I never thought Siri had a total problem with me until the other day. The kids and I were in a rush and I was trying to have her text my husband because we were supposed to be at a preview for the Pompeii exhibit at the Pacific Science Center and I didn’t want to be late and I had just scored parking and I needed to know if he needed me to bring him his street clothes because he was biking home from work and was meeting us there.
So amidst all this chaos of trying to organize the kids to actually exit the vehicle I told Siri “Text Hubby: DO I BRING CLOTHES WITH ME”
And that’s when Siri decided to be all cheeky and send someone else my text. My innocent text asking my husband if I wanted to bring him a change of clothes so he wouldn’t have to wear BIKE PANTS in the Science Center.
oh dear.
At least we were all properly clothed when we finally made it to the Pacific Science Center and the Pompeii exhibit was quite amazing. I had seen the ads all around Seattle but I didn’t really realize how phenomenal it is that this exhibit is actually here in our city. There are many really old, authentic and well-preserved artifacts and one of my guys really liked the short volcano experience video that was shown near the end (the other guy did not want to see it and we were allowed to exit before the video. There was also another part in the exhibit about a brothel in Pompeii that was a little too mature for my guys and the signs before the exhibit allowed us to make a choice whether or not to view that part.)
I think it might be a little wise to do some pre-teaching too if you have some time before you go with kids because I just told my guys it was about a volcano and this guide might have been helpful. They definitely found the idea of a volcanic eruption burying people alive a little disconcerting, but because they also play zombies on the playground at school, this is decidedly more tame and a lot more full of facts and historical value so I just made sure we talked about it when we went home and got started on their school Valentines.
I had ideas like this creative crayon one with a printable from Confetti Sunshine or these adorably easy non-candy valentines I also saw on Oh Happy Day.
But this is one that one of my guys came up with proudly all on his own. (I just displayed it in nice font so you won’t be completely disgusted.)
At least it rhymes, right? The duo laughed about this one all night, they were so proud of themselves for “inventing” this joke for their Valentines. And if this is the type of humor you like too, you might also like this love story that is blowing up the internet. (thank you to Keryn, another travel blogger I adore from Walkingontravels, I think I saw it from you first!)
Needless to say we will be sending out different Valentines for sure. We decided on adding glider planes and mazes to these printables, except the kids now want me to put their pictures on them somewhere. And because this will be last minute, I hope my technology will cooperate with me this time. Are you working on Valentines with your kids this year or do you prefer to pick up store-bought? (Does anyone remember those old punch-out valentine books they used to make? I loved those as a kid!)
(PS. if you’re thinking of going to the Pompeii exhibit it might be worthwhile to buy a membership to the Science Center because the ticket price goes down from 32 dollars per grownup to 9 dollars per grownup if you are a Pacific Science Center member and a baseline dual-membership is only 89 dollars.)
(PPS. the featured image is a picture of the Valentines I received from a Handmade Valentine’s exchange that my friend Lindsey from The Stationery Place organizes every year and it’s a great way to connect with other stationery lovers and it’s really fun to see what people create!)
Terumi Pong is a Seattle-based family travel writer and mom of twin teenage boys. She loves coffee and pastries, shopping local and looking for greener ways to live. She is also known as Scout’s mom (Scout is a 5ish pound little black yorkie-poo)