The Hauptmann's

Parent's Christmas Trip

2012-01-08T15:16:00.041-10:00

Here's the information with photos on the Christmas and New Year's Cruise we just took from Nuremberg, Germany to Budapest, Hungry on the ship River Empress sponsored by the travel company Uniworld.

We flew out of Dulles to Munich, Germany, from there it was a short commuter flight to Nuremberg where we joined our ship the River Empress floating on the Rhine-Danube Canal.

Our first stop upon arriving and getting settled in was the Nuremberg Christmas Market which is reported to be the best in Germany, we spent a lot of time there looking and shopping.

We were given several tours of the city while there but from having visited several times before we were very familiar with the place but there's always something new to be learned or new buildings and streets to be explored in every city no matter how much you might be familiar with it. In recent history because of its central location Nuremberg became the home of the great Nazi rallies and parades of the 30s, it was once a common sight to see great rivers of brown shirted storm troopers marching through the city.

During WWII the beautiful city of Nuremberg was more than 90% destroyed by allied bombing, the city has been totally rebuilt, except for a street or two little remains of the Nuremberg of old or of the Nazi rally sites. The one rally site remaining that most tours always take you to is the Zeppelinwiese, today it's little more than a neglected and crumbling ruin, looking more like an ancient Roman site than something of modern construction, certainly no longer the beautiful and imposing structure it once was.

The Nuremberg old town still has its old surrounding city walls, the Imperial Kaiserburg Castle, the Old Town Hall or Altes Rathaus, Our Lady's Church or Frauenkirche plus the Main Market and Beautiful Fountain called Hauptmarket & Schoner Brunnen. There's still plenty to see and enjoy in Nuremberg today.

The next stop on our trip was to the city of Regensburg (Ratisbon). The area of Regensburg was once a Celtic settlement and later a campsite of the Roman legions, the outline of the Roman camp is still visible around St. Peter's Cathedral.

One great sight to see while in Regenburg would be the Steinerne Brucke, an outstanding example of medieval engineering, this 1000 foot long bridge over the Danube was built in 1135-46. It provides the best panoramic view of Regensburg. Near the bridge gate, Bruckentor, stands an enormous salt warehouse.

Another great sight would be the Wurstkuche (Wurstkuchel), immediately behind the salt warehouse is the famous Wurstkuche (sausage kitchen), which has probably occupied this site since as early as the 12th century and may have served as a canteen for the builders of the bridge. Regensburger sausages are definitely worth trying.

The Altes Rathaus (Old City Hall) in the Rathausplatz dates from the 15th century with a 13th century tower. It contains a richly decorated hall (Reichssaal) where the Perpetual Imperial Diet (the firs parliament of the Holy Roman Empire) sat between 1663 and 1806. Benches in the chamber where colored to indicate who could sit where: for example, red benches for Electors. the adjoining new town hall dates from the late 17th and early 18th century.

The Dom St. Peter towers above the city on the site of the former Roman military camp. The cathedral is a massive brick structure built between 1250 and 1525, its western towers were added in 1859-1869.

There are many other places in Regensburg to explore like the Alte Kapelle or Old Chapel really a Marian collegiate church. There's the churches and buildings of the former St. Emmeram Abbey which was the burial chapel and the Roman Porta Praetoria.

After celebrating Christmas in Regensburg our next port of call on the Danube was the little university town of Deggendorf, other than to drive through Deggendorf we didn't have a chance to explore it instead we headed up through the Bavarian National Park to a country farming village where we were taken on a horse drawn carriage ride through the snow covered country side, it was a beautiful ride through the only snow we saw the whole trip, it seems Europe was having a mild winter like ours.

I was amazed by the Bavarian farm we visited, it appeared to be run like a farm in this country was operated back in the 1930s and 40s. I explored their barn and it was full of milk cows and recently born calves but there were no milking machines or any other forms of automation or modernization other than electricity, it appeared that all the milking was done the old fashioned way, by hand. The barn, the cows in wooden stanchions reminded me of my grandfather's farm back in the 40s, an amazing and very pleasing time warp.

I learned later that this farm also produced their own delicious home made bread in a wood fired outdoor oven, they let us all sample their bread and also sample a clear homemade liquor they produced and bottled on the farm called "Jager" made from locally grown root called Barivurz which was unknown to me, all I could think of to compare it to would be the white alcohol made in outdoor stills during Prohibition.

We left the farm and stopped at a small glass factory on the return trip to watch some glass blowers produce some fine German glass plus we got to tour their museum.

Our next stop on the Danube was Passau, Germany known as the city on the three rivers, the Donau (Danube), Inn, and Ilz rivers converge to form a larger Danube on its way to the Black Sea. Passau is a very old, very quaint and very lovely town and certainly worth the visit.

Upon arriving in Passau the first and most noticeable structure you see is the Fortress "Veste Oberhaus". The fortress was built in 1219 by Passau's Prince-Bishops in order to control commerce across the rivers. In the 19th century during the Napoleonic Wars the castle was one of the strongholds against the Austrians. Due to several changes over the centuries today's castle consists of Gothic, renaissance and baroque parts. The castle provides the best view of the city.

Other points of interest in the city that should be seen: St. Steven's Cathedral, Bishop's Residence, Old City Hall, Convent of Niedernburg (with tomb of St. Gisela), St. Michael's Church, St. Paul's Church, and many, many more. The magnificent St. Steven's Cathedral is an absolute gem, built on the old town's highest point. After it had burnt down almost completely in the devastating 1662 town fire, it was rebuilt in the baroque style all in white. The cathedral has a world famous pipe organ with 17974 pipes, 233 stops and 4 carillons, it's the world's largest cathedral organ.

Our next port on the Danube to stop at was Linz, Austria where travelers had their choice of either staying in Linz or getting a tour of Salzburg, since we had been to Salzburg and explored it thoroughly we opted to spend the day in Linz. Even though most cruise ships stop at Linz few actually tour the city and would rather bus their patrons to the more popular tourist city of Salzburg, after spending the day touring the sights of Linz we pretty much decided that most people are missing the boat when they miss seeing Linz. The city of Linz has much to offer and we had a great time there.

Linz is a town that is on both sides of the Danube with the historic old town on the right (south) bank. The vast Hauptplatz is regarded as one of Austria's most beautiful architectural complexes. We took a trip to a nearby hill, the Postlingberg from where there are great views of the town and river. On top of the Postlingberg mountain stands the pilgrimage church of Our Lady of Seven Sorrows, regarded as one of the main symbols of Linz built between 1738-47.

