Bugs

Have you ever navigated the zoo, the Aquarium or what not with a 2 year old? Did you lose your sanity?

I think those places are designed for that.

Today we navigated the Bug Zoo with not one, but two 2 year olds. I'm not sure how but I somehow managed to talk both my brother (and his kid) and Mr. Yardbird into that today.

It wasn't all that bad.

The drive there was easy with the kids watching a movie in the back seat. Parking was a synch and we were able to pick up coffee on the way. We strolled along insisting our kids hold our hands to which they adamantly refused.

And when we finally got there and our coffee was starting to taste really good, we stepped into a long line behind the medal detectors. You know, the old school kind you used to find in airports. Nothing high-tech. And I'm wondering what sort of security issues they have going on in a bug museum, but the thought flees my mind and I sip on my coffee. The coffee that I know is going to get me through the approaching chaos.

"You can't take that in here", says the cop to my brother and I watch my brother begrudgingly toss his hardly sipped on coffee in the trash and Mr. Yardbird and I follow suit. I thought the coffee might give us the energy to manage our kids, but now that's out of the window.

And we meander around the bug museum staring quizzically at all the tiny bugs, some that swim and some that might kill you if they bit you.  We ponder their existence in quiet solitude and offer tidbits of knowledge to our kids' thirsty little minds.

Did I say meander? ponder? in quiet solitude?

I mean we chased our kids in circles, fumbled over people who were taking pictures (let's face it there is plenty of that going on) and darted through crowds only to just miss the shirt sleeve of our crazy two year olds. Sure we saw bugs. We said, " Look at this bug right here", and when we turned our kids were sprinting on to the next thing and the next thing and the next thing.


Sometimes, we remarkably found each other in the middle of the museum and traded off kids to chase around. "You got that one, I've got this one." and as we ran around we made sure our kids soaked up the endless knowledge of a bug's life by pointing out everything that was rushing past them. That's a skill only for the parent of a two year old.

And finally we sat down to eat a healthy meal of nachos, cookies, french-fries and pizza. And I'm sure the bug zoo is plotting against us as it offers the most sugary junk food assortment. My brother's kid, L, insists on  only eating the chips with no cheese and Ham insists on licking the cheese and not eating the chip. They make the best two year old picky eating companions.

We finish up and watch a 4-D movie, stroll through the butterfly exhibit and as we open the exit door we are pushed out into the gift shop with all its brightly colored toys. My brother, Mr. Y and I beeline to the door, before one of them could mutter an "I want...."

All and all it was a pleasant mildly stressful day with the bugs.