Hopefully they don't have my face on hidden camera

It started out as any day would. Scratch that. It actually started as a day that we would actually go somewhere. Normally we lounge around in our jammies till noon. Today, however, was a field trip kind of day. One of my BFF's Stacy texted me the night before that they were going to the Dinosaur Museum. It sounded great! Brendan is in his last week of being off track and so we are getting restless over here. At first it was really nice because that's when we had the big move and it was good not having to take him to school every day. Since were done moving now all that is left is for me to sort and get things put away. That is very boring to a 7 year old. Plus, being off track and having kids in the new neighborhood get home from school at 3:30 makes for a long day. Hence, being in jammies until noon.

So I felt spontaneous about going to the museum with less than 24 hours notice. It felt adventurous! The kids were also just as excited.

It was actually a really good museum. We got there right as story time started so we hurried through half of the place to get to story time. Addison, however didn't want to sit down. She ran around and played at a station close by. She would actually run back and forth, sitting for a few seconds- then going back to running around. Things were much too exciting to listen to the boring lady reading. After the story ended we headed to the next station. It was a large puzzle that you would take pictures of bones and put them into stone where the formation fit.

Brendan had his Lego Mini-fig of Boba Fett in his mouth.

As we walked from station to station they had huge dinosaur replicas of all kinds of Dino's. There was a stream in the middle of a setup that they had. When we were up on the upper level we could see the waterfall (water-trickle) coming down the rocks. "Wa-wa" Addison would tell me. "Yes, Addy, that is water." then she spotted them. The golden fish that they had in that stream. Pre-historic Koi, I think. Barely enough water for them to swim in, anyway. She loved to watch that stream through the acrylic glass above. Then she would run way ahead of us. In fact, at one point a lady had her hand and I saw her move from mom to mom seeing if she belonged to them. Finally I found her and the lady handed her over to me. She had that "Shame on you for not watching your child every second" look in her eyes.

She had run to the next exhibit- another stream with sand that they played in. Streams could be dammed up and when the water broke through it was like washing away the dinosaurs. At least I think that's what it's supposed to be. We put smocks on the kids and let them go to town. At one point I thought Addison was going to lean so far in and fall face first into the sandy water. At least I know she'll like the water this year, right?

Sandy water time comes to an end. A very tragic time indeed. Addison didn't want to go. She fought me to keep her smock on but then Brendan came to the rescue. She'll do whatever brother says. He's my hero. And she's my little stinker. So they wash their hands to get off all the sand and hang the smocks up. Addison starts running into the next room and I gather the stroller, camera and Brendan and head her way. Only she can't be found. I started panicking a little. I had Brendan running with me and he took the right side of the room while I took the left. We ran all the way up till there was a door that she couldn't get past. No Addison. So I think how did I miss seeing which way she went? So back the other way I run to find Addy. Now I'm in a panic. I have Brendan come with me and Stacy held my stroller so I could go faster. We go ALL THE WAY BACK TO THE STREAM where they have ancient koi. Only Addison isn't watching the stream. Oh no, she is IN THE STREAM. Her beloved bear is face down in the stream. She is completely soaked from having been down on her belly in the stream. She hurdled the iron railings keeping kids OUT of the stream. She actually might have just crawled under them. She doesn't care. She looks up at me and says "Mom! Wawa!" "Yes Addy, wawa indeed." Now, I know what you are thinking. Yes, I was freaking out. Yes, I KNOW I need to buy a leash for that girl. Yes, I know that she could have drowned. Even though standing up in it the water only came up to her mid shin. All of these thoughts are going through my head on the right side while my left side is saying "Oh man, I hope there is no surveillance on this area. Why was there NO ONE around? The last time I was here there were 10's of people here. Damn! I left my camera in the stroller! I'm glad I brought an extra diaper. Too bad she doesn't have an extra outfit. At least she has a coat."

People- she was dripping wet. She had laid on her belly in that stream. I don't want to think, or even know if she drank any of that water. I'm almost absolutely certain that she did. Bear had water and dirt all over him so he had to be squeezed to death to get all the water out. So, now I have a naked girl and one more exhibit to go. Another sandy excavation to find dinosaur bones! YAY! I had her clothes hanging off the stroller to try to dry and her bear stuffed into the hood of the stroller where after taking these pictures I apparently put my camera too. Very bad move.

I would really like to go back there! It was really fun and educational. I thought Brendan had a great time. Being with the other kids it was fun too. I am hoping that my camera still works. I am drying it out in some rice as we speak. We will definitely need to look into buying a baby leash. I know some people find it cruel and unusual, but I find it to be part of my sanity.