klwilliams

I got to Texas last Thursday just in time to go to

Friday Elizabeth had to go to school, and Ann and Brian had to work, so I played with Edward. Zoo Tycoon is the hot computer game of choice, where you build animal pens and fill them with animals, and you need to make the animals happy as well as getting enough visitors to your zoo to keep it in business. Elizabeth had downloaded new animals from the net, including unicorns, two kinds of pegasus, a shadow, the Grinch, pixies, and so on. Edward had the complete dinosaur set. The funniest thing, though, was when Edward made a cage out of the cute pink dinosaur fence, and left it open long enough for some visitors to wander into the enclosure. Then he closed up the fence and made a "people cage", which he decorated with every dinosaur decoration in the kit, as well as very earnestly giving them hamburger stands, drink stands, a bathroom, and benches to make them happy.

Later that day we played with his plastic dinosaurs. This game involved planning the big dinosaur attack, where the "bad" (ferocious) dinosaurs and the "good" (timid) dinosaurs would line up against each other and have a big fight. He gave me all the good (weak and small) dinosaurs, while keeping all the T-rexes and other large (ferocious) dinosaurs for himself. He also made the rule that his dinosaurs could gang up two-on-one against mine, but mine couldn't gang up on his. The four-year-old world view is very interesting.

Friday night Ann, Brian, and I went to see Dodgeball, which was funnier that it had an right to be. The Lance Armstrong bit made the movie, and I liked Steve the Pirate (Wash from "Firefly") and the other nerdy guys from The Average Joe. They made an effort to explain even the really silly bits, which I appreciated. There's a bit after the credits, but it was gross, so I don't recommend waiting.

Saturday we went to Six Flags Over Texas. We only made it to about half the rides, and none of the really big roller coasters, but we had a great time. It wasn't even terribly hot, for Texas in September. I got to ride the Runaway Mine Car roller coaster twice, and it was still a lot of fun. We went on a bunch of kid rides, including the Sponge Bob Square Pants 3-D ride (surprisingly well done), too. Edward got into his first car wreck when we drove the antique cars on the curving track. Elizabeth, Ann, and I were in the front car, and Edward and Brian were behind us, with a kid driving each one. Elizabeth took this very seriously and did a great job, but Edward wasn't quite getting it. At one point he ran into us from behind (despite Brian's attempts to stop him), and hit his head on the steering wheel. It bled a lot, but it should heal nicely.

I'm looking forward to going back with them again when they're a little older, and with luck maybe I'll be in better shape.

Sunday, Ann and I took Elizabeth to one of those paint your own ceramics stores. I wanted to have some quality time with Elizabeth, since I got to spend Friday playing with Edward. I painted a bowl, Ann painted a large bowl, and Elizabeth painted a butterfly box. She did a great job, and started decorating the bottom and inside with unicorns, hearts, and suns.

The rest of the visit we pretty much vegged out, with occasional croquet matches, and lots of Zoo Tycoon (OK, watching Elizabeth and Edward make animal pens in their zoos). Ann and Brian and I also watched most of the first season of Sport's Night again, which is a show we all love. I had a great time.