Children's Museums

I like Children's Museums.  I like the other kind of museum as well, and have often lost myself in my desire to explore every nook and cranny of those venerable institutions.  But children don't really do well in those types of museums.  They aren't allowed to touch the 74,000,000 year old skeleton of a Pteranodon, for one thing.  Climbing the stuffed elephant in the lobby of the Smithsonian is also strictly forbidden, I've learned.  No touching, no climbing, and certainly no yelling and screaming in museums!  Not very fun for a little boy just itching to play with everything in his environment.

Children's Museums are different.  These places were made for kids.  Each exhibit was specifically built to allow exploration, touching, climbing, and even a little yelling. Just the sorts of behaviors my son loves!

I call this the Pringles Playtime, because I was hungry.

So when we get a chance to take Zane to a Children's Museum, we do.  There is one in downtown San Antonio, and one in New Braunfels, which is the one we visited today.  Every time we go to these places, I get a bit envious.  We didn't have these when I was a kid, and I know that I would have loved them. 

Who would have thought that kids would like to play with big blocks?  Since when do kids like to build things and act like the big adults they see in the world around them?

 

Or paint the latest masterpiece? At a 'real' museum, kids can look at the paintings, but they can't touch or even get up close.  Here, Zane can drive an ambulance, he can be a cashier at a grocery store and ring up some groceries, and he can pretend to camp out in a teepee. At the Children's Museum in San Antonio, he can play an old piano and walk inside the cockpit of an airplane.  Fun stuff!

And if Zane gets overstimulated by everything, he can take a break behind the nearest giraffe, at least until his mom hollers at him to get  the heck out of there.  I am glad that there are places like this for my son, and other kids, to explore their world safely through play.  I only wish they were around when I was a kid!

The A-List: People You Meet On the River

New Braunfels, Texas was blessed with not one, but TWO rivers.  There's the Comal River, which is relatively calm and is the shortest navigable river in the state of Texas.  The entire Comal River exists within the city limits of New Braunfels, as a matter of fact.  The second river is the Guadalupe River, which starts far upstream and ends up in the Gulf of Mexico.  

Now that it is summer, everyone flocks to the rivers.  I love to people watch.  It's a perfect match.    Most river visitors are tourists, and many are there to tube down the river.  (Tubing involves sitting in an inner tube and floating down the river.)  Over the years, I have noticed some trends in the kinds of people who show up on the river frequently.

1.  Outdoor enthusiasts.  Fishermen, nature lovers, etc., flock to the rivers because they can indulge in their favorite outdoor activity.  Colorful kayaks and canoes dot the riverscape.  Bird watchers look for woodpeckers in the large trees beside the rivers. Fishermen compete with turtles for the catch of the day.  It's fun to watch.

2.  Families.  The river is a great place to bring kids and life vests, and tubing is a great activity for the whole family.  Mom and Dad can connect their tubes with their offspring, or let them float off on their own, depending on their age.  While most kids do not want to sit still for five minutes to watch a movie, there's just enough action on an inner tube floating along to keep them occupied.   Just tell them that there are snakes in the river; that way, they won't stray too far.

3.  Large people in spandex. I know, the very idea is horrible to contemplate, but we are a nation of fatties, and we need to get used to that.  I myself am rather potato-shaped.  However, being large is no excuse for putting on a swimsuit that you last wore when you were six sizes smaller.  Nobody wants to see that.  On second thought, keep wearing the spandex.  People will lose their appetites and slim down as a result.  Obesity problem solved!

4.  Girls who are looking for any excuse to remove their tops.   No matter how much time has passed since my giddy college years, I remain amazed at the number of 'drunk' women who remove their bathing suit tops while floating.  I say 'drunk', because I've become cynical and am pretty sure that most of these women aren't the least bit intoxicated.  There can't possibly be that many women out there with such horrible self-esteem issues that they must flash what they consider to be their best attributes, while excusing it as alcohol-related behavior.   That would destroy my faith in humanity.

5.  Boys dying to see a drunk girl remove her top.  I have decided that this must be some sort of annual rite of passage, this need to see a half-naked girl on an inner tube.  Remember that scene in the movie Sixteen Candles, where all the 'geeks' were shown Molly Ringwald's underpants?   All these young men gathering on the river reminds me of that. When a girl removes her top, it is as if all male eyes rivet toward her, even if she is around the bend of the river.  If Osama had been dressed as a young co-ed and took off his top, we'd have found him a whole lot sooner! Do you have a river near you? If so, what sort of people do you see?

From Little Acorns

This is the Founder's Oak in New Braunfels, Texas.

In 1700, a random squirrel buried an acorn and either promptly forgot about it or was eaten by a bobcat.  That acorn did what acorns are supposed to do if they aren't eaten by squirrels; it became a tree.  First it was a seedling.  Then it became a sapling.  And finally, it was a tree. 

People passed by the tree as it grew, and they could have cut it down for firewood or to build something.  They did not.  When the city of New Braunfels sprang into existence, this tree was there.  Germans are all about practical, and the tree would have been useful, but nobody touched this tree.

I am glad that they didn't!  It's a majestic Live Oak tree, and even though it's had to be propped up, it's still going strong.   

It Was A Long Traffic Light

As I was stopped at a traffic light in New Braunfels the other day, I looked out my window. The downtown area, especially around the town square, has seen a lot of old businesses renovated or recreated.

The Phoenix Saloon is one such business, known for their "killer" chili. I was admiring the glass storefront of the place and glancing at the writing along the front...something about food, spirits, music, badger fights*...

Badger fights? Who do the badgers fight? What if they don't want to fight? I mean, I know that badgers are not known for their social skills, but what if they've been to the badger equivalent of Dr. Phil to work on anger issues? Do badgers just fake it like in professional wrestling? What if...

The light changed as I got to that point. Thankfully.


*As far as I know, there are no actual badger fights currently happening at the Phoenix Saloon. However, there may have been such events occurring in the original establishment, which explains why there aren't very many, if any, badgers living in New Braunfels.