May 4th through 6th visit with Nora. No pictures yet.
May 2001 visit Page.
Screen captures of video will be posted soon. This was written
May 7th, 2001.
I left Eugene about 1 PM and started to Aberdeen. I got there sometime about sevenish, but after that much driving time gets fuzzy. Nora ran out to meet me upon arriving.
Since we heard from her grandmother that there was a children's museum in Olympia, I decided to ask Nora if she wanted to go. She said "Yes". So, the next morning we took off for Olympia. This is what I wrote about that day:
I am wiped out. What a day. Nora and I had so much fun! It
started by
being woke up by her wandering the house looking for me. When
she heard me
say, "I'm right here", she came running, leaped in the
bed and wanted to
snuggle. We got up, I showered, she took a bath, then we headed
for
Olympia because we heard there was a kids Discovery Zone. As I
drove past
the bus station, I realized that we would have a good chance finding
it if
we took public transportation. So, I parked the car, plugged in
enough
quarters for 9 hours (!!) and we boarded a bus.
We found that there was not a DZ, but a "hands on"
museum. It was 11:30 by
this time, so we continued on to the mall for lunch. While there,
we rode
the 50 cent electric mall rides for about $2.00 worth, then got
pizza and pop for lunch. After lunch, we found a stroller car
like those we
saw other kids in and we crawled the mall. One stop was at the
Army recruiter
to say "hi" to the dressed up manicans in uniforms.
Nora was scarred at
first, but was OK later. They were really one of the most exciting
things
at the mall. We had to be careful what we were buying because
we were
using the bus to get around.
The Briggs loaned us their video camera and so I filmed a lot
of the
action, but consequently had this video camera bag to tote around.
We made
a stop at KB Toys and found (you guessed it) more colors of play
doh. So I
bought it for only $2.50. Nora loves the stuff and I figure it's
the cheapest
entertainment we will ever enjoy until her tastes "mature".
She mostly just
cuts it up and pulls it apart. I'm convinced that she likes it
so much because
it's what we do together a lot and we really have fun with it.
I play as much as
she does and when we really get going, we argue about whose turn
it is to use
the fun factory to press out blue, purple or green spaghetti.
Nora and I both get it under
our fingernails, but it washes out pretty easy.
After the mall, we boarded the city bus and headed for the
hands on
museum. It was a lot of fun for both of us. We stayed there for
three
hours! Nora had her face painted like a cat. I got it on video.
We came back to Aberdeen, went to McDonalds, had McNuggets,
then went back
to the Bledsoes. It was about 8PM. Nora had a bath to remove the
cat face
paint. Then we watched Snow White until it was too scarry. Nora
is scared
of the mirror guy so it didn't last long. We instead started watching
the
Santa Clause with Tim Allen then went to sleep after the first
Christmas of Tim Allen
as Santa Claus.
The next day we went to church in the Aberdeen Ward. Nora usually
can't wait to get
to the nursery but was especially restless during the first hour.
I think she was testing the
behavioral boundaries of what she could do with the situation
where both her Mom and Dad
were there. It was funny because neither of us really knew what
the other allowed at church. So Nora
pretty much did what she wanted until I asked and found out that
she was not allowed to
roam and crawl on the floor with her mom either. After taking
her to another part of the chapel, she was fine.
As usual, it was sad to leave.
I have one more interesting story to tell about this visit.
After we ate our dinner Saturday night and returned to the house, Nora and I played with the new play doh before settling down to get washed up and put jammies on. While playing play doh, I started to whistle a hymn. After ending the hymn, I stopped and she looked at me and said "again". I said "OK how about another song?" She said "OK". I started whistling another church song. Part way through the hymn "Oh My Father" she stopped playing and looked at me. I looked back and felt the Spirit very strong and could hardly continue whistling the tune. I finished and said "Did you like that?" She said "Yes".
I asked if she had heard someone else whistle like that and she said "Yes, Jesus Father." I again felt the Spirit confirm that she had recognized the presence of our Heavenly Father. Through thankful tears I said "You are right sweetie, Heavenly Father does whistle songs like that."
The next visit is scheduled for Memorial Day weekend. May 2001.