The kids enjoyed the breakfast included with our hotel stay. As with all children everywhere, they are convinced that the little tubs of sealed fruit jam are pretty much the best thing on earth.
We checked out of our hotel around noon, leaving us most of the afternoon to fill until we would show up at Gena's friends house to stay the night and the following day. I decided that we should continue the quest to find pizza. No problem. The night before I had found an entirely different area of the city that looked far more likely to hold a pizzeria or two. We headed that direction now.
No pizzeria.
Another hour of driving, cursing, squealing tires ensues.
Finally Gena spots a little pizza joint. It requires about six years to find our way into the parking lot, but at long last, we had our pizza. Outside, since it was basically a take-out joint. In an intermittent drizzle. Still, it was pizza. As per Alec, pepperoni and sausage pizza. I made, however, the minor error of asking for spicy sausage rather than regular sausage. Alec has very, very sensitive taste buds (apparently). Although he downed the pizza with gusto, it was also clear the spice level was well beyond what he thought comfortable. Ah well. A start is a start.
We kept driving around, finding our way into downtown. Gena had the idea to spend some time in the city library, which turned out to be an awesome idea. The main library is huge and spacious, with a large children's section we had the run of since all the other kids in town were in school. Alec & Mika read a few books to us. They also had fun stacking these vinyl blocks they found. I dozed off for a bit of time, and then we wrapped up by playing a game of hangman on these little chalkboards with the kids.
Hangman.
I don't remember anything particularly traumatic about this game as a child, but Gena thought perhaps it was a bit too graphic for the kids. So when I found them after my brief nap, they were playing hangman without the hanging part. They were just gradually drawing a stick figure without any impending doom. Where's the sense of urgency? I thought. Where's the motivation? You could guess through the whole alphabet with no repercussions other than a well-dressed stick-man with a variety of stylish accessories. How will our children learn that sometimes life and death rides on being able to solve a #@$!@^ puzzle??!!
I don't have the answer to that yet, but I plan on introducing the more time-sensitive aspect of the game very soon. If Gena will let me ;-)
We arrived at Carl & Andrea's house just after 5pm. After a quick grocery run, Andrea and I fixed bacon & eggs & pancakes, which were wildly successful. Carl got home from work a little after 10pm. Carl and Andrea are very big game-players. They have competitive streaks that can be seen from space, I think. So they introduced us to the card game called "Lowlife". While Gena and I jockeyed for position a few times between the lowest and second-lowest position, we were never much of a threat to Carl & Andrea. It was a nice way to end the day.
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