L'Oceanografic

I saw a documentary on the building of this Aquarium the other night. What they had to go through to acquire all the fish for the exhibits was amazing. They actually gave little shopping list of the types of fish they needed to different marine biologists all over the world. I would love to see it in person.

“The Aquarium in Valencia (L'Oceanogràfic) lies in the heart of the stunning futuristic City of Arts and Sciences. It is the largest open-air oceanographic park in Europe that takes up 110,000 square meters of space. Its main building was designed in the shape of a water lily by a prominent Spanish architect, Felix Candela. L'Oceanogràfic is inhabited by 45,000 fish and sea animals that represent the ecosystems of the Mediterranean, Arctic and Antarctic zones as well as tropical seas, temperate seas and the Red Sea.” (http://opentravel.com/blogs/the-worlds-most-impressive-aquariums/)

http://www.valencia-cityguide.com
http://www.travelinginspain.com/
http://opentravel.com/blogs

Aurora Borealis Trip

Seeing the northern lights in person is one thing at the top of my travel list. Fairbanks is within the aurora oval, the area where Northern Lights occur most often and are brightest. The Fairbanks Visitors Bureau says you have an 80 percent chance of seeing them if you stay there for three nights. The Northern Lights are most frequent around the spring and fall equinoxes (September 22 and March 22). Most active late at night or early in the morning, and brighter during the full moon. Most intense from December to March when nights are longer, the sky clearer and darker. This is also the coldest part of the year, reaching as low as -40 F. Hotels near Fairbanks offer winter Northern Lights packages, and at most of them you can ask the front desk to call and wake you up if the aurora appears. Aurora Borealis Lodge offers evening tours to a location 20 miles away from the city lights, where you can watch the Northern Lights inside where it's warm.

Resources:
Go California- Northern Lights
igougo- 10 places to see the Northern Lights
usa today- Northern Lights

Inari Shrines

One of my wishes is to one day be able to visit several of the Inari shrines across Japan. For some reason that little fox spirit has always held a special place in my heart. I would dearly love to see all it’s varing reginal incarnations. Inari Shrine
Inari Lore

Resources:
Japan guide- Inari Shrines
Sacren Destinations- Inari shrine
Yahoo Travel
Virtual Tourist

A tried and true for my friends was http://japandeluxetour.com/app/index.php

The Sedlec Ossuary

I want to visit The Sedlec Ossuary so bad! My sister went there a few years ago, and was just amazed by the artistry of the bones arrangements. Here is a little of the history from the website, "In 1870, a local woodcarver, Frantisek Rindt was given the task to decorate the chapel with the bones. And the amazing result speak for itself. 40,000 human bodies are now arranged and the place is now popularly known as the Church of Bones."

Resources:
The Sedlec Ossuary
Sacred Destinations

The Dreamer’s Gate

Collector Australia is home to a fascinating piece of sculpture called The Dreamer’s Gate. Started in 1993 and worked on for 6 years by Tony Phantastes. After being abandoned for 10 years this landmark is sadly in danger of being torn down. This kind of ingenuity, and nuttiness is what makes the world and interesting place to live in, and sets humans apart. It would be so unfortunate to let something like this vanish forever. For more information on the artist and his process take a look at this article.

Viking Spookiness!!!

I miss Autum so I’m trying desperately to project myself into a fall mood filled with cool breezes, and the smells of Halloween. With these thoughts in mind I was flipping through my sisters sketchbook, and I happened upon this picture. It’s a sculpture in Iceland that’s just so haunting, and instantly brought fall into my thoughts. The skeletonized ship, the snow on the ground, the moodiness of the sky, and the image of Vikings running around, (Vikings are just creepy, like pirates on steroids). I researched the sculpture and it’s located in Reykjavík Iceland, in the town of Sólfaru. So beautiful, I would love to see it in person one day.

Travel Bug

I'm so jealous of my little sister, Bug.  

She lives in California at the moment, is married, but has no children.

And she travels.

A lot.

She just returned from a trip to Vietnam.

(I've never been to Vietnam.)

She sent my boys postcards though, so I thought I'd share.

She saw lots of water buffalo in Vietnam...and apparently they are pretty small!

Like the one in the postcard she sent to Donny...

I wonder if my boys would ride a water buffalo to school in the morning.

That'd be awesome.

And then she sent this postcard to Remy.

People there use motorbikes way more than cars.

My sister said she saw a family of five and a large pig all on one!!

I'm getting the travel bug...

I need to go somewhere.

Where are you wanting to go?

Holy Mouse Ears!

In a couple of weeks, we're going to Disney World!
I only went once, as a child, so this is all very new to me...

and it's overwhelming!!

We're going with three of my sisters and their kids,
so it's going to be a blast.

My boys are super excited.

I have a Disney World guide book thicker than the Bible.

Where should we go?
What should we see?

All you Disney experts out there, help me out!!!

I need tips, suggestions, & advice!

