My household had a special guest this past weekend.
She stayed at our home from Friday until Monday, didn’t say a word and didn’t eat a thing.
Technically, she’s been extinct for more than 100 million years, except for that brief time period Steven Spielberg and Michael Crichton brought her species back during “Jurassic Park” and its horrible sequels.
Our guest was a plush dinosaur named Sarah, and she belongs to my son Braden’s 4-year-old kindergarten classroom at the Stevens Point Christian Academy.
Each weekend Sarah goes home with a student in the class, and all adventures Sarah takes with that student and his or her family is supposed to be recorded in a journal that accompanies the dinosaur.
Earlier in the week my wife, Jenny, and I heard rumors Sarah would be coming home with Braden for the weekend, although those rumors originated with Braden, and trusting a 4-year-old about exciting news is something that should be done with caution, because in his mind everything should be exciting and taking place as soon as possible.
That’s why we are going to wait until we’re at the airport in January to let him know we’re going to Disney World in Florida. We made the mistake of telling him several months ago we would be going back to Wisconsin Dells in October, and now every day we receive dozens of the same inquiries from him: “When are we going to the hotel with the big bucket?”
The “hotel with the big bucket” is The Wilderness, and the bucket he is referring to is literally a big bucket in two of the water parks there that dumps hundreds of gallons of water on people below it every few minutes after it fills up. The bucket completely fascinates him, although he’s too scared to actually stand under it.
Since we don’t want a “big bucket” scenario while waiting for Florida, and also since we haven’t officially booked it yet, telling Braden about Florida isn’t an option. Fortunately, having Sarah at our house provided enough excitement for him last weekend that we didn’t hear about the “hotel with the big bucket” that much.
Sarah went on several adventures with Braden during the weekend. We took the dinosaur to Harvest Fest and Art in the Park in Stevens Point on Saturday, but the real fun came later that day when Jenny and I handed Braden and Sarah off to Grandma and Grandpa Timm who live near Pine River in Waushara County.
With his grandparents, Braden and the dinosaur went to the West Bloomfield tractor pull. There they had the joy of watching tractors pull something called the “Eliminator,” a name that sounds much more exciting than the actual thing. ZZ Top named an album “Eliminator” and I have a feeling James Cameron switched the name of his classic film “The Terminator” from “The Eliminator” after he realized star Arnold Schwarzenegger sounded much cooler saying “Terminator” than “Eliminator.” Maybe this name could be brought back for the next sequel: “Terminator: Eliminator” sounds like a must-see film.
The next morning Braden and Sarah went to church and Sunday school with Grandma and Grandpa Timm, and afterward they ate at the church during a pot-luck social. I’m pretty sure Sarah didn’t socialize much, but from what I understand Braden let everyone know about his bathroom endeavor in announcing it to Grandma Timm. Nothing is more social than telling the people you’re with that you have to go No. 2.
By the time Braden and Sarah made it back home Sunday evening, both were No. 2ed out. Before going to bed Jenny helped Braden write in Sarah’s journal, letting his class know all about Sarah’s adventures.
They probably didn’t know she would have one last adventure – making it to the pages of The Portage County Gazette.
Originally published in The Portage County Gazette on Sept. 25, 2009.
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