Arisia for Us?

[mabfan]

Nomi and I haven't managed to attend Arisia since before Muffin and Squeaker came into our lives. We've wanted to, but the logistics seemed rather insurmountable. (We've also mostly missed Boskone and Readercon, although in 2010 we made it to the Sunday of each.)

Arisia is coming up this month, though, and with all the chatter I've been seeing about it, I've become wistful. Nomi and I discussed it, and we're seriously considering trying to attend on the Sunday of the convention. If we day-trip the convention, we'll have to figure out the answers to these questions:

1. Do we take Muffin and Squeaker?
1.a. If not, who takes care of them for the day?
1.b. If so, how do we get them to and from the hotel?

2. If we take Muffin and Squeaker, what costumes should they wear? :-)

Any and all suggestions are welcome.

Comments

[stormsdotter.livejournal.com]

I know Arisia has a babysitting plan. I would be happy to take an hour or two of my convention and read to the girls/follow them around/otherwise distract them.

[mabfan.livejournal.com]

They have something called Turtle Track but I suspect one had to register for it in advance.

[mabfan.livejournal.com]

Also, if we take the girls with us, we'd plan to keep them with us for the day. Re-read question 1.a carefully. (Question 1.b is my real concern, as we do not have a car.)

On the other hand, it would be nice to have someone watch the girls while we go a program item or two.

[leah-cypess.livejournal.com]

Hey - do you want to do a babysitting share? I'm on 2 panels on Sunday, but the only way I can be there for most of the day is if I take David with me (no chance of pumping enough milk for a whole day before then). If you think you could watch him during my panels, I would be happy to watch your girls while you go to panels you want to attend. And he's still in the immobile stage! Plus, Aaron can probably drive us all back & forth!

If you're interested, we should discuss on Sunday. Or by email.

[mabfan.livejournal.com]

But what if we want to attend your panels? :-)

Yes, let's discuss on Sunday.

[leah-cypess.livejournal.com]

Well, I ASSUMED you did. But this is just one of those sacrifices parents have to make.

[c1.livejournal.com]

When I ran the con, one of my GOHs had a daughter in babysitting. As I recall, all concerned had a wonderful time. Conventions and kiddos aren't mutually exclusive.

I'd look at other things you do with M+S that have similar constraints, where you've built up workarounds: what happened the first time you went to Temple with them? How'd you survive that?
You might find that you'll leave a panel or two a bit early if you're presented with a suddenly cranky kid, but by now, everyone's figured out that our spawn will be a part of our fannish experience, and sooner or later a panelist will be interrupted by the cries of a child; we'll all pick up the pieces as gracefully as we can. It's part of life.

M+S need to come to con right quick. It never fails to warm the cockles of my heart when I hear someone talking about how their kid "went to his first con when he was 6 months old!" I mean, we've got to indoctrinate them early, right?

[tapuz.livejournal.com]

Since everyone else is going with (1), I will go with (2)!

Do you have any costume gear already in mind/readily available, or is this start-from-scratch blank-slate? :-)

[be-well-lowell.livejournal.com]

There are plenty of teenagers (including my own) who are trained and willing to watch kids for an hour or two. It doesn't sound like that's a key issue for you, but I'd be happy to provide some recommendations if that turns out to be useful.

[mabfan.livejournal.com]

Actually, Muffin and Squeaker's first con was Boskone in 2010, so they were 7 months old when they made it to their first con. Or one could argue that Readercon in 2009 was their first con, as they were born exactly one week later.

[mabfan.livejournal.com]

When we brought them to Boskone in 2010, they wore astronaut jumpsuits. The suits are too small for them now, so we're planning to have them wear the matching solar system shirts that some friends bought for them. But I'm open to other ideas.

[c1.livejournal.com]

Sure, but they can't yet say they've been to an Arisia, which is a con like no other.

solar system

[samthereaderman.livejournal.com]

Given that this is you, I assume this is with Pluto included, right!

[vettecat.livejournal.com]

We also haven't been since H was born (during Arisia) but we're hoping to take him on Monday (since Sunday is his party). Figuring we'll bring a compact stroller since it's a big hotel and would be too much walking after a while. As for getting there, I know you take them on the T all the time, and it looks like it's a reasonable walk from the nearest station - http://2012.arisia.org/Directions - except the T is running buses that Sunday, which complicates things somewhat.

Re: solar system

[mabfan.livejournal.com]

The shirt include Pluto and a sign that as far as we are concerned, it is still a planet. :-)