I couldn't help it.

I found this site and also found it somewhat amusing. Some of the cards are quite colorful in their wording so consider yourself warned. ;)

This Site is Slightly Under Construction.

I haven't had time to perfect this new template thing. I am not sure I am going to keep this one at all, but here it is. Ignore the links on the side as those are not mine. I just don't have the patience to deal with this right now, but I started the project so now you all get to see me in the middle of it.

Missouri Botanical Gardens Chinese Culture Days

On Sunday we attended the Chinese Culture Days at the Missouri Botanical Gardens.
We had a wonderful time. They had quite a bit of typical Chinese things for sale, beautiful furniture and traditional clothing as well as art and wonderful Chinese food.



This is me being a little silly. The Azalea bush is hugging me. Honest.

See the sweet little Honey Bee? Look close... they are quickly dying off and if we don't figure out why soon, they will go the way of the Dodo bird. THEN what will you put on that
biscuit or in your tea?!

This is a traditional Chinese dragon. We got pretty close to it in a show they did where the dragons actually came out into the audience.

This is showing them both coming out into the audience there. The kids LOVED this.

Acrobats doing hat juggling.

This was part of the parade that went through the gardens. We sat and waited in the shade and once again were treated with this lovely dragon!

Another part of the parade... such nice costumes!

Some royalty? Not sure, but they looked important!

Belated Sea World Pictures

These are late pictures of our Sea World trip while in Florida. I also have late pictures of the actual glass blowing demonstration. I will get those posted as soon as I can!

This first collage is from the Whale and Dolphin show. I believe those are minke whales although I am pretty sure that the Sea World in San Antonio used Belugas. I wonder why the difference? Honestly, after watching the same shows now for three years in a row there are some changes that they have made, or mistakes they have made. In some ways I prefer the San Antonio Sea World, mainly because they have a much bigger Orca Whale tank, but I think that the Sea World in Orlando is nicer overall.

This is a full and complete turn courtesy of Shamu. I thought it was great how fast my camara snapped these pictures for me. Can you tell I am infatuated with my new camara?! What a whale!

Third Degree Glass

These are works of art that were available for purchase at the Glass Studio that we went to for our field trip.



Ornaments

Vase

Close up of ornament

Sculpture with great inside detail.

Click on pics to enlarge!

This is...

Can you guess what this is?! Leave me a comment if you think you know. You can click on it to enlarge it if you want, though you may not want to.

My "other" Blog

Shhh... don't tell this blog, but I am cheating! I have started a private blog for my close family and friends. My "other" blog is almost all pictures. You may notice, I don't post children pictures here on this blog. I am just weird that way... so if I missed you and you are horribly offended please let me know so that I can apologize profusely and then move on and invite you. ;)

Alligator Alley

We took a boat ride in Florida at the Myakka State Park. We rode around the Myakka Lake which is known for it's alligators. They said that because we were there on such a warm afternoon that we probably wouldn't be seeing very many alligators. We probably saw at least twenty alligators in their very natural habitat.



You can tell how long an alligator is by measuring in inches from the tip of the nose to the eyes. This guy was big enough that I wasn't going for a swim anytime soon.

If you look at this picture you can see three alligators together. We were there during their mating season and so there were places on the lake that we didn't go because we didn't want to disturb them. They had hung out the "Do Not Disturb" Sign.

Only one person has reported a bite on this lake and there are people fishing and kayaking and canoeing there often. I did wonder how many alligators we would have seen on a cooler day.

Pictures are clickable!

Walk Quietly and Carry a Big Stick

Since coming home from Florida I have been looking back through my pictures and these are a few shots from a walk we took through a nature area. I love all oak trees and these hanging with Spanish Moss were just so romantic. My children on the other hand said that they were "spooky."




Grandpa always carries a large stick when we take a walk through this nature path. He carries it as protection from things like snakes and the kids think that carrying a stick when hiking is such fun. So they all carry sticks and then they will periodically throw them into the woods and when it makes a rustling noise they gasp, "Oh! What was that?!" My response? "OOOHHHHH It must be a rabid armadillo!!!"

Look at this branch it is perfect for a long tree swing!

This picture was taken looking straight up into the trees, the light filtered through so nicely!

Pictures are clickable!