1.12.2007

an afternoon off...

On the second day of our Workation, we left the tools and stuff for the afternoon to join the happy Rev. and Mrs. Dwayne Roberts at the Legends theater for a showing of Night at the Museum.

Regular readers will know that I generally regard theaters as places of public sleep, but this show actually kept me awake through 99 percent of it. I particularly liked Robin Williams as Teddy Roosevelt, and the scene where Ben Stiller gets on the museum intercom late at night to sing "Eye of the Tiger". I give it a 9 for family friendly, having noted the one-time use of one of those words we do not say.

Following the movie, we went to dinner at T-Rex Cafe, which reminds us a lot of the Rainforest Cafe, delete the rain forest, add dinosaurs. It's a theme restaurant where every thirty minutes a deafening soundtrack of dinosaurs roars through the dining room.

After being assured that the fish was 'lightly breaded', three of the four adults ordered fish and chips, only to have them delivered and look like something that fell of the counter at Long John Silvers. Two of us chose to go ahead and eat them. The third, whom I will not name (but has, in the past, borne Dwayne Roberts' children) opted to send it back and order the meatloaf, which a few minutes after it arrived, she quickly pronounced 'awful'. I offered her five bucks to send it back and reorder the fish, but she declined. Chicken!

From the restaurant, our traveling party walked across the sidewalk to the Cold Stone Creamery. No complaints there of any kind, particularly after Miss Kelsey produced a fist full of coupons that allowed us all to eat without having to take out a second mortgage.

We returned home early in the evening to give the countertop one good coat of the noxious stuff that they tell us will stick like paint. Looks good, smells horrid.

I also worked with Grayson on his Pinewood Derby car for Awanas. I don't want to make any hard predictions, but if heart and desire count for anything, this set of wheels is going to light up the track. Grayson sanded the Bohlender Hummer H1 Sliver Giver until it was smooth as silk. Tomorrow, we enter the paint booth and then put on the wheels in time for the practice runs later this week.

We haven't left town, but I am thoroughly enjoying this vacation. More than ever, the best times of my life are the unconstructed ones with my family. It rocks to be a dad.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

We did the car thing for cub scouts--make sure you get some of that graphite for the wheels. It makes that car go whoom!

Jerry James said...

I have a little knowledge about pine wood derbys, if you are actually trying to win the race.
1. Graphite lubricant on anything that moves.
2. Have the tires balanced and rotated . . . sand off any edges and pour on the graphite.
3. No frills. No cool looking driver sitting in the cockpit with sunglasses. Or anything sticking out or up.
4. The heavier the car, the faster it will go. No doubt there is a weight limit. Bring the car to the race a little overweight . . . drill holes in the bottom (toward the back) and stick in lead or something. Bring a drill as well and if the derby comes in over weight, drill holes in the bottom until it passes the weight test.

For what its worth.

Anonymous said...

So movies put you to sleep... what movies keep you up? What are the favorites?

By the way, I never lost a pine-wood derby. Could it be my professional racer father? or F-16 pilot brother? Or... something makes me think it wasn't me...

Anonymous said...

Randy - that sounds like a blast. If I shave my head and get glasses and a soul-patch can Anna and I come along next time? I'd make you feel less short around Dwayne.

Anonymous said...

DUMDUM WANT GUMGUM!