If Only In My Dreams

Two years after our Hawaii trip I'm finally sorting through all the photos... The project has seemed overwhelming because we have so many sources of photos. We've got some from my phone:

Airport signage.

Some from my camera:

I suspect Superman lives on the Big Island.

Some from E1's camera:

Sunset from our balcony.

And some from E2's camera:

Sea turtle!

And then there are the photos that were taken for us:

First time up!

My nurses hat FLEW off my head just before the 'click'.

So, I'm working on organizing them by island and device. There's a Groupon breathing down my neck as incentive, so I really need to stick with it!

zoo

Illinois Schools observe Casimir Pulaski Day in early March. Missouri Schools don't. Therefore, it's a perfect day for us to go to the zoo!An extended family member was in Children's Hospital, which borders the east side of Forest Park, so we stopped there first for a quick hello visit.

The penguins were enjoying the sun.
There was a party in Hippo Harbor.

The elephants were front and center.

The river otters were show-offs.

Backstroke!

The stalker chickens are still there. Did I mention the stalker chickens after our last visit? The last time we were at the Children's Zoo there was a new addition - chickens. E1 and I were convinced they were stalking us, as every time we turned around they were THERE. It seemed as though there were even more on this day.

Some people think the reason we go to the zoo is to play on the playgrounds.

Once around on the Zoo Train.

We sat in the WAY BACK and got to say "All Aboard!" at all but one stop. I think the two other people riding the train appreciated it.

Crazy Vacation Planner Lady

Over the weekend I got back on a roll with researching the Big Island of Hawaii. We're planning a future trip there.

I checked out this book from the library last fall, and a few months later grabbed the newest edition of it for my very own. I used a similar book when we visited Kauai - they're great for pointing out the lesser-known, often cheaper, but still neat things to see.

[I'm considering requesting their book on Oahu as well, even though the couple of days we'll be on Oahu are nearly completely planned already. I might come across something super cool that we've never seen or tried before.]

Somewhere in there I started to feel anxious that we're not going to have enough days on the Big Island to see EVERYTHING...and it made me wonder if this amount of research - which has become fairly standard for any family vacations we plan - is average or sort of over the top.

In the past, I've made a list of ideas...or a 'wishlist' of things we might like to do or try. In the case of Kauai, I organized it by area of the island because I'm...weird. I think when I finally shared the list with Rob and his family members they probably thought I'd lost my mind and was creating an itinerary that we'd never be able to manage. In hindsight, I know if I was the recipient of that 'helpfulness' I would have bristled and speculated as to why someone was trying to harsh my vacation mellow before we ever arrived.

This time, I'm most concerned with sharing my research with my immediate family so we can skinny things down to what is most important to us. After that, we can throw it out there to our other travel companions. It's the Big Island though - volcanoes, astronomy, Southern-most point of the U.S. - and it's BIG (duh), which means more travel time to see what we want to see.

I don't plan quite this much when it's Rob and I going - mostly I try to find good food when it's just us.


Is that amount of research over the top? Do you like to plan, or just wing it?

Poolside In Texas

Our first full day visiting Christine in Texas was spent in the pool. In the morning cousin J and her three kiddos came by to swim with us...but I left my camera bag in the apartment. That afternoon, however, I took some photos; I also took some later in our visit...on the lovely day when Rob and Christine took all three girls to Six Flags Over Texas while I shopped and read my book in the pool. Heaven.

Pretty flowering tree.

The lower pool.

Sunscreen application was odd on this day...I managed to completely miss my right arm, Christine and Rob both got sunburns as well.
The waterfall fountain.

More pretty flowers.

The lamppost wearing a palm tree.

The man appearing to sunbathe nude.

The area that's good for morning shade.

Send More Sunscreen

It is positively sweltering here in the Midwest...and I with my high sweat quotient pretty much start dripping from the pores the moment I step outside. Even if I'm sitting completely still in the shade I still have sweat rolling. We're under an "excessive heat warning" with peak "feels like" temps around 110-115 and a side of swamp-like humidity. Yummy!

