He Ran For President

SHARE THE SPLASH!

This is not what you thank. But life rarely is.

He was possibly the most successful third party candidate. He secured almost 20% of the popular ballot but 0% of the electoral college. He was awarded multiple honors – schools and bridges named after him, inducted in to National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, received the Winston Churchill Award (for efforts helping POWs), honorary Green Beret, and a plethora of other awards.

But for me, the coolest …. he has dinosaur named after him. A dinosaur!

It’s is a Pachyrhinosaurus … Named Pachyrhinosauras Perotorum …

It is a small horned and possibly a highly brained rhino progenitor.. This kind of fits it’s named sake … Ross Perot.

Perot was a short but brilliant billionaire. Son of a cotton broker and horse trader, Perot is considered a Norman Rockwell painting come to life. But this article isn’t about him … it’s really about his legacy. Okay, so he has a Dino named after him, but he also has one of the coolest kids’ Science Museum named after him as well … the Perot Museum of Nature and Science … a hotspot for families on the outskirts of downtown Dallas. In Victory Park, neighbors to where the Mavs play at the American Airline Arena and right across the street from the oldest restaurant in Dallas – El Fenix Cantina (Lisa’s fav Mexican restaurant), the Perot is a delight and treasure for Dallas.’

So today, I loaded my grandson Samuel into the carseat and headed into the mix of sky rises  and cement bridges and bumper to bumper traffic … and it was worth it.

This museum is the merging of Dallas’s natural history and children’s museum. The Perots gave over 9 figures to make this come to fruition … and it was worth it.

It was hot, somewhat crowded, and NOT free … and it was worth it.

Four floors of exhibits. Scores of fossils – large dinos, small dinos, and all in-between. There  were taxidermic animals in the natural history area – lions, tigers, bears (oh my) – mice, bison, moose, fox, and so much more. Gemstones. Some science exhibits. Interactive displays. And a lot to keep the boys (he and me) entertained.

Here’s the rub … buy a little kid a toy, he’ll play with the box.

Oh, he enjoyed the dinosaur bones (‘inosore boens) extremely. He crawled through the tree trunk tunnel. He spun the interactive displays. He said “don’t touch” and held the hand out to indicate ‘stop’ at the lion and bear. But it was out side the museum where his smiles and laughter really came alive,

There was a small area (say 300 square feet) of a 3 inch water pool with cement platform in the middle of it. So he wanted to SPLASH … and splash he did. With his feet. With his hands. With his body rolling around in the 3 inches of water. He SPLASHED and got soaked. He SPLASHED and had so much fun.

I got out there, still in my Danner suede urban hikers (totally soaked through to the Darn Tough socks to my toes) and we had so much fun. Bubbish (his Nana) had to go back into the Perot to get a shirt … for we had no other clothes for the wet rascal. A shirt with a T-Rex on it … so cool

So, what lessons do we learn.

• take advantage of museums – for kids and big kids
• but remember some of the best things in life are free … frolicking in 3 inches of water
• and life is better when you can splash with someone with you … share the SPLASH

And then after – we got a shake from SHAKE SHACK (had to sugar him up before we return him to his mom)

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A great outing with Bubbish, Sammy, and Papadude ….

NOTE: Bubbish was there

She took the pictures!