Mystic Seaport

The family, with the exception of Jake who always prefers to play with friends or the game cube, was wild to go to the Mystic Seaport in Mystic, Connecticut. We had been trying to get there for months. Yesterday, we piled into the van and headed south. The ride there was great! I told the kids if they didn’t fight on the way down they could watch "Superman Returns" on the way back.

Mystic is an interesting town. We passed Mystic Pizza, then a protest against Bush. Sweet! Great town maybe we could move here. At least that’s what I thought until we passed a protest on the way back against, I guess, evil. All I know is there were a couple of guys carrying placards quoting scripture telling us . . . Well, it really wasn’t clear. But it was a little creepy in a religious fanatic kind of way.

Once we got there the kids ran in different directions. They really liked the hands on activities but they wanted to play more than look at things. It was moderately stressful the whole time. We went to the Art Nook, Jake wanted to play with the props rather than create. It’s the 40/60 thing. His behavior is within acceptable limits but just barely and you are not pleased. My husband took the three youngest to the Children’s Museum to play and Bri and I stayed in the Art Nook. That was the most enjoyable part of the day. At least for me, my poor husband was the recipient of multiple instances of the LOOK.

We looked at a lot of ships. The kids harpoon a pink hula hoop. I see some dead fish carcasses nailed to a board. Then, Will ran back to the Children’s Museum. I think he was tired and didn’t want to see any more dusty museums. He started taking off his shoes and socks. I told him “No” several times. It didn’t go over well. He did the autistic equivalent of yelling, “WOMAN, LEAVE ME IN PEACE!” He threw a massive screaming fit. I get behavioral on his butt, and I tell him several times to carry his shoes and we loudly leave much to relief of the toddlers and their parents.

I am so ready to go. My husband asks where we should stop for dinner. I told him there was no way I was going to take the children inside a restaurant. So, we went through the drive through at Wendy’s. As we drive away I think, “I’m so glad that I bought a year family membership.” And of course, we lost the free hat they gave us for signing up.