For Shizzle

Too many late nights in a row have left the kiddies wrought with emotional sensitivities that made the day lousy with loud shrieking and constant complaints. And despite my best thoughts this morning that tonight would be different, it's 9:45 and they just went to bed. Oh well. The visit with the cousins is coming to a close, so the late night schedule has been well worth it.

Today at 2pm it was clear Heath was not going to take a nap. With a birthday party at 3pm for a preschool bud, I decided to stop trying, tossed him in the sweltering car, and took off for the Nature Museum (and a quick mommy-related pit stop at Starbucks). Before we were out of the neighborhood, Heath was asleep, so I just ended up driving around for half an hour.

He woke up from his snoring, head-bobbing car slumber at 2:45, just as we were closing in on East Blvd., where you have your pick of Starbucks or Caribou. I told him we were going to stop and get some Tea before we headed off to the party. Getting to the party ASAP was his priority, and his lack of lengthy nap, late nights, and general overheated mood brought the fight out in him. I didn't have it in me to deal with the awakened beast, so I passed on my tea and headed off to the party.

We've been to the Nature Museum before, but not for a birthday party. What a refreshing venue. The kids got to pet animal skins (o'possum, raccoon, skunk). They got to pet live animals (snake, cockroach, turtle, bunny). I declined on touching the cockroach, jumped at the chance to rub the soft rabbit, and wavered a moment on touching Duncan the snake, then decided if Heath can do it, so can I. It was surprisingly smooth. I would go so far as to say it was soft. I don't know what I was expecting. Something harder. Or at least more textured. But it wasn't.

The kids got a delicious treat of Ben and Jerry's ice cream cake. Heath, who can usually take cake, or leave it, ate his entire piece with much zeal, scraping the spoon across the paper plate, careful to not miss a single drop of yummy creaminess. They also got a great goodie bag of squishy lizard toys and tattoos and bubbles.

The blue and pink lizards (maybe they are salamanders? Heath and I kept calling them lizards) were taken out of the bag as soon as we got in the car. When we got home, Heath showed them to Stella, but was quick to let her know that they are his, not hers, and sharing was not quite an option just yet. Eventually, Heath left them on the back deck steps. When Stella stumbled across them, she looked around for Heath, who was busy helping Mark pump up tires on his bike, and jumped at the opportunity to pick them both up, shake them in her hands, and squeal, Shizzles! Shizzles!