I generously offered to let the girls have friends over for the past two days to play on our water slide. Other than offering a snack and making sure the towels get draped on something for a few minutes so they can dry it's been relatively easy overall. But it's been a very sweaty two days for me.

I've found it interesting to learn that the younger-aged children are better behaved than the older punks. Rob's cousin was over with her kids this morning and we decided it's probably because the younger kids have yet to figure out that being polite and respectful is a choice. This afternoon it's just one of E2's friends, and E1 went over to visit a friend of hers, so only three girls...and they're doing well without constant supervision. I'm just perched here on the couch, water slide directly out the front window, enjoying the air conditioning.

I've taken photos of all our guests over the last two days...but I've yet to get out there with the current friend...well, I dropped a bowl of popcorn and some drinks on a towel in the shade earlier...but I guess I should go out there and take a few obligatory shots soon.

If I had any Photo shop skills at all I'd totally add this afternoon's friend to a previously taken photo like this and call it done.

Midwestern Whale Tale

Last week we set off on a summer adventure to visit Rob's sister Christine in Texas. The Tulsa area is about half-way on our journey, and so it's usually where we take a break for lunch. When the kids were smaller...pre-E3 smaller...we stopped at a rest area along the turnpike and had a picnic lunch. But as the girls have gotten older we've tried to find interesting sites along the way.

Two years ago we stopped at the World's Tallest Totem Pole near , Foyil, Oklahoma. This year, we stopped at The Catoosa Whale near The Port of Catoosa, Oklahoma. Both of these are considered 'sites to see' along Old Route 66.

He's a smiley old chap, isn't he?

Rob and I stopped here on our way back from Tulsa this Spring and the place was quiet and peaceful. Last week when we stopped it happened to be the same day that a local daycare decided to come by for lunch...and even after they left there seemed to be quite a steady stream of visitors stopping to visit .You can't tell it from the photo, but he is one lucky dude to be lounging in that water because it was a HOT day.

That didn't stop the girls from climbing up his internal ladder for a chance to peek out his nostrils.

Whale boogers

After we ate our lunch in the hot, hot, shade and got the lowdown on what the upstairs was like, I did what any good MomBlogger would do - sent them back up in the hot whale skull so I could get some shots of them all peeking out the portholes.

Then the girls fed some bread crusts to the resident fish from atop the whale's tale before we continued on our trip.

One thing Rob and I decided this year: before making a picnic lunch stop we will check the thermostat in the car (which shows the exterior temperature) and if necessary, make an executive decision to cancel the picnic in favor of an air conditioned dining room.

Air Conditioning. Amen.

My Life List

This is my 500th post. (pause for imaginary noise-makers and confetti-falling)

I've been dragging my feet posting (for 10 days, I see, sheesh)because I thought my 500th post should be something that would appropriately mark the occasion. I've had this list sitting in my drafts for a while now because I've been adding to it little by little, and it finally occurred to me that HEY, maybe I could post THIS. Sharp as a tack, I tell you.

Originally, I wasn't sure I would ever post this list; I thought I would keep it just for myself. I was concerned that it would become a list of accountability...I imagined being presented with an opportunity to do something on my list and not feeling ready to do it...and someone saying, "Well, you put it on your list. Why aren't you going to do it?" I imagined a lot of time passing before I actually knocked something off the list...and someone saying, "I thought you were going to do all these things." I realize none of you can hear that in the same tone that I can...you just have to trust that it's very familiar to me.

I was holding out for 100 items, like Mighty Girl Maggie did when she originally posted this brilliant idea, and I think Karen of Chookooloonks had 100 in her original list as well...but for me, after the first 30 - which I will readily admit, mostly consisted of things we're planning/hoping/considering to do in Hawaii in a couple of years - well, after that first 30 the ideas have been coming more at a trickle. As I found the links above, I realized Maggie no longer has hers numbered, if she ever did (maybe I imagined it). Some of my items have been borrowed from other lists I've read - Maggie always says, "cribbing encouraged", and others are things that have just wandered through my mind and caused me to think, "Oh, I should add that to the list."

In the end, besides wanting something to mark my 500th post, I decided just making the list was enough. Enough. For ME. Anyone that has an issue with that can just go make their own damn list.

