A Day at the Pool

Today I didn't feel like going to park day. We are leaving in about two weeks, and I got this idea that I could stay home and use the time I spend socializing at the park being really productive at home. I would sort through things, organize them, and generally get ready to hit the road. Riiiiiight.

I did a little of that, but for some reason I never feel a sense of urgency and purpose unless my deadline is less than 48 hours away. And I never feel a true sense of urgency and purpose unless my deadline is less than 24 hours away.

So we went to the pool.

Sometimes Zorah gets the idea that she doesn't want to swim. We brought her bathing suit "just in case", and she started off by climbing the rocks around the pool area I'm not sure if you can see her, but she's up there.

Eventually, subjected to 90 degree heat, and the searing Nevada sun, she finally decided to change into her suit and swim with dad.

Followed by sandcastles and moats by the pool. So though I felt slightly guilty about skipping park day, it was somewhat alleviated by the activities at home.

El Dia del Nino

When spring comes, and the weather borders on sweltering, it's festival time in Las Vegas. This Saturday was the Dia del Nino festival at the Winchester Cultural Center. We went mostly because there was going to be a performance from a group focusing on pantomime and puppets. It looked interesting on paper.

It turns out that this wasn't really a children's festival like the week before. It was more of a Hispanic cultural thing. There weren't really any rides or games, but a local Mexican restaurant had food for sale, and there were a few booths from environmental agencies. On an outdoor stage were cultural performances: a Paraguayan dancer who performed with bottles balanced on her head, a troupe who sang some folk songs and danced, etc.

Before the performance of Tafar (the pantomime group), the restaurant, Benito Michoacan, I think, had games for the kids. For girls, if they could hula hoop for a count of 20, they would win a prize. Zorah didn't want to try because she can't hula. Of course, it turned out that you would get a prize even for trying, so she got very upset. Fortunately, she was given another chance after the games on the stage. I am hoping it will serve to remind her that trying and failing is better than doing nothing.

Anyway, here are some pictures from the performance. Zorah absolutely loved it. It was a lot of fun, with a lot of humor and audience interaction. When they spoke it was mostly in Spanish, but luckily rudimentary enough that I could translate for Zorah. In the skit below, three birds compared the size of their eggs.

In the one below, a woman becomes a puppeteer and a puppet.

And in this one, death is dirty and stinky and needs a bath. They grabbed a volunteer from the audience to wash his feet since he couldn't reach them.

I loved it. Not something you see every day. After the show was over, we found no reason to linger, and headed home.

Lake Mead

I wasn't really in the mood for it today, but this afternoon we took a drive to check out Lake Mead. We were there last year, but no one but me remembered anything about it. It was windy here at the RV park, but I hoped that it would be different there.

It wasn't. It was so windy I got mad. When you're trying to eat, and the wind is blowing so hard your hair is in your mouth and you have a "sand"wich, it's angry time where I'm concerned. So we left. We did stop at a scenic overlook though to snap a nice picture. Because it is beautiful, no matter how windy it may be.

Sunset Park Day

Today was park day at Sunset Park. Nothing particularly exciting happened, but when we went to feed the ducks, there was one odd bird on Duck Island that was just standing there perfectly still, with his wings spread for a good five minutes at least. Why? Was he cooling off? Doing a mating dance for the goose?

I don't pretend to know. Looking at this picture, are those eggs? Too bad there's no way to get to the island except wading through mucky poopy water.

Acacia Park

Today was park day at Acacia Park. When we got there, no one had arrived yet, so we took a walk through the discovery garden. In it, various native plants are displayed. I was happy to see cholla, some of my favorite kinds of desert plants. We also saw this Strawberry Hedgehog, which we photographed in bloom.

Zorah picked a desert marigold and put it behind her ear. There were plenty of them, so I didn't feel too bad when she picked just one.



We made it a quick walk because it was uncomfortable to stand reading placards in the glaring noonday sun.

But the kids were in luck! For some reason the sprinklers went on over the athletic fields. I find it rather wasteful to have sprinklers go on at 1pm in the desert, but for Zorah's purposes the city couldn't have come up with a better plan. As you can see, these were super sprinklers too. It was tons of fun for Z until she caught a sprinkler right in the face. One of the boys had his foot on the water and removed it when Zorah was right in front. It wasn't intentional, but that doesn't take away from the sting. Ouch! After that she made sure to keep her back to the jet.

She was soaking wet, but it was so hot out that she was only damp by the time we went home.

Highland Games

Today we lazed about the trailer for a long time, but we finally decided to check out the Highland Games. It's not that we didn't want to go, but sometimes a long drive is a bit of a deterrent to the most interesting of events. I suppose it seems weird for me to say that since we're like the road trip family. We haven't actually been on the road since September.

Anyway, I was looking forward to the games themselves, but I wasn't sure if Zorah would be into them. Then since we left home so late, I wasn't sure if the competitions would still be running. I was in luck on both counts. The games were still on, and Zorah was intrigued. We arrived just in time for the start of women's caber tossing. Shown below is Mindy Pockoski, the ultimate victor. I guess she is kind of a celebrity on the highland games circuit and holds the record for Weight Over Bar, which is a kettle ball throwing competition. The caber weighs about 70 pounds, if I remember right.

