, which served their purpose in captivating Sam's attention for a few minutes here and there.  

The chicken strips and fries looked oh-so-delicious.  In fact, they must have been since Sam calmly ate the entire platter with no need for the usual encouragement, fanfare and/or bribes. Woo hoo!  My Cobb salad was really good with plenty left over for lunch today, and Daddy Mac seemed content with his burger.  

"Content?"  I never thought I'd use that word in relation to any aspect of us dining out as a threesome.  What a great Valentine's gift, and it didn't even involve any chocolate or champagne!

LibbY

Winter Doldrums

Now is the time!  They are heeeeeeere, the winter doldrums we all longed for during the non-stop chaos known as December.  And they are not that exciting, hence the name, doldrums.  I don't know about you, but it sure has forced me to "dig deep" to find something to do while is downright freezing  with sundown  at the ripe old hour of 5:30 PM or so, just in time for the Blue Plate Special.  And right now Sam's "special" is not so special -- pirates' booty, more pirates' booty, goldfish, animal crackers and anything in the cracker-with-no-nutrients family.  It is a wonder he is growing so ridiculously fast, like a weed as they say.  Maybe there is something to that high fructose corn syrup that makes preschoolers grow taller while adults just grow fatter.

All I can say is thank God for the modern marvel known as preschool.  I truly can't imagine life without that carpool line drop-off as a destination.  So what else have we been doing?  Since receiving enough toys at Christmas to supply every child in Botswana, Sam has decided upon one as his ultimate favorite toy -- the couch.  We got it back in the day when we first got married, so it has seen better days to put it mildly.  Seriously folks, why invest in a new couch when you have a rambunctious three-year-old in the house forever covered in God-forsaken stickiness with a penchant for writing on everything, including himself ?  We're holding off at least until he hits junior high.

So back to the favorite toy -- the couch.  Every days he rips ALL of the cushions off and gets downright ornery if you try to put any back on to use it for its intended purpose -- as a place to actually sit down and relax.  That is because he has transformed the couch into, among other things, a boat sailing to Madagascar, a cement mixer (using Christmas wrapping paper as pipes), a train from which he bellows out "ALL ABOARD!" and "Woo Woo!" every twenty or so seconds. Oh, and it is often his "conductor's office."

Thank you, couch, for being the ultimate Transformer, way better than anything from Hasbro or a McDonald's Happy Meal (not to knock the Happy Meal which has saved Sam's happiness and therefore mine countless times.)  I don't know what I'd do without you, and I sure don't want to find out anytime before spring hits.  Hopefully all of your cameo shots for the Transformer movie will take place during a streak of sunny weather.  Just please come back!

I'll fluff your cushions, I'll give you a bath in Febreeze, whatever you want!

LibbY