It's a very enjoyable work in progress...even if some of the items appear to be more 'to do' than 'for fun'. I'm a list-maker; I guess the planning is part of the fun for me. Many of the items are travel related and things I remember discussing with Rob...I think we still have a vacation idea list somewhere. I am fighting the urget to 'organize' the list in some way...hopefully putting it out there will squash that.





1. Ride in a seaplane.
2. Establish a birdhouse of purple martins in our yard to combat mosquitoes.
3. Ride in a zepplin.
4. Night snorkel with manta rays Big Island, Hawaii.
5. Hike Diamond Head on Oahu, Hawaii.
6. Learn about photography- so I can make intentional, instead of random fingers-crossed, adjustments.
7. Move forward on a photo storage system before computer cries 'uncle'.
8. Learn to edit photos in Photoshop.
9. Learn to make flavored rice so we can ditch the packaged.
10. Clean up our music playlist and update Itunes list.
11. Create official peanut presentation for teachers or others in charge of E3.
12. Create flu season supply list.
13. Finish up missing details from (all) scrapbooks.
14. See and photograph red hot lava in Hawaii.
15. Take Outrigger canoe ride on Waikiki Beach, Oahu, Hawaii.
16. Make inspiration file with notes on computer for kitchen/living room remodel.
17. Set foot in all 50 states (Illinois, Missouri, Indiana, Michigan, Kentucky, Tennessee, Kansas, Iowa, Georgia, Florida, Oklahoma, Texas, Arkansas, California, Mississippi, Louisiana).
18. Set foot in all U.S. territories.
19. Travel the Panama Canal.
20. Gondola ride in Venice.
21. Go Parasailing.
22. Travel Route 66 from end to end, as closely as possible.
23. Boat trip on the Mississippi River - as much of it as possible.
24. Walk across the Mississippi River at it's start.
25. See a Broadway show in New York.
26. Tour The Statue of Liberty.
27. Tour Washington, DC.
28. Tour the Eiffel Tower.
29. Remodel kitchen and living room.
30. Create a patio in back yard.
31. See the Redwood forests.
32. Eat a frozen concrete at Ted Drewes in St. Louis.
33. Hot air balloon ride.
34. See Mt. Rushmore.
35. Drinks and entertainment at Blueberry Hill in St. Louis (bonus if Chuck Berry turns up).
36. Visit New Orleans.
37. Travel to Easter Island.
38. Travel to Christmas Island.
39. Attend the launch of a spacecraft.
40. Learn how to hand make a lei while in Hawaii.
41. Visit the Grand Canyon.
42. Walk a portion of The Great Wall of China.
43. Travel to Tibet.
44. Remove toxins from our food and household (in progress:artificial colors).
45. Institute 'fruity water' as the house beverage at our parties.
46. Refine and update our toiletries travel bags.
47. Go Dog Sledding.
48. Create a peaceful, simplified living space - declutter to achieve a place for everything.
49. Tour The Muny in St. Louis.
50. Tour The Fox Theatre in St. Louis.
51. Tour New Busch Stadium.
52. Get cd's of all my photos from website where I used to send rolls of film.
53. Travel to our families' birthplaces in Germany.
54. Start a list of places I'd like to see in Europe.
55. Attend a Cardinal's game in every stadium (done: St. Louis, Kansas City, Chicago Wrigley)
56. Spend the night in a tree-house (I had a link for this somewhere...).
57. Listen to all of Maggie Mason's song links from her 1,000 song project.
58. Attend a game in the American League stadiums.
59. Witness a flash-mob, live and in-person.
60. Try acupuncture for migraines/cluster headaches, and stress reduction.

On My Mind

I didn't figure out how to blog from my phone yet, if that wasn't apparent. I feel like I'm probably overlooking something obvious, but I haven't really done any investigating other than to see if blogger has an app.

We blew out the end of the school year with a weekend trip to Kalamazoo, MI, and got our money's worth of the hotel stay from time spent in the pool alone.

Kalamazoo Holidome, stay cool.

