Base-Jumping and Gus'
Sunday, September 3, 2006
Joe’s big eighteenth birthday, and the dude was still down at the lake with the other fellas.
Meanwhile, Saturday had been a full day back on the ranch. Carrie was to work Saturday and Sunday as well, so while she got ready to leave Saturday, everyone else took off for downtown St. Louis to see Adrenaline Rush at the Omnimax. Beforehand, Dad bought them lunch in the cafe, and a bag of Dippin’ Dots, as requested by Linnea, to share with everyone. Rose was thoroughly embarrassed that her whole family was sharing one bag of Dippin’ Dots, and refused to eat any. Dad just laughed and continued distributing spoonfuls to everyone else. Before the film began, Collette was tempted to purchase Carrie a Save Pluto shirt in the gift shop, but it was time to get in line.
Before the tape rolled, Erwin Mitchell, with his inevitable scientific goofy hat (changed every time they saw him), gave his brief presentation on St. Louis Science Center membership. He had been giving the same presentation for years upon years, ever since Dad had taken Collette and Carrie-Bri to their first film, Ring of Fire. The audience applauded him as he finished, and the film began on sky-diving and base-jumping in Norway.
By its end, Collette had to laugh, recalling that Lucia had screamed when she watched it. The intensity of the base-jumping on film had been too much for her. Everyone enjoyed it, although Collette thought that she still liked The Living Sea the best out of all the films over the years.
After the Science Center, it was off to Gus’ Pretzel Parlor, with Dad grumbling a bit that they had to go even further downtown just to get a bag of pretzels. But he liked them too, and finished off the uneaten ones the next day.
That evening, back at the house, before Mom and Dad left to pick up dinner, Mom had Rose vacuum the living room. Rose did so, but somehow in the middle of it, decided it was a good idea to vacuum Trooper as well. The dog merely stood on the rug in the living room looking at her peacefully while she gave him a thorough air bath.
Meanwhile, Collette and Linnea played a good round of Monopoly until Linnea owed Collette over five hundred dollars in rent. They decided it was a good time to end the game and turn on I Love Lucy, just as Mom and Dad returned with Subway sandwiches, Sun chips, and sodas.