One of the most important sights would be the Martinskirche, Austria's oldest surviving church, dedicated to St. Martin. It was first mentioned in the 8th century, during the times of Charlemagne, as part of the Carolingians' former royal residence. The Gothic windows and portals date from the 8th century. There is an older Roman wall on the same site, and ten Roman tombstones, together with other ancient stones, were used as building material to erect the church. The interior also dates from the Carolingian period, the only later addition being the Neo-Gothic presbytery.

Other important sights in Linz would be the Alter Dom (Old Cathedral), the Neuer Dom (New Cathedral), Schloss (Castle), the Altes Rathaus (Old Town Hall) and many more sights

Our next stop on the Danube was Durnstein, (Duernstein) Austria to get there we passed through the prettiest section of the Danube river gorge and the Wachau wine region with its many castles and abbeys along the way.

The town of Durnstein (Duernstein) is small but very scenic with its castle ruins towering on the mountain above the town. The castle walls snake down from both sides of the mountain to envelope the town which can be entered by the portals or gates in the walls. Sights to see in the town of Durnstein or Duernstein would be the Monastery Duernstein, Steiner gate and Painter's corner.

Climbing up the mountain to the castle is a must if you're physically fit, we managed to reach the top after many, many steps but took the road back. King Richard the Lion Heart was actually held prisoner there by some Austrian prince during the time of the Crusades making the castle famous.

Our tour guides pointed out another fact about the Duernstein area that isn't widely known and was only recently discovered by archaeologists, Napoleon fought a battle there against the Austrians and lost, one of the few battles he lost at that time.

While docked at Durnstein we left the ship in the evening for an exclusive cocktail reception at Artstetten Castle with Princess Anita von Hohenberg who is a direct descendant of the royal Hapsburgs. The trip to the castle required about a 40 minute bus ride. Artstetten Castle was bought by Emperor Franz I in 1823, the castle has remained a family property until this day. The present owner is Princess Anita von Hohenberg, a great grand-daughter of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. The museum in part of the castle and was dedicated to the Archduke and opened in 1982, Princess Anita von Hohenberg and her family live in the other part of the castle.

There are many rooms open to the public in the castle, each room tells a part of the story of the history of the Habsburgs. One of the most interesting rooms is the crypt beneath the church which is part of the castle, Artstetten was intended as a widow's residence for the wife of Franz Ferdinand. Following the birth of a stillborn boy in 1908 at the Belvedere, Franz Ferdinand had a crypt built in Artstetten. This was enlarged and improved in 1917 when Artstetten became a centre of "pilgrimage". Following the death of the couple's son Ernst in 1954, a new Hohenberg crypt was added underneath the south terrace. This part of the crypt is not open to the public.

Our next sailing port of call on the Danube was Vienna, Austria. There's so much to see and do in this architecturally rich city it would take pages to list everything so only a few highlights can be mentioned here some of these highlights are well known and others rarely mentioned or seen but all are an important part of the history of Vienna.

We visited the Ringstrasse, once a wall around the old town but now a street circling the old town, the wall was torn down ages ago to make room for expansion. We strolled though the Holfburg grounds to the towering landmark St. Stephen's Cathedral. We visited the Baroque State Hall of the Austrian National Library, said to be the most beautiful library room in the world. We also visited the Imperial Crypt of the PP Capuchins where the personalities of the house of Habsburg are buried in Imperial Vaults and the Spanish Riding School to see the Lipizzaner's perform.

We toured Schonbrunn Palace, the former Habsburg summer residence, and saw the state rooms and private apartments of the imperial couple, Franz Joseph and Elisabeth. While at Schonbrunn Palace we also saw a puppet show at the Schloss Marionette Theater and later shopped at the Schloss Christmas market.

That evening we celebrated the New Year in grand style with a festive dinner and dancing in the magnificent Palais Pallavicini, which hosted performances by Mozart, Beethoven, and Salieri. Later, before the clock struck midnight we grabbed our coats and went to the streets with what seemed like a million celebrating Vienna revelers. The streets were so packed with people we had to take to the side streets to get through, it seemed there was a band on every corner entertaining some very inebriated spectators and uncontrolled fireworks being exploded all around us, we were wondering as we dodged firecrackers (the really big ones we used to call M-80s) if this is what the WWII battle of Vienna must have sounded like when the Danube river was the front line. This certainly was a memorable New Years, right up there with the one in Cologne a year or two before, the Europeans know how to have a good time and except for the firecrackers we felt completely safe the whole time as we made our way to the subway and back to the ship where there was still more fireworks displays all around our ship.

The next morning our tour guide gave us sort of an unconventional street car tour of Vienna, sights not often seen by the average tourist. One place he took us to left us speechless, they were the WWII flack towers, I had read about them but had never seen one in person but right in front of us was two of them. Two huge WWII flack towers standing side by side in a quiet Vienna park, the size of those things is immense, you really can't get a feel for their size unless you've seen one in person but there they were.

During WWII the German military built these towers in cities like Berlin, Hamburg and Vienna for air raid protection. They were heavily armed with anti-aircraft weapons but the allies learned of their existence and avoided them bombing Vienna anyway so except for the towers in Berlin they mostly served as civilian air raid shelters. These towers were virtually indestructible as the Russians found out in Berlin during the battle when they lined up there heaviest artillery against one of the towers there and fired away barely scratching the surface but eventually the soldiers in the tower had to surrender when they ran out of supplies, being among the last in Berlin to do so. Today many of the towers are still around as reminders of the war because of their total indestructibility.

The final port of call before leaving for home was Budapest, Hungary. We docked below the Buda castle on the Buda side of the Danube River within easy walking of both the Buda and Pest sides of the river. The Pest side being the city side with all the shopping and the Buda side being the side with the castle.

As usual we had the city tour which featured the famous 19th century Chain Bridge, the first bridge to connect Buda with Pest. We went past the Great Synagogue, Hungarian National Museum, Hungarian State Opera House, St. Stephen's Basilica, Gellert Hill, Vaci Utca shopping district, and the stunning Parliament Building. We also visited the UNESCO listed Castle Hill district, St. Matthias Church, and the 19th century Fisherman's Bastion.

