A Super Saturday

FYI: I have been posting on this blog for almost six years, and this is blog post number 800. 

Daphne was busy at school with her band students for most of Saturday. Char was sad that Mom was missing all the fun, and she asked me to update Daph with texts and pictures throughout the day. I'd thought I'd share them here, too.

Char's having a blast taking a drama class at the Des Moines Community Playhouse. I suspect that athletics will not be her forte. Here's our poser posing on the Playhouse's stairs.

One of Char's favorite places to eat is at the buffet at Prairie Meadows Casino. It's been a few months since we have been there, and Char was disappointed that all of the autographed rock posters and signed guitars had been removed from the hallway. She did like the new photos hung by the buffet's entrance. Char wanted me to take a picture of her pointing out the cardinal for Daphne. Cardinals are special because they symbolize the memory of Grandma Deb.

Some people place slices of cucumbers on their eyes to reduce swelling and puffiness. Char prefers the potato round treatment.

I needed to stay on the east side of town because I was going to surprise Charlotte by taking her to the Shriner Circus at the fairgrounds. Bass Pro Shops is close to both Prairie Meadows and the fairgrounds, and there quite a few things to do and see there. 

When we pulled into the parking lot, Char read the building and asked, "Who would go inside to see Outdoor World?"

That was a good question, and all I could say was, "Well, we're going to."

The space inside is decorated with all kinds of taxidermy.

Char thought the displays were neat after I lied explained that all the animals had died a natural death. When I was a kid in the 70's my parents would take me to the West Sioux hardware store in Sioux Falls, SD. The store had several mounted animals on display behind glass. I always thought that store was cool and weird at the same time. Bass Pro gave me that same feeling. West Sioux closed its doors in 1981, and you can now see the stuffed animals at the Great Plains Zoo in Sioux Falls.

I couldn't get Charlotte to pose by the grizzly bear standing on his hind legs. Even in death he was too scary. She would pose by the huge fish tank, though.

She liked the statue that greets customers near the Fish Bowl bowling alley.

She's trying to look tough while test driving sunglasses. 

We pretended to fish off the back of one the display boats.



Here's what Char caught and released.

Then it was time for my big surprise. I wouldn't tell Char where we were going at first. I wanted her to guess.

"A movie?"

"Nope," I replied.

"A show?"

"No," I countered,  "but it is like a show."

"The circus!" 

"Yes! But how did you guess?"

"You said it was like a show, and the circus is like a show."

"A lot of things are like a show."

Char turned her head to look out the window, "Not the way a circus is."

We made agreement. I would buy her anything she wanted to eat, but I wasn't going to buy a plastic sword, a blow-up animal, or a huge balloon. During the intermission I bought her a (What! Are-you-kidding-me! Ten dollars for a cup of melted sugar?!) large bag of cotton candy.

There is no way to eat cotton candy without making a mess. By the time the bag was empty, she had grown a cotton candy beard and was wearing cotton candy gloves. I would have taken a picture, but I was too busy trying to clean her up with napkins I had soaked in the drinking fountain. Circus-made wet wipes really don't work very well, by the way.

We attended this circus 2014, but I forgot how loooong it is. We arrived a little after 2:00, the show started at 2:30, and we left at 5:35. Three and a half hours is a lot circus for your money, but there's quite a bit of downtime.

The Shriner clowns throw free t-shirts in the crowd after the intermission, and Charlotte was given a shirt four years ago.

She got lucky again this year. The circus was packed when it began, but by the time intermission was over about half of the crowd had packed it in. We had just moved to an empty row when a shirt landed a few seats from us. No one else was there to snag it.

I tried to buy a McDonald's Happy Meal on the way home, but the Johnston McDonald's was out of Chicken McNuggets. How does that happen? Someone really dropped the ball. Luckily, Char was happy to go to Burger King where they have their head in the game. Take that, Ronald.

Charlotte finally got some screen time when we got home.

Daphne opened the door at 7:00, and Charlotte excitedly told her all about the "best daddy-daughter-day ever!" As the two talked, I walked downstairs in triumph.

And there you have it. That's little story #800.