Having trouble walking?

Aaric made an invention yesterday, one sure to change the world. His shoes have a little loop in the back of them. They're dressy shoes, its a satin type loop on the inside. I think they put it there mainly to hang them in the store (Children's Place), not like on tennis shoes where they put convenient little loops or tabs to pull them over stubborn heels. But Aaric came up with a good use for them. He strung this long piece of rope through them, and then held onto the ends. So it goes like this - right hand, to right shoe, to left shoe, to left hand. Got the mental picture now? Now, if you're having trouble walking, just set this up for yourself, and all you have to do is pull on the rope ends, and it will make your feet move. Isn't that brilliant? He looked like a puppet and the puppeteer all at the same time. I wish I'd had my camera out.
He's also making travel plans. Somehow we got on the topic of beaches last night and I was telling him which beaches we've been to in recent years. Nothing exotic - Wilmington/Wrightsville Beach, Myrtle Beach, Jacksonville Beach, St Augustine. He asked what beach is near San Diego.
"Well, honey, San Diego is in California, and we've never been there."
"Well lets go there for heavens' sake! I wanna see the zoo!"
Thank you "Madagascar" for teaching my child about fun destinations on the other side of the country, but failing to teach them how very far away they are from North Carolina! I guess I can take him to the NC Zoo and tell him its San Diego, but he'll probably ask where the ones from the movie are. I think lying to the kids about where we're travelling sounds fun. Michael suggested the idea yesterday. When I was 17, I went to England on a mission trip and we worked on the canals. So I have this book with pictures and maps of the canal system in England. Aaric was flipping through it, saw little pics of trees and picnic tables and deduced that it must be a camping area (no more camping with Grandma, she taught him how to read pictures on signs!) so we should go there. I tried explaining that lugging all the camping gear (that we don't own) all the way to England, across an ocean, would be no easy or cheap task. He insisted that we should. I told him no. Michael rolled his eyes and whispered that if we just take him camping in NC and TELL him we're in England, he'd never know the difference! Of course, now he will, because he'll notice the not crossing of an ocean.
I have court tomorrow. That should be a blast. I expect it to be at least slightly less fun than the Driver Safety Course. I'm told the fee will be around $175, but that the judge could choose to reduce it to something way cheaper. I was told the cheaper amount but forgot it.