I WANT MY BOMA BREAKFAST-I DID THE PLANNING IS IT TO MUCH TO ASK FOR ONE SIMPLE BREAKFAST? AND OUR TRIP TO THE FRANKLIN INSTITUTE AND WHY I TURNED INTO THE QUEEN OF HEARTS...
Sigh...DH and DD are all about the rope drop...and so am I usually-I mean I do find it easier to accomplish a lot in the parks pre lunch and all of that-go rest -come back refreshed etc...and in that spirit (and a little because I got flustered when making adrs-we only have one TS breakfast at Tusker House on our AK day...(We do have a Pirates and Pals Wishes Cruise-so we'll get characters there too...) It's just that they're (especially DH) a little facist about it at times...
Anyhow all the other days I just have us bringing up from Mara except for the earlier mentioned Tusker House-but I've decided the morning we are going to the water parks I want to have breakfast at Boma-Boma makes a very nice breakfast indeed plus I can get a pot of pressed coffee-I can smell it now...happy dance...
Well I'm feeling guilty about doing this because I don't want to ruin the water park mojo-if I can get a 7:30 reservation for Boma is that really going to make the lines at Blizzard Beach (where we haven't been before) that much longer? (BB opens at 8 so realistically even if we take a cab-we wouldn't be there before 9...I'm willing to go to TL which we have been to before and isn't supposed to get as crowded...( I liked TL-it isn't that I don't like water parks-I'm just not crazy for them-Typhoon Lagoon is pretty and shaded-I'm happy with some tube rides-but I don't need the 60 miles per hour straight down stuff...)
I have the whole day scheduled for water parking, relaxing, Wave for Dinner and then the P&P Wishes Cruise...
So should I schedule Boma and just risk Blizzard being crazy crowded...or is Blizzard amazing enough to skip the breakfast...and will I be sorry to miss it...hmmm what to do, what to do...
While pondering that an explanation is in order about me squeezing my newly acquired stress releasing squeezy heart...
On Friday we were all hankering to get out of the house for a bit...
So off we were to the Franklin Institute...(You must know before I continue my story -I must make it clear that FI is a fabulous museum and awesome place to take kids & adults...It has a lot to offer-so if you get the chance and are even the tiniest bit interested in science you must go-that being said-DO NOT GO ON A FRIDAY IN LATER JULY WHEN THERE ARE TONS AND TONS OF CAMP GROUPS VISITING-just sayin....)
We get to the museum pretty quickly and efficiently by 10:30- hey it's the summmer- if DH were coming we'd have been there by "rope drop" or 9:30. The parking lot was already pretty full at his point. BTW-could somebody please explain those parking spaces with the pole blocking half of them? Wouldn't it really be more fair to paint the starting line for the space-over past the pole? We got in our space and headed off into the museum...while I was parking-DS started to tell us-"Oh I know this place-a man from here came to talk to our school about astronauts"...Well this is the first time I heard of that-hmm when mommy asks "so did you do anything interesting today at school?"-doesn't that count???
We went up to the entrance atrium and based on the pricing decided that a family membership was the way to go-we're local, we'd be paying for about half already with the day's admission and DH loves it there so I could definately see him taking DS or us all going plus (DH had mentioned that they have a reciprical agreement with a lot of different science museums including the Intrepid in NYC-which if you don't know is a huge World War II aircraft carrier/museum docked in the Hudson which he's been hankering to visit for quite a while.)
Feeling a wee bit off (I think I was fighting a stomach bug which probably didn't enhance my mood...) I told the kids that everyone could pick at least one exhibit today (excluding Star Trek-which DH wants to see and had an additional fee-we had just spent $99 and we had to get through lunch and that enemy of all budgets-THE GIFT SHOP...
We all wanted to see the walk through GIANT model of the heart-I mean who wouldn't? and I didn't count the 5 min film/presentation thing on Franklin in the rotunda as an exhibit-why-because mommy drove, has the money and mommy says so...So-we selected Galileo and the Age of Astonomy (me), Sir Isaac's Loft (DD) and the Train Factory which actually turned into Space Comand (DS)...
So after the prefunctory bathroom stop and the buying of the water bottle and promising DS that he could get a pressed penny of Franklin before we left-YES -THEY HAVE PRESSED PENNY MACHINES BASICALLY IN EACH EXHIBIT/GALLERY-we headed off to see Galileo....
Now since DD had taken possession of the map I decided to let her run with it...(it's very funny because she and DH are so alike is some ways-they both think they are mellow but they are both type A's and actually they both are slightly directionally challenged-although they won't admit it. I am actually the best map reader and DS who is not yet 7- is catching up...-he has an amazing visual memory)
So do we find ourselves at Galileo? Nope-we are up on the third floor looking down at the atrium and straight ahead at the SKY Bike-which is basically a self powered bike about 40 feet in the air that you pedal along a tight rope kind of wire that is supposed to demonstrate some scientific principal-the fun principal?(There is a big net underneath-I guess in case you fall?-has that happened?) In the meantime I apparently neglected to tighten the lid on the bottle of water so my bag is dripping...and the inside is soaked...including my Vera Bradley wallet which is fabric and has basically acted like a sponge...
sigh...I need a new wallet anyone-every thing is always falling out...
