A mother's day campus tour.

F A M I L Y

Turner and I went to campus to hang out for mother's day. There are museums, art installations, climbing sculptures, fountains, and plenty of other distractions, and parking is free on the weekends. It was a lovely day for a long stroll, imaginative play, and iced treats. Since there was a baseball game starting not long after we arrived on campus, parking was not as easy as expected. But, we prevailed and found a spot in a parking garage basement. It was half way between the Planetarium and the turtle pond, so it felt meant to be. We started on our adventure with a camera, several plastic zoo animals, a long sleeve shirt for Mom, a water bottle filled with ice, a notebook, a pencil, a stuffed deer, and zero snacks. Turner and I do not usually travel without snacks. . .
Our first official stop was at the fountain sculptures in the Women's Plaza of Honor, just outside the anthropology building. It is one of many quiet spots to rest on campus to be meditative and listen to wind in the trees and water moving. Turner and I tried to capture a picture of a hummingbird that was drinking from the water. It hung around for a long time, but it was moving about so quickly we never got it on camera. Turner finished our water bottle and asked again why I didn't bring even one little cheese stick.

Turner's new friend Hooves traveled with us. He also calls him Deery or, perhaps, Deerie. He wasn't particular about the spelling. It is a nickname, though I figure this out only after four hours of talking politely to a stuffed deer. You'll notice above that Hooves is stuffed safely in Turner's shirt, throughout the day, this became the special place "like a pouch on kangaroos so my sweet deery can share my heartbeat." We did just watch a movie about mammals, so he's really in tune with how different kinds of animals care for their young. In this picture, Turner is instructing Hooves on crossing-the-street protocol.

Showing off his silly band.

Another formative Turner/Hooves moment. Hooves, it seems, was ran over more than once by some "insensitive driver" who broke both of his back legs and then laughed at him. Turner was having an angry moment, telling Hooves how unfair life can be. "I know," he said after a long period of silence, "it just seems like it doesn't make sense. But sometimes you get to be the right one and sometimes you get to be the wrong one."

We walked and walked along Park Avenue thinking we'd encounter the turtle pond. After I asked two random people who knew nothing about the turtle pond, Turner caught up with a young woman who was rushing down the street and said, "My mom and I are looking for the turtle pond. I've been there before, but she hasn't. Have you heard of it? There is a big tree on its side."

The young woman pointed us in the correct direction. We pass Main Gate Square and the rose garden.

On one side of the gate you come into the university near the turtle pond and Old Main (the oldest building on campus; the previous administration building, of course). On the other side of the gate is University boulevard where there are tons of shops (urban outfitters, american apparel, thrift stores), fancy and not so fancy eateries, coffee shops, hair boutiques, and the Cereal boxx (they sell every kind of cereal you can imagine). After we cross the street, again, Turner remembers the way. He takes off running and leads us straight to the turtle pond.

There are more than a dozen differently sized "Finx" turtles in the pond. One that is not much bigger than our very own Finx the sheriff.

Dragon Fly. We also took pictures of a hummingbird drinking from a fountain (though it flew away before the photo snapped) and a lizard with blue on it (which was scared off by young girls before the photo snapped).

Turner standing on the sideways tree.

After our long journey to the turtle pond, we were ready to relax a bit. We took notes about how the pond was designed so that we could replicate this for Finx in a few years. He'll grow to be 12 inches AT LEAST, total news to us until about two weeks ago. Yes, responsible pet ownership means not going into a reptile store uninformed. We love Finx, which is good because he lives three or four decades with proper care. After we'd had enough relaxation and 90 degree temps, we walked to the Student Union and had Eeegee's and a bagel (that was so stale, but apparently okay for Turner and his one front tooth).

Sun Dial at the Planetarium

At the Planetarium we toured the mineral museum and saw tons of "crystals" and other elements from the periodic table. We played games. We anxiously awaited the 2:30 pm laser show.

Turner roughed me up in this game more than once. The logic behind winning is pretty simple, and yet felt difficult for me to execute against Turner, who always gets to go first.

More brainteasers.

The heat sensor camera was a huge hit. And when an old friend from preschool, Noah, showed up, the dance party was on. Moms, a grandma, a grandpa, and three little boys shaking it.

The Stars Wars trooper ship (pretty sure I'm getting that language incorrect) as it gets ready for take off. He is securing bolts and "double triple checking all this stuff."

Two funny stories (I carried a notebook with me to capture anything I could). First, we are on our way to the turtle pond. Turner is climbing the rock wall with a little assistance. Once he's up, I walk to the end of the block. He yells to me, "Mom. If we were at the beach and you were looking as beautiful as you are today I'd call you a beach angel." He laughs and laughs. This sounds super sweet, but just wait.

"What is a beach angel? That sounds familiar."

"Oh come on Mom. Don't you remember from the last Amazing Race? A beach angel?" He throws his hands into the air expressing a perplexed tone. I shake my head in confusion and he continues, "It was on a commercial. Remember the girl who built the huge sand castle and her brother turned a stick with a float-y on the end of it into a metal detector [I notice now, he has a stick in his hand as though it is a metal detector]. It looked like it shouldn't work, but it did. And the dad said to the mom, 'our boy is a genius.' And the mom agreed. Then the dad kissed her and said, 'You beach angel.'" [Sunday night as Andy, T, and I watch The Amazing Race, this very commercial comes on and Turner and I start laughing. It was just as he relayed it.]

On our way back from the turtle pond, and strangely, in the same spot as the previous story, Turner yells to me, "Mom you know what would make a great fertilizer for these trees?"

"What?"

He smiles. A student walks down the sidewalk past Turner, who is climbing on the rock fence. The student smiles at Turner, and then Turner smiles at me, "I must whisper it to you," he yells.

So I walk to where he is and he whispers, "Dried leaves and chicken poop." He giggles, "I mean, I didn't want to yell poop in that other guy's ear you know." After a moment we talked about earthworm farming that Mr. Anderson educated us on a few weeks ago. He has a friend in Asheville that is an earthworm farmer.

The laser show, which was the real purpose of going to campus today, was kind of a let down, but I loved our time there. It was pop music and a bunch of laser images dancing around; clip art representing song lyrics is what it felt like. And these song lyrics aren't particularly deep and meaningful. There was also fake fog so Turner was sneezing and my eyes were watering. We were trapped for forty minutes. There were periods of dancing in our seat, but less than halfway through the show Turner put his head in my lap. Twenty minutes in he was sitting in my lap with his head resting on my chest, which is a difficult thing to do given that my lap seems to be shrinking. His legs were heavy on my knees, his feet stretched all the way across the adjacent seat, his shoulders barely fit in the bend of my arm, and his head pushed up under my chin. It was like he'd grown an inch since we last sat this way. Therefore, I loved the laser show, if for no other reason than I got some quality cuddling with a semi-sleepy boy who is usually too busy to sit down and relax once in awhile.