Lost

I purchased the Groupon for a family of four at the Science Center thinking what a fun family outing we would have. While it was fun at moments, I aged about 10 years, sprouted about 1000 new gray hairs and thought I might need a defibrilator for my heart. 

It all started out fine and fun visiting the T-Rex.  The boys both love dinosaurs

After exploring the main level we headed upstairs and the boys had fun making rockets and shooting them off.  Camille had fun playing with the legos

 And this is the last we saw of Aaron for over 15 minutes...

I looked up from watching Camille.  I saw Chad and Nathan but didn't see Aaron.  I stood up and looked around the room.  No Aaron.  I motioned to Chad and asked him where Aaron was.  He thought he was playing with Legos as well.  Uh, no.  I thought to myself, "ok, he has to be here somewhere.  He isn't usually one to wander off."  We looked and looked and no Aaron.  A little bit of panic starts to settle in. We separate and look thru (or thought we did) the entire upper level.  We head downstairs to look.  No Aaron Paul.  More fear starts to settle in.  Chad lets the staff know we have a missing child.  Oh, man.  A missing child.  I hand Camille over to Chad and I race thru the building searching for Aaron.  I want to yell out his name, but don't want to freak anyone else out so I just keep searching.  There is a dark corridor that leads back to the star gazing room and we both seriously doubt he would head back here because he is afraid of the dark. We start to hear the staff report back in, "all clear" over and over again.  Our hearts start to sink.  This can't possibly be happening.  How in the world could we lose him in such a short period of time!  The last person to report in and he's been found.  In the star gazing room.  Somehow he made it thru the dark corridor to the room and was found relaxing, looking at the stars. 

To relax after that incident we headed to the IMAX for the dinosaur movie.  We really should have called it good before then.  Camille was traumatized by the dinosaurs and clung to Chad as if her life depended on it and she wouldn't let Chad take his hand off from covering her eyes.  It wasn't so much what she saw as the sound of the roar.  Oy. 

We headed back upstairs to explore some more once the movie was over and at least ended on a good note.  It's a great place, but I think my heart might need a bit more recovery time before we venture back.  I will say, I DO NOT judge those parents who use back-pack harnesses for their children!!