Weekend

Since Erin is still sobbing and actively watching Grant's scalp for the slightest signs of hair recovery, I thought I would go ahead and do a post about our ridiculously busy weekend. (And in case you're wondering, telling your wife a tale about how sometimes when you cut a toddler's hair, it never grows back, is only funny looooong after your toddler's hair has actually recovered from a mishap like ours.)

Erin's fall break was Thursday and Friday, so we made a trek down to Cincinnati with Nene and Papoo (Grant's names for the inlaws). First stop was the Newport Aquarium. Having been to other aquariums, I was ready to be delighted at watching Grant enjoy mother nature's underwater wonderland, as well as ready to be gagged by the stink of rotting fish flesh and alligator poop. I have to say that the Newport Aquarium was a far better than average experience as a parent. They had tunnels beneath many of the displays where you could watch the fish swim overhead. It was neat because somehow the glass used made the fish appear to be sort of floating in mid-air. Grant loved the up close views of sharks and sea turtles, and the lack of crowds meant we got through the aquarium in relative haste.

After the aquarium, we made our way to a restaurant in Sharonville called Vincenzo's. We gorged ourselves on salads, pasta, various seafood specials, wine, and dessert. Nene and Erin had to move Papoo and Daddy back to the Sheraton using a fork lift. Highly recommended.

Friday morning we made our twice-a-year stop at IKEA (which according to Eric is pronounced "icky-uh" in Singapore). Grant was fairly tired following a night of light sleeping, and by the end of our Swedish furniture buying experience, Erin and I were tired and somewhat at our wit's end. Luckily Grant ate enough of a hot dog to return to his normal, cheerful self, so we pressed onward.

After IKEA, we visited a place called Jungle Jim's International Market. We didn't really have time to take this whole place in, but it's basically a giant grocery store. Actually it's a REALLY giant grocery store -- think the size of a Meijer but with ALL groceries. They had an "international foods" section the size of our Wal-Mart. We raced around, already running late, but I did get to pickup a six pack of a Bell's product that I'd not prevoiusly seen, so I'll be enjoying that this evening.

We made our way back to Indy and dropped Grant off with Mamaw and Papaw. Erin and I were helping with a pre-marital retreat for our church, and Grant was spending the night with his grandparents. The retreat went well and Erin and I were again reminded multiple times that we're rapidly aging. Suddenly when people who are getting married are in their early 20's, Erin and I are 10+ years older than them. How did that happen?

On Sunday we took Grant back to the zoo with his cousin Brakston for the ZooBoo. Since Grant had previously gone as a train engineer (and had since lost all his hair) he went as a bumblebee using last year's costume. The bumblebee costume comes complete with a head covering, so it serves the dual purposes of keeping his head warm and keeping him kosher with various fundamentalist religious groups.

All in all, a very busy but very enjoyable fall break. I'm sure Erin will post pictures when she stops crying.