After the caber competition was over, we took a break to get something to eat, which we brought back to the athletic field. Zorah had a sausage roll, and I a chicken pot pie from Heritage Meatpies. Yum! Those pies alone made the 40 minute drive worthwhile. Seriously!

We didn't stay for much longer than it took to finish the pies. The games were winding down, the booths held nothing of interest, and the foodstands were closing up. Zorah lucked into a huge pile of ice someone had dumped out of their cooler, so she stamped about in it for a long while, crushing all the clumps. When someone announced closing ceremonies, however, I got her to the car to avoid traffic.

When we got home, Zorah drew these two pictures. I really liked the care she took to make sure everything was colored in, with no white patches. Usually she just scrabbles through the coloring part.

Children's Festival

Today there was a children's festival at Winchester Cultural Center. On the Clark County website it sounded like there would be some fun things to do, so Zorah and I went. They were having a tile-painting workshop, so we went to that first to make sure that Zorah got a chance to paint a tile before we had to leave. We only had a few hours to spend at the festival since mom and dad were expected back from Utah for lunch.

Here is Zorah's finished tile, pre-firing. It will be interesting to see what color the glazes are once the tile is fired in the kiln. I had forgotten about that.

After Zorah was done painting, we went outside to check out the activites. To be honest, there wasn't much that seemed worthwhile. Then we saw a camel, and a little crowd of children to the right of it. Roos N More in Moapa, Nevada, a sanctuary for exotic animals, had brought some of their inhabitants. They had a coatimundi, a tortoise, a monkey, and this baby kangaroo, which Zorah got to hold in her arms for a little while.

I think she might have been happy holding the little critter all day, but she was only allowed a few seconds since there were so many kids wanting a turn. It was getting pretty hot, too, so we went back inside the building, where there was a supposed circus workshop.

It really was just kids dressing up in costumes and marching around while the adults running it would announce them in what I think was probably english, though barely intelligible due to the quality of their sound system. Still, the kids had fun wearing the costumes and pretending to be in a circus. Zorah, of course, picked out this costume.

After spinning and strolling through the theater in her regal attire, her majesty was hungry, so we retired to the gardens. Fortunately, a farmstand had set up a booth amidst the usual festival fare (aka crap), so we bought some strawberries, which Zorah consumed in the shade of the playground. I think if Zorah could choose where to eat her meals every day, she would choose under a playscape every single time. When we lived in Arizona, she would always want to take her lunch out to the playground below our balcony. Good times, good times.


Soon after that, we met up with mom and dad for a delicious Filipino lunch at Goldilocks Bakery, and we were able to spend time with them until their plane left that evening. I wish they could have stayed for longer!

Today's Art

Today Zorah received a letter in the mail from her cousin Allie. This is a really big deal because Allie is pretty much Zorah's favorite person in the world, and mail is a rare occurrence. Put them together, and it's like Christmas!

Allie had drawn Zorah a really cute Easter picture, so Zorah reciprocated with this. The Easter Bunny traveling via raft to visit the tropical side of the family. His arrival will initiate the traditional exchange of carrots.

At first, the beach wasn't so littered with shells. Zorah took a break from the bunny picture to work on the one below. After completing that one, she felt like adding a little more detail to Alli'e picture. She sent it with a letter which I unfortunately forgot to photograph prior to sending it off. It is a shame because her writing is something. Next time!

Weird Sky

Today Mom and Dad came to visit! They stopped by for the day on the way to St George, UT. When we get together, we eat and eat some more. While we were between meals, however, and simply enjoying each other's company at the RV park, I noticed another weird sky. Click!

The Easter Easter Egg Hunt

By now you are probably about as tired as I am of Easter Egg Hunts. But there was one more we went to at our RV park. They had kind of a cool setup in that there were three different areas to serach in for three different age groups. However, they had this idea of having one egg in each area with a ticket for a big prize basket out of the many they scattered around. The rest of the eggs were filled with crappy candy. In my view, and I think everyone except the prize winner would agree with me, it would have been better to take the money it cost to put together three prize baskets and use it to put little toys in each egg. Seriously! I guess that Vegas is too into luck to do something sensible and fair.

Anyway, Zorah ran out there with the rest of them, not knowing that the eggs would be filled with crap. As you can see, she was accompanied by the doll from yesterday's hunt, whom she dubbed Cinderella.

She had fun with the hunt itself, but when she opened her eggs she was upset. There was nothing for her in there. I gave her a hug and pointed out that some of her friends didn't even get to go to the Easter Egg Hunt, and that she had had three of them in one week. It was scant comfort, but enough to turn her tears into sniffles.

Another Easter Egg Hunt

Maybe it's true everywhere, but I know for a fact that in Las Vegas it seems like there are tons of Easter Egg Hunts. Today we went to the one being held at the Bass Pro Shops at Silverton Casino. We started off our experience with a picture with the Easter Bunny. There's a first time for everything.