In WWII Hungary was allied with Germany and Budapest became a fortress, the battle that was fought in Budapest was one of the greatest and bloodiest of the war, there was little quarter given on either side with few survivors on the losing side, but today almost no sign of that great battle remains, just one building on the Buda castle side remains showing war damage from that time and on the Pest side war damage is even more difficult to discern as you walk the streets. For years after the war Hungary became a communist country behind the Iron Curtain and today it's a free and democratic country but some signs of those hard times remain today with the rundown appearance of their city in places.

Life with Kids

2012-01-04T10:27:00.009-10:00

Evan: One time I tried breathing under water and it all got into my nose, my throat, my lungs...

Me: Evan! You can't breathe under water!

Evan: I know but I just wanted to try...I was coughing and coughing...

Me: It's impossible, you can't breath under water

Evan: I know, I just wanted to try anyway

Evan after getting back from walking Nalu: Nalu's sister is so cute, I went to the door to ask if I could walk Nalu, Nalu started barking and Nea said, "Nalu says yes."

Evan beating on a bucket and singing to the theme song of Dog the Bounty Hunter: I am the god, the big bad god...
Me: Evan knock it off you are driving me nuts...Evan enough...Evan stop, that's obnoxious
Evan: No, you can't censor my art
Me: ???

Tons of dogs barking and barking in the distance one night,

Owen: hear all those dogs barking?

Me: ah-uh

Owen in his cute little Owen voice: They are having a party

Me: Evan, just a minute, I am trying to clean up

Owen: She is cleaning up, not down, up

Erik, in the past brought home from work left over biscuits that come from a popular fried chicken place that's named after a sailor that eats spinach. The name, apparently, is on the box.

Owen: punching Erik in the belly

Erik: How does it feel to be punching pure iron

Owen: You're getting soft like those biscuits you bring home from Pope-ees

Erik: laughs hysterically for a week and tells the story over and over and now Popeyes is known as Pope-ees.

Owen: There was a gat on the table and I let it live
Erik laughing hysterically: did the gat came on an owoool after eating biscuits from Pope-ees.

Going over prefixes with Owen: Is that why they call is minus, because you mini it?!

Driving home from the orthodontist
Me: Erica, I am so proud of you, they said you had awesome oral hygiene and you have done it all by yourself with no help. I don't know how you are able to floss with your braces
Erica: It's really hard to get to the very back, I have to do lip origami

Last Weeks of 2011

2011-12-31T13:14:00.002-10:00

Beware when shopping at Lowes-you never know what will end up in the back of your truck with your plants...
Erica getting ready to get her braces put on,
Evan testing for his brown belt,

breaking boards,

Evan was the highest ranking person testing so he got to bow everyone in and out, this will probably be the only time this will happen,

Erik took Evan kayaking,

I went shopping with Erica and we saw the most beautiful magi ever, Erica noticed they were each on a different animal,
we also saw the most beautiful kimono ever,

Erik took the kids to a shipyard Christmas party,

Erica and Rachel decorating a gingerbread house,
Erica dissecting a shark at science lab,

decorating Christmas cookies,
Christmas Eve...
Erik starts cutting up our dining room carpet,

scrubbing the red dirt off the concrete,
we were originally going to acid wash the concrete and just use it but Erik had a better idea,
taking a silly break,
laying the flooring,
taking a Christmas bread break, Erik showed Evan how to make this little lantern-I was so impressed,
the flooring is done in the dining room,
it looks so awesome Erik decides to do the whole floor, breaking tile in the foyer-note the wall next to the steps,
it was a mess,

scrubbing,
taking a tree trimming break...I am sure there is an easier way to do this...
oooh, half way,
oh wow, the walls, next to the steps are gone-hurray!
taking a air-soft game break,

two weeks with braces-so far so good,
she had to go back for her jaw expander
the floor is gorgeous, we are loving it,

the closet took Erik a whole day,

picking out a paint color for the walls now,

taking a rc-car break-this car is a lot of fun,
Evan and Erica have been walking Nalu in the mornings...actually I think Nalu walks Evan...

2011-12-23T10:39:00.000-10:00

My Parent's Trip to Cape May NJ

2011-12-20T11:52:00.000-10:00

Our most recent CCBC bus trip was to Cape May, NJ and it was a very nice overnight trip. Our hotel was the Marquis de Lafayette Hotel centrally located on the ocean and at the same time within easy walking distance of downtown Cape May, the view from our room of the ocean was very nice.

We had both talked of a visit to Cape May but had never made it there until now and we're happy we did because of all the Victorian homes in Cape May, the tour guide told us that Cape May had the most Victorian homes of any city in the US, plus Cape May had one Colonial period home that has been restored.

Our house tour was of the Emlen Physick Estate, a beautifully restored Victorian home that was built by a doctor. A group of concerned historians took possession of the Emlen Physick Estate after it had fallen into a total state of disrepair and from there totally restored it.

While touring the Emlen Physick Estate we were happy to see that all the "ginger bread" wood decorations had been totally restored inside and out. We were also happy to see the dark and somewhat cluttered house decor of hanging paintings, family portraits, furnishings, mounted animal heads and all the period holiday decorations faithfully restored to the Victorian era.

We walked around the town taking photos plus we had two trolley tours, during the daytime tour so we could see all the houses and the tour after dark so we could enjoy the holiday lights on the same houses. The largest Victorian in Cape May that is open to the public is the Southern Mansion and nearby is the Inn of Cape May which is still a hotel, according to the tour guide it once provided a setting for a party for Bessie Wallace Warfield before she married either Mr. Simpson or the Duke of Windsor. Another large and old hotel in Cape May, the Congress Hall, it's where President Harrison stayed, it became his summer White House. While there he was entertained by the US Marine Corp band.

Life with Erica

2011-12-16T20:48:00.002-10:00

Erica: We need to put the pier up.
Me: The what??
Erica: The pier!
Me:??? What are you saying?
Erica: You know, the thing that goes on the front door.
Me: Oh, the wreath.
Erica: That's right, I knew it was something that had to do with the ocean.

Parent's Trip to Philadelphia

2011-12-14T11:50:00.006-10:00

This trip was to Philadelphia for the day and I learned about places in Philadelphia I never knew existed and that's strange because I lived in Reading for 8 years and for some reason never visited many of the cultural places of interests that Philadelphia had to offer. About the only places I remember visiting on several occasions over my lifetime were Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell but Philadelphia has so much more to offer as I was to discover.

Our first stop was the Philadelphia Museum of Art made famous by the Sylvester Stallone in the Rocky film, his statue is still in the front of the museum off to the right side.

