When the Goodins were in town for two weeks earlier this summer, we all bought a Houston City Pass. So, we had tickets to 5 or 6 Houston Attractions that had to be visited in a 9 day time frame - Great for people who vacation in Houston, not so great for Houstonians. But, since the Goodins were vacationing in Houston, we decided to pretend we were vacationing as well. So, we did fun things like go to NASA (absolutely amazing!), the Houston Aquarium (quite disappointing), the Children's Museum (AWESOME), the Zoo (way to Hot to visit in June), and the Museum on Natural Science. One day, I may actually blog about all of those great places, and the fun time we had vacationing with the Goodins, but that day is not today. Today is about Alex.....
When we were in the Museum of Natural Science, we all entered the Gem Room. (we all = 4 adults, 3 girls and 3 boys.) It was a dark area with several rooms and halls. All along the wall were beautiful, well lit glass cases displaying all sorts of gems (and maybe some rocks?). The overhead lights were out so as to highlight and magnify the sparkly gems. Near the entrance was an interactive computer display. Alex ran right for it. The rest of us separated and walked through the display. So, I'm guessing when Alex turned around, he couldn't see anyone he knew. My kids are trained to just call out for me, if they can't find me. "Mommy! Mommy!" (It works better in Asia when they're the only ones yelling "Mommy!") But, because Brad and I had entered the VAULT and were admiring the lovely sapphires, rubies, and diamonds, and since some crazy music was BLARING in there, we could not hear the cries of our son. I'm assuming some other kind person heard those cries and took Alex to the "Lost Kid Headquarters." And, since we were in the Vault, could we hear my name over the loud speakers as I was being paged.... Thankfully, the girls were not in the vault, so they came running to find us, thinking I was in trouble. About this time we all realized we hadn't seen Alex in a while.... So, being the bright mama that I am, I concluded I had lost my son -- (Such a bummer...I just about had the Mom of the Year Award in the bag, until this unfortunate event.) So, I raced downstairs to find my son behind the security desk, waiting to be claimed.
He hugged me and promised to never leave my side again; I hugged him right back and reassured him of my forever love. I was a little surprised the security guard let Alex leave with me -- He didn't even ask my name. Then Alex said, "It's OK. I told them what you looked like, so that's how he knows your my mamma." "Really? What did you say?" Alex responded, "I told them you have curly hair and that Daddy looks like a grandpa."
Oh my! We laughed so hard! A. my hair is not curly (see picture above). And B - well, what do you think? Does Brad look like a grandpa to you? Of course not! You know that security guard was so hoping the "Grandpa-looking Father" would be the one to claim the kid. Too funny!
PS -- Alex held my hand the rest of the day!
