It's Serendipity! (Cakes 25-26)

From Wikipedia:  Serendipity means a "fortuitous happenstance" or "pleasant surprise." It was coined by Horace Walpole in 1754. In a letter he wrote to a friend, Walpole explained an unexpected discovery he had made by reference to a Persian fairy tale, The Three Princes of Serendip. The princes, he told his correspondent, were “always making discoveries, by accidents and sagacity, of things which they were not in quest of."

The notion of serendipity is a common occurrence throughout the history of scientific innovation such as Alexander Fleming's accidental discovery of penicillin in 1928, and the invention of the microwave oven by Percy Spencer in 1945.

The word has been voted one of the ten English words hardest to translate in June 2004 by a British translation company. However, due to its sociological use, the word has been exported into many other languages.

Today I wanted to take the girls to Serendipity Ice Cream in Webster Groves. As we approached Big Bend Boulevard, I said to Tom, "You know, this is right by Laumeier Sculpture Park. I'm so bummed out that there's a cake there, and we couldn't find it." He said, "OK, turn in there, then, and I'll help you find it." I was like, "WHAT?!?" So I turned into the park, and we proceeded to find the cake. (I love it that Tom's interested in our search for cakes!)

So here we are, looking all around for the cake...or shielding our eyes from the sun, depending on how you choose to look at it.

Hello, giant eyeball. Seen any cakes around here lately?

"Oh boy! It's the giant treehouse! Let's play in this again!" This time, Chloe was ready for it, and climbed right up. Way to go, Chloe!

While the girls played in the treehouse, Daddy walked all around the park trying to find the cake. When he found it, he called us, and we came to where he was.

This is probably the classic Laumeier Sculpture Park Sculpture: The Way. (I really have a Chevy Chase attitude about this whole park. "OK, kids, here it is. All done. Let's go!")

Ah, the elusive Laumeier Sculpture Park cake! It's decorated to reflect the sculpture park...there's lots of strange stuff stuck to the cake. But the overall effect is very cool!

Another Daddy photo bomb...this time, photo bombing the cake picture. Funny Daddy!

Daddy and Holly ran and hid in the treehouse while Chloe and I followed the path and got drinks from the water fountain. We found them, though!

Next stop, Serendipity Homemade Ice Cream. This cake was inside. And it was not very big inside...so it was not my favorite place for a cake picture. Oh well. The cake is cute, though. We liked it!

I liked the mural on the wall. So true!

Never mind that they had a full case full of delicious homemade flavors. Holly decided to sample the chocolate, and Chloe got vanilla. That's what they always get. (Smile!)

And one more cake picture:

Here's the cake as seen from the street. I still think it should be outside. Oh well, it's not my cake.

Today we found two cakes, when I thought we'd just find one. And the extra one was a tough one! Definitely a pleasant surprise--serendipity!