!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! SEA WORLD !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Day 2

What is it like to wake up to perfect weather? And then that perfect weather continues throughout the day?? Not too hot, not too cold. Flowers and sunshine all around. Ocean Air.

This all = Heaven! 

Did you know Starfish pump their stomach out their mouth to eat their food? Yum.

Me, if I were a fish.

Enjoying snacks!!! Cotton Candy!! Thanks Yaya for the emptying the change jar... I love being obnoxious and holding up a line :) The girls were screaming, "We have the best Yaya ever!!!" Truly, if it wasn't for the change jar we wouldn't have snacks and sugary fun. Also as a side note, the grassy hill behind Maria ended up becoming her stage. She danced with a pigeon she named "Purple" and made a couple entertaining home music videos.

I entitle this one, "Eyes open and something smells." or "Joe and I if we were Prince William and Princess Kate".

X-ray fish.

All the aquariums were very interesting! And the girls loved having me read the information too so it was quite the learning experience.

Maria wasn't a big fan of the shark tank. She held on to daddy pretty close....

We enjoyed a 4-D show about Elmo and Imagination. Which basically means it was in 3-D but we also got squirted with water.

Lunch. Lunch at theme parks can be summed up by this face. It was really horrible because not only was the food pretty nasty, but there was literally birds mating and it made us feel very uncomfortable. I really do feel scarred. It was NOT beautiful as my grandmother has said. Doves & Mating = Take it to a tree behind a leaf. Not our lunch table.

Joe being saucy. Or perhaps he's just nervous.

 What will Shamu bring? Death and horror or entertainment?

Fortunately it was entertainment. I found it really interesting that the premise of the show was "Believe". They were encouraging young people to aspire to be animal trainers. That may be all well and fine... but do we really need to train animals that have "KILLER" in their name?

There were no lines for rides. They were simple rides and I was glad the girls could go by themselves. The spinny rides are a bit much for me these days.

Bay of Play was great because over the speaker they had the announcement, "Should you and your children get separated designate a meeting spot." How about we just don't have such a huge playground with secret tunnels and different exits everywhere?? Fortunately we watched the girls like hawks and were able to keep track.

The highlight for the girls was this ride- the Atlantis. They got to see stingrays and get wet. Maria was just tall enough and didn't enjoy the drop too much. I'm just glad she didn't go flying out!!!

Our last snack that the girls enjoyed leaving the park- Shamu Ice Creams.

When we returned to the hotel Christina was just thrilled that the maid had made her bed and put the stuffed animals so nicely by their folded blankets. She wrote her a note "Dear Made, Wat is your name? Thank you for finding my unicorn Love, Christina and Maria" and also left her a peach. The maid didn't write back. So Christina had her daddy translate it the next day. Unfortunately the maid was just too busy to write back. But absolutely nothing could spoil the absolute wonderful day we had!! From dolphins to simulated helicopter rides, it was a blast!!

We Need a Vacation- Day 1

Joe had a kink in his neck. I had a kink in my... toe. We decided that the best solution would be to take a vacation!!! Joe got a week off... I think the last time he had time off was in the 1960's, so off we headed...

The rental 65% off listed retail price, thank you Priceline.com name your own bid. It took me about 4 minutes to figure out how to turn it on since there was no key. It was fantastic on gas and we didn't have to fill up until after driving 8 hours. Nice.

We took 395 South all the way to San Diego. Ahhhhh... total peace. There was a 1 1/2 hour stretch where it was one lane and I had to do some passing, but it really was a great drive. Sooooo much easier than all the spazzy drivers on I-5, plus there was NO TRAFFIC. We didn't go through LA, so the total time traveling from door to door was 9 hours. The girls did great in the car. They watched a couple DVD's, did some worksheets, colored, read books and even slept a little.

Bless You PBS Masterpiece Theatre

This week was spent enjoying classic literature. I'd never read Wuthering Heights and it took a little bit to get into, but I did finish quickly. Disturbing!! Such sociopath characters!!

I do love a good story set in the refined eras of England. I wish we had that grace and elegance that was expected of women back then.

After reading a book, I do love seeing the movie. And I find that Masterpiece Theatre is the only way to go. They are so dead on the book and the actors are always impeccable. From the music to the scenery, I just love it. Watching Wuthering Heights made me like the story better, because it took out most of the extreme violence of Heathcliff. I suppose I am a romanic. I love these stories of adoration.

With that said, I really want to watch the recent award winners of Masterpiece Theatre found HERE. I hope the library is stocked! I'm also going to be reading Wicked this week as we enjoy the fine weather of the Motherland.... Califo-nia here we come!

Nevada Space Day- Carson City

This was a nice little event which was to promote the love of science. It was a little crowded, but overall not too bad. The girls enjoyed themselves and got lots of goodies.

Playing with Ooblek... solid or liquid?

Maria was more interested in face painting. This lady said that she had to write down 3 facts about the planet or star she wanted painted on her face. While I believe Maria to be quite smart, this was a little unreasonable and the lady finally conceded I could write the facts for her. 

1. This loves us.

2. This helps the plants.

3. We can see because of this.

Maria came up with the facts all by herself and I think they were very valid and wonderful.  

 Joe made a capsule for the egg drop. It cracked. Splat.

The girls enjoyed comparing sizes of the planets with play dough. 

The moon buggy was great. 

Space Chalk Art.

Then......drumroll.... the ORBITRON!!! Supposedly it's like being in space because there is no gravity with the orbitron. Maria was a little small, but she's a brave one. It was really hard for her to hold on to the bars. She got right up there, and within 1 minute ended up as follows.... 

Christina seemed to enjoy the first bit and then just tolerated the rest. It was fun to watch them spin the big kids and see the blood rush to their heads. As for me, this didn't look like my cup of tea.

We watched a planetarium show in a dome tent and had a nice time. Hooray for Science.

Jane Eyre

So randomly I finished Jane Eyre in 2 days. I told the girls the whole story and they were fascinated so we watched 2 episodes of it on BBC on a random Asian online website. Not sure of the whole legality of the issue. Anyways, I am such a sucker for English Drama. While Jane Austin isn't a favorite, I really did like Charlotte Bronte's work. Maria was especially fascinated by the lunatic who lit Jane's dress on fire and burned down the house.

However their interest in literary classics seems to pale in comparison to the Star Wars fever going on. Maria even requested it as a birthday party theme next year.... I wonder how I could make a Queen Amidala (sp?) costume for her? We have some books coming in the mail, but it's interesting because I NEVER run across any at the thrift store

***** EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEWWWWWWWWWW!!! Update. I went Friday night by myself to see the new Jane Eyre film. Do I feel comfortable seeing a movie by myself? Yes. I know I have a plethora of maybe 4 or 5 friends I could call up and say, hey, you want to go see this? However, it was really a split minute decision and so off I went downtown in the heat of the night.  My curiosity and excitement peaked because honestly I felt the timing of me reading this classic and there just happening to be a new version of it made not just coincidence. This movie was to be soul satisfying. The crowd was small, a group of girls, a few couples where the woman dragged the men and then two "loners", myself included. The other loner had allergies or Ebola and was up every 10 minutes, she left 1/2 way through the film hacking up a lung. It made me nervous for some reason. Anyways, the moment of anticipation arrived and I was fully disappointed. I guess it all boils down to the fact that BBC Masterpiece theatre is always going to be dead on the book. Everyone else alters and floofs and this version, while beautiful and artistic, definitely strayed. The ending was anti-climatic and made me want to shave my legs. Because shaving my legs is more satisfying than the rampant disregard for the details of the book.