The Green Shirt & A Louisiana Tiger

On our Baton Rouge trip, I took the boys to the LSU campus to see Mike the Tiger.

GiGi, my GPS unit, didn't fail me.

We found it.

And met Mike.

He's only two years old and still growing.

He has a really nice setup on the LSU campus.

In just about every single photo from this trip, Remy is wearing the same shirt.
The same green shirt.
I don't know why this child doesn't like to change clothes.

Here the boys are dressed up nice for the funeral...and yes, Remy has the same green shirt on under his button-down.

Unbelievable.

I finally had to institute
Operation Hold-Him-Down-And-Change-His-Clothes.

Don't even get me started on the year he wore his clothes backwards.
Every single damn day.


What about you?
Do your child have weird clothing habits?
Have you ever met an impressive college mascot like Mike the Tiger?

U.S.S. Kidd; The Destroyers meet The Destroyer

While in Baton Rouge, I decided to take the boys to visit a historic site
that I visited as a child.

In other words, I took my destroyers to see The WWII Destroyer,
The U.S.S. Kidd.

The USS Kidd is a WWII destroyer ship that was launched in 1943
and saw plenty of action in WWII and the Korean War.

It also saw plenty of action while we were on it.
Trust me.
You'll see.

It was never modernized, and is the only destroyer to maintain her WWII appearance.
She has been restored though and in 1997 her torpedo tubes were re-loaded.

I need my tubes unloaded.
Wait, that doesn't sound right.
Tied?

The Kidd's special mooring in the Mississippi River
is designed to cope with the annual change
in river depth, which can be up to forty feet;
so for half the year she floats in the river,
the other half of the year she is dry-docked out of the water.

"Dry-docked" sounds so unpleasant.

Of everything we saw on board this ship, my boys enjoyed all the guns the most.

Of course.

Because boys love guns.
My boys love guns.
It can't be helped.
Even when moms try.

Listen, if the ship was broken after we left...it wasn't our fault.

We didn't do it.

The boys thought it was fun to go deep down into the bowels of the ship,
several levels down...with steep staircases...

and tiny corridors.
They dared me to follow.
So of course I did everything they did.
I have to stand up for women-kind everywhere.
You'll be relieved to know I did my part.

We all agreed we'd want the top bunk...in case they all collapsed.
We're optimistic folks, aren't we?

And we agreed we want to be officers,
because they had quarters up on the higher levels...with less neighbors.

Again, more guns.
They're like magnets for boys.

And apparently, the bigger the better.

I could totally be captain.
I have a great sense of direction...most of the time.
They have GPS on these things, right?
Right?

As long as these hooligans are my crew, what could possibly go wrong?!

Hey, I have a control panel just like this in my home!!

I knew I had a target on my back.
Hey, Target.
I need to go to Tar-Jay this week.

Here was the biggest gun of all.
The boys got to go inside of it.
It took 17 men to operate this one.

And here's where I we got loopy.
I think because when you're on a ship you get seasick from all the motion,
and we hadn't had enough fruit while at sea so we got scurvy.

And that's when Remy turned on Donny...and shot him!!

We left feeling very patriotic.

Have you ever been to Baton Rouge?
Have you ever been on a U. S. naval ship?
Or any kind of BIG ship?
A cruise?
A catamaran?
A canoe?
A raft?

East of the Mississippi

Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday were all scheduled posts,
because I had to go out of town.

My grandmother's husband died, so we got in the car and drove to Baton Rouge.
He was old and in declining health, so it was a blessing that he's in a better place now.
But, my grandmother, it's been tough on her,
and she needed family support.

My husband had to stay behind in Texas.
I took the boys with me and caravanned with my mom and stepfather.

It's a long drive from Dallas to Baton Rouge.
8 1/2 hours long.

I have lots of photos and posts-worth of stories to share, but for now...

Here are the boys posing east of The Mississippi River...in Baton Rouge.

The Mississippi River, the second largest river in the United States.
It's 2,340 miles long.

What's the biggest river in the U.S.?

And here's us driving over the same bridge from the above picture, on our way back to Texas.

The Missouri River is the longest river in the U.S., 200 miles longer than the Mississippi.

I think this is one of the biggest bridges I've ever been on.
My boys were suitably impressed.

You also have to cross miles and miles of swampy area on bridges in Louisiana.
It's the Atchafalaya Basin.
Say that three times fast.
It's the largest swamp in the United States.

My boys imagined gators swimming below us.
Ready to eat us at any moment.

They're dramatic like that.

At least they weren't alien gators.

8 1/2 hours is a loooooong time to be in the car.
with two bickering boys.

They're so lucky I didn't leave them on the railroad tracks like I was tempted...

We played lots of car games.
Cow Counting.
I Spy.
I'm going to Louisiana and I'm going to bring with me...
20 questions.

And then there was plenty of reading, coloring, movies in the DVD player and handheld video games.

What car games did you used to play on road trips?
What do your kids play now?