Nausea - Now In IMAX

Yesterday we took the kids to the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center. The kids loved the "Tinkering Exhibit" which allows hords of children to leave sticky fingerprints on do-it-yourself science experiments. Christian loved the powered-paper-plane-launcher which was both shiny and gooey from all the young boys handling it. Christian made a classic paper plane with a pointed end and proceeded to launch it right into Erika's face. She laughed and ran out of target range. Erika giggled with delight at the beach ball floating on a cushion of air until a boy took the ball and began a soccer match with his older brother. And Juliet mostly ate and slept.

While waiting in line for IMAX's Wild Ocean to begin, I struck up a conversation with an off-duty mall Santa. Yep, white beard, spectacles, and a red shirt. He explained the difficulties of working the malls, and how he preferred to do private parties. I actually thought he might be angling for some business but Christmas is still, let's see, 10 months away. I whispered to Chris Kringle that Christian received Legos for Christmas. He leaned over to Christian and said, "Don't tell anyone, but I'm on vacation. Did you like the Legos I brought you?" Christian, suddenly wide-eyed and shy, said, "Yes, I got them" and slinked away from Santa's greatness never taking his eye off him.

San Diego's IMAX is the dome-type which completely envelopes your view. We found good seats next to the projector in the middle of the dome however an usher told Heather that she would have to sit down front if she was going to hold the baby. Off she went. I spent the next 30 minutes monitoring Christian and Erika to make certain they weren't kicking the chairs in front of them. They were constantly fidgeting, changing positions, and scanning the dome as dolphins, seals and sharks swam by. It was, well, maybe a little too realistic. Suddenly, my eye detected a sudden stillness to my left. Two seats over laid Erika on her back, saucer-eyed and still. Her arms and hands formed a bowl over her chest and tummy and her pink sweater wasn't pink any longer. I leaned over to Christian and said, "Don't move" and I whisked Erika out of the theater.

I rushed into the restroom with Erika. Actually, it was the lady's room. Oops. I politely excused myself and then cleaned Erika up in the men's room as best I could. The pink sweater was a complete loss so I ditched it. Two minutes later I went back to drag Christian out of the theater. There were only a few minutes left. A crack cleaning crew was waiting at the door with their cleaning kits at the ready. They were old pros at handling seasickness. I felt like I was going through a triage as they asked "Sir, where is it, aisle or seat? Large or small? Will people step in it? Shall we go now or after the crowd has left?" After the debriefing I went inside and motioned Christian to come with me. The movie was nearly over. We went straight to the car, stripped Erika, buckled her into her seat and turned up the heater. Heather called soonafter with a "Where are you?" I didn't tell her what happened. "Just meet me at the car." I thought I would surprise her with the smell as she opened the car door. Surprise!

PS - Erika's stitches from her accident last week have been removed. As shown in the picture above, she has a bit of surgical tape on her forehead. She's healing very well.