LA Natural History Museum Survives the Crew

It's spring break out here in our neck of the woods. 

And in order to keep the natives from climbing the walls we decided on a family outing to the LA Natural History Museum.

The Hall of Dinosaurs has been closed for several years so this has been our first opportunity to get downtown and see them since they re-opened.

Let us start with the first exhibit that hasn't changed since my oldest kids were in pre-school.

This is a picture of Jeffrey before he got warmed up into comedian mode.

Our first stop was the new exhibit area which really showed off how impressive these creatures were.

I wanted to see more of these long necked guys:

 They had several walls of bones behind glass:

Sarah models next to a T-Rex head.

Everyone taking a look at bones in the way they were uncovered:

Jeffrey studies a large marine tortoise (turtle?):

This was the upper leg bone of one of the dinosaurs.
(I guess I should have paid more attention to what I was taking pictures of)

A T-Rex foot:

A Carnosaur... I believe it is the same as the dinosaur in the Disney World Ride in Animal Kingdom:

One of the docents let the kids hold some casted T-Rex teeth and she even had some real fossils they got to handle.

A full grown T-Rex and baby:

A close- up of it's head:

These frilled dino heads were SO impressive:

This one was HUGE!!

A Stegosaurus... I couldn't get people to stop cluttering up my picture.

This stained glass was on the ceiling of the rotunda outside the dino gallery:

This extinct animal is related to modern day pigs:

Katherine checks out some of the interactive displays:

Jeff and Jeffrey read about the mammoth:

Sarah studies the remains of one of the earliest humans:

I think Jeffrey was waiting for the polar bear to talk at him:

In the Great Halls were all the taxidermied animals.
I find these both fascinating and a little sad.
The halls are completely dark with the only lights coming from the glass covered displays,
so I really couldn't get very good pictures.
Here is a Grizzly:

The big displays at the end of each room did not have glass and the pictures came out looking more like a painting than real.
This shot is with no flash and lightened in photoshop.

With flash and no photoshop:

I took these hippos for Emily!
(Wish you were with us!)

And then it was into the Hall of Gems.
WOW there was so much to look at.

And so it starts....
"Jeffrey go stand with the meteorite..."
This causes massive amounts of giggling:

And it becomes contagious and this is what I get when I try to get 3 of them to stand still long enough for one decent shot...
Alex of course is behaving himself.

More meteorites.... with no accompanying goofiness:

A view of one of the display walls:

Here are a few of the displays up close.
Of course the pictures do them no justice because the flash either washed them out or no flash left them in the dark.

There was SO much to look at:

This is one of the world's largest flawless crystal balls:

In the gem vault.. I love opals!

I was trying to get a picture of Katherine while we waited for the boys.
"Smile Katherine"
She smiles then immediately gets distracted before I could click .... LOOK A SQUIRREL!

We took a ride on the huge antique elevator which creaked and groaned to the point I was glad we made it safely to the 2nd floor. It came complete with an elevator operator.

And then came the bug zoo.
A really big wolf spider.
***SHUDDER***

But the WORST was this tarantula which was bigger than Alex's hand.

Wait.........
What's this?
Is everybody actually standing and smiling for the camera nicely without any fooling around?

Out the window you could see the Colosseum... USC's football stadium.

This little Musk Rat was SO cute and fuzzy:

Trying to fit a dinosaur back together:

I knew that previous picture was good too good to last:
***SIGH***
Thank you crazy-eyed child.

Around the corner from the discovery center (still on the 2nd floor) was a place you could see the paleontologists work:

Downstairs by the exit there was a giant mega-mouth shark preserved in a tank.
There was also a coelacanth (which Jeffrey immediately knew how to pronounce), but I couldn't get a good picture of it.

We moved onto the Science Museum across the park and spent about an hour checking out the exhibits after we spent a small fortune at the on-site McDonald's where Jeff stole Katherine's Little Pony Happy Meal Toy and threatened to make Alex carry it around on his shoulder for the rest of the day:

Sarah and Alex demonstrate the infrared screens:

Alex listens to sound waves through different sized pipes:

This was SO cool.....
One person sits on one side of the room:

And another sits WAAAAY across on the other side and you can whisper and hear what the other person is saying.

