Commercially-Sanctioned Love Day

Last weekend was many things:
Long.
Not long enough.
Family Day.
A bridal shower for a friend from high school.
Valentine's Day.
The first time I had seen 'the man' in 6 weeks.
The start of the Vancouver Olympics.
Chinese New Year (although this one [unfortunately] did not come into play).

The bridal shower and bachelorette parties took place in Sudbury so I trekked 5 hours north for the weekend. Valentine's Day was spent at SCIENCE NORTH! While most patrons were families with children I think we may have had the most fun there. Go nerdy-science-love day!

First floor: rocks. Ok, not the best opener.

Next floor: BUGS! The knowledgable 'bluecoats' answered all of my questions and let me hold the following fauna: Madagasgar Hissing Cockroach. Giant Millipede (it felt like a toothbrush!). Atlas beetle. The typical lifespan of an Atlas Beetle is 4 months. Now you know. I'm basically fearless.
The insect/arachnid floor included a butterfly...house (?). Off to a not so great start, we let a butterfly out while we were entering the room! Woops! Good thing some attentive 10-yr-olds corrected our folly. Mark then waited patiently while I stared down a butterfly trying to molt its coccoon. Alas, mr. butterfly waited until I left to make his grand entrance.

Next floor: Animals Native to Ontario! Go turtles! Plus a fat, formerly-frost-bitten beaver, and tree-dwelling porcupine and secret Norwegian rats. The staff takes some of the animals out at select times during the day for teaching and touching purposes. We missed the flying squirrel, but, gosh darn it, I wasn't going to miss the skunk. We may have been the first people at the skunk pen and waited patiently while the attendant roused Rosise the descented skunk with promises of dog treats. She was adorable and extremely sociable. For Valentine's Day I pet a SKUNK! TAKE THAT!

Next floor: various athletic time trial games. I'll let you guess which of us enjoyed that part of the excursion most. Oh, racing up stairs! Jumping as high as you can! Grip strength!

After an eventful time at Science North our minds were full but our tummies were empty. This is where we faltered: driving around an unfamiliar city for quick food we caved and bought at the first fastfood place we could find. For our big Valentine's dinner I had apple juice and cookies as we watched the Olympics between runs to the corner store for Tylenol. We were both sick but it was one of my favourite times :)