Dad took Katy,Yang Mi, Monique and me on a sail on Comet Bay on Velocity II - the replica of Captain Darkrunner’s famous ship that founded Dream City.  That’s the North Comet Bridge in the background.  We weren’t wearing our Sea Sprouts uniforms for this trip.  It was just for fun.  (It was nice not to have to scrub the decks and pull the lines for a change!)  HERE’S THE MAP

Star Island Cruiser

A snowy day at the Dream City Yacht Basin

As robots go, Thumperilla is very nice.  He can read bedtime stories, calculate Dad’s astrophysical S factors, cook Spanish chorizo and vacuum under the bed with a hose attachment that reels out from his big toe, but he’s a terrible sailor.  At least not yet, says Dad.

Actually it really wasn’t his fault. Dad is taught him how to play baseball last month. (He’s a rotten fielder, but he hits pretty well.) Anyway, Dad gave him several commands. “Steady as she goes,” means keep going straight – which he did. When Dad said, “Shift your rudder five degrees port,” he did so. But when he told him “Check your swing,” Thumperilla must have thought Dad was talking about baseball, not sailing. Thumperilla jerked the rudder back toward his own shoulder like a batter avoiding a strike. Instead of bringing the ship back on course, Thumperilla drove it straight in front of the tanker.

Dad tried to pry the tiller from Thumperilla’s hands, but robots are very strong. Fortunately I remembered that Thumperilla is very ticklish under his arm. Tickling worked right away, which was good since we only missed the thousand foot ship by about fifty feet. It nearly swamped us with its wake!

Sometimes it isn’t easy being the daughter of two inventors.

A near miss for Sea Squirt Girls Crew #99 - Photo by Mom pointing and shouting from the dock.

The last time we fell on Mrs. Chimpsky’s hot dog cooker, cracking it in two. Jenny Zwillager laughed so hard she almost passed out.  Fortunately Mom is a chemistry professor and was able to fix it with glue she made in the school kitchen from vinegar, milk and baking soda.

Dad was his usual self!  He brought his plasma-powered Hoopla Tubela.  (I thought he was going to, so I hid it behind the washing machine, but he found it anyway.)  It’s a big circular tube of gas that you put around your waist – kind of a Hula Hoop only with a jet engine.  While I was talking to Monica, Dad got Principal Takashi to try it out.  It made a terrible noise as the gas escaped.  The Hoopla Tubela spun around Mr. Takashi like a rocket until I thought it was going to spin him off into space. 

Everyone was looking at me like, “Can’t you do anything about your father?” 

I managed to stop the gizmo with a pin from the donkey game.  (Dad had forgotten how to use it’s remote control.)

Sometimes parents can be so embarassing!!!