Trying out the musical instruments:
(Well goofing off AND trying out the musical instruments)

Figuring out which car is the most aerodynamic:

Outside we saw the original entrance to the museum.
"Los Angeles County Historical and Arts Museum" it reads.
Right now you can't go in this way but it was very pretty.
The stained glass in the ceiling I showed earlier was just inside of this entrance.

My crew heads into the rose garden.
Look how nice and well behaved they are pretending to be.

Me: "Lemme take a quick picture of the museum from back here"
Sarah: "Woo-Hoo!"
Me: ***SIGH***

OK, that's better.

And before we get back to our car we passed some seriously huge Rubber Trees.

So that was our day.
We had a really great time and I think the kids might have actually learned a thing or two.
At the very least they didn't spend the day glued to the TV or bickering.

Way Back When

Kids don't understand that certain things in their life that they take for granted are not inalienable rights, but instead are given to them as favors and can be taken away if grantor of said favors deems it no longer in their best interest to continue giving of themselves.

 For instance, like being driven to school instead of having to walk.

Overheard this morning:

"Mom, did you know that you used to be able to buy a hamburger for only 10¢?"

"Really? Wow that was a good deal."

"But it was a very, very long time ago. WAAAAAAY way back when."

"And exactly how "way back when" are you talking about?"

"Like when you were a kid."

If we weren't on the freeway at that very moment I would have pulled over and made him walk.

You know like I had to do when I was a kid.

20 miles.

In the snow.

Uphill.

Both ways.

Talent Show Mania

It's that time of year again. The talent show is upon us.

And, so as not to break with tradition, I did not find out until Monday that the try-outs are next Tuesday.

So I have next-to-no-time to get the dynamic duo to learn a routine well enough to show the try-out committee.

Last night was our first "rehearsal". I use that term loosely because the first 15 minutes consisted of a lot of bitching and whining about who was going to stand in the front, which way they were going to start the first move and wondering how much longer this was going to take. That last part was mine.

The following is a list of notes and helpful suggestions from the peanut gallery:

J: Katherine keeps stepping on my feet.
K: Its not my fault your feet are so big.

K: Jeffrey keeps hitting me in the face when he makes his turn.
J: Its not my fault your face is so big.
K: MOM!

J: I'm not doing that move. It makes me look like a girl.
K: Its not just the move that does that.
J: MOM!

K: I can't start like that. I'm not left handed.
Me: That has nothing to do with which direction you start in.
K:  It doesn't? Oh Ok.
Me (silently) Are we through yet?

Jeff (from his office): Now you know how I feel when I'm teaching them at the dojo twice a week.

It's a wonder he hasn't used a karate chop on one of them in the past year.

I have 6 days to get them relatively good at this.
If I don't throttle them in the mean time.
Wish me luck.

Here is their routine from 2 years ago... They've grown so much (sniff sniff).

Search Terms From the Twilight Zone

Because I tend to be nosy (just ask anyone) I occasionally check out who is visiting my blog.

I have traffic counters that tell me what city or country viewers come from and also how they got here. Such as links I posted, if they were just browsing Blogger, or if they typed in certain key words.

The most popular searchs that land people here are: "are mermaids real?" "real mermaids found" "photos (or videos) of real mermaids".

Yep, you read that right. REAL mermaids.

This is because I have a Disney post chronicling the Submarine Voyage at Disneyland and it features pictures of the "real" mermaids who used to sit in the lagoon and wave at the people as they passed by.

Apparently there are hundreds of people out there in Google Search-land that think there is proof of living mermaids right here on the internet. And the 5000+ hits on my blog post prove it.

But I also have other off the wall terms that have brought people to my little corner of the world.

Just from the last week I found the following items listed on the "how they got here" page:

The Future (of what and why was my blog ranked second on the search results? Do I know more than I think I do? Should I go and buy lottery tickets? I need to know!)

