Hands On! Hendersonville

Recently, I purchased a deal for admission for four to Hands On! A Child's Gallery in Hendersonville, NC. I figured for $10 it would be a nice day out and a change of scenery. Once I read the fine print AFTER I bought the deal, I realized that it would expire before summer, meaning we would have to go on a Saturday since Sam only has one remaining absence to use from school and it's already bookmarked for another adventure. So, last Saturday, upon waking, we decided it was a good day to head to Hendersonville. With it being the first Saturday of spring break, I anticipated that it would be crowded. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that it was not crowded at all and though the place was quite small, they had done a good job of maximizing every inch with fun, interactive activities for the kids. The boys headed right for the Lego build and race center, followed by some painting.

There was much more fun to be had throughout: acting as a travel agent, scanning groceries at the grocery store, even sliding down a big mountain....or, rather, a smallish hill. And Sam enjoyed serving me (and some other kid's grandma) ice cream for quite awhile. Then Claire needed a bottle and shortly thereafter decided to blow out her pants. I was just going to carry her back to the van to change her diaper, but Paul, wisely, suggested I might not want to carry her. He had a feeling by the time I got to the van she and I might be covered in it. He had the great idea that I should sit her on a burp cloth in the stroller. Let's just say.....

 

 

While I was away the boys decided to put on a puppet show and some sort of strange play. I hate that I missed those. The boys played for quite a while, until Paul was so hungry and his craving for pho was so great that he could take it no longer.

 

So we headed back homeward. As I said, Paul was craving pho. He had been for several weeks and had been begging me to go with him to a restaurant he had discovered via internet search. I had been putting it off. Not because I'm a picky eater. I am not. I'm quite adventurous, actually, having even tried cuy in Peru (look it up). But, our last visit to a Vietnamese restaurant had a less than appetising ending. Having finished our meal, and actually having enjoyed it, I noticed something crawling on the menu propped against the wall at the edge of our table. Not just something, but a ROACH. Yep. So, with that memory pushed far enough back in my mind, I decided I may as well oblige him and we stopped by Mekong on the way home. Well, we were all a bit tired and I was, admittedly, already a bit on edge from a crying baby who just needed a nap, so perhaps I was quick to notice all the imperfections as soon as I walked through the door. Sorry, I just like the floor, table, and, preferably, the items on the table to be perhaps a little bit clean when I'm going to eat a meal somewhere. But that's just me, and I know I can be a bit quirky. Paul ordered his pho and I picked, rather randomly, lemongrass chicken. It seemed safe enough. I love Thai food but am less experienced with Vietnamese. We ordered a plate of fried rice for the boys to share, but really should have known better. They just wanted plain rice and this stuff was LOADED with veggies etc. So, Paul started to load up a plate for Sam, who has never sat still at a table in his life. Just as Paul was adding another spoonful, somehow Sam knocked the plate and it went crashing to the floor, shattering all over. Epic fail #1. We tried to eat the rest of our meal without any more episodes. Having eaten a good portion of my meal, and thinking it wasn't too bad, I discovered something. "Please tell me what this is," I said to Paul as I placed a thin, black thing on an empty plate in front of him. "An eyebrow? That's what it looks like. Yours I hope?" "It's NOT mine!" Yep. That's right. I told him not to ever ask me to eat at a Vietnamese restaurant again. Roaches, eyebrows. Blech!

Aside from blogging about it, I've tried to pretend we never went there. Our morning in Hendersonville was a lot of fun. The boys continue to talk about it and ask to go back. Sam especially wants to return, in hopes that they will still have his painted masterpiece hanging on the wall. We forgot to gather them up to take home before we left. Way to ruin their childhoods, Mom.