After an intensely serious activity learning all about the Kennedy assassination, the kids and I needed some fun and a bit of a break from the Texas heat. We headed to Adventure Landing, another family fun center in one of the Dallas suburbs. The kids hopped in the bumper boats as soon as I paid the price of admission and set off soaking each other in no short order. Next we headed to the air conditioned arcade where I gave each kid $5 each in quarters. After a few more modern electronic games, everyone rendezvoused with me around the Skee Ball machine. I just LOVE Skee ball I don't know why. There's not much to the game but it does require a steady hand and a good eye. Sometimes the classics are the best and after a few rounds the kids were hooked too. As we wandered around the arcade we came across a really cool machine that takes your picture and then does a pencil drawing of the image. The machine was called "Leonardo" (I am guessing in reference to Leonardo Da Vinci). It seemed a little pricey at $5 but I am always a sucker for the photo. We fed the money into the machine and huddled in tight laughing hysterically. The machine took our photo which only by the grace of God had all of us looking great and then proceeded to pencil sketch us on the screen. It was amazingly cool. When it was done it printed out the image on a regular piece of paper. Thankfully I got it home safe and sound and is now one of my most treasured possessions. I never saw another Leonardo machine in all my travels all over the country. If you encounter one, spend the $5 and take home a really special souvenir. After a round of mini golf a few at bats in the batting cage, everyone was thoroughly zonkered. By the end of the day we didn’t even have the energy to go out for dinner. Instead, we ordered some room service, watched a movie, and were very happy to call it an early night.
