You know what they say about the best laid plans ... they usually don't work out. And so it was for us this weekend. We had the whole weekend planned out. It was going to be chaotic, but it was going to work. Josh was heading out of town on Friday for his annual boys weekend with an old high school friend. The boys and I were going to be home Friday, though taking Connor to his martial arts class and then letting him stay for a "parents night out"with some of his classmates. On Saturday we were going to pack our bags and head out of town. Connor and I would drop the twins off at Grammy and Pappy's house and then head to an out-of-state overnight trip with his Boy Scout troop. Josh was going to meet up with us later that afternoon, on his way back home from his trip. We would check out early Sunday morning, have breakfast, then make the long drive back home to get Connor back in time for a Sunday event with his Aunt Kelly.
Everything changed Friday afternoon. A random chain of events started the snowball. I had forgotten to send in the year book order form and check with the boys, and it was due by Friday. Since I usually come early to car line on Fridays, I decided to just park and walk it into the front office. I could stop in Sawyer's classroom and hang out with him for a while rather than just wait in the car. Of the three boys, his classroom is the most conducive to unexpected visits (less students to disturb). On my way into the office, I happened to run into another mother from Connor's Boy Scout troop. She very casually asked if we were coming this weekend, to which I replied yes we were, and then proceeded to talk about how she was rushing home right after school to load up the car and get some food on the way to check-in. On Friday night. Not Saturday night.
Oy.
So my peaceful Friday afternoon turned into total chaos. Josh was in fact out of town. I wasn't sure if Grammy and Pappy were even home to take them a day early on zero notice. We did not have a single thing packed, for any of us to go anywhere. I also didn't get the shower I had planned to take, you know, before spending the night with a bunch of strangers in a public place that would not have any showers.
Oy.
An hour and a half later, we were all packed and on our way a day ahead of schedule. We met Pappy across town and handed off the twins and their packed bag (swimwear for a planned trip to the pool being the most critical item, and one Xander was very concerned about as we ran around trying to pack). Connor and I continued on our journey to meet up with his pack. I was expecting us to be late. The original Saturday plan had a 5 p.m. check-in time, and we weren't leaving town until well after that and had a several hour drive to make. We stopped for gas and dinner (Subway, Connor's choice) to go, then started our journey.
We arrived a little early. Friday check-in was really 7:30 p.m. We made it to the designated parking area just after 7 o'clock. We took a little walk down to the river's edge, where I snapped the picture above. We talked to some other scout families while we waited, and then were ushered into the aquarium with all of our gear.
Did I not mention that I had to quickly pack two sleeping bags, two pillows, snacks, flashlights, overnight bags for both me and Connor, while also getting Connor dressed in his Cub Scout uniform and bringing his Cub Scout gear? I also had to carry the majority of said gear into the aquarium from the parking lot, as Connor couldn't handle much more than his Cub Scout backpack and the pillows. My back surgeon would not approve at all.
But we made it. We checked in, put our stuff away and waited to be sorted into groups for the evening tour. There were about 80 people joining the overnight, so we had a while to wait. Connor found some of his friends, and I chatted with a pack mom I'd never met before. We eventually got going on our tours, including a behind the scenes tour at the top of the aquarium.
The boys were impressed with lots of things, getting to feed the Amazon tank among the top of the list. Connor also became the infamous Boy Scout who leaned over the railing and lost his Scout Clip into the twenty-one foot tank of water with all of the sharks and shark rays. It was nice and shiny on the bottom, so we could see it really well. Twenty-one feet down.
We continued on our tour, getting to touch lots of animals (a crocodile, a snake, some sharks and rays), seeing lots of cool things. It kind of blurred at some point, since it was going on midnight before we were told to get our things to bed down for the night. We got to sleep with the fishes, which was very cool. We put our sleeping bags in one of the tunnels, and the fish swam over and around us all night long. Not that I noticed. Or Connor either, for that matter. Did I mention after midnight, after a full day of school and running around like crazy people making a trip a day earlier than we expected?
Morning came much too soon. Just before 7 o'clock the lights all came back on and people started packing up. We had an hour to explore and get some breakfast (snack items really), then shop at the gift store before essentially being kicked out so they could open for the public.
All in all, it was a really fun trip. Connor really seemed to enjoy being with his pack buddies. He's a fan of the ocean and sea animals in general, so he was interested in everything and asked our poor pack leader tons of questions. All the boys did, really. He really liked sleeping in the tunnel, though he was bummed not to get in the one tunnel that goes under and above (it's small, and only about ten people could actually sleep in that spot).
Connor also got his Scout clip returned. They thought they were going to have to send in a diver for it early Saturday morning, but one of the engineers fished it out with a long-handled net. Apparently they were worried the old sea turtle might decide it looked tasty and try to eat it. Did I mention the infamous Cub Scout?
And since our plans changed unexpectedly, we had Saturday to continue our adventure. I knew that Grammy and Pappy wanted to take the twins swimming, and they probably hadn't even gotten up to have breakfast at that point (just after 8:30 a.m.). I had heard wonderful things about the Cincinnati Children's Museum, so I plugged it into the GPS on my phone. We headed across the bridge from the aquarium and into Cincinnati.
And we drove up to a massive building that I was not expecting. The Cincinnati Museum Center was originally built in the 1930s as a centralized train station. A really, really big train station. We parked (for free, because the attendant wasn't on duty yet since the museum hadn't quite opened). We made our way inside and checked out our options. There were three different museums - Children's Museum, which I'd planned to visit, but also a Natural History and Science Museum and a History Museum. We bought the all-museum pass, and waiting about 15 minutes for everything to open up.
Six hours later, we had made a day of it. The museum itself is another post for another day. Let's just say it was well worth seeing, and that we could go a few more times and still not manage to see and take in all of it. So even though our weekend didn't go as planned, it may have actually gone a little better in the end. Loved spending one-on-one time with my big boy. He's growing up way too fast, and I know that time is limited.
More photos from our Cub Scouts overnight at the aquarium are
here ... and more photos from our trip to the Cincinnati Museum are
here.
I can't wait for our next adventure ...