I have to think of all those years I lived in Reading and traveled the 50 miles to Philly along the Schuylkill River and looked at the Museum of Art up on the hill and never once visited the place. I also remember the skull racing in the Schuylkill River below the museum. I remember Pennsylvanians nicknamed the Schuylkill River the "Skully" and the Tulpehocken Creek in Reading that flowed into the Schuylkill was the "Tully", I remember swimming in both in my youth.

The day of our visit we visited the museum and had lunch there plus we visited three of the old homes in Fairmount Park which is the large park that is situated on the hills above and along the northeast side of the Schuylkill River. There are 7 historic homes in Fairmount Park: Strawberry Mansion, Cedar Grove, Sweetbriar, Lemon Hill, Mount Pleasant, Laurel Hill, and Woodford. We only had time to visit three: Cedar Grove, Lemon Hill and Woodford but hopefully one day we'll return and be able to see the others.

Even though we were unable to visit the remaining 4 mansions we passed by them and in some cases were able to take photos. Another note of interest was the numerous statues placed along the river near the boat houses, the number of these statues was really impressive.

Thank you Dad for including my most favorite sculpture!

Life

2011-12-12T15:10:00.000-10:00

Erica had a science project due in her science class, it was so funny, all us home school parents were like, "what??? due??? a project???, are you kidding?!!" It was actually fun and it did get done and turned in on time,

I am usually pretty late putting our tree up. Back in September, for Evan's birthday he asked to put the tree up as his present. I took the hint and promised we'd get it up right after Thanksgiving. I did but it took a few days to finish,

Erica wanted to put the angel on,
mosaics in Kapolei,

Fairy Cakes?? It is like the ice cream truck that used to come around when I was a kid but this van comes around with cup cakes,
the zoo was having a special night to celebrate Christmas,
Erica brought her friends, there was a llama-he was super soft,

they decorated cookies,

we had two Japanese boys for a home stay,
I took them up to see the honu,
then for some shaved ice at the famous Matsumoto general store,

the large ones are really huge,
Mr. Motsumoto happened to be there, he's fluent in Japanese so he helped translate some, his fingers are stained with coloring because, he said, he was mixing flavors. They make all their own flavors,
we stopped for pictures at the pineapple fields,
they grow out the top like artichokes.

Parent's Mayan Trip

2011-12-11T13:18:00.028-10:00

My parents took a trip on the Holland America MS Ryndam ship to the western Caribbean to see the Mayan ruins.

The Mayan Cruise began in Tampa, Florida where we joined our ship the Ms Ryndam of the Holland America Line. I've included a photo of our ship plus a few shots of downtown Tampa from the ship. We experienced a somewhat rocky trip across the Western Caribbean Sea to the port of San Miguel on the island of Cozumel. After landing in San Miguel we disembarked walking the long pier to the commercial tenders for the trip to the Mexican mainland and the port of Playa del Carmen where we joined our bus for the trip to the Mayan city of Tulum.

While walking to the bus among the stores and hotels I noticed a small park with lots of shrubs and trees, in among the foliage I saw what appeared to be Mayan ruins, on the way back we had about half an hour to wait in Playa del Carmen so I investigated the park and found three really pretty Mayan temples which appeared to be the exposed tops of Mayan pyramids, the rest of the pyramids appeared to still be buried, later I asked our Mexican-Mayan tour guide about these ruins and he said oh yes there were Mayan ruins there and that the port of Playa del Carmen was build right over them, if I hadn't asked he never would have mentioned them to us, I've included photos of the three pretty little temples.

During the bus ride to Tulum our tour guide mentioned that he was more than half Mayan with the rest of him being Spanish, he was very proud of his Mayan ancestry, he said he spoke the Mayan language along with Spanish and English. He said that Mayan is taught today in schools in the Yucatan states where the Mayans mainly lived and where their descendants still live today. He said his wife was 75% Mayan making his son more Mayan than him.

He said that are more than a hundred indigenous peoples, tribes and languages officially recognized by the Mexican government. He said that all true Mayans had the birth mark on their lower back, he showed us photos of the mark and it appeared to be a large black blotch about the size of one's fist, he said that all tribes related to Maya like the Mixtec, Toltec, Aztec, etc. all had this birth mark and the only other peoples in the world who had this mark were the Mongolians in central Asia of whom he said that all Mayans are descended.

Following are my photos of the Tulum ruins beginning with photos of two of the four entrances through the walls surrounding Tulum, these walls were to keep out any Mayan who wasn't Mayan royalty.

My photos of Tulum are here, I went October 7, 2009.

This part of the cruise took us to the country of Belize formerly British Honduras and is claimed by Guatemala, Guatemala has made attempts to take it. Tiny Belize with a population of about 350,000 people is the only English speaking country in either Central or South America. We landed there and had a bus tour of Belize City, now no longer the capital after a devastating 1961 hurricane, the capital was moved 50 miles inland to a new site. We later proceeded to the Mayan ruins of Altun Ha located in the jungle in what seemed like a long drive from the city. The country of Belize is very poor, people were living in tiny dwellings or shacks pretty much the way their ancestors did. In Belize City there were few worthwhile photo opportunities other than the cruise dock and tourist area which is off limits to the local people but I did manage to include a few shots of the city as well as the cruise ship tourist area stores, all the rest of the photos were taken at Altun Ha. The Mayan ruins of Altun Ha were unique because they contained a temple and round stone where human sacrifices took place, photo no. 97. We were allowed to climb this pyramid along with a few other structures, the pyramid was quite a climb up very uneven steps. The people of Belize are a mixture of Carib and Mayan blood plus some British and African lines but the people appear to be mostly African descent similar to those people found on some Caribbean islands.

#97

The next phase of our cruise was to us to the island of Roatan, located off the coast of Honduras and owned by Honduras, it's at a private enclave or resort constructed specifically for cruise ships. Although Honduras is the second largest Central American nation, it is among the least populated. Volcanoes and rivers dominate the fertile landscape, a lush rain forest thrives in the environment. Of the islands of Honduras Roatan is the largest, it's 30 miles long and about 3 miles wide. The Spanish first arrived there to find the peaceful Arawak Indians, according to history of the island in one of the buildings the Spanish killed all the male Arawaks and sold the females into slavery. Today cruise ship passengers enjoy the place, I've encluded photos of the resort.