Spring break adventure stories nude (OK I did write a post titled "Spring Break Adventures" but nowhere did I include the word NUDE or any pictures featuring anyone or anything NUDE. I did go back and check it out though just to be sure)

If kids were cats (I'd need more litter boxes)

Summer pictures; love on the beach (I did post a whole bunch of summer beach pictures but it was more goofballs on the beach as opposed to love)

Weird but true facts about losing weight (lots of weird but true around here, but not much about losing weight... even though I am trying)

Flying Saucer Girl (Obviously they were looking for that picture of me in the sexy little astronaut uniform)

Japanese Porn (I have a entry entitled Sushi Porn, so I guess it's sort of the same thing)

My Pony My Friend (well alrighty then...)

Situations where you would never give up or never surrender (seriously.. I cant make this stuff up)

INDIen ceaf vilige Disney pic (not sure how Google got them routed around to the pictures of the Indian Village Disney Chiefs, but apparently they figured it out.. on the plus side, they DID spell Disney right)

Jeffrey plays video games (even though this is a well known fact, I am unclear as to the reasons behind this search)

Rear end accidents at autopia Disney Photos (I thought I destroyed all those... who told?)

The list could go on for quite a bit longer but as you can see there is no end to the off the wall things people search for. And for some reason some of those searches land people here. I hope some stay and have a look around, even if it wasn't what they were looking for... We enjoy the company!

A really bad, awful, terribly horrible day

There is nothing subtle about Jeffrey.

I guess if you read this with any regularity you would know that.

Last Friday I picked him up from school (Katherine had gone to Gabby's for a sleepover). When he got into the car he announced that this had the been the worst day of his life. It was so bad in fact that he didnt even know if could talk about it.

That sentiment of course did not last long.

He said the day started out with great promise as it was Friday and the class has hot chocolate every Friday morning. With the enthusiasm this causes, you might think he didn't have hot chocolate as a dessert choice every night at home.

But that's beside the point.

So his morning of great promise went straight downhill when *somehow* his cup got knocked over before he got even 2 drinks and went all over the desk, into his lap and onto the floor. He had to spend the whole time he would have been drinking nirvana by soaking up the mess with paper towels.

"AND THEN" (he said so loud that I winced)..... "the worst possible thing happened.... I was sitting there minding my own business quietly doing my math,"

(I refrained from verifying the authenticity of  exactly what he meant by *quiet*)

"When my teacher came by my chair and stopped to answer someone's question. You know there isn't very much room between the chairs right? And you know that my teacher is, ummm.... well she is bigger than the space between the chairs right?" (This was his attempt to be polite) "So when she finished answering the question and turned around she knocked me clean out of my chair with her butt. (pause) Everyone laughed at me. (pause) I was mortified. (pause) I DON'T KNOW IF I CAN SHOW MY FACE BACK IN CLASS AGAIN!"

Nice try kid. You still have to go to school.

I was also trying very hard not to laugh out loud.

"MOM! Its not funny!"

"I'm sorry, you're right it's not. I imagine your teacher was a bit embarrassed too."

"Are you kidding? She yelled at me for fooling around. I don't think she even felt the impact.
My life is over."

"Would it help if you had something yummy when you got home and then you can play Little Big Planet?"

"I guess so. But I think I may be scarred for life."

As I said, subtlety is not one of his defining characteristics... but he does provide quite a bit of comic relief to my day.

Details, Details

Today was a shopping day. It's getting a little too close to Christmas and I have a little too little done for my tastes.

Sarah decided she was going to come with me and before we left I laid out EXACTLY what I was going to do to Jeff and told him I would call him at some point in my travels so he knew what time to expect me home. If I dont do this he will call and ask if I got lost or fell into a black hole because he can never understand how shopping can take so long.

He is one of these "pick something and buy it" guys. No patience to look around.

He is also pretty sick and has had a fever off and on for 3 days so he is grouchy and out of sorts anyway.

After the first 2 stores I call him and tell him I'm on my way to Home Depot to get the Christmas tree and then will stop at the market to pick him up him something to drink. I also start to tell him about a few of the things I've gotten so far.

