They Go Together Like Peas And Carrots

For all of you looking for an Adventure Club update, after the great debacle a few weeks ago... We hit a bulls eye this past weekend. Thank goodness!!

Let me hear you shout it out...
Give me a W! A! T! E! R! Water! WATER! WATER!!!!!!

Holy crap, the boy loves water!! Maybe it's because it's easy to spot. Maybe it's because it's refreshing. Maybe because it's one of the few words he has truly mastered.

On that note, I actually have to digress for a few moments here...

Many times when Dash is riding in the backseat of the car by himself, I hear this, "Aaah-ba. Aah-ba. Up. Up. Gra. Up. No, no, no. Aaah-ba. Woo. Woo." It becomes a kind of chant. Over and over. (When you decipher it into English he's saying, "Water. Water. Up. Up. Grass. Up. No, no, no. Water. Train!" Which spirit do you think he is trying conjure? I'm thinking it's the flying water train of the grasslands, of course! Right??)

So the other night when he woke up crying (yep, it's now been two Tuesday nights in a row that he's woken up crying and had to be consoled for the rest of the night. Can you say: tiiiiiired!! I know children like schedules, but really? this? come on.) Anyway, when he woke up crying, I went and comforted him back to sleep and he lay there on my shoulder, diving deeper and deeper into his dreams. He would twitch every now and again. And then, out of the blue, I heard a little, "up." And then a little more twitching. And then, "aaah-ba." Silence. Twitching. And then he panted in my ear like a dog! Hmmm... It's interesting to at least have a bit of insight as to what the little rascal is up to in his dreams! (Or actually maybe it just raises more questions... does he see a dog, since the panting is his sign for dog, or is he a thirsty dog??)

So where was I? Oh yeah, water. The kid loves it! (Unless of course it's the ocean. And since he's a born and bred California boy, we'll have work on that.) So we took him to the Bing Children's Garden at Huntington. Huge success! HUGE!!

Dashy ran through the gates...



















...excited, because the first thing you see is WATER!














Little did he know that these pools have fountains, on the ground in front of them, which squirt water straight up in the air every now and then, and he got nailed right in face!! (Sorry, laughing too hard to remember to click off a picture.)

Once inside, Dash got a chance to feel the vibrations. (This dish holds water and the whole thing vibrates.)



















Then, around the corner, we hit the jackpot!!




























Dashy was a very happy, happy boy!














There are fountains that squirt water and fountains that suck water...



















Little streams with bothersome plants...



















And the water god, to whom Dashy thought about leaving an offering...



















...but then decided not to.



















Here's Dashy just doin' his thing...


In the next area there's a mister...



















...but Dash was more impressed with the drain!



















(Isn't that always the way?! It's not the toy, it's the box that's interesting.)

There was also a really cool stone sculpture that makes music when you throw rocks down it...





































...and tons of tunnels to run through and around.





































(or, just, through... we're big fans of through!)



















One of the tunnels even has prisms in it that cast rainbows everywhere.



















As our visit wound to a close Dashy took a moment to admire the flowers...



















...and wave goodbye to everyone.



















Then we were off!

"Off to where?" you ask. Well, let me ask you... What goes well with water?

FISH!! (of course.)

We found ourselves back at Bahooka's. Surrounded by fish!




























Dash thought that the fish at our table looked hungry and decided to see if he would like a little slinky to go with his fish chow...














...and believe or not he did! Unfortunately there was a pesky piece of glass in the way.

Dave and I ordered up a few refreshments, and Dashy got in the spirit of things too...
























































After a few too many (sips of smoothie, that is), Dash invented this little game...


(Sorry that the quality is crappy. Obviously the people who decided on atmospheric lighting, so weren't thinking about the fact that I would want to video my son!)

Then it was time to say goodbye.














All in all, we had a wonderful, wet, water-filled day!