The last stop on our cruise was at Costa Maya on the coast of Mexico. Costa Maya is one of those protected resort new towns of mostly shops that caters only to cruise ships and the locals aren't allowed to enter. The town was created in a sparely populated area of Mexico where there's little in the way of commerce or population. We left the ship and walked on a long pier to the area of shops where we boarded a bus for the Mayan ruins of Chacchoben. Chacchoben was another long dusty and bumpy bus ride which included several stops along the way for police road blocks, evidently police road blocks in every part Mexico is a way of life there, what they're. Our local tour guide said the people were happy with all the road blocks because it kept them safe. The tour guide on this trip was only about a fourth of Mayan blood and talked a lot of his Mayan grandmother. His English and knowledge of the local history was excellent. Each of the Mayan sites has its own distinct differences and with Chacchoben what made it interesting were the archaeologically excavated residential areas where the average Mayan. In the royal enclave of the city I learned that those temples and pyramids were lived in, archaeologists have excavated sleeping pallets in various rooms of the temples and we were able to enter some of those rooms where were quite small, a palm branch roof would have been placed over the rooms and there were some reconstructions showing this. I also learned that there would be Mayan settlements or cities where certain types of trees and palms grew, the palms supplied building material and the roofs for houses and a certain type of tree would supply sap that became something like chewing gum, it's where the term Chiclets comes from. I took photos of these types of trees and on one tree the groves for sap removal can still be distinguished. As with all Mayan cities the wall of separation of the population is there also. Black Warrior ants are shown in photo number 136, one has to watch where you're walking, the Black Warrior ants were at Tulum, longs lines of them marching, stepping on them would be painful so care should be taken when they're around.

What a great trip and learning experience! Thank you Dad!

Tea Time

2011-12-10T14:26:00.007-10:00

For tea this year the theme was Home For Christmas and the verse, Luke 19:9-10 Jesus said, "Today salvation has come to this house...for the Son of man came to seek and to save what was lost."

it was so neat seeing what "home at Christmas" meant to each of the ladies that did tables,

here are a few of my favorite tables,

this was Sue's table, her table was very homey like a home with little decorations all over,

everything on this table was roses and matched perfectly,

Erica is such a huge help, she tied bows and placed decorations where she liked them to go,
Michele sang I'll Be Home For Christmas, I just LOVE her voice,
Erica listening ever so attentively to Sue's message,
Zacchaeus, the chief tax collector-a man loathed and feared by the community had to go out and mix with a large group-risking ridicule, climbed a tree to make sure he saw Jesus. As Jesus passed under the tree He looked up and said, "Zacchaeus, come down immediately, I must stay at your house today." Jesus already knew Zacchaeus' name, He didn't ask to stay at his house He said I must stay at your house today. Very emphatic-He actively seeks and searches you out. Jesus wasn't leaving until He saved this lost sinner. Jesus states, "Today salvation has come to this house." Jesus was responsible for the dramatic change in Zacchaeus' life. Jesus wants to come and bring salvation to your house and dramatically change your life. He is seeking you...this Christmas...at your house!
This is Debbie, she sat my at tea table three years ago. She came to my house to pick up stamps I sold on ebay and I kept feeling the Spirit urge me to invite her to tea. I did and she came. She kept coming to church and to tea but now she is getting ready to move to TX and wanted to sit at my table for her last tea.

Outings out with Daddy

2011-12-10T11:53:00.007-10:00

He took Erica out on the kayak,

they got to ride a few waves,
playing on the swings,

on a very wavy day,
Owen and Erik went out about a mile off shore where the big cargo ships anchor,
it was so wavy they kayak flipped,
getting close,
a little too close now,
a tug was pretty upset and escorted them back to shore,

watching the sun set...

Thanksgiving

2011-11-25T15:23:00.003-10:00

Hawaii is called the pineapple state because the pineapple is a symbol of hospitality, friendship and welcoming. A pineapple would be placed outside the hut of those receiving visitors

We have always wondered why hummingbirds were never brought to Hawaii, it is because of the pineapple, seeds negatively affect the quality of the fruit so the importation of hummingbirds and honey bees are prohibited-this is from the HI Government list of prohibited animals. Captain Cook brought pineapples to Hawaii and large scale cultivation began in the mid 1800's. The pineapple is called "hala kahiki" which means foreign hala (fruit) or hala'ai which means forbidden fruit-forbidden to eat unless first presented as an offering to the gods.
It rained flowers on our car,
this sign...if you read it left to right it says: "on left arrow only no u turn" since that doesn't make any sense I tried: "on arrow left only no turn u"...
heading to Bellows for Thanksgiving,

we are thankful for everything, God is so good...dirty prints on my walls, paint on the carpet, never finding scissors when I need them, everything about living in Hawaii, Erik, his job, our families, my new touch kitchen faucet, traveling, and so much more...

Last Week

2011-11-24T20:14:00.006-10:00

Last weekend we went to the Physics Open House at UH. They were pretty surprised to see us come with such young kids, it was pretty much advertised for highschool kids which mainly who was there,

the kids had a blast and learned a ton,
the Dept. Chair, Professor Lam, really took a lot of time with the kids, explaining all the concepts to them,
what's kind of cool (to me being I am from Maryland) is he came from Gaithersburg, MD from the National Bureau of Standards and Technology in 1985, NIST houses the atomic clock which is the official time for the US, has a neutron science facility, an ultraviolet radiation facility, as well as a nanotechnology research facility...among other things. Erik would love it here,
like how a spinning wheel is able to keep a bicycle up right,
diving with pressure,
how Owen could boil water with his hand,
how the pig seems to be on top,
how a train slows,

then he got the kids floating on the airfoil, Erik makes many of these experiments at home, we can't wait for him to do this one...his leaf blower is gas powered...!
after this we went to a seminar on the smallest neutrino detector, they asked if anyone knew what a neutrino was...no one would answer-finally Evan raised his hand, was called on, and said, "like little things that can pass through your body or anything every second," the teacher called him a genius and I was very impressed!
last stop was the physics lab with Professor Sattler and his awesome German accent, where we learned about nanophysics, cool stuff about graphite and saw photos of real silver atoms taken by a special scanning microscope-very cool stuff. There were tons more but we never get to see it all and always say we can't wait for the open houses next year.

Remembrance Day at Gettysburg, Nov. 19th, 2011

2011-11-24T17:14:00.006-10:00

I was able to participate in Remembrance Day in Gettysburg, something I've done probably for about 30 years but during those years wither with the Gilmor Camp Color Guard of the Sons of Confederate Veterans or the 1st Virginia Infantry re-enactment unit, but for various reasons I've missed the last two years, happily I was able to return this year and was invited to march with the group of staff officers who control the Confederate part of the parade.