The hunt itself was an interesting four hour affair where you show up anytime between 11 am and 3 pm. They give you a bag and tell you to find up to five eggs anywhere on the first floor of the store.

Now, this sounds simple enough on paper, but if you have ever been to a Bass Pro Shops, you know that this is no easy task. I think it is harder than finding the proverbial needle in a haystack. Bass Pro Shops is 165000 square feet! The actual Silverton Casino floor is only 90000 square feet. Only. No wonder they give you four hours!

We found one egg right away. But then we spent about 15 minutes exploring the first floor of this sprawling store. To add to the degree of difficulty, there were probably about 20 other kids looking for eggs at the same time. Finally, we took the one egg up to Easter Egg central and told them we had had enough. Ther were fine with that since you just trade in eggs for a spin of a wheel. Wherever the arrow landed, that was your prize. It is Vegas, after all.

Wouldn't you know it, most of the prizes were mini packages of candy, Sweet Tarts and their ilk. And of course, the wheel was probably weighted, so everyone seemed to land on the same candy space, including Zorah. Fortunately, when we explained to the staff that she doesn't eat that, they allowed her to go behind the wheel and pick a real prize. She came out a very pleased little girl with a new orange doll, pictured below. Zorah is modeling the doll along with a heart tattoo which she acquired at the park day hunt

At Silverton they also had an Easter Egg craft, which Zorah decided to take home. Here is the end result.

The Lion Habitat at MGM Grand

About a month ago when we went to Mandalay Bay to eat. For some reason I got mentally turned around and suggested that we go see the lions after dinner. I could have sworn they were there, maybe because The Lion King is there. Needless to say, when I realized that we were in the wrong casino, Zorah was disappointed, and we promised her a rain check.

Today was kind of a cold, blustery day, so Brian had the good idea of going to the MGM Grand for lunch and finally taking Zorah to the lion habitat. We had been there before, but who can get enough of lions?

We were really lucky because we got to the habitat at one of the demonstration times. The handlers were playing with the lions, having them catch and gnaw at balls they were throwing around the habitat. They made sure to throw the balls to different areas so that everyone could get a closeup view. With her head up, the lioness seemed to be almost as tall as Zorah. Very impressive.

Zorah took some pictures when they were further away. Kind of blurry, but here is one.

Easter Egg Hunt at the Park

Today at park day we had a picnic and easter egg hunt. Two of Zorah's favorite friends were there. Before the hunt began, there was a little bit of a dispute about who would hunt with whom. When Zorah saw that her friend August was crying because she wouldn't be his partner, she ran back, took his hand, and walked with him.

Of course, once the hunt started everyone ran off on their own.

Our group had a very good idea to make sure that everyone got eggs. Each child was allowed to find eleven eggs. If they found any more than that, they had to leave them there, or hide them again. Zorah found her 11 and opened them with her friends. Most of the eggs held balloons, but a few had candy. She gave her jelly beans to August.


They traded eggs too, and one of the eggs she traded with August was a pink egg with a fairy on it. At the end of the day, however, he regretted his decision, and Zorah wouldn't give the egg back. I said to her: "Zorah, which is more important? Your friendship or the egg?" She thought about it for a while and said: "Today it is the egg."

What could I say?

After we got home, though, she changed her mind. She took the egg, put a little toy in it, and asked me to email August's mom that she wanted to give him the egg next time. Very sweet. I really find it interesting to see how her ideas about friendship develop.

Children's Museum Trip

Today we went to the Children's Museum. We hadn't been there for a while, and they had changed a few things since the last time we were there. One of the new exhibits was this giant model airplane, complete with security checkpoint (not shown).

Eliminated in the change was a little playhouse which used to be behind the airplane. Zorah found this to be a pretty poor trade.

Next, she played with the bubbles, but it was so crowded at the museum, due to it being school vacation, that she didn't really enjoy it so much. Little kids kept running up and popping her bubbles!

She ended her time at the museum with a few dances on stage in various costumes. Here is a blurry action shot.

After a fairly short time, though, we both got tired of the zoo that is the Children's Museum at spring break, and we went to the library instead. It's in the same building.

Another Collar for Floretta

This morning, Zorah made a new collar for Floretta, this time with interchangeable pendants.

Campfire

Monday night we had a campfire and Zorah's friends, Morgan and Marina, came over to play. Before they came over she put on her elf costume and hopped onto the trampoline. We had sewed real bells on it, so as she jumped we sang "Jingle Bells". She quickly got too hot in the costume, though, and had taken it off by the time M&M came by.

The next day Zorah felt sick. And the next. And so on. She is just now beginning to feel better. So we haven't been doing much at all.

A few nights in a row she had a rather high fever. Not wanting to give her standard medications, we looked on the internet and I tried remedies with the supplies we already had in the house. Oddly enough, onion slices in her socks consistently brought her temperature down to a manageable level.

Is it because they retain their moisture and draw the heat out of your feet? I remember sleeping once on a waterbed when the sheets came off partway. My skin was in direct contact with the "mattress" and I woke up freezing even though it was hot in the room.