10 Things in Random Order

1. Clearly, my family. I really hope they know.
2. Individually, Emma True. Not only that she is brilliant, funny, kind, beautiful, perfect (she'll grow out of that whiny thing, right?) etc, but also that I haven't screwed her up... yet.
3. Gordon. You could not pick a more perfect family man out of a catalog. The best.
4. My friends. OK, I know it sounds trite now, but really!
5. My job. Even with the occasional blind-side, I really really like what I do.
6. Funny. It's what I love about my kid, my husband, my job and pretty much everything else.
7. My camera. It's fun, it helps me remember the important stuff and has changed the way I look out at stuff.
8. Everyone is happy and healthy. This is pretty cliche, but I really mean it.
9. This break, and that there's another one soon. I know, I know! But wowza, it is time to recharge!
10. All y'all. Have a great holiday and remember everything good in your lives!

Pippa Lonstocks

So Trueby doesn't quite know what it's called, but she had a great time! We got to see META's production of Pippi Longstocking today with Sarah and Lauren. It was fun, we really liked it. The girls were amped to sit up in the balcony and we had good seats. I think Emma especially liked it. I had the kid who played Mr. Nilssen the monkey in kindergarten three years ago. He was so great! Emma kept saying, "There's the monkey!" every time he came on. At the end, we went into the lobby and I thought she'd take a picture with him. Absolutely not. Totally scared of the makeup. Sarah got in there though. Way to go, Logan!

On a totally unrelated note, I saw this driving to school in the morning. I don't know why I think it's so awesome. Maybe because I picture some little old man coming out one morning and his tree's over. "Damn it!" Heh heh, beavers are funny.

Master of All I Survey

I had the very funniest bit of news shared with me today. I saw the mom of a student I had a few years ago who's in middle school now. So the mom says, "Oh! I totally have to talk to you!"
Apparently, the daughter had a geography assignment where she was supposed to make a poster of a place using all the geographical terms. So she created Shameemia! The mom said it was all about me, with Emma and Gordon as well. There's Emma Bay and stuff like that. First I laughed like crazy, but then I got a little weepy. The sweetness of it just made me so happy.
So if you're looking for a perfect vacation getaway, come see the white sandy beaches of Gordon Cove and the cool leafy solitude of Emma's Woods. Shameemia has it all,baby!

Losing to a Six Year Old

Trueby and I are battling YET AGAIN over her cleaning up her room. She tends to stuff things in bags, bags in the closet, call it good. So she has this huge pile of books in a drawer in her closet because they are "special" and can't go on the bookshelf, which, incidentally is a lot harder for her to do than just dumping them in a drawer. Frustrated, I say, "What makes these books so special?" She starts flipping through the pile saying, "This one is Kevin Henkes and I love Kevin Henkes. This one is Halloween and it's almost Halloween...etc." She has a reason for every one of them. Then she gets to a Wild West retelling of Cinderella and I can tell it's a struggle, but she comes up with, "This one is a text connection." I jump in, "Dude, what text connection do you have with this book?" She says, "I have to work all the time." I retort, "You AREN'T working! You're just shoving stuff in the closet!" In the world's snarkiest half-under-her breath voice she mutters, "How about a bossy mom?"
I laughed so hard and so long I thought I was going to stroke out. Karma is a bitch.

First Day of First Grade...in room 1

She's official. Big kid in the house, baby. Having been doing things all summer "because I'm a first-grader now," she has taken the cloak for real. The morning started with a visit from the Backpack Fairy. My kid is obsessed, to an alarming degree, with getting mail so when I asked her to put something in the recycle today she absolutely hooted with joy when she found a package on the doorstep addressed to her. She was so excited to tear into it, lovely. It was just some trinkety stuff; a necklace, a pencil, a treat, some stuff like that. And, the bane of primary teachers everywhere...a digital watch. She's been wanting one for a while and was thrilled to get it. Go ahead, ask me how long she kept it. Uh-huh. "Mrs. Stamey said to put it in my backpack." Were you messing with it like we talked about? "No! I just had to set the time. And see if the light worked." Uh-huh.













