yet another Saturday

On Friday evening after work, we went to Five Star Burgers. It's by Whole Foods and is very popular. We grabbed a couple of stools to wait and have a microbrew and Shirley Temples for the boys. We saw our neighbors at a table, and they came over to chat when we got a table. The boys wolf down the burgers there. Jack, in fact, orders two of the kid's burgers. I've tried the bison burger the last two times. It's not as exotic as I thought it might be. It's just a very good burger. I love the people there, I love the place, the food's good, the bartender is fun and energetic, but there's always some little screwup in the service. It's almost humorous how consistent that is.

Ry has been anxious for his Lego package of missing pieces, so he can complete his vintage fire station. Jack asked to download a voice changing software, and I think I convinced him there was something suspect about the source for the free download of the program. Ry fell asleep, as he usually does, in my arms. He asks me to put his arm around him as he falls asleep.

Ry and I got up early on Saturday. He wanted to go to the skateboard park. We woke Jackson up gently after a bit, and he came around to going with us even though it was still cold.

We went first to Starbucks--the usual hot chocolates for the boys, a coffee for me, an apple fritter for Ry, a chocolate doughnut for Jack. We sat down and started to play Uno, and a fellow asked if the chair beside me was taken. We recognized each other; somebody I worked with over 20 years ago who now lives in Chicago. We were talking when Don, Nicholas and Lauren came in, and we chatted with them for a while before they took off to see their grandmother.

The boys rode their scooters around the park, then climbed the ramps without their scooters, and then we went home. Cyndi went to a body pump workout, and I did some major clearing and pruning in the backyard, while the boys played on their computer. Ry came out for a bit to dig in the sandbox. After some lunch, we then went to Brendan's basketball game. He was pretty darn good and his team won.

I wanted to go to the Albuquerque Museum of Art and  History, so we drove to Old Town. The museum has really changed since I last was there. Very impressive inside. The history section was closed, a two year renovation had just begun. Another exhibition is due to open next week. There was an exhibit about social commentary and satire and in another gallery pieces from their permanent collection. So I procrastinated whether we should go at all. It was inexpensive and so we went ahead. I told the boys they needed to settle down and they couldn't run around, and wondered how it would go.

There were some photographs in the halls and a few historical displays and several small drawings of Old Town. The boys took some interest in the displays. The social commentary and satire exhibit really was pretty good, and I recognized some of the artists. The permanent collections exhibit was outstanding. The guards were watching us pretty closely, but not in that oppressive way, and the boys were good and not touching things or running around. After I saw most of the works, Jack showed me his favorite. It was a New Mexico landscape I really liked, with repetitive figures for junipers and an approaching storm in the sky. I agreed that was one of my favorites, surprised that he picked it out, too. Then Ry took me to show me his favorite, another landscape with an approaching storm, that I had also liked a lot.

Here is Ry's favorite.

I could not find Jack's favorite anywhere on the web. But here's one that's close. The one at the museum had more hills and mesas in the distance, more rows of junipers in the foreground, and the approaching storm was smaller in the composition.

Anyway, I was so thankful the boys behaved well and actually liked it. I enjoyed the visit, and probably the shorter visit was better for the boys before they tired. We walked through the sculpture garden and in the back there's a small entrance to an Old Town patio of shops. We found a magic shop, which the boys loved. The owner showed us a few things and the boys were looking around. Ry found a small prank in the price range I pre-approved. Jack found something, too, and then asked the owner what he liked, and the owner took out a magic pen and showed us a good trick and then when we bought it how it worked, using magician's words to describe how it worked (misdirection and palming), taking them step by step (but only once) through the act (which involved requesting a dollar bill from the audience, promising to return it with greater value, and then allowing the audience to examine the pen), and swearing the boys to secrecy. Jack and Ry have been practicing (it even came with a DVD), and showed it to Cyndi and Brendan today.

We grabbed a pizza from Dion's on the way home.