In Which We Attend A Party For The Moon

Today Connor and I had a very busy day planned, but it didn't end up being nearly as busy as we expected.  He seemed to be feeling pretty good-- other than that lingering cough-- so I figured we'd give it a try and see how things went.

Since it was National Free Museum Day, we had scheduled a play date in the morning with some friends for the Tacoma Children's Museum.  After that, we were going to drive up to Gig Harbor where another friend was holding a grand opening party for her business.  Then finally that evening if Connor wasn't completely exhausted we were going to try and visit the first ever Tacoma Moon Festival.  The Moon Festival is a holiday celebrated in many Asian countries marking the autumn equinox, and the festival was going to be chock full of performances that I knew Connor would love.

Unfortunately none of the kids wanted to cooperate in the morning, so our museum trip was pushed back to early afternoon.  I was the first to arrive, and glanced in the museum windows as I drove past towards the parking lot.  It was wall-to-wall children in there.  Uh oh.  I suppose I should have guessed this would be the case, given the whole "free admission" thing, but suddenly going to the museum didn't look like such a great idea.  Not only was it going to be very, very difficult to maneuver the wheelchair around in there, but the noise level would probably be through the roof.  So I called up our play date and suggested we might want to rethink things.  We agreed to meet up and figure out something else to do.

I decided to feed Connor a quick bit of lunch before we left the parking lot, and I got almost all of it into him before he had a coughing fit and his formula lunch made a reappearance all down his shirt and pants.  Luckily I always carry a backup outfit for him in his wheelchair.  I'd just gotten him into it when he had another coughing fit and the rest of lunch made a second appearance.  Fantastic. 

So we made a long detour to find someplace that sold clothing so that Connor didn't have to spend the rest of the day in wet clothes.  By the time we finished up and made it back on the road it was obvious that there was no way we were going to be able to make that grand opening party, as it was already well into the afternoon and by the time we got to Gig Harbor it would be over.  So we figured that since the Moon Festival was on our agenda anyway we'd move the play date there.

I'm so glad that we went!  Connor had a blast; he loved the Korean drummers, the Taiko drummers, the lion dance-- okay, pretty much anything that involved drums.  He got to examine one of the lion dance costumes close up and see how the dancer made it blink and open and shut its mouth, which he thought was very interesting.  The only time he seemed to get a bit bored was during the boat race; he watched for just a little bit but then quickly requested we move on and get back to watching the Hula lessons and the Cambodian dancers. 

Unfortunately we had to leave just before the Thai cultural exhibition because the kids were pooped, but I'm pretty sure they all had a terrific time.  Next year I'll try and have Connor go down for a bit of quiet time earlier in the day so he (and Ellen, who should be here!) can stay up late and watch the lantern release; I think that's something they would really enjoy.  Someday I'd love to see Yi Peng-- the lantern festival held in Northern Thailand every year. 

Maybe in a few years when we visit Thailand again we'll get the chance to go!

~Jess