Sunday, May 16, 2010

Our Day at the Giant Magnet

We headed up to Seattle for a day at the Giant Magnet. We didn't know what to expect, but we certainly didn't expect what we found. We got there a bit later than we had planned and had just enough time to eat lunch before heading over to McCaw Hall for the World of Laughter show, which was a set of shorter shows by a couple of the performers.

We arrived at the performance hall to find kids. Lots and lots of kids. It was chaotic and loud as the public school classes formed up outside the doors. Fortunately, being an individual family rather than a school group, we got let in and seated first...in the front row.



First up was this guy. He was our MC who also played a couple of really odd songs. The poor guy thought he was hip and funny, but he was really just a dork. Gosh, it's got to be painful to have your material fall that flat.


Now THESE guys are really weird! According to the MC and the Giant Magnet website, this is Godfrey Daniels but he has a couple of partners. His routine is completely silent and slow, but then you find yourself amused by the antics. It's really hard to explain.


Then after some more moments with our MC, we listened to this guy tell us a rather surprising story. According to the Giant Magnet website, this guy is part of Tahqua. He told us a story about how he was alive in his mother's belly and went into detail about swimming, and feeling, and thinking in the womb. Then he told about the birth and declared us all "awesome" because we were "birth warriors". His story was humorous and very descriptive. He was kind of like a combination of Native American and hippie stuck in the 70s.

Finally, the show concluded with a short skit by Jamie Adkins. It was a shorter version of the show we saw Tuesday night, so not quite as great as the first time. I would really love to see a full performance by Jamie. He is so darn good!


After the show, we headed outside where it was bright, beautiful, and sunny. The Space Needle looked awesome against the blue sky. (I've never seen it from this angle so had to get a picture.)

There were various free activities that were part of the Giant Magnet. Hula hooping, kite making, and working with clay were just a few options. With it being the warmest day of the year so far (74 degrees), we opted to play in the fountain. My kids have never played in a fountain like this, and boy did they love it.



Josh, who doesn't like getting splashed, threatened the fountain with a hula hoop. He mostly kept out of range of the spray, though the mist kept him cool. At one point, the fountain sprays stopped, leaving just a bit of water coming off the big dome. Josh, thinking it was safe, headed up to the dome and was standing right on top of one of the jets in the ground when it came back on. Boy did that shock him! He went running away in anger. I was quite a distance away at the top of the bowl (the fountain is located at the bottom of a huge depression) with Madelynn and had to yell for Mika to go running after him before he totally disappeared in the crowd. He was really unhappy about that jet!


At one point, I took Madelynn down to see the fountain. She didn't think much of it.


Mika and Sam jumped right in and had a ball. This especially warms my heart because not too long ago, this would have never happened. Mika was too afraid of getting water on her face to have this kind of fun.

The fountain won the battle; the sopping wet warriors returned to lay in the sun and warm up. Unfortunately for them, we weren't prepared for playing in the fountain so they went home sopping wet and cold.

It turned out to be a great day. The kids want to go back just to play in the fountain again.

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