Down Under - New Zealand Part 2

So here are some more pictures of my son's amazing trip to the other side of the world. 

I hope you enjoyed the pictures from yesterday's post.  I have lots more to share with you today and I can even give a bit more detail about some of these pictures.

Now what trip to New Zealand would be complete without a visit to Hobbiton?  Logan's tour group visited the movie set that was created for the Lord of the Rings movies.  Here is a link so you can read more about it if you like. http://www.hobbitontours.com/  Pretty interesting stuff on that site so check it out if you have a moment.  Logan said it was a pretty cool place and I bet it was.  

What a cute house.   I love the round doors.

After touring Hobbiton, they went to the Agrodome where they learned about sheep and sheep shearing.  Here's a link http://www.agrodome.co.nz/

Logan said it was amazing how fast they sheared the sheep and it doesn't hurt them.  Makes me think of the Pixar animated short film called "Boundin'" about the sheared sheep. 

I love the Cheviot sheep behind Logan with his mouth open.  Check out the horns on the one Logan is posing with. 

Look at the smile on my son's face.  Is he happy or what?  That boy just loves animals.  Seeing him this happy just makes my heart soar with gratitude that we were able to send him on this trip where he made memories that he will have forever. 

Well, that's all for now.  There'll be more coming so stop back here when you have a moment.

Until then, have a great day!

Down Under - New Zealand. Part 1

I can't believe that I've completely forgotten to post pictures from Logan's Australia and New Zealand trip last June.  He took 971 pictures, all with his iPod.  We'd given him a camera and two 32gb sd cards but the camera broke after he dropped it as they were climbing a volcano on the first day.  Nice, right?  It couldn't have broken on the last day?  Oh no, it had to be the first day.  So he, being the son of a scrapbooker, did the only thing he could given the circumstances, he used his head and his iPod, thankfully!

Could you imagine my disappointment had he not taken pictures of his trip and experiences?  I can tell you, I would not have been a happy camper and he knew it.

Naturally, since I didn't go on the trip with him, I don't have much to impart in the way of details regarding the pictures.  I'm lucky if I can tell you which were taking in NZ and which were in Australia, omitting the obvious ones, of course.

I'm not quite sure if NZ can be included in the Down Under phrase or if that is strictly for Australia's use but for my purposes, I'm going to assume they both fall under that category.  Well, here goes. Get ready for a litte Down Under tour.

Fans of Lord of the Rings will recognize this statue which greeted them at the NZ airport.

There's Logan with Auckland behind him.  If you look closely, you can see a rainbow.  He said he saw quite a few rainbows there. 

 Not quite sure where this is in NZ but the sky is lovely with another rainbow.

 I love the water feature here.   I think it's some kind of a memorial.

I just love this shot.

 Of course, Gollum from Lord of the Rings had to be there too.

 Not quite sure what the deal is with this hole. 

 What a nice spot from which to overlook the city complete with a bench.

I really should have Logan tell me about these pictures as I post them but that doesn't stop me from enjoying them.  I hope you enjoy looking at them too.  

 

I'll be back with more pictures and perhaps even some more details.  After all, it would be nice to tell you more about them.

 

Wishing you a happy day. 

Australia Bound

Well, it finally came.  The day we planned for a year and a half finally arrived.  Last Thursday Logan began his long awaited trip to Australia and New Zealand.  For the longest time it seemed like it took forever for this day to come and all of a sudden it was upon us.

We were all excited about this trip.  Jim and I are happy we were able to give him this opportunity but I must admit I was very nervous too.  I'm still nervous but I'm dealing with it.

I'm expecting him to bring me home fabulous pictures so I made sure to take pictures of him leading up to departure to add to my Project Life album.

Here he is unloading his luggage from my car at JFK.

We were the first to arrive at the airport.  We waited about a half hour and then others started showing up.  The knot in my stomach was growing as the time for him to leave drew nearer.  

He's checking in here.  The suitcase I packed for him was 31 pounds which was well under the 44 lb weight limit.  He'll have some room for souvenirs on the return trip.

Once everyone was checked in, they started to move towards security.  I stopped them and asked if they would pose for a group shot.  I heard someone moan, "already?" and then everyone laughed.   It was funny because they knew they'd be group shot posing for the next 2 wks.  None of the other parents there had said anything but once I did, the other parents all lined up to take their own pictures of the group.

There are only 14 traveling from Logan's school but they will meet up with 2 other groups along the way. 

Once we'd all taken our pictures, it was time to say goodbye.  Logan came to me and hugged me.  I had trouble letting go of him but I did with tears in my eyes.  He hugged me again and then Jim and I left him as I had to go back to work.

