Splish Splash

I may have mentioned this before, but Me First is something of an animal fanatic. He loves animals, all kinds of animals, and talks about them constantly, often repeating himself. Constantly.

We live near an aquarium, Hakkeijima Sea Paradise. Well actually it’s an amusement park with an aquarium, a big tank full of dolphins and a sunfish, and an outdoor lagoon type area when you can climb around on rocks and touch the starfish and various other sea slimeys.

We have yearly passes to this place, mainly because that allows us to go and see one aquarium or do a couple of things without it turning into a long and drawn-out day of animal maniac kid wanting to see everything and spend forever there, while the kid with just average interest gets bored out of her gourd.

Recently, Hakkeijima acquired a pair of sea otters. Me First was, of course, eager to go see them. But since these are still young animals getting used to their new home, they are only display for a few minutes each day. We decided to go to the lagoon area, let the kids torture enjoy the animals there for a bit, and then offer our greetings to the new inhabitants.

Great plan. Until Me First slipped and fell, butt first, into the water, soaking his jeans and his shirt in the process. We ended up having to go home before the otters were brought out.

Never fear, gentle readers, we have yearly passes so we went back the next weekend.

Me First didn’t fall in the water this time, but he stuck both hands in without rolling up his sleeves. He also didn’t notice that the jacket he had tied around his waist was more than half submerged in the water.

Whacha gonna do, right?

It wasn’t too cold, so we stayed to watch the otters and then came home to change.

My husband said we should bring a change of clothes next time we come. I think perhaps we should just dress him in these.

Hamakko Pirates

After my last post, I thought we all might be in the mood for something more lighthearted. Therefore I bring you The Pirate Park.

I’m not sure why my kids came to call this park the Pirate Park. It isn’t shaped like a boat and there’s no nautical theme… The rest of the neighborhood calls this the Pool Park because it’s right next door to the pool. Logical, yes. But not quite as fun.

Apparently pirates these days are wearing helmets as well. I guess it’s no more questionable than the crazy get-ups of the seventeenth century.

Yesterday, we went to a different ice skating rink for Blades of Death, The Sequel. Me First, well-rounded pirate that he is, has the skating thing down cold. (Funny, ain’t I?) Me Too, on the other hand, has chronic cold feet.(Badumdum, clang!) As I mentioned before, I can’t ice skate, and it is really hard to learn when you have a preschooler hanging on to you for dear life. After one lap, Sister was ready to call it a day.

But, dadnabit, I want to learn how to do this already! I managed to get around another couple of times before Le Petite Princess had a meltdown. Considering we’d both been up by five, (me to make lunch, her to make that impossible,) she was pretty beat.

She had an awful night coughing last night, maybe it was too cold? Too tired? And she and I were up and down all night.

And yet tday it is HRH who is still in bed at 11. We are capturing unsuspecting sailors. (I’m on lookout.)

I just want Me First to have a good, fun weekend since I don’t know what Monday will bring.