Slow down, you move too fast

I took yesterday off and spent it slowing down. That wasn't exactly my intention, but sometimes God has a way of poking me in the eye. The only real answer is to say "Ouch!" then "Thanks!" The kids and I headed off to a local children's museum. Yes, that's right. I said a local children's museum, meaning that there are several. We are fortunate! We headed off for our favorite one in the morning and got there right as it opened. We immediately headed to the Lewis and Clark exhibit (Everything in St. Louis has a Lewis and Clark exhibit, don't you know. We invented Lewis and Clark exhibits. They might have traveled the country, but they started here and we claim them as our native sons.) This particular exhibit has a mock-up campsite. It's very cool and very educational. Of course, I wasn't actually able to learn anything. Claire immediately set up shop at the campfire and cooked me a few meals. Jacob ran around and looked at everything in 20 seconds, then waited impatiently to go on the Lewis and Clark adventure obstacle course. Unfortunately, children under five aren't allowed to participate in the adventure obstacle course so we had to save it for another day. I was irritated because I wanted to play the compass game that was set up to teach visitors about the journey. Full of imaginary roast beast and plums, we headed to the play pizzeria. I pretended to eat a lot of plastic pizza. A LOT of plastic pizza. I was on my third pizza with everything, trying to talk Claire into fishing in the play pond, when the girl scouts walked into the joint. It was Scout Day at the museum. Each exhibit had special scout signs outlining learning goals for the exhibit and each leader had a piece of paper that must have mimicked the signs. This particular leader stormed into the room. "Celeste! Ask for a pizza! Emily! Give her a pizza! Diana! Say please and thank you! Audrey! Man the register!" The girls swarmed behind the counter. Poor Claire was trapped in the corner and Jacob was sitting behind the register with his mouth open. The scouts spent all of three furious minutes in the pizzeria before they swarmed across the hall to the library. After they left, I took a look at the sign while I munched on my pizza. "Take turns serving and ordering. Discuss polite and impolite restaurant behavior. Pay for the pizza and practice making change." While I was reading, another troop came in. This time, the girls came in one or two at a time and had to wait for the entire group to converge. The leaders sat down at a table and started banging on it. "Bring me water! Bring me pizza!" They were really hamming it up and having a good time. Then they asked the girls about proper restaurant behavior. It was interesting to watch them and the girls were clearly having a terrific time. Claire served me another three pizzas. Then we moved onto the Victorian kitchen where I ate some fruit and bacon. I gained 30 imaginary pounds. I left after two hours and around fifteen meals with two happy and exhausted children. I was starving.