Kyle, after fantasizing about my father pantsless, wondered if I was going to take Eryn to the Desert Museum to see the native fauna and wildlife. Per my last post with the picture of the puma, he can probably guess that I did. Eryn walked almost the whole grounds, which is an impressive feat, considering we were there walking around for about five hours. Most of the animals were hiding or hibernating, it being hot in the sun, yet cold by Arizona standands (it's been hitting freezing in the evening), but we managed to find quite a few of them, including some javelinas (look like hogs, but don't call them pigs) that were spooning in the dirt. Eryn was certain we had to make the complete rounds as Grandpa bought her a "tracks" booklet that encourages kids to look at the animals and then use an ink stamp to imprint the animal's track in the booklet. We missed two of the tracks (bobcat and mastadon - that last one was a display, not a live one), but Eryn was pleased we found so many. Personally, I was extremely annoyed with the child who was making the rounds in front of us whose parents couldn't afford the $1 booklet, so he was taking the stamp and stamping everything on the stamp stand (i.e., not paper, but the metal, the ink holder, the wire, et al), making it difficult for Eryn to imprint her stamps without getting black ink all over everything and everyone.
Here she is with her stamp booklet right before going into the underground/mineral area (no mineral tracks, btw). I was excited because this area had a nice walkway showing the formation of the earth and evolution on a ramp. Later, there was another piece of art that showed the evolutionary process. I like educational zoos.
Grandpa and Eryn taking a rest on a bench in the cactus garden. The plural of cactus, regionally, according to my mother who assures me this is the way the natives speak, is cactus, not cactai or cactuses. Just an fyi in case you don't want to look like a tourist.
Eryn checks out yet another organ pipe cactus.
The javelina area. Eryn was fascinated with these boxes at each animal area. She was sure they contained either the animals themselves, or food for the animals, and she wasn't quite sure she believed my story about only staff being able to take off the locks.
Success! All the animal tracks except for two!
Yesterday, we drove 3.5 hours (one way) to Yuma, Arizona, to see my grandmother, Madeline. Eryn nicely referred to her as Grandma Madeline instead of "old grandma" as my nephew likes to do. She had a great time playing the organ and playing with grandma's dog, Mackey.
She also enjoyed grandma's extensive display of Christmas-related doodads and geegaws. This gnome-in-a-Christmas-tree thing sings and dances, but it seemed to be running down, so it didn't dance, and made a screeching noise that set dogs to barking.
And this is grandma's dancing, singing Santa. You push a button on his toe and he sings a Christmas song and dances this strange shuffle. She'd push the button, run away, and then mimic his dance. I pushed the button and he hit me in the head. Hurt. I probably did something bad this year and he knows about it. Later she pushed grandpa's toe (her grandpa) and made him sing and dance. I have video - now I just have to mail it to his motorcycle club. That's grandma Madeline helping Eryn with Santa's toe.
And grandma's light up deer. Eryn was interested in the mechanics of how you made a deer light up and move. Thirty minutes later, as soon as the border patrol had made sure she was a U.S. citizen, she was asleep.
6 comments:
Did they just ask if everyone in the car was a citizen? Like when we went through New Mexico with Jay, and they wanted to know if we were citizens and if we had any fruit?
Great picture of John and eryn. Didn't eryn break into her spanish when you got pulled over? *hehe* That would'a been funny.
Actually, as we were pulling away, after he asked if we were from the U.S., just beyond where he could hear and before I got the window up, Eryn said, "No!" She actually understood what he was asking, sort of, and wanted him to know that she was from Eagan and not the U.S.
Just for the record, I was opposing pantsless dad photos, not recommending them - your sister was the one suprised at their absence in an earlier post.
It's neat to see Eryn partook of the complete desert museum tour. I don't know how balanced an educational experience it is though, if they have a display on evolution, but don't offer an intelligent design one... How will Eryn be able to have a truly informed view of the desert? ;)
Thanks for the week!
Dad and Mom,
Granpa and Grandma
I think she'll infer from the javelinas, Kyle. They're too beautiful and intricate to have been created in any other manner than by a concientious creator.
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