He interrupts me and says "I don't want to hear all the details... just get everything done and come home".

I hung up and stuck my tongue out at the phone. Very mature I know.

Sarah and I got to Home Depot and start looking for a tree... She holds one up and I look at it, then I hold it up and she looks at it. We trade opinions until we find the perfect one. Not like when I take Jeff and he wants the first tree we pull out of the pile. We pay for it, stuff it into the back of the van and head for the market. We hurry through some quick shopping to get stuff so I can make cookies and other yummies this week, as well as the requested drink. As we are pulling out of the parking lot my phone rings.

I am greeted with a very dejected voice on the other end: "Exactly one hour and a minute ago you said you were coming home."

"Exactly one hour and a minute ago I said I was going to get a tree and go to the market... now I am 5 minutes from home."

"Oh OK...sorry.. I must have missed that part".

No kidding!

See what happens when you don't want to hear all the details?

Love You, Mean It ~~ A Tribute to a Beautiful Soul.

I lost a friend very unexpectedly this week. Not that any of us at my age (mid 40's) EXPECTS to lose someone. And not that that person was expecting it either. But its just so much of a shock when things like this happen that your brain can't quite wrap itself around the fact that a person can up and die and leave behind a family, friends and so many unrealized hopes and dreams and then life and everyone they left behind has to go on without them.

The circumstances of my friends death are not entirely clear yet. She was having some health issues and had been in and out of the hospital over the past week. But there didn't seem to be any indication that things couldn't be fixed. Until they couldn't. And she was gone. Just like that. Here one day, gone the next.

She left behind several young adult children who are of course much more devastated than I am. They have lost their mother. The one who was supposed to be there to guide them through the still difficult years of youth. To hold her children's babies, to soothe them when they are crying, and to watch them grow into adults as she grew into old age.

How many times can I yell at the universe that life isn't fair? Asking why a life has to be cut short when there was so much more to do? Surely the sole purpose of my friend's life was not a lesson for the rest us that if we don't get our shit together the same thing could happen to us. She was much more than that.

As I go back and read the things that she had been writing about recently, I realized I was not going to find any clues that she knew this was coming. If any of us knew tragedy was on the horizon we would certainly change the way we were living our last moments. Get our ducks in a row, heal old wounds, take that vacation we've been putting off, buy ourselves that pair of shoes we've been eyeing. Because we would know that life was indeed shorter than we think and we better enjoy what we have and fix whats broken right now because no matter who you are, we all come with an expiration date. And the thought we always have tomorrow to do or fix what we want may not come.

My heart is beyond sad. She and I shared a lot in common. We both had oldest sons named Chris. Who both went into the Air Force to become crew chiefs for F-16 fighter jets. They both had sons (our first grandchildren) within a year of each other. We also both had 2 daughters of similar ages. We were both remarried with step kids (I had 2, she had one). And we both loved to write and maintained a blog (Hers: http://delswife-stories.blogspot.com/).

She was a much better writer than I was. So much more funny and the words seemed to roll off her fingers with much less effort than it took me. She loved Disney as much as I do and in an ironic twist, she died on Walt's birthday. She wrote REAL trip reports (not just a bunch of pictures strung together with a few words) that kept you laughing out loud and coming back for more. Her first report seen here without the original pictures as they got lost a few years back and she never got around to fixing them: http://www.abbycandlesmi.com/delswife_trip_report.pdf was what started some of her popularity. I met many people and good friends because of her and I cannot express the how grateful I am for her to have touched my life.

I wish I could reach out and ease the pain her family must be going through. Because if I am as sad as am, nothing but a casual acquaintance who spent just a small portion of my life interacting with her, I cannot imagine the depth to the sorrow of the people who spent daily lives with her, knowing her, loving her... having her enrich their lives with her humor, kindness and ability to see the best in people and in life no matter what the circumstances.

All I can say is:
Robin... you will be missed more than you ever imagined possible.
There will be a emptiness where you used to be that no one else will ever be able to fill in quite the same way that you did.

Love You , Mean It
LYMI