Anyway, so after the mandatory pictures, we packed her into the car and her dad and I, who had both taken time off to start her on this new adventure with our full support, drove her to school. All excited, we walked to her room, and were promptly booted out by her teacher! She wasn't allowing parents in the room, clean break and all that. Not knowing this, we hadn't said goodbye or anything outside and when poor Trueby realized we'd ditched her her little face just crumpled up. If you have a little kid you know that look, she's gonna cry but wants desperately to be brave and not do it in front of people. Heartbreaking. Later she says, "I wiped my tears on my jacket." That sentence makes my stomach hurt. Of course she's fine. Of course she has buddies in there and was immediately busy. She says she had a great day, loves first grade, and her teacher is "really nice." I know. But that didn't keep me from seeing that face all day long!
Here's the problem. Being a teacher, I am desperately afraid of being "That Mom." You know the one. Anything you do that isn't the way she would do it is wrong. Now, anyone who knows me in the slightest knows without a doubt I am the textbook definition of "That Mom." I accept that. I try crazy hard not to let it leak out on people, but I get that it's me. So when my eye almost explodes that I'm not able to settle my kid in and, knowing how she does not take well to change, help her feel secure and ready, I am able to admit that the teacher knows what she's doing, my kid is fine, everything is fine.....breathe deeply. But I certainly don't like it!

Firestarter

I'm watching a movie and thinking about stuff, obviously, and this occurs me. You know how the discovery of fire has been heralded as this huge move forward in human evolution? It was the first step in lifting us toward this greater state, we started to become the chosen ones yadda yadda yadda. So, in my mind, it went like this: A few different people were able to keep their sticks on fire and everyone was good. But then someone figured out how to start a fire. This person ran hooting and hollering about how awesome she is all the way to her family and started up immediate "fire-starting" classes. Everyone learned it, rainbows burst across the heavenly firmament and humanity was that much far further along.
But what if that's not how it went? What if that first person hid themselves away in a cave somewhere and started charging others for little burning sticks to take home. What if he tried to set himself up as a deity and build a power base for himself and rip off all his fellow budding humans until some other skeez snuck in and spied on him and stole the secret. Then you have competing fire shops, but you're still paying for your dinner roaster. These two cave dwellers hate each other and who knows what kind of bloody battles ensued. What kind of war resulted, how much blood and hate until finally everyone knew how to make fire?
Ok, a little dramatic I know. I'm just feeling really frustrated at what I can't figure out if it's human nature or some human's nature. I may be an idiot,but I've always felt like if reasonable people have a common goal, they can sit down together and freakin work it out. Everyone will HAVE to give a little. It's what I teach my kid, my students, children the world over have this pounded into them. Then adults? We can't seem to get it together.

Me Money!

My kiddo saw a lemonade stand on the side of the road a few days ago and, being obsessed as she is with making money, has been hatching a plan for her own stand ever since. So today she got down to it, squeezing the bejeebus out of lemons, adding the juice to simple syrup and after ice and more water she cranked out some really tasty lemonade. We dragged all sorts of crap down to the curb and set up a sign. Then waited. And waited. We don't live on a particularly busy street, so she decided to get on her bike and go drum up some business. She rounded up some buddies and our super sweet and supportive neighbors kicked in too. All in all she had a great time and best of all she thinks she bumped up a tax bracket. $2.50 baby! This kid's love of cash is just this side of worrisome. All entrepreneur, all the time!

Five Stages of August

1. DENIAL: August doesn't mean anything. There are still four weeks of vacation left, that's forever to go. I'm not freaked out about school starting, I still totally feel like it's break. I'm not freaking out at all.
2. ANGER: How can it be cold and wet during my last month of break?! Why do I have to go to workshops and trainings during my vacation!? Why do I have to go into my room already?! This sucks!!
3. BARGAINING: Ok, I'll just go in for a few hours. Then I'll have fun, it'll still be like a day off. I'll just go to one of the training days, I'll just set up the desks, that's all. I'll spend all of Monday in the park and just go in Tuesday morning.
4. DEPRESSION: i can't believe it's over already. i haven't done anything yet. i'm not ready to go back!
5. ACCEPTANCE: It was cool to see everyone today. I'm excited about trying out those ideas we talked about. I wonder what my kids will be like this year? Hmmm, new school clothes.