How the Remembrance Day began is as follows: Every November 19 since 1863, a special event takes place in Gettysburg called Remembrance Day. It started nearly 150 years ago with a visit from President Abraham Lincoln to commemorate the Gettysburg Cemetery in honoring the Union dead. What followed next is perhaps the most notable speech in American history - the Abraham Lincoln Gettysburg Address.

Each November 19 (or the closest Saturday) since then, Gettysburg Remembrance Day is celebrated to memorialize the brave soldiers who fought and died at the Battle of Gettysburg. On Saturday during that week a parade is held featuring Civil War re-enactors, Abraham Lincoln look-a-likes, and many others wearing Civil War era clothing. It is really a sight to see all the units of soldiers marching down the street in Civil War reenactment clothing.

You'll notice in one photo I'm standing next to a Confederate soldier by the name of Russell Justice, what is unique about Russell is that he never wear any shoes, he's always barefoot even in the coldest weather, I don't know how he does it. When he's marching along the spectators gasp in disbelief when they see shoeless Russell marching along totally unconcerned with a smile on his face.

Catching Up-two weeks ago

2011-11-24T15:47:00.005-10:00

Okay, we aren't very good stewards of Gilbert's kittens, she keeps stashing them up under the car and in the spare under the truck. As I go flying around corners trying to make it before the light goes red, in the rear view mirror I see little kittens flying out. Erik, trying to stress us all out and speed up the process of loosing the kittens, took two to work and let them go there but they hid under the car and hitched a ride back home...he was totally out smarted by two kittens!

anyway...Gilbert had been teaching her kittens to hunt, it is pretty entertaining to watch "the big cat" come out in such a sweet soft and furry little thing,
so we have a bird with missing tail feathers...and hear her crunching little gray mice...
off to Bellows,
I can't believe erik was fast enough to catch a sand crab...this one was pretty big...
Erica made a sea turtle,
and a really deep hole,

I happened to come upon a group in the process of spray painting a mural,
they worked as the sun went down,

Erik right before his shave and a hair cut-I wanted to dye it black and book a trip to Syria to see all the Roman ruins but Erik wasn't going for it, what do you think...could he pass for an Arab?

as I was leaving to pick Evan up I come upon this...

My Parent's Trip to France

2011-11-09T16:22:00.052-10:00

Our recent French trip on the Saone and the Rhone Rivers was a wonderful and I loved every moment of it, there were a few highlights that I thought were out of this world and made the whole trip really special.

To begin with we arrived in Paris, our hotel location in Paris was practically under the Eiffel Tower, we walked out the front door of the hotel and were looking up at the tower. We didn't do a whole lot other than walk around the city some when we first arrived and most of the area we covered while walking was around the Eiffel Tower and the military school. I'll send you a few photos of what we saw and also some statues of horses I took for Erica. The next day we had a bus tour of Paris and then left by bus for the Saone River and our ship the Rembrandt. On the way to our ship we stopped for lunch in a town where the hunting lodge of the king was located, as you will see the place was immense and absolutely beautiful. I included a photo of our favorite restaurant from past trips to Paris from the days when we would pay in Franks.

We had lunch in the town where the king's hunting chateau was located, we didn't tour the chateau but I took photos of the front. We left Paris and drove to St. Jean de Losne and met the ship then to Dijon old town including the Palasi des Ducs de Bourgogne and Chateau du Clos de Vougeot. In the afternoon we visited Seurre and drove through the Cote de Beaune past the vineyards of Volnay, Pommard and Meursault to Beaune where we explored the Old Town.

This Cluny and Macon, bus ride from the ship to Cluny with a visit to the famous Cluny monastery. Ancient Roman bridge at Macon still in use along some other ancient houses and churches in Macon. Continue to Tournus on the River Saone and sail through the lovely Maconnaise countryside.

Lyon

The following photos show the wonderful city of Lyon, this city was an absolute gem, Lyon is a university city and the people are so nice, every time we looked confused or pulled out a map it seemed there was an English speaking French person there offering help. Such a beautiful city, it's were the Saone and Rhone came together, I took a photo of the rivers meeting. We toured the Renaissance Quarter, including the Basilica Notre Dame, and walked through Halles de Lyon (famous food market), we also took the funicular to the Roman ruins. Lyon was a pleasant surprise for both of us and it only got better from Lyon on down the Rhone. The horse fountain actually blew smoke from the nostril's of the horses, I think my photo shows it.

These are photos of the city of Vienne. Included are the Temple of Augustus and Livia and the Roman theater in the town center plus the Romanesque-Gothic Cathedral St. Maurice.

These photos are of Tournon and Valence, we explored the streets of Vieux Valence and the around 11th century St. Apollinaire Cathedral, we went to the vineyards of the Cote du Rhone for a wine tasting and we visited Tain l'Hermitage on the other side of the Rhone.

These photos show the ancient town of Viviers, highlights of this old walled town include the Bishop's Palace, the Cathedral, and the Knights' Residence. Interesting story told to us by our tour guide, I guess it was the Knights' Residence where during the French Wars of religion between the Catholics and the Protestants an important citizen of the town had always wanted to be a Lord and Knight under the Catholics but was never selected so when the Protestant armies invaded and captured the city he changed sides and the Protestants made him the Lord of the town and a Knight, he took his revenge upon the Catholics and built the most beautiful residence in town (photo number 299). One thing he hadn't counted on was the Catholic armies coming back and recapturing the town which they did and the turn-coat Lord was the first to lose his head. This was also the town where the Johnny Depp movie "Chocolate" was filmed.

#299

Pont du Gard, the famous Roman aqueduct was the true highlight of the trip for me, the aqueduct was awesome, something I had always wanted to see. On the way to the Pont we visited the ancient city of Chateauneuf du Pape and its old castle overlooking Chateauneuf du Pape. After the Pont we visted the historic town of Uzes.

We traveled from the Pont to the town of Uzes in the wine country for yet another wine tasting, this time at the Chateau des Fines Roches, all the wine we tasted was wonderful, we would buy a bottle if it was something we really liked. On the way we stopped at the ruined castle at Uzes, during WWII the Germans had stored ammunition in the basement of the castle and when they retreated up the Rhone toward Germany they blew up the munitions dump destroying the old ruin even more.