We ate at a great place downtown called The Union, and our kids were the kind of well-behaved in a mostly-grown-up-public-place that you always hope they'll be, and the waitstaff, in return, were generously accommodating in making one of their appetizers a kid-friendly entree, AND making one of their desserts peanut allergy-friendly. Then we spent more time at the pool. I mean, seriously:

There's lots of other things, and hopefully I'll get to them all, but...you know how I am, right? Have I ever posted pictures and video - OH! The Video! from Memphis? I don't think I have. Life gets in the way of my grand ideas sometimes.

I'm so far behind on my photo uploading process that I've finally thrown-in the towel on my efforts to adjust lighting and color on MOST of my photos and am only doing it to the ones that DESPERATELY need it so I can get those suckers uploaded to Shutterfly and my family can actually SEE that we really did those things and aren't just telling stories while we're actually living like hermits in the basement. I've got Mother's Day uploaded, but not to the share site - I had to pause so my Sister-in-law Christine could upload video she took of the 6th grade play - but there's still awards, graduations, and other stuff I can't remember right now.

E3 suffered an ankle sprain the Friday before we left, and concerned parents that we are, we let it go thinking she'd forget about it...except she didn't...well, when she was in the pool she would forget...or when she was in the hot tub...

Swim rings in the hot tub=brilliant!

She also complained about the gums by her newly sprouting front tooth...which, upon close inspection revealed a remnant of her long-gone baby tooth that was working it's way out. Not to be outdone by our weekend, my sister's family of five all had the flu, and Nephew F trumped us all by having an emergency appendectomy.

What's really been on my mind though is The Dixie Chicks - I've seen billboards that they are touring with The Eagles, but I've also seen a new CD released by the Chick Sisters calling themselves Court Yard Hounds. It's made me realize how much I've missed hearing the Dixie Chicks on the radio, so I searched this out tonight. Enjoy:

Completely unrelated - I never realized how much Natalie Maines and Rachel McAdams resemble one another.

Tulsa On My Mind

Rob and I are headed to Tulsa soon for his annual work conference and I'm taking suggestions of things to see, places to go, food to eat. Help!

I think we're staying south of downtown Tulsa - hopefully there will be lots to see and do within walking distance. I've gotten spoiled in the last couple of years in Long Beach and Memphis.

We've been THROUGH Tulsa a few times on our way to visit Aunt Christine, but I don't think we've ever stopped...we've stopped in Oklahoma City, along the turnpike for quick picnics and pit stops, and last year we stopped at the totem pole, but we usually cruise through Tulsa just happy to have finally made it to Oklahoma.

So, hook us up with any Tulsa travel information you may have - especially food!

Flashback To Summer

One day last summer we struck out to see the new Stingray exhibit.

Dude, I got to hand-feed them! It was way-smooshy-cool.

Desperately Seeking Artist

Our Captiva vacation home was filled with a lot of whimsical artwork, and on our last day there I walked around snapping photos of some of my favorites just to share with you, my lovelies.

This one, to my untrained eye, looks like oil on canvas and it's embellished with shells. It made me think of my crafty friend Glenda.

This hand-painted shelf was near the front door and would be a handy place to keep a small brush and any other thing you'd need for last-minute touch-ups before heading out into the world...or in this case, a good place for sunglasses, spf lip balm, and a spare tube of sunscreen.

These two oil paintings were on the wall in the kitchen right where the hallway started.

Is it just me, or does this painting groove? It has movement...groovy movement.

This hand-painted bulletin board was in the kitchen. It has sea shell-shaped push pins, and the wording around the blue area includes phrases like 'Carpe Diem!', and 'Make a list!'

Another hand-painted item...this time a metal clock, perfect for chomping up all of your vacation time.

Chomp Chomp!




And then there are these things.....

There were multiple pieces by this artist - all carved wood, painted in festive colors, giving a whimsical flair to every room. But for the life of me, I could not decipher the artist's signature.

Casey? Causey? Carsen? Buehler?

I've Googled every possibility I've thought it could be.

See? Whimsy.

E3 likes this one.

I suspect these were made by a local artist, but I'm not sure. I hope someone will recognize the work and clue me in - I'd love to know more about this style, and the artist.