Shark Attack, And Other Tales Of A Family Outing

Question: Where can you get up close and personal with the third-largest mammoth fossils ever found, fly to Colorado and back in the course of minutes, see a Galapagos tortoise, play with blocks and stuff your face with some good food just after escaping a shark attack with a lobster on your head?

Answer: National Geographic Channel Family Appreciation Day. Thanks to Dad-O's cool hookup, we did all that and more on Sunday at Chelsea Piers (where Mommy and Dad-O both worked for a time upon arriving in the Big Apple).

First stop? The big green screen, where Mason posed for this picture. Don't worry ... we didn't endanger our son for the sake of memories. Neither the shark or the lobster is real.



These very simple blocks (with a simple name, that already escapes me) provided endless entertainment for Mason and all the other kiddos. Mommy and Dad-O had a blast building things for Mason to knock down as well.



After eating a bit of food, Mason took some time to pose with this mammoth fossil, which we learned was found on a golf course in Ohio a few years back, and is part of the third-largest mammoth ever discovered. We also got to see the animal's tusks and some fossils from saber-tooth tigers before Mason was given a hunk of mammoth bone to keep.

The flight simulators were another big hit. Mason couldn't be bothered to put on the virtual reality glasses, but had a blast pushing the buttons and playing with the controls. Him and Dad-O went for a long flight -- all the way to visit Grammy and Papa while Mommy snapped a few photos.



Also on hand for the festivities were a group of exotic animals. I guess we were too busy touching them to take photos, but we saw an armadillo, the aforementioned tortoise, a fox, a bird and some millipedes. We also painted a Terra-cotta planter, and filled it with some bulbs, we picked out a piece of crystal and turquoise to take home with us.

We also met this guy. He twisted a mean balloon animal. Mason took home a penguin and a monkey that were both very cool and far ahead of your usual balloon poodle!

On our way out, Mason got one last gift. A NatGeo backpack filled with some too-cool-for-school supplies. Now that's a cute advertisement.