What A Great Weekend!

For once, a lot went on this past weekend. Most importantly, Magoo turned 6 on Monday, so the Missus & I took Snoofy, Magoo & Baby Boy (cripes, I've got to come up with another name for him - he's 4 for fucksake!), along with a couple of cousins, to Shedd Aquarium as a Birthday outing on Saturday.

Magoo loves "sea critters", she wanted a stuffed dolphin, & I thought, "Where's the best place to find a stuffed dolphin?"

(They're hard to catch, and you just can't find a taxidermist willing to stuff one anymore!)


On the way, we stopped at the Des Plaines Oasis for lunch. We ate McDonald's, & as the kids had never been to an Oasis before, we watched the cars and trucks drive beneath us. We were getting ready to go when the kids became fascinated with the crane game, just looking at the stuff inside, when this HUGE biker-type dude came over to the machine. He looked at us & said, "I play this game every time I come here." Okaay....

He put a dollar in the machine, & the kids were watching & cheering him on. Sure enough, on his second try, he won this spongy rubber ball the size of my head that lights up when you bounce it. Biker dude looks at Magoo and says, "This is for cheering for me so good", and gave her the ball! She was delighted! She said, "THANK YOU!", & he smiled and walked away.

That was cool.

We get to Shedd, & what's waiting for us? One huge friggin' line. Wasn't a problem, though, as the view of Lake Michigan was fantastic. The last time we'd gone there, Snoofy was 4, Magoo was an infant, and Baby Boy wasn't even a glint in my eye. The cousins had never been there before either. All the kids kept talking about how awesome the "ocean" is. Cute.

I won't get into every little thing we did, but I will say that if you go to the dolphin show, don't go to the last show of the day. The dolphins are tired and they're smart enough (barely) to say, "Piss off! I've been jumping and tail-walking all friggin' day, and I'm beat! Gimme a beer, stick a ciggy in my blow-hole and leave me alone!"

Add to that lackluster performance the inane comments of the presenter: "Dolphins can swim much faster than we humans." No. Fucking. WAY! Are you shitting me? An aquatic mammal can out-swim my landlocked ass?! Hell, I was just telling The Missus how slow those little bastards were swimming.... What a maroon.....

Anyway, we saw feeding time in the Big Tank (or the reef or whatever they call it) amongst the rays, sharks, various fish, and one HUGE green sea turtle (mmmm, soup... is what I said). We also saw the beluga whales along with the baby whale, which was really cool! Adult belugas are white, but the baby was black.

(Yes they were the real parents! Thanks for asking.) ;^)

We all had a good time, especially Magoo. She got her stuffed dolphin, a ball from her Biker-dude/Birthday angel, and she got to eat McDonalds for lunch and supper with all of us, as a family, and her two favorite cousins.

I don't think we'll be going back, though. I told The Missus that, the next time we go, I'm getting and wearing this.

Like a fart in church.....