Current status: about 70/30 between four and five

I am proud of my president

Ok, not because of that. But come on, that's funny. Anyway. You may have heard about the health care debates (and I use that word very generously) going on recently. Little bit? Ok, so when widely-accepted-as nut cases like Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin spout their literally crazy poison, you just go, "Whew. That chick (in both cases) is CRAZY with a side of dangerous. Who are the rubes listening to these people?" But then Obama goes out and says Sen. Charles Grassley is one of the reasons he's still hopeful about negotiations with Republicans and the next day that douchenozzle says, "Yes, you do need to be afraid of them pulling the plug on Grandma." What the hell, dude! He knows with unparalleled truth that is just not true. He knows it is! And tells people, YES, DO BE AFRAID. Come on, really? What kind of pictures must the insurance companies have of this guy? So, and I am incredibly proud of this, Jon Stewart made the same joke I did! After me! We've been talking about Obama's poll numbers, but I seriously feel he may be the first president whose opinion of the public must be dropping. Don't you just see him sitting that little oval room, looking at the picture of himself with a hitler 'stache shaking his head and just going Screw You All.
So then there's all this noise on the left that he should just take his majority and run. Just tell 'em how it's gonna be, boss. They're spouting idiocy, there is no point in trying to have an intelligent conversation with someone using the words "death panel." Come on! I gotta say, I definitely see the attraction there.
But here's the thing...and this just came to me about 3 am while checking out that very viewpoint at Salon.com...I think he really means it. I really think he does. I think he wants bi-partisanship during his watch. Not because it will look good 20 years down the road, but because it really is what is good for our country. I think he feels he can break through to the human beings behind the party facades and those people will eventually go, "You know, it doesn't actually hurt me to do what is good for the people I have been charged with protecting." I believe Obama really thinks it will, in the long (very long) run, be the best thing he could have done for his country. And that may be true. I don't even think I can imagine a congress where issues are debated on merit, and not on what is directly oppositional to your perceived opponent. Utopian I know. But why? Why does that idea sound silly and naive? Shame on all of us that it does. And it makes me really proud of Obama. Health care is needed to heal our sick, but an end to this endless, mindless screaming is needed to heal our country. Which we can then rename Obamatopia.

I saw this on another blog...a nice train to jump on

TODAY
June 23rd/24th, 2009

Outside my window... the moonlight is glinting off my Obama sticker. Is it time to take that off? Maybe after my kid stops crowing "Barack Obama!" whenever she sees him.

I am thinking... that I am going to be complete deadweight at my workshop on teacher leadership tomorrow. How ironic

I am thankful for... summer vacation. More this year than any I can remember. Rough parents this time around.

From the kitchen... a pitcher of iced tea is calling me. But is quite possibly why I'm downloading Van Wilder to watch at almost midnight.

I am wearing...my very favorite summer pjs

I am creating... a real headache for myself when the alarm goes off

I am going... to try my very best to be pleasant to be around tomorrow. Outlook sketchy, but I'm going down trying

I am reading... The Big Picture: Reflections on Science, Humanity and a Quickly Changing Planet (David Suzuki); Everything is Illuminated (Jonathan Safran Foer); and a series of case studies for the workshop tomorrow

I am hoping... that my kiddo is happy. No one ever thinks they're permanently scarring their kid, do they?

I am hearing... Green Day...Viva La Gloria Love it!

Around the house... my family is sleeping. While I hate being insomniac, I love my house when my husband, daughter and yes, even the cat, are all sleeping peacefully around me.

One of my favorite things... listening to my kid talk in her sleep. The other night she freakin sang! God I love that kid

A few plans for the rest of the week... two more workshop days, then a planning day with my astronaut. Note the possessive. Excited for movie night and the return of Smit-Mo.

Call Walt!

Oh my gosh! Bambi is in my driveway! We pulled in and wobbling across the gravel with nose almost to the ground and legs all askew and just barely holding it up was this teeny little scrap. We stopped in the middle of the drive and of course I yanked out the camera. He kind of collapsed down into the ferns and has just been laying there trying to get back to it for about half an hour. Mom is standing guard like a champ. True was enthralled, and, shocker I know, a little creeped out when she saw he was kinda gooey still. It is completely wigging me out! Some doe just squatted down in my front yard and squeezed out a totally new deer! In my yard!! I'm flabbergasted. It's so funny, I can't get over how Disney it really is. So bizarre

random is my favorite

Ok, here's the first one. This is my kid running to meet me when I picked her up after work. How much longer will my kid stop playing with all her friends on a playground and RUN to me when I show up? Gotta love that.
So how about this one? As I was driving to work I saw this coming at me. Dude. Just so you know, it was just a storage container someone had apparently set on fire? Weird sidenote, driving from work, I went past another group of sheriff cars and firetrucks with a totally smashed to hell car upside down in a ditch. Didn't take a picture of that though.
This isn't anywhere close to as cool as it should be. What made me pull over and try to get a picture was the mix of the new leaves in the evergreens. Just a week ago, it was all bare branches and now it's that gorgeous, luminous, fresh new green. Love that!
And this is just a weird cloud I thought looked freaky. Yep, that's pretty much my day.

