Let The Good Times Roll

We've been on a rampage this weekend, trying to pack as much as we can into the span of two days. It's hard work considering how incredibly hot & muggy it is here. Saturday was Kids Day and Ribfest, so of course we attended both events. Hopefully the pictures will come out; I've not been having much luck lately with my older camera.

Kids Day was a sweltering city block's worth of activities. Dante didn't seem to notice the heat. He made a sticker book of his four favorite things in life: sports, Spongebob, dinosaurs, and dogs. He was completely captivated by the Children's Theater, and turned down other events in favor of watching all their skits. Sound problems notwithstanding, they were pretty good. Dante certainly thought so, and even tried to sneak backstage to see what really goes on. So I just marched him up to the Director, and had him introduced. Dante's mouth was open when I marched him over, but sugar, that's what you have to do if you want to figure those kinds of things out. We also rode the PRT (Personal Rapid Transit) system, which Dante thought was sort of a mundane rollercoaster, and he's right. It's supposed to be a really big deal, being only one of five such things in the USA. But mostly people just think it's a big joke.

Ribfest was OK. Needed more ribs from mom & pop places rather than big chains. The BBQ was decent. Not great, but decent. Could've done without the God Rock and Bad Local Bands, but all in all, a pretty good time. Spent all of the fun money I took out courtesy of a bank account specifically for half.com transactions. But most of it went to good causes, so I feel pretty good about blowing it.

Today we were invited to a birthday of a friend of a friend, who was trying to get up enough kids to cover the minimum requirement for the group discount. The party was held in one of those giant Fun Places For Kids kind of thing. There was rock climbing--he did great and climbed all the way up twice--, bowling, games with tokens, indoor carnival rides, bumper cars, boats armed with water cannons, all kinds of manufactured fun. Oh, and Laser Tag.

I've never played Laser Tag before. Apparently, I'm pretty dang good at it. Must've been all those 1st person shooter games. Or maybe I was just the only one smart enough to find a position and snipe rather than run around like a chicken with my head cut off. At any rate, I had a heck of a lot of fun, and it makes me wonder how good I would be with paint ball. Probably not very, considering I had a laser to watch and adjust my aim.

Dante had a blast. And best of all, it was free. So you can't ask for much more than that. I'm sunburned, as usual. Small price to pay for his good time. I think he's still grinning from ear to ear.

--Virgil