It all started when we found some pictures that didn’t get used for Mom’s post about the “puppet room”.
“Wow!” Panda exclaimed. “I wonder why Mom didn’t use this one?” I agreed with him. This was a really cool puppet show prop, called the SS Heaven Bound. “Maybe she forgot about it,” I offered. “Or she didn’t have enough room to fit it in.”
“Hey, is that Daddy?” Panda wondered. “I think it might be,” I replied. Panda and I only know Daddy from pictures, but Mom says he loved doing puppet shows for Sunday school so it must be him. “Doesn’t it look fun to go under the sea?” Panda said. (I have to admit, since our trip to China to see his relatives, Panda does have a renewed sense of adventure!)
“I don’t know,” I answered. “I mean, I like water and all, but I don’t think I want to be under the sea!” “Suit yourself,” Panda replied. “I’m going to go ask Mom if we can go on a cruise.” I shrugged. “Well you can try it,” I said, but I’m pretty sure she’ll say no.”
“She said no,” Panda reported when he got back. “She reminded me that I have enough trouble staying out of your water bowl, and said if I went on a cruise I would probably fall overboard and then who knows what would happen!” I wasn’t surprised. “I told you,” I said simply. “You know she was raised by Swedes!“
So we went to the front living room to brainstorm about how to go on a cruise without Mom finding out. We just got off being grounded for going to China without permission, so we knew we had to be extra sneaky if our cruise was to be a success. Plus I knew, after the China trip, that I would have to be extra vigilant if I wanted to make sure Panda came back all in one piece!
Adventure Awaits…
“Hey, get in here with me,” I told Panda. “I just got an idea! If we can fly on our carpets, why can’t we fly in our laundry basket tunnel?” Panda agreed.”It’s worth a try,” he said. “Let’s go!”
We were right! This was even better than a flying carpet, because there was less chance of falling off…
“Wow!” cried Panda, looking down. “There’s Area 51! Let’s get out of here!” I agreed. I didn’t want a repeat of that adventure any time soon!
We knew we were getting close when we saw the beautiful ocean below us.
Finally we touched down in a harbor with a lot of cool boats. Before I knew it, Panda had jumped out of our travel tunnel and onto one of the boats!
“Panda! Get off of that boat!” I commanded. “We can’t just take someone’s boat without asking!” Panda ignored my concerns. “Come on,” he called. “It’ll only be for three hours! What could go wrong?” I sighed. “All right,” I said resignedly. “I can see you are going to need supervision.”
“Dude! You got this!” Panda said encouragingly. “It can’t be much different from flying that plane in Area 51!” “That’s easy for you to say,” I mumbled. But soon we were out on the open sea.
“This is the life!” 
“Dude,” I said when I noticed Panda climbing up onto the railing of the boat. “Do you think you should be sitting right there?” 
“It’s no problem, Bro,” Panda replied. “It’s perfectly safe!” I wasn’t sure I agreed. I managed to get him to climb down from the railing, but…
Later that day…
“Panda!” I shouted. “Be careful!” Inwardly I grumbled. How did I know this would eventually happen? 
“Hey this is pretty fun!” Panda replied. “Come on down, the water’s fine!”
Fortunately I had brought my surfboard with me, so since I had no other choice, I jumped down to the water. I was amazed to see that I had landed right next to a dolphin.
“Woo-hoo!” I shouted. “Panda, you should try this!”
“Let me just climb up this jellyfish,” Panda said. “I think it will take me to the surface!”
“Yee-haw!” shouted Panda. When he reached the surface he was riding on a whale!
Suddenly I heard a splash. Panda had fallen off the whale and into the waves! And if that weren’t bad enough, it looked like a storm was brewing. “Help!” I shouted into the wind. 
Just in time! A Coast Guard rescue boat spotted me and took me aboard. “He’s over there,” I told them, as we searched for Panda. “Don’t worry, Buddy,” the men assured me. “Everything is under control.”
We got him! “Panda!” I said. “Are you okay?” Panda was wet and cold, but other than that he was fine. The coast guard dropped us off on the beach so we could dry off.
Fortunately we found a nice beach towel, and the sun was coming out again.
After a little nap, we started off for home.
On the way home we saw some hot air balloons. “Hey maybe next time we can go in one of those,” suggested Panda. “I think you could drive one, don’t you?” But before I could answer, we had landed by the door in the front living room!
“The coast is clear,” I said, looking around. I don’t see Mom anywhere.” Panda shuddered. “I don’t even want to think about the coast,” he replied. “I’m ready for another nap!”
Nana's Whimsical World 