Dammit!

Speaking of that...yesterday one of my shining stars asked me, "Why can I say 'poop' but not the sh-word? And I can say 'sex' but not the f-word?" He wasn't going for smart-assity, he's a superstar and was genuinely curious about how some words become taboo and others not, and it just made me happy that he's out there thinking. That kid is going to do great things.
Anyway...back to the cursing. So you know how I swore I would never teach kindergarten? Anywhere but kindergarten. Uh-huh...five kindergarten classes later. So I guess I should have seen it coming. That's right. I am now a cat-owner. DAMMIT!! After almost a year of "absolutely not!!!!" and "You knew when you married me I DO NOT LIKE CATS!" and "Don't use the kid for your evil ends!!!" I finally caved to the two-prong attack of husband and daughter pleading. Meet Ringo The Storm Sherwin II
Poor little guy was a little shell-shocked last night. New home, surgery recovery, missing his four siblings, gotta be tough. But that is just pity for any creature in distress...NOT bonding with a freaking litter-box rat! Yeah, he's cute. Yeah, he's tiny. Yeah, he's sweet. But he's a cat! Husband and daughter are completely besotted. Well, True a 60/40 mix of enthralled and freaked the hell out, actually. Heh heh.

what have I been saying?

Wednesday the Wast Day

Woe is me it’s Wednesday! Not only is this the last day of our lovely vacation, but the weather is positively calling out for us to stay. It’s so sunny out you gotta have shades, and we’re going home to 40 degrees and rain. I’m so very ready for spring. To top it off, we spent today walking around Balboa Park. This is tragedy when facing a nasty weather situation at home. We had a few hours before the plane and hadn’t seen much of the city so we felt some sight-seeing was in order. We drove down to the middle of the park where the zoo and all the museums are and parked up a bit to walk down El Prado down to the center. It was breathtaking! Huge Spanish architecture with all the bells and whistles. Or I should say all the curlicues and statuary. You would have to see it to believe this place. Gardens and fountains and courtyards and the buildings! Simply amazing. The pictures don’t come anywhere close to doing it justice. Nowhere close. I can’t even describe how beautiful it was without going into meaningless hyperbole and hackneyed prose. The sun, the buildings, the blooming spring flowers…it was just stunning. Add onto that the museums. This is where the natural history museum, science center, art museums, train museums…on and on are located. When we got there and saw how brilliant the whole place was, I was kicking myself we didn’t leave a day to explore it. Even Trueby was completely content to wander around taking pictures and drinking in how great it was Too great.
As little as we wanted to, we had to get the rental car back and head to the airport. Our first flight to Phoenix was quick and uneventful. We had almost three hours to kill before the last leg to Seattle though, so had dinner, played around on the moving sidewalks and generally just killed time. After dinner I took a bathroom break, leaving my daughter in her father’s capable hands. When I came out, like two minutes later! they were surrounded by about five people and a ton of others were all looking on. What the hell?! My poor girl had wedged her lower leg between two seats and was completely and irrevocably stuck. We tried unsuccessfully to dislodge her while she, terrified, cried quietly and said, “I don’t want to be here forever,” in the most forlorn voice you’ve ever heard. A kindly passenger offered lotion and we slicked her all up, but no good. A custodian called for help and about five minutes later a bike cop showed up followed by four fully outfitted fire fighter paramedics. The very sweet cop got her out just as the paramedics showed up and the whole gate clapped for her. Poor little thing wanted to sink through the floor. To my very deep regret she wouldn’t let me take a picture of her in her pickle, so you’ll have to use your imagination. But trust me when I tell you it was a sight worth seeing.
Thus ends our wonderful vacation. Back to real life.