DD of course wants to ride Sky Bike-(DS isn't tall enough but a very good sport about it)...I agree on two conditions....1. she must help me clean up/out the bag and 2. she will graciously accept my photo taking today-I got a new camera and I want to make sure I can use it well before our Disney trip. We are in agreement. We do the best we can with the bag and contents and I plan to do a thorough job when we sit down to lunch...and I get to use my camera to my heart's content...
YES, THIS IS WHY I BECAME A MOM-TO WATCH MY BABY BIKE 40 FEET HIGH OFF THE GROUND ON A TIGHT ROPE WIRE...
Now I take the map and guide us over to Galileo, the Medici, and the Age of Astronomy. I had read about this exhibit and really wanted to see it. It contains some of Galileo's real equipment including several of his telescopes...how cool is that?...and yes I love Spaceship Earth...I haven't been there since the redo and I'm dying to see it...it makes me weepy practically-all that history and people and accomplishments...
(..."Behold the Sistine Chapel") Love it...
However- a couple of things become clear quickly...
That while this looks really fascinating for me and DD this is not really very child friendly...even for a precocious almost 7 year old...
There is a lot of text to read in here...
It is simultaneously written in English and Italian (items borrowed from an Italian Museum...)
This could take easily an hour to go through...
So I gave DS the quick version of Galileo...
People used to think the earth was flat and that the earth was at the center of the universe...
Galileo didn't -so he used his telescope to study the sky and realized that the earth revolves around the sun...
This was close to 500 years ago and not every one was happy with these ideas...
But Galileo was right....Eureka-Scientific Discovery....
It seemed to work for him &
one of the guide saw me looking at one of Galileo's telescopes and shone a special light in it and told DS to look up through the bottom of the case through the telescope-to see the light...
SO DS and Galileo looked out of the Same Telescope....How cool is that....(and yes I know I'm a geek...)
Ok- too much excitement for me and my blood sugar was going down-Lunch Time...DS got the nuggets and fries and to my suprise DD (who is normally a food snob for her age) got them too and I had a ham and cheese on a pretzel roll and a little side salad-I even took a picture of it... BUT DD thinking she was "helping" me got rid of all the "bad or boring" photos I took...doesn't she know I have to get my food picture taking skills up???
Oh and the handbag-Total water disaster...everything soaked-I was using paper napkins to dry off my money by pressing them between-I literally rang my wallet out...NOTE TO SELF-please tighten those caps....
Now refueled we were ready to tackle the GIANT HEART. Up until now my mood was pretty good-definately Alice like-curious and all that. But we were about to make a distinct crossover into Queen of Hearts territory...
I'm really a very kind and I think tolerant person. And I have children. And goodness knows children have their moments and all of that. But there are limits-there really are. When you are inside the model of the Giant Heart and you are scaling (like spiderman) the inside of the right ventricle or atrium-(does it matter?)-I think you have crossed the limits...when you are clearly supposed to be walking through the heart on the designated path-I think you have crossed the limits....when you are shrieking and running at the top of your lungs and at top speed through the Giant Heart I think you have crossed the limits and when the adults that are supposed to be chaperoning you are seemingly in absentsia-I think they have crossed the limits...
Ok so I am quickly morphing into the Queen of Hearts...walking through the giant heart DD first (who similar to me was at her wits end and began gently threatening the campers in front of her), next DS and then me bringing up the rear...I explain to David..."now pretend you are a little blood cell and here we are going through the right ventricle up into the right atrium (To the little pusher behind me-"nice little blood cells don't push ahead")to David "now we're going to the lungs to get oxygen" ("blood doesn't run backwards"-to the little maniac going back through the heart-"that is very unhealthy") back to David "now we have our oxygen and are going back through the left ventricle to the left atrium" (As I was watching spiderman kid scaling I think it was an atrium-"oops-don't think the blood cells should be scaling the inside of the heart like that-looks like unecessary clotting") ....and finally shepherding David out..."and out we are out into the body".
Ok -is it wrong that I want a tazer right now...?
REALLY-WHO WOULDN'T WANT TO GO IN THERE?
WE MADE IT THROUGH!
DS & DD ON A BONE BENCH
There were other cool exhibits on blood that we looked at but I continued to be a little grumpy-it just really bothered me that this was such a great learning opportunity that was just being wasting on so many of these kids who seemed like they really wanted to be at the playground and decided they were just going to have to make do...really the adults should have been more proactive so say I...