I still can't believe my son is on the other side of the planet now.  I hope he has an incredible adventure.  I can't wait to see him and hear all about his trip.

Madame Tussauds

Hello again, everyone.

As promised, I'm back with another post to tell you where we went after seeing the 9/11 Memorial.  Naturally, due to the serious tone of the memorial we were ready for some more upbeat fun. 

We left downtown Manhattan and hopped the subway to the heart of Times Square where we went to Madame Tussauds Wax Museum.  This was another place none of us had been.

After paying admission we took the elevator to the top floor and worked our way down as we were directed.  Our first sight upon the elevator doors opening was a huge RuPaul atop a fountain in the center of the room.  What an outfit!  Not many could pull that off, for sure!

Here's one of Jim and Tyra Banks.  Notice the smile on him.  LOL

Logan has read Ozzy's autobiography so he was happy to see Sharon and Ozzy on display.

I was milling around the room enjoying the exhibit when I heard a voice call, "honey".  I knew the voice and turned around to see Jim posing with a Rockette.  Do you see that smile on him? 

Here's one of Robin Williams and Logan.  

 Here's one of Cat and Bruce Willis. 

 There's Elle McPhearson and my again smiling husband.

Didn't realize Einstein was so short.

 What wax museum would be complete without Marilyn?  Actually, this museum had 2 Marilyn's.  Need I point out the smile on him?  Are ya starting to see a pattern here?

 

 Nathan Lane and the Gang.

   

A lotta leg here and Jim was drawn to her like a moth to flame.  And again with the smile.

What is it with him?  

Cat and Brangelina. 

 Some astronaut action.

Here we have Jim and Iron Man.  This was a very cool room for Jim.  He was in Superhero heaven with Spidey, Thor, Captain America and Superman all on display.

 That was one really big Hulk. 

We spent a couple of hours in the museum and saw lots of other celebrities from Louie Armstrong to Barbara Walters and countless others in between.  Some were spot on in likeness like Leonardo DiCaprio who I half expected to move and shake my hand and others were just a little bit off like Harrison Ford who I had trouble identifying at first.

It was an interesting exhibit and it really is amazing how the artists create these out of wax.  It's truly life-sized art.  Ok, in the case of the Hulk, larger than life but still art.

After all this walking we'd worked up quite an appetite.  We took the train back home and then went to dinner at my favorite Mexican restaurant.  It was a great day and we all had fun.  

Here's hoping you all take a day to be a tourist in your own town!

9/11 Memorial Visit

Hello, everyone.

It's been more than a while since I blogged but thanks to a gentle kick in the pants from my friend, Lisa, I'm here writing a long overdue post.  Thanks, Lisa!  LOL 

I hope you've been having a good winter.  We've had our share of both cold temps and snow so far but we didn't let that stop us hearty New Yorkers.  School has been closed this week for winter break.  Jim is on vacation so we've had a very much needed week to have some fun and reconnect as a family.  

We decided to take a trip into Manhattan and finally go see the 9/11 Memorial.  None of us have been down there yet so I guess it was time.

Here are Logan and Caterina on the subway as we headed into the city.  

Here are Jim and the kids while we waited in line to enter the memorial site.  It was windy and cold out there.  My eyes were tearing from the wind.  Happily, we didn't wait too long in line.  We didn't know it at this point but once we cleared this area, we had to go through security screening like that at an airport.  Ever so thankfully, the security screening was inside a building so we didn't freeze when we had to take off our coats prior to being screened.  The security process was a tad annoying but it was also quick and efficiently organized. 

Here's a shot of the Freedom Tower.  We saw this as soon as we came up out of the subway.   They're getting near the top with window installation.

 

Here's a picture of the Memorial.  It was a very powerful scene.  The sound of the water was loud.  I'd seen the Memorial on TV but I never thought of what it would sound like.  Due to the cold, there was a coating of ice on the walls beneath the water.  

  Another angle of it.

The roses in this name made us all stop and reflect for a moment.  Seeing the flowers made one realize these weren't just names cut into the steel.  They were loved ones for whom people still mourn. 

 This building will be the museum when it opens.

My memories of that awful day are still very vivid so I was unsure how visiting the site would make me feel.  I'm glad we went.  We were all affected by the site and I wonder if that isn't because we are New Yorkers and this was our city that was attacked.  We saw many people there who were not so respectful of the solemnity of the memorial.  I even saw a guy attempt to sit on the ledge where the names are so he could have his picture taken.  I was just about to say something but a security guard beat me to it and stopped him.  The guard even went so far as to chastise him for not having respect for where he was.  

