Sebastian wrote that in his writing journal at school a few weeks ago. I told him at the beginning of the month that we were going somewhere fun when Thanksgiving vacation started. I wouldn't give him any hints at first. Then I told him we were going to the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences to see the Grossology Exhibit. Once I explained that "grossology" was farts and burps and poop, he was excited.
I also planned to take him somewhere else, but I didn't plan on telling him until we arrived - the Lego Store at the Crabtree Valley Mall. Sam and I decided that we'd take all of Sebastian's change to the bank and let him spend it at the Lego store.
There are pennies in that pumpkin bucket. When we took it to the credit union and dumped it into the change machine, Sebastian walked away $533 richer. He was allowed to spend all but $100, which he is going to spend on a toy drive or angel tree.
So the day finally came and we made the 3.5 hour drive west. Sebastian was so good the whole way. He only asked if we were there yet twenty times. We never stopped, until we got to the parking lot near the museum. Sebastian's behavior was stellar! I was so proud of him. And he had a good time. He showed lots of interest in the exhibits, he told me 50 million times that this or that was awesome, and it was a wonderful 2 hours with him.
I, of course, loved the place. It wasn't as good as the Science Museum of Minnesota, which I went to in 2002, but it was pretty darn good. I'm more of a space & anatomy kind of "scientist" rather than naturalist but there were dinosaurs
and gross things
The ones at the museum were "leafier" and way more disgusting!
Speaking of disgusting, I bought my step-daughter Brandy a chocolate bar. I hope she doesn't mind the giant moth larvae in it!! I'll post a picture next month, after she opens it.
Finally, it was time to go to the "special" place. It was just down the road from the museum, fortunately. Parking was a nightmare but I finally managed. Then we walked in the wrong end of the mall and I had to hunt down a directory, walk all the way to the very end and go down the escalator. While we were stepping on to the escalator, I saw the store. Sebastian did not. I tried to keep him distracted long enough to get down there and closer to it. That worked great and we were practically right in front of the entrance when he saw it.
"Oh, a Lego store. Can we go in there?" he asked in the calmest of voices.
Not what I was expecting! I told him that the plan was to go there all along and he showed some mild excitement. When we actually got into the incredibly packed with rowdy kids, teeny-tiny store and he saw that it was wall-to-wall Lego sets, he did his cheer/jump/woohoo, then raced around looking at everything. He immediately picked out a big set. I told him he still had money and could pick out another. So he did. And he was shocked that he still had money. So he kept picking. In less than 20 minutes, we walked out of there with 10 Lego sets and $417 less than we'd gone in with.
No, he did not carry those bags. Remember how we entered the mall at the wrong end? Mommy got strength training and cardio that day.
Poor kid fell asleep on the way home, holding one of his sets. Look at that improper car seat restraint!
This picture reminds me a lot of the time the bread man let Sam have the close-to-expiration bread from his truck.
Needless to say, he is not getting Legos for Christmas. He put the little sets together, and has the biggest Lego City set in his sorting box and partially built. He has the Power Miner set in another sorting box and partially built. The rest are in the spare room, waiting for him to finish his first two. He has to have every set he owns built before we go back to the Lego store, to see if we are missing any pieces, because he spent so much money, he got 4 free boxes to fill with random pieces from the wall when he goes back.
I don't know what else to say about the trip. It was awesome. We were home in time for dinner and iCarly. It was just...awesome. Next year, I will take him to the Science Museum of Virginia. I've been dying to go there for years and I think he will be old enough to have fun. They have IMAX. Nothing beats IMAX.
