As the parents of four, it’s often a challenge for the Puddinette and I to feel like we’re making sure each of the kids gets enough “quality time” with Mom and Dad. In an attempt to address that, every year each of the kids gets a day to pick an activity for just the three us.
That said, its admittedly a little harder to determine what to do with some of the kids than others. The more teen they get, it seems the less attractive time with the parents in public can become. Luckily, bribery bridges a lot of the age/coolness gap.
Thankfully, though, Youngest Son is still young enough to be excited to have some dedicated time with us. His choice this year — as it has been every year — was to visit the Newport Aquarium. Not only does he love the place, he’s been wanting to bid farewell to Mighty Mike, the enormous 800-lb American Alligator who has been on display there for half a decade. Mike is headed to a luxurious retirement in Florida after the summer, so YS felt a proper farewell was a moral imperative.
We thus gave Mike his farewell today, and in doing so, I snuck as many shots of my SpongeBob socks at the aquarium as possible. The best, I think is the one posted above with a group of drowsy penguins, but this one on a glass plate looking down onto one of the aquarium’s famous shark rays is pretty good too.
Puddintopia 