la brea asphalt seeps

today, an adorable little boy from my kindergarten class is having his birthday party at the tar pits, which only serves to make me think he's even more adorable.  we discovered we have almost exactly the same interests one day while he was crawling around the kindergarten play yard, bearing his teeth and narrowing his eyes at imaginary potential threats.  i asked him what kind of animal he was and he answered, "an ice age animal.  a saber-tooth tiger."  i then spent about fifteen minutes lecturing him (including letting him know that they are saber-tooth cats - they're not related tigers) and i was sure at the end of my little speech he'd hate me and never what to speak to me again.  turns out, he loves the tar pits and was totally thrilled to find out i volunteer there and has demanded at least three times a week since, "miss sarah, tell me more about the ice age!"  he's wanted to know how tall mammoths and sloths were and how far a saber-tooth cat could pounce, and has insisted to me that his beloved dog died after getting stuck in a massive tar pit in his mom's backyard.  he's a very, very interested and intelligent six-year-old and i hope that i can play a tiny part in making him in even more so.

also, i get to have some cake, which is super cool.