Tuesday Twos-day

Today was all about the deuce. We spent our second day at SeaWorld, there were twice as many people there, and we spent the day following around two five-year olds! That’s right, two. One of True’s very best friends from school (How cute is this? They address each other as Boonini. It’s freaking hilarious) is also in San Diego vacationing this week. His dad works in my district too and this puts him in the suck of mismatched breaks as well.
We went back for our second day and were amazed by the number of people there. So many more than had been on the weekend. Not undoable, but a lot! We got there just as the dolphin show was starting and ran up to the stadium to take a gander. We got good seats, even coming in late. The dolphins were amazing, as you’d expect, but I was completely blown away by how high those things can jump! It was freaking incredible! Look how tiny the lady is in the picture.
With a little while before meeting Boonini, we went on the simulated helicopter ride again, which True liked a lot better this time, knowing what was coming. The animals weren’t as great this time though. The polar bear wasn’t out and there were people in the tank with the belugas feeding them so they just hung out over there. Still cool, but not as great as the first day.
Are you noticing the fantastic sun? With so many rays, we decided it had to be done. We were taking Trueby on the Atlantis ride. It’s a giant roller coaster with a couple steep curves, a 60 foot drop and a bunch of splash zones. Predictably, she was terrified, but took it like a trooper. I’m so awfully proud of her. The picture isn’t us, it’s her friend’s family later in the day.
Speaking of, we met up with them next. True was absolutely hopping with excitement. They dinked around a bit and played in the climbing area, on a giant tramp, and had a great time. Her class is doing a unit on penguins right now, so we took them through the penguin house and got some pictures to email to the suckers toiling away in school. She was excited to show him the pet show, which was definitely worth seeing again, so we went there next and it was too adorable to watch those two watch the animals. Loved it.
They went to scope some stuff while we went to lunch after, much better, and cheaper! today with wraps at a little corner tucked away. Afterward, we wanted to use our free ticket for the cable ride, but it was closed again. We took the alternative ride on the SkyTower and it was totally worth it. Just a giant rotating chamber that climbs an enormous pole and rotates to give a fantastic 360 view of the park and city. Really neat. Check how many people are watching the dolphins. Dang!
We met back up with Boonini and scoped the otters, then went on the shipwreck raft ride. Again with the wet! Look how excited these two are at the end of it. Granted, they’re soaked and it’s about 4:30 now. The next stop was a touch tank with manta rays. I’ve never seen them come up to the side and stick their heads out. It was bizarre! One came up, peeked around, then flapped a tsunami of water all down my side! I had just dried out from the raft ride! True and her dad thought it was hilarious. While they were still kinda wet, we watched her friends go down the roller coaster and then played a couple midway games. Both Booninis came away with a really cute, soft stuffed polar bear. Nice.
That about did us in. We were there forever!
It was dad’s turn to pick dinner, and of course he wanted Mexican. But we drove all over creation and couldn’t find one we could park within a zip code of. So we ended up at El Torito, a chain. Though I did get this super pic of my kid with bull horns. Such a good time. Tragic that tomorrow is our last day! Back to the vitamin D deficiency!

Monday at San Diego Zoo

So in keeping with the theme of imprisoned animals, we spent vacation day two at the San Diego Zoo. And in keeping with the hypocrisy theme, it was lovely. I still don’t like it, but we paid them so I can’t say anything about it. Damn.
We started with a narrated bus tour, top deck, which True thought was amazing in itself, around the park to see what and where we wanted to go. As we were loading, this gigantic peacock kept calling and shimmying up his tail feathers. It was a great pre-funk. The tour was great, because it was so early a lot of the otherwise snoozy animals were up and about. We were in the very front seat on the uncovered top, it was pretty cool.
When we got off, we went first to the petting zoo. That’s a whole lot of goats my friend. Although, on the way there, we went through the reptile house and sweet Marie, anacondas are freakin huge! I know you think you know how big they are, but that thing was immense!
We also went through the insect house, and while I am normally left pretty cold by the creepy stuff, part of it was cool. They had a bee hive cutaway thingy that True was fascinated by. Just a solid wall of motion, a contradiction I know. And a tube where they were going in and out. It was cool to see. The part that got me though was the giant wall of leaf-cutter ant tunnels. It was too weird. They were so busy, and to see all their work and the giant pieces of leaves they hauled around. Amazing.
I also took a picture of this dead leaf. No I didn’t, that’s a mantis! How in the world does something evolve to look like a flippin dead leaf? That seems like a super conscious effort to me, not spontaneous birth defects. I am blown away by this.
The meerkats were cute as usual, but look at this picture. It looks like there’s no glass, and she’s feeding it from her hand. Heh heh.
Next was my second favorite part, the SkyFari. I know, dumb name for a sky tram, but it was the best. That thing cooked! No pansy sight seeing drift over the park, that sucker was transportation baby! It took about half the ride for True to unlock, but by then it was almost over and she didn’t get to look around much, not that she would have looked over the side or anything like that, but she did start moving her head. I’m kidding! She was nervous, but loved it.
We saw the polar bears, which got nothing on SeaWorld, though made for a good photo, and check out her intense interest in the zebras. Nice. The aviary part was cool too, super ugly harpy eagles and a condor that was all but screaming “Look at me!”
The primates were great, of course, and True went all Annie Lebowitz about it. Too cute. My very favorite part of the day was the gorillas. We got there just as the keepers were spreading branches and banana leaves around to feed them and then let them out. They were so cool! Kinda came out meandering around a bit, staring at the surge of people who pressed up on the glass, then the big guy grabbed a floppy old frond on a stick and chased some little guy off the spot he apparently wanted. He looked so funny running upright waving this branch all fierce. I loved it. A new baby was riding around on mom’s back and she came over to the glass and looked straight at True and set the baby down in front of her. It was astounding. The big one took off with branch again and waddled threateningly around the corner and gave the glass this “I'll kick your ass too” thump on his way by. It was hysterical. Loved it!
We came back to the hotel and swam in the pool for a while before going out to dinner at the Corvette Diner. It was great, a 50s theme with super friendly waitresses who danced and a very We're Going For Happy Days feel to it. We had a handful of straws thrown at us when we were first seated, which flabbergasted True, who neatly picked up each one. She had a bowl of super creamy mac n cheese while we snacked on Spicy Fried Pickles. If you ever get the chance, you totally have to try these, super good. My favorite part of dinner though was my drink. When we used to have to spend the days at the book store, we’d walk up a few blocks to the SuperJet market and I’d by a Green River in a bottle. Lime heaven. They had a soda fountain version here, with a million maraschino cherries in the bottom. Divine! It was a good time. We drove around the city a bit and headed home, wiped out! Another good day. Hope y’all are enjoying the freezing temperatures!