"OFF WITH THEIR HEADS"
We then made our way down some stairs towards the Space Command past a Focault's pendulum when my daughter told me she knew someone who was banned from the museum because they had messed with the pendulum and were told by museum officials not to come back...???(ok is it me?) We went into the Space Command where DS was super excited to see some moon rock-he's been reading about the planets and space & talking about Apollo 11. We looked around...and he and DD made a trial planet rover...and checked out the space suits...
To digress a moment...DD is a very good big sister...she is not only very conscientious, but kind and fun. She is also a great daughter-she is an extremely easy teenager to be around...she comes on family trips easily, participates and is overall an amazing companion (we could do without some of the texting...but all things considered-its not a big deal...however she can be a trifle intense and dramatic...
Whether consciously or subconsciously DD has taken it on as her unofficial mission to protect the rights of all smaller children being taken advantage of by bigger kids...I have seen her on many occasion put herself between a smaller child and someone trying to butt in front of them or grab something from them-and I have seen her give "the glacial stare" to the usually larger child in the wrong as well as actually tell them that is wrong to try to push around smaller kids -thank you very much...I am very proud of her but sometimes I am worried for her/me that they will bring their even bigger sibling or cranky parent back...
Welllll... her radar was up and out in full force and by the time we made it to Sir Isaac's Loft-she was just hankering to protect truth, justice, the American way and the rights of all small children...
(Sir Isaac's Loft is a really cool, very hands on area with exhibits demonstrating varying principles of physics)
so we enter the Loft and DD's radar is way up high and she is just hankering to catch a big kid trying to put one over on a little kid...
(and she Shoots).......not just protecting any little kid but her brother....(someone is trying to butt their turn...) :GLACIAL STARE..."Excuse me, but you look old enough to have basic manners, so I am assuming that you know that taking turns is a fundamental curtesey and therefore I am surprised someone of your age is neglecting this manner and honestly that's my brother....honestly it would be quite a mistake to mess with him (the child looks at her and creeps away....(and she SCORES)...btw she actually sounds like that...the diction is crisp, the language perfect-if you were speaking to a 40 year old Englishman trying to score the last scone ahead of you...
(Personally-I think she needs to bring it down a notch- a "hey we don't butt" seems like it would do the trick and really I'm not sure that kid was headed for a life of crime...I think we need to find a happy medium...and believe it or not she is such a sweet person unless you cross her by breaking the rules...)
http://i971.photobucket.com/albums/ae200/patriciasilverman/100_008
3.jpg
SPINNING...
TWIRLING...
PULLING...
OMG-IT'S A GNOME LOST IN THE FI LOOKING FOR LL...(This was something to do w/depth perception...
)
After our trip to the loft I was ready to leave-DD wanted to do more but a carefully dropped "how about the gift store and a snack" directed toward DS easily made it a 2 to 1 so off to the gift store we trotted....
where there were way too many things to seperate a fool (me) from his or in my case, her money. I found my stress squeezy heart (a virtual bargain at 2.99 and my Galileo finger puppet (I turned down an earlier mentioned cup with the chemical formula for caffeine on it... and a variety of books...) DS wanted a Magic School Bus Kits on germs & viruses and DD- not wanting to be left out needed to get a travel journal...which we could have gotten from
Amazon but far be it from me to deprive her...)
The Snacks weren't calling to us this day-although I did have a medically required cup of coffee and DS had a reese's cup and DD had a blue-green icy thing that frankly looked and tasted like a science experiment...
and then I had my best idea of the day...GELATO...Philadelphia is blessed with an awesome gelateria (real deal stuff-just like Italy), called CAPOGIRO with 2 locations..and so I whipped my car out of that lot missing the pole by an inch... and double parked across from one of the locations and DD ran in and got Plum/Thai Coconut ( for me)-Grapefruit/Burnt Sugar (for her) and Straticella -vanilla with chocolate threads (real chocolate) running over and through it(for DS)...It was really, really, really good....did I say really enough...
HEAVEN IN A CUP...
It definately took the edge off (sounds like a cocktail doesn't it...and I was no longer interested in taking off anyone's heads....
For now.
He sounds like a wonderful little guy! 
I LOVE my morning breakfast, coffee and DIS. I look forward to it every single day!
- I have a Pavlovian response to coffee-I get all happy just smelling it ...it's one of life's great simple pleasures...
-I almost bought a coffee mug today that had the chemical formula for caffeine on it -I had taken the kids to the Franklin Institute -that's a big science museum in Philadelphia-but I decided I'd rather have a mug from AKL later next month...
...but we're just taking it step by step for now...Actually there's a really great looking movie coming out called Adam that features a love story between two twenty-somethings-the guy has Aperger's...It looks funny, poignant, bittersweet...etc...If you liked UP you'd probably like it too-you don't have to 
...I think my family is pretty lovely too...
and I am thankful everyday that I have them...
& OUR PLANS FOR OUR LAST TWO DAYS (FOR THIS YEAR) AT WDW...