Avignon is the next city, we toured the famous Le Pont D'Avignon, the Roman bridge that was built over many times through the centuries but no longer used. We visited the 14th century Gothic Palais des Papes, and saw where the popes lived when Avignon was the Vatican, I stood where the Popes once stood to give their blessing in the courtyard of the Palais, (photos 409 and 411), we walked along the great walls of Villeneuve Lez-Avignon. A beautiful city.

#409
#411

The next city we visited was Arles, in Arles there's a Roman Amphitheatre and lots of other Roman ruins plus the former Cathedral of St. Trophime but what I found most interesting about Arles was that Vincent Van Gogh once lived there, he admitted to the hospital there and later his home and studio were there for awhile but gone now, his studio was near the Lion Bridge which was bombed by the allies in WWII so the studio was lost and the bridge never rebuilt. What is so interesting is you can walk around Arles and there are plaques which depict Van Gogh's painting and the spot where it was painted so you can take photos of the place he painted showing how it looks now, I've included all these I could find because I'm a fan of Van Gogh.

We're getting toward the end of the trip, we left the ship and had an excursion to Aix de Province where I don't think I took many photos and from there to our hotel on the Med in Nice where I took more photos. Nice was the home of Matisse, we visited his home which is situated in the middle of all the Roman excavations, we also visited the grave of Matisse and another home in downtown Nice where he lived while his home was being built. Nice was a lovely city. From Nice we flew home.

Fun Weekend

2011-11-07T20:51:00.018-10:00

Uncle Chris came for the weekend so we took him off to see the real Hawaii-up the Waianae side to Kaeana Point. On the way we saw this parrot in the car,

Erik regularly carries a gallon jug of water on the hikes, a couple passed us with the girl carrying the big backpack and Erik just thought that was the greatest thing,
the blow hole,
Erik had Evan set a paper cup over it, it was pretty funny watching the cup blow up into the air,
the surf was pretty rough,

I couldn't figure out what all these black creatures were all over the rocks, they were pretty resistant to the wave action,

these guys were set up for some heavy duty fishing, Erik talked to one who said they kayak out their lines and fish all night,
we've made a few jokes about this, it's not real attractive in person though,
we couldn't figure out what caused this, the way it was positioned it looked like a meteor hit it,

they saw this cave and decided to explore, I was surprised how long they were gone for,

we have our own Via Appia,
the protected Pacific Shearwater Birds, they are ground nesting and migrate from Tasmania to Alaska stopping in Hawaii, they come to the islands only to breed, they are related to the albatross-which we did not see any of this time-apparently people had been bringing their dogs which were killing the babies who just sit helpless. A giant fence and gate system has been installed, I hope the albatross return, they are spectacular,
two of the three napping monkseals,
big beautiful waves,

we saw another seal on the way back,
after the hike we stopped at the beach,
the boys were brave enough to play in the waves, there were warning signs all over the beach,
Sunday they all hiked Koko Head,

Chris decided this is something he never wanted to do again...my thoughts exactly,
Bellows was the next stop, Erica made some napping seals, she played in the waves too!

and caught some jellies,
one very strange looking plant,

this is the Pacific Golden Plover that lives in our court and hangs in our yard, in the summer the plovers have black faces and bellies, in the winter they loose the black and keep the brown and white specks. They are amazing like the shearwater birds in that they will fly straight from Alaska to Hawaii for the winter. We joke that's why we only see them walk everywhere now-their little wings are tired and they are sick of flying. This one is pretty fleet footed and we love that it hangs in our court.

Last Week

2011-11-04T14:33:00.009-10:00

It seems like we have been crazy busy lately...

Erica needed to have oral surgery up in the roof of her mouth right behind her teeth. She had a little tooth that had to come out,
all smiles before,
trying to still smile afterwards,
HI has been feverishly getting ready for APEC, they've spent a ton fixing up Nimitz and cleaning up after moving homeless out.

Now Evan is in the chair...
getting braces.
Saturday, while Erik worked, we went to Punahou for Lacy Veach Day of Discovery, they started with taiko-amazingly haunting Japanese drums. Lacy Veach grew up in Hawaii, he graduated from Punahou and the Air Force Academy, earned the Distinguished Flying Cross, Air Medal, and Purple Heart while a fighter pilot, and then became a NASA astronaut.
the head of Punahou School sang the school song and welcomed us. Punahou was founded in 1841, it's a bit famous now that a graduate has become president (Obama) and it's sports program was ranked number 1 as being the best in the US with alumni winning 17 Olympic medals. Steve case, the founder of AOL is also a grad as is the founder of ebay. The school has graduated 11 Army Generals, 3 Rear Admirals, 1 Marine Major General, and 6 Air Force Generals. I'd be here all day listing academic and other achievements.

In 1975, the land known as Ka Punahou was taken in battle by King Kamehameha, he gave the 225 acres to chief Kame'eiamoku for his loyalty. His granddaughter, Liliha, gave the land to Reverend Hiram Bingham, a Christian missionary. Students attend chapel every 6 days. Tuition is $18,000...per year...that includes kindergarten too...
Next to speak and talk story was Nainoa Thompson who is an Native Hawaiian navigator and director of the Polynesian Voyaging Society. He used ancient Polynesian methods to navigate the Hokule'a and the Hawai'iloa (replicas of Polynesian double hulled voyaging canoes) from Hawaii to other Polynesian island nations. He is a graduate of Punahou as well as a very good friend of Lacy Veach.
A photo of the ko'i or adze (ax) out the window of the space shuttle as it was passing over the Hawaiian Islands. The adze quarry was on Mauna Kea-it was in fact a huge complex of quarries, work sites, shelters, and shrines from 9,000-13,000' elevation. Few places have the kind of hard rock needed for tools. The stone was lashed to a wooden handle and used to hollow out koa trees.

The kids had a workshop on using GPS,
and another on tracking the sun with a homemade device.

