Happy Harvest, Optimus Prime

We attended the Harvest Festival at the Stamford Nature Center today. I wish I could say Alex had a great time, but it may not have been the case. And we met up with Jen, her mom Sheila and her two boys and everything!

Alex wore his Optimus Prime costume. He had already been thrilled about that part. Then, he was intrigued at the Animal Embassy - seeing pythons and alligators and all. (The staff told us that every animal kept there had been LEFT with the Nature Center. An Alligator? Really?? Really.)  He loved seeing the otters.  Everybody loves otters.

However, when it was time to get to the activities and crafts, Alex W. was all over those. My Alex? Not so much. Leaf prints? No! Pick a pumpkin? No! Crank some cider? No! I did that already! He was just a jaded guy. He did love feeding the animals, especially the sheep and "llamas".  They have real llamas there, but Alex calls sheep that are any color other than white, "llamas" because, apparently, "Sheep are white". 

He also enjoyed the hay ride and chasing the turkeys with Alex W. So there was that. He got into the cider and treats stop and the antique farm equipment. Everybody loves cider and treats, right?

Then there was a period of time in which he took some inspiration from "The Secret of Kells". This was a film I'd borrowed from the Mamaroneck Public Library earlier this month which I had loved, but Alex had refused to watch.  I can't say I blamed him, though.  The animation was drawn like Bronze Age era Celtic etchings and illuminations. Pretty scary when they're animated.  But I'd loved the story so much that I told it to Alex in installments.  He was enchanted by the story of Brendan, kept inside the monastery walls by an overprotective uncle and his encouragement by Brother Aidan, a skilled illuminist.  Aidan had taught Brendan how to identify berries used for ink.  After I told Alex about this, he eyeballed every berry as a potential source of ink and taught it to Alex W too.

Alex's favorite part, though, was the visit to Nature's Playground. He'd been asking to go to it since we'd arrived. I'd put it off to last because I knew there was no way we were going to get the boys out of there. Boy! Was I right. Neither boy gave that much of an argument about leaving (my son put up more of a fight though), but it was clear that they weren't happy.
We'd stopped at the souvenir shop, but Alex kept choosing toys that were run-of-the-mill. Daddy promised him a stop at the Stamford Mall, though. He had a reward due for having been so good at picking up his toys. NOW he was happy to leave.
We parted ways with Jen and her family and headed to the Stamford mall. We actually wound up going to Target and there we found...the mask. I mean a real, honest-to-goodness hard plastic for real Optimus Prime mask. This one could be played with repeatedly and not break.
Alex was so thrilled with it that he took it out on the train to admire it. He told us that when he wore it at the costume parade everyone would say "I wish I had a mask like that!" Turns out that's almost exactly what he heard from a young woman on the train. When we were leaving, she told him that he had a really cool mask and that she'd love to have a mask like that.
Alex held his hand out to Dan and said "See? I TOLD you!" (I explained it to the young woman.)

Yes, Alex, you did, indeed, tell us.

Saturday, October 15th