Shane and I drove down to NC Saturday morning. It wasn't just to give him the opportunity to climb in a "don't climb zone."
We met up with Nana and Pop!
Originally, Nana had talked about driving up to Charlottesville and staying at a hotel so that Shane could swim. Splitting the driving distance seemed far more fair (and economical).
We went to the Greensboro Science Center.
"Look! Penguins!"
Shane ran from exhibit to exhibit. Either he dragged Nana or Pop said, "What's this?" and he came running (usually with Nana!). I sauntered leisurely behind.
I got excited when we got to the penguins. I noticed their names on their wings. One penguin had the same name as one of my students! I wanted a pic to show at school.
The bird pooped.
That's either hilarious or ominous depending on how you look at it. The bird with my student's name crapped on my photo.
I chose hilarious.
I went to school and projected it.
But back to the science center. Shane and Nana really enjoyed looking at all the fish.
Pop pointed out an iPad talking about how venomous a scorpionfish was (Hint: Very).
There were stingrays to pet on the way out of the aquatic wing.
I held off due to cuts on my hands, but Shane went past elbow deep!
We had to pull him back before he started to swim.
My only regret was that we didn't have any kids or cousins around to enjoy everything with Shane. He didn't seem to mind.
Shane really wanted to go in the tornado machine. He didn't seem to remember doing it with Carrie at our last visit. I went with him and Cole in one before that during a beach week (That was the same trip Uncle Kevin's hair proved tornado proof).
Fast forward: There was an "Arctic Winds" machine on our way out. Shane wanted to try it, too.
Pop and I didn't want him to chicken out if it got cold. We blocked the door.
But back to the present. There was an amazing maze Shane and I ran through. I would have LOVED to have played tag in that maze for half an hour with a group of kids. As it was, Nana refused to set foot in it.
"Oh, I love peacocks!" She said.
Clearly a big fan.
Shane wanted to touch them, but I wouldn't let him. Nana wanted to feed them, but Pop wouldn't let her!
Does that mean we're no fun?
We don't think so! There was plenty of joking around!
My ADHD skills picked up on another grandfather teasing his kid when we were in the creature house. "We could put you in a booth on display!" It was totally something Pop and I would have said. It made me smile.
Coolest thing from the creature house: A snake midway through shedding.
We wandered around outside for a bit. There was a barn section, but that was too close to our daily lives to be too exciting!
There were dinosaurs inside!
I thought Shane would have stayed longer in the weather room, but the saurian call was too powerful.
Shane loved the virtual petting zoo.
What's a virtual petting zoo? It's a camera that puts you on a TV screen that has dinosaurs walking around.
I would not advise lying down and rolling around with live dinosaurs.
It's a lot of fun with the virtual kind, if you ask Shane!
If there were more hours in the day, we could have stayed longer. However, Shane and I left later than originally planned (9:30ish AM instead of 8 AM) due to horse chores and Shane sitting on his floor in his underwear reading when he was supposed to be getting dressed. There was still a three hour ride home and Nana wanted to take Shane shopping at a toy store she spotted online.
There were some cool toys....but prices have gone up from what I remember. Even on junk.
Shane didn't see anything he liked for a price that didn't break the budget, so we walked next door to the 5 Below.
Sometimes quantity is a quality of it's own.
I'm not sure what high quality equivalents would cost for the things Shane likes.
I'm okay with practical joke toys breaking before they wear out their welcome. The fart bombs are a daily occurrence here, so they were easily overlooked (I'm glad that Shane didn't think to get the fake dog poop and get Loki in trouble!).
Shane had a lot of fun shopping and happily pocketed what he didn't spend.
Nana made sure that Shane understood two things. First, that she loved him. Second, that if he didn't send a thank-you note in the mail his birthday and Christmas were cancelled for the rest of his life!
"She'll do it, too," I said. "There was one year I had to sit and watch everyone else open presents."
Pop and I laughed as Shane was left flabbergasted.
Nana and Pop dropped Shane and I off at our car and we said our goodbyes. Shane and I made one small stop for gas and made it home in a little under 3 hours (shortly after 8 PM?). We listened to Redwall by Brian Jacques and Christmas carols to help pass the time.
That's another year in the books. Shane is 9 years old, loved, and in possession of a whoopie cushion he really wants to catch Carrie with. Thank you Nana and Pop for helping make his birthday memorable!