I thought this Bird of Paradise looked particularly bird like,
the original school hall built in 1851,
a marker for where the Bingham house stood,
the panini o kapunahou along the lava wall of Punahou was planted in 1836 by Mrs. Bingham. The hylocereus hedge is huge-300 meters long and has these huge spectacular flowers that bloom at night,
we had a hedge of these at the very first house we lived in when we first moved to Hawaii 15 years ago, in the mornings I was greeted by these gorgeous flowers,

Dale Olive, a UH science professor and part of the Future Flight Hawaii Weird Science Team (which Owen will be going to in June) does an awesome science demonstration, here he is showing how to make and play a Babooze bagpipe,
Okay, does anyone know what a puffette is? We saw this really odd food truck, food trucks are hugely popular here for lunch time grinds but this one for egg puffs just was...odd...
we saw a beautiful rainbow colored cloud,
Halloween, Erica is an angel,
we have such great neighbors, the anticipation of how they are going to dress up is so exciting,

Owen's, Erik's, Evan's, and Erica's pumpkins-they drew and carved themselves.

Waimanalo Pumpkin Patch

2011-10-31T05:22:00.000-10:00

"So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything but God, who makes things grow" 1 Cor. 3:7 is the belief of Waimanalo Country Farms.

Dakota Supersweet...what a great morning.

Makahiki

2011-10-30T17:38:00.000-10:00

The Makahiki is an ancient annual festival dedicated to Lono, the guardian of agriculture, rain, health, and peace. The Makahiki festival was celebrated for 2,000 years throughout the Hawaiian Islands. It was based on the lunar calendar, the beginning of the Hawaiian new year began on the first night of the rising of the constellation Makali'i (Pleiades). The four months following the rise of Makali'i, October through January, was set aside as a time for Lono-to give thanksgiving for the bounty of the land and sea. During the Makahiki all warfare was strictly forbidden in reverence to Lono. Lono represented the spiritual life-force that came from agricultural efforts, the people celebrated with feasting. The focus on health and welfare was celebrated with games of skill that tested body and mind.

The first phase was spiritual cleansing and making offerings to the gods. The offerings were made on the altar of Lono.

here the Nakoa is accepting a ho'okupu-gift according to royal protocol,
the Kahuna Nui- high priest cleansing the area before the games,

the second phase was a time of celebration of hula, sports (one legged wrestling-hakamoa is pictured above, sliding on sleds, surfing, canoe races, relays, swimming), singing, and feasting. There is a preserved lava sled slide in Keauhou on the Big Island. All royal protocol was suspended during this time.
Kapuaikaula (Hawaiian name for the lands that are now Hickam base) dignitaries,

Erica participating in the games, this is moa pahe'e,
I was impressed with how she threw the spear in the makaihe,
and her rock was right on for the ulu maika game. At the end of the games-"pani" and feasting royal protocol was returned where the king could not be looked in the eye and all had to stay below the king's level.
In the Hawaiian language Mahakiki is year, change of harvest time to the beginning of the new season, ma Kahiki also means "as in Tahiti", Lono is associated with voyages to and from Tahiti and return to Lono during the early migration in the form of man. The third phase, at the end of the Makahiki festival, a canoe was loaded with ho'okupu and taken out to sea where it was set adrift as a gift to Lono.

The Hawaiian language is really poetic. "Kama" means to take, "aina" is land so Kama'aina is this land stole your heart. People who homestead in the islands are kama'aina. "Koko" is blood so Koko'aina are the people who's blood is tied to the land.

"pa'a" is salt which was cherished, "kai" water so pa'akai is ocean water. "O" circle, eternity, "wai" water so "wai" is fresh water, "ha" breath of life so "O'wai kouinoa piha" means: from what waters do you drink? or what is your name? How cool is that...

SOEST

2011-10-30T09:11:00.002-10:00

The SOEST Open House is such fun, I check their web site often-it is great resource for science workshops and lectures around the island which are usually kid friendly and free,
cornstarch and water...is it a solid or
is it a liquid....
next learning about crust sampling,

learning how to do fossil rubbings,
next learning about marine phytoplankton,
learning about sea pressure,
practicing being on a research boat,

timed morning-Erica did it in 7 seconds!
here they learned about atmospheric pressure with a crushed can and balloon rocket experiment and how it relates to weather,
we spent the most time here learning about rocks, Erica loves rocks and has a large collection...that is all over the house...

next I stopped in to visit Chip Fletcher, now Associate Dean of SOEST and scientist for NOAA...go figure, I used to swim with him everyday at lunch when I went to UH, then he was head of UH's Geology & Geophysics Dept. His wife is a Dean at Punahou. The other person I swam with, Rick Rocheleau is head of UH Engineering and Director of HNEI (HI Natural Energy Institute) which is under SOEST and leading in grant acquisitions for UH...who knew?!
I showed the kids where my clinic and classes were when I was a grad student...which was right across
from the pool-I could walk out the front door of the clinic and into the front door of the pool.

My Dad Is SO COOL!

2011-10-29T19:42:00.001-10:00

This morning I worked on the filming for a movie, the filming was done in Baltimore Harbor on board the restored Civil War sloop of war Constellation, I portrayed the Capt. of the Trent, a British ship that was stopped and boarded by the US Navy at the beginning of the Civil War and the Confederate ambassador Mason and Seidel were arrested and removed, this stopping and boarding of a British ship on the high seas was a grave incident between the US and Britain. It was interesting and fun doing the filming, I've attached a photo of myself and another actor who portrayed the Capt. of a slave ship whose ship was also boarded and he was arrested in placed in irons.

Last Week

2011-10-28T18:37:00.012-10:00

Morning moon and sky,

falling asleep on a short trip home,
Gilbert (a female kitty),
doing school with the kitten,

we've had to go down town a bunch lately-Erica needs oral surgery and both Evan and Erica need braces soon,
in our trips down we see all these murals,

kitten break again,
evening sunset.

Koko Head PT

2011-10-22T13:52:00.003-10:00

Erik's work gets like 2 hours every morning for PT. One morning they all headed to Koko Head for a hike.

This is Mac-such a great guy...and still smiling after walking up that steep hill,
Johnny, probably the hardest working diver-also the oldest diver in the locker and Erik keeps convincing him to postpone retirement because he is so valuable,
great views of Maui and Moloka'i,

group shot at the top,

heading down,
civilian diver group shot-they all pose the same-Tano, Mac, Johnny, and Sanford.

Life With Owen and Erica

2011-10-22T13:33:00.003-10:00

So I am looking across the room and see these tube things.

Me: what is that?

Owen without missing a beat: looks like the skin from a millipede, (wiggling his fingers) can't you see the little legs

Me: O, gross

So Erica and I are at Target looking for orange shirts. At awana Sunday night is "Orange you blessed" and we all need orange shirts. I find them for everyone but me.

Me: Oh! Finally an orange shirt!

Erica: Orange you glad?!