And now for something completely different!

We've just finished mid year school holidays.

During all this renovating the children have been so great, helping out and not demanding too much attention so we had a few days off and did some more exciting things with them - rollerblading, movies and one day we went to the COSMODOME! What is a Cosmodome you ask? That's what I was wondering.

My sons teacher told us about this great Cosmodome we could visit at a shopping centre not too far away and best of all it was FREE! We had no idea what it would look like, imagining it was an indoor planetarium to learn about space and the planets.....well....it wasn't quite what we expected.

We arrived around 10am for the 11am show. We were told to go to the information kiosk and ask for tickets. What we weren't told was that you actually had to book them over the phone first. Ahhemmm....of course we didn't. So then the kind lady at the information desk told me that we could just go and stand in line and if the spaces weren't all filled we might just get in anyway.

We stood waiting for a round fifteen minutes while the man who runs the show counted heads and tickets. He explained that the Cosmodome is a 3D show all about space, dinosaurs and animals. Sounded fantastic.

Then I had a look at the Cosmodome

As you can see it's a huge BIG black igloo shaped air filled structure - kind of like one of those kids jumping castles they have at fetes and fairs. Only it had just one entrance, no windows, no fresh air going in or out and thirty people were going to be sitting on the floor inside watching this 3D movie. See that tight door way at the front here - you have to push it apart and squeeze through trying to balance yourself on the sides as you work your way through to the inside.

The longer we waited in line the more I could feel a panic attack coming on....you see I am claustrophobic!!! I so wanted to do this for the kids so I took deep breaths. He finally told us after everyone else had entered that there was space for just four more...YAY!!! I thought - NOT!....the kids went in first and then I shut my eyes and squeezed through the tunnel entrance. I took one look inside around at the all the other Mums and kids sitting tightly squeezed together on the floor. The man came through the entrance and I turned and looked at my kids and said "I'll be waiting for you outside". He had told us that children had to be accompanied by an adult and had turned away a few children who had turned up without their parents. I apologised and said in fast forward mode.... "Sorry I can't stay, I'm going to suffocate in here, my kids are very well behaved, I have to get out of here!" Phew.....I enjoyed my cup of tea and snack in the coffee shop right next to the Cosmodome. Half an hour later the children emerged, excited and bubbling over with descriptions of what they'd seen...I was glad their panicky mother didn't dampen their fun.

Moral of this story......Know your limits!!!!