I wish the events that caused this memorial to be built never happened but I'm glad there is a memorial, and a beautiful one at that.

This was just the beginning of our day.  I'll write about where we went after this later.

Wishing you all a peaceful night.   Thanks for reading.  

Orlando

Hi, Everyone.

Hope you all had a great weekend.  No doubt you were as busy as I was shopping and preparing for Christmas which I simply can't believe is just days away.  Boy, did this year go quickly.

I also hope I didn't bore you with my last post about our vacation because guess what, this post is going to be about our vacation, too.

Ok, so on our second day once we dropped our suitcases at our place, we went food shopping at Walmart and then at Publix.  I made the mistake of buying the meats at Walmart last year and what a mistake that was so this year, we got most of our groceries at Walmart but then went to Publix to get the meats.

While in Publix, Jim noticed this display made out of Coke cases.  I totally missed it but once Jim pointed it out, I put Spiro and Emma in front of it.  It was a very clever display considering we were so close to Disney, don't you think?

Behind our townhouse there is a lake wherein you can find all sorts of waterfowl.  We usually feed them in the back but this particular morning, they came to the front door and we were all too happy to provide them with breakfast. 

Nothing like having a giant pool all to yourself, right?  This is the pool just 1 block away from us.  There are other pools in the complex but we prefer this one.  There's Logan down by the waterfall.  He wasn't alone long as both grandparents and Jim joined him in the water.  

As you can see from their pale skintones, neither one of them gets a lot of sun.

 

 After some frolicking in the pool, Spiro went to get a massage.  Those are his feet you can see as he's lying on the table.  I snuck over and unbeknownst to him, I crawled under the head rest and took a most unappealing shot of his face.  Do I hear blackmail anyone?  Ha! Ha! 

One afternoon we took a short drive to an area attraction called Old Town.  There are quaint little shops, rides and bars there but it's a quiet place in the day as it comes to life at night time.  Here's Jim having a chat with a puppet. 

 This is one of the rides at Old Town.  It's a sling shot except it shoots people!  Just looking at it from the ground made me dizzy.  

The main thoroughfare where the businesses are located is closed to cars so we strolled carefree down streets and enjoyed ourselves as we visited many of the shops.  We had a fun time here.  We went back a day or two later but we never did get there in the evening.

So one day we decided to check out a wildlife park we'd never been to.  According to the advertisement, it was only 17 miles from Orlando.  Well, after more than an hour's drive, we realized they had to be measuring from the outskirts of Orlando because it was more than 60 miles away.  As we drove we kept saying, this place better be worth it to make us drive this far!

We finally arrived there and this was the first sight I saw, a beautiful peacock.  In fact, there were several roaming the grounds.   They came right up to us looking for food.          

There were many alligators here.  They number in the hundreds.  Here's one covered in something called Duckweed.  It's a plant that according to the guide regenerates itself every 24 hrs.  It rather thickly covers all of the water in the park.  The strange thing she mentioned, the park has no ducks.  Not hard to understand why when there are so many gators hiding beneath this stuff. 

We were given a presentation by an American Indian who not only taught us some things but did it quite entertainingly.  He showed us all sorts of different tools his ancestors used in their daily life and made it fun in the way he delivered the information.  That structure everyone is standing under was a dwelling.  The center support pole has indents in it which they used to climb up into the loft area. 

Here we are at another informative demonstration using a few of the big gators.  Brave girl there ready to toss a piece of chicken into that gator's mouth.  

We took a boat ride around the park.  When we came around the bend which opened up to this view, I felt like I was in the Amazon.  It was hard to tell it was Central Florida.

Ok, who reading this thinks of "Ice Age, The Meltdown" when they see this picture?  As soon as I saw all those vultures in that tree, I immediately thought of the movie and started singing the song the vultures sing as they are looking down on Manny and the rest of the gang, Food, Glorious Food...   Oh man, now I've got that song stuck in my head again. 

This park had all sorts of animals from this pretty coyote, to lynxes and mountain lions, to wolves, to foxes to parrots and even two black bears named Boris & Natasha. 

We took part in a show and tell which actually turned into a show and touch of all sorts of creatures.  Here Logan is touching a skunk.  I was so surprised by how soft the skunk's coat was.  I expected it to be much coarser.  I held a snake and a baby alligator.  I even touched a rose haired tarantula. 

There's Jim with his chance at holding the snake.  

This guy had no clue what he was in for when he volunteered from out of the audience.  They proceeded to put a large, hairy spider on his head and a really big scorpion on his shoulder.  Brave man, indeed!

We had a great time at this park so even though it was a drive, it turned out to be very much worth it.

Hope you had fun reading about our animal encounters.

Have a great day!