Dinosaur Dilemma at D*

On Sunday afternoon after church I took Princess and Big Man to a nearby theme park for an afternoon of fun. Miss Bee stayed home with Daddy since she had a case of allergies combined with needing to recuperate from her slumber party. We met Nana at the park and rode some of our favorite rides - shooting star, bumper cars, and swings - ate at the pizza parlor (an absolute favorite and must-do every trip) and planned on ending the day with an ice cream cone. Before leaving, though, Big Man decided he needed a "prize". There are children's games with a guaranteed prize of a cheap stuffed animal. Instead of "winning" a prize, I talked him into using some of his Easter money to buy a snake at one of the gift shops. He loves the snakes there and the added bonus is that the smallest snakes cost less than playing a children's game. So we headed to the gift shop where Big Man proceeded to analyze each of the snake bins and compare the snakes one by one. He had to choose between the "tiny" snakes, "medium" snakes and "big" snakes. In addition he had to choose which color snake he wanted. He already had a medium orange snakes and a tiny purple snake, so those choices were eliminated. His favorite color is orange, so he considered the tiny orange and big orange choices. He also considered the lime green tiny snake, the irridescent orange medium snake and the red big snake. As he went from bin to bin looking at the snakes he talked about the pros and cons of each choice. For example, the big orange snake would really scare his friends, but the tiny lime green snake would fit into his backpack so he could take it to school to show his friends or take it to Disneyworld or on trips. Princess tried to talk him into the big orange snake, and one of its pros was that he could use it as a jump rope. Finally after 15 minutes of serious deliberation he chose the tiny orange snake. It won out because 1) it's his favorite color and 2) he could take it with him anywhere he went. It was fascinating to watch him consider and reject choices, then go back to them and reconsider one more time. He took the decision very seriously. If he spends at least that much time choosing a major in college he will be on the right track.

After buying the snake, we all went for ice cream - except Princess got a funnel cake on a whim (which she thoroughly enjoyed). I got to finish off Big Man's ice cream as we rode the trolley (one of the kids' favorite rides) back to our car. All in all it was a great day for creating memories.