Sunday at SeaWorld

Ok, have you been to SeaWorld? I have, for all my life, been violently opposed. Same thing with zoos. The whole "born free" thing. Enter the child. Like every single other thing in my life, I've had to reassess. How do I expect her to develop the appreciation for this planet, to understand the conectivity, if none of that stuff is real to her? I want her to be awed by all these things, and I don't want to drive to the freakin Arctic, so that lands us at SeaWorld. For all the stuff I have yet to be hypocritical about in the future, just shut it. Besides, the first thing we saw when we got there was a guy vacuuming a Clydesdale, so it can't be all bad, right?

The first ride was a simulated helicopter travesty to an Arctic research base. One of those strap you in and jiggle you all over in sequence with the screen. It was way cool. True was gripping our hands like table vises!It was great, all set up like a research base and even had ice walls through one part. Nice. When we got to the underwater viewing, she was mesmerized by a beluga that was pressing up against the glass where a baby was pressing her hand to our side. It was so amazing...it just kept pressing its head up and I swear they look like they're smiling. Then we watched a polar bear try and catch its lunch. It was hilarious, it totally dove at the window, mouth agape and slid down the glass after a fish it just missed. This part was rocking.There was a simply ginormous walrus swimming around that we could watch above and below the water level. True was astounded by him, he was so incredibly vast. We saw the penguins too. This was so funny, we were on one of those moving sidewalk things and all just standing in the same pose, cameras up, sliding motionless past all these huge and tiny tuxedos sliding motionlessly past us. Weird. The manatees were just amazing in how large and graceful they are. For something called a sea cow, they definitely earned the name.

The shark tunnel was cool, but mostly because it made me giggle so much thinking how freaked out Jamal would be by it. These are for you, Uncle Jamal.

Everyone told us we had to catch the pet show. That it sounded sketchy, but was totally worth it, so we went. And it was totally worth it! All these rescued animals performing tricks in front of a heaving, screaming mob. And yes, that is a cat leaping into a person's arms. Nuf said.

We had lunch, FIFTY FIVE DOLLARS!!! and watched Shamu. This was another way cool one. I can't believe the whole human-animal thing. It's incredible. Those animals are nothing short of amazing. Seriously, took my breath away. We went on one ride, a river rapids raft dealie, got wet, good times. I found out I'm an aquarium snob. Honestly, I couldn't possibly care less about the stupid octopus or fish or anemone. For crying out loud, I was a little embarrassed with how little patience I had with that part! We couldn't go on the cable ride because of the breeze, but instead caught a 4-D Sesame Street show. That is their term, not mine, but apt. It had amazing 3-D and stuff like water spray, bubbles, sound effects etc to really pull you in. Freaked the shit out of True. She HATED it! It was too funny. Elmo's prancing around squeaking about imagination and my kid is hiding her face in her jacket trembling. Poor thing.

We were pretty beat when we left, but totally ready to go back for our second day and see all the rest, plus get in on the rides. Yay Spring Break!