Oh Fish

There's something about the alien species on our planet that captures the wonder in every child. These silent creatures swimming beneath the waves, visible but allusive, are mesmerizing. 

Gina had a baby shower for a friend this weekend, and since we were all in Orange County already the girls and I opted to find something to busy ourselves in the area while we waited for her to be done.  What else do you do with three little girls (Lorelei decided to go where the boobs were going)?  Shopping in Newport Beach,  of course!  Well, Fashion Island has plenty of upscale shopping but it has something much more valuable to a father with little kids looking to kill as much time as possible: fountains.  Big fountains, little fountains, climbable fountains and fountains that you want to climb on but the sign clearly says not to fountains!  It's like a kid mecca right in the middle of rich people shopping, who clearly were wishing to have avoided children all together!

One of these fountains was actually a massive koi pond with large stepping stones so that children could walk right through the middle.  These large colorful fish are magnetic for a 6 and 4 year olds attention.  Of course, the only logical thing to do when these peaceful fish swim by serenely is to damn near jump IN the water trying to touch them.  Rosaline and Genevieve proved quite adept at doing so.  Arianna, however, despite being my main daredevil with snowboards and roller coasters, seemed to have some trouble.

Every time she would lean down to touch a fish, the fish would naturally jerk away.  A clear sign to most that "I don't want to be touched."  To a child's mind, however, this simply translates "Na, na, na, na, na you can't catch me. ... now try harder!"  Arianna's response, though, was panic - as she would pull away in trepidation every time the tail of a fish would flutter away.

She became quite upset, especially as the other two had been very successful with their fish touching.  I tried intervening and helping her out, but her dilemma was simple: "I want to touch the fish but my body won't let me!" 

Oh what to do when we want something that our body won't let us do!!!

I finally had to get down to a last chance opportunity.  "You have one more shot, and then we have to go."  This was expertly negotiated into a two more chances opportunity.  First one was a strike, but at least we touched water.  Second attempt. ... we breathed heavily. ... we waited patiently. ... and then we pounced.  And we touched a fish. ... and it turns out it wasn't really all it was cracked up to be.  Moving on.