DSC_2986

I love this picture!

As always, when asked what I want for Mother’s Day, the answer is the same. I want an outing with the family at a location of MY choosing.

It often involves something more feminine. Being in a house full of guys, I usually have to give up the girlier things during the year, but for Mother’s Day I get my berry picking and botanical gardens visits!

This year, I asked for a trip to Bellingrath Gardens near Mobile, Alabama. Again. I had already dragged the family out there over the holidays to see the fantastic light show, but I wanted to see it in the spring with all the flowers in bloom before we moved to Colorado.

I was not disappointed. And Timmy, my little naturalist, was just as impressed with all the flowers and animals.

I took the good camera with us so I could capture the beauty! Enjoy some pictures. Be forewarned, I took over 300 pictures, so I’ve distilled it down to about 30 of my favorites.

More »

09. April 2013 · Comments Off on Alabama Discoveries 5: The Gulf Coast Exploreum Science Center, Mobile · Categories: Uncategorized · Tags: , , , , , ,
The Gulf Coast Exploreum is in a primo location in the heart of downtown Mobile. We enjoyed the museum, but it appears to need some updates.

The Gulf Coast Exploreum is in a primo location in the heart of downtown Mobile. We enjoyed the museum, but it appears to need some updates.

On the last day of the boys’ Spring Break, we took a field trip to Mobile’s Gulf Coast Exploreum Science Center. I went in thinking it would be an all-day museum, but we ended up not spending much time there at all. The kids enjoyed it, but there seemed to be a lot of empty space in a seemingly very large building. It wasn’t crowded at all while we were there, our school district seemed to be the only ones in the Gulf Coast region having Spring Break as early as the college kids….

There’s an IMAX theater at the museum, which was showing Fighter Pilot. We saw Fighter Pilot at the IMAX theater at the Museum of Naval Aviation on one of our multiple trips, so we didn’t see it again.

Thanks to our military ID cards, we got an outstanding discount at the Exploreum: my admission was free (even as a Reservist) and the kids’ admissions were each $2 off.

The Scratch Factory exhibit was my motivation for taking the kids in the first place. I don’t know if it was good or bad, but I found that most of the Scratch Factory were tasks similar to what we saw at the Pensacola MESS Hall last summer. Wind tunnels, crafts that can be run through the wind tunnels, and a giant marble run wall.

My boys spent most of their time in the Scratch Factory area enjoying the marble run construction area.

Jacob's marble run.

Jacob’s marble run.

Timmy's "so tall I needed a stool" marble run. He wanted to make sure I could capture the three dimensions in his creation.  "Like Aquaduck", he told me.

Timmy’s “So Tall I Need a Stool” marble run. He wanted to make sure I could capture the three dimensions in his creation. “Like Aquaduck“, he told me.

We didn’t spend long in the Scratch Factory section. Thankfully, it was quite empty most of our time there, and a school field trip came in just as we were leaving the area.

The next section we explored was the BodyWorks section. This was a very good assortment of medical and health-related exhibits. You started by receiving a blank key-card with which you would insert the card into assorted physical tasks and the card would record data about the tasks. There were plenty of signs around attesting that the data on the cards was not kept for any reason, and the cards were erased upon their return.

There was a scale, numerous strength measurement tasks (arm wrestling, hitting a hammer to ring a bell, etc), and a few mental agility tasks. If you went around the entire exhibit, then returned the card to the beginning, this assessment would print out for you. Unfortunately, many of the assessment displays were broken.

The medical profession exhibits were really cool. The kids could explore what it’s like to do heart surgery, endoscopic surgery, and explore tools that surgeons uses.

Jacob exploring how doctors perform endoscopic surgeries. He had to rely on the camera as his "eyes" to thread one piece of metal through another.

Jacob explores how doctors perform endoscopic surgeries. He had to rely on the camera as his “eyes” to thread one piece of metal through another all inside that box in front of him.

There’s also a BeHealthy exhibit, which featured making correct grocery shopping and eating choices. I remember a similar exhibit at the Omaha Children’s Museum.

After a lunch break back at the truck (we packed leftover beef and broccoli stir fry) we headed back in to see the last large section, which was called the Hand’s On Hall. This was full of a wide variety of explorations: sound, light and physics displays. Like at the BodyWorks section, many of the exhibits showed signs of wear and some of them outright didn’t work at all.

Jacob learns about the impacts of 2-, 3-, and 4-pulley systems. You sit in a seat and use the systems to hoist yourself up. The more pulleys in the system, the easier it is to do, but you lift yourself more slowly.

Jacob learns about the impacts of 2-, 3-, and 4-pulley systems. You sit in a seat and use the systems to hoist yourself up. The more pulleys in the system, the easier it is to do, but you lift yourself more slowly.

My rock star. Pieces of PVC pipe and a pair of cheap flip flops. I could totally do this at home!

My rock star. Pieces of PVC pipe and a pair of cheap flip flops. I could totally do this at home!

We spent a total of 3 hours in the museum if you include time at the really nice gift shop.

After the museum we walked next door to the Fort Conde Visitor’s Center, which just opened last October. This area has a 4/5-scale reproduction of the original fort that sat on the same site. Fort Conde helped protect Mobile and Mobile Bay in the early 1700s. Tucked in among the more modern Mobile skyline, it’s a very short walk around the perimeter.

Timmy said "Let's pretend we're bombing!"  So they did...

Timmy said “Let’s pretend we’re bombing!” So they did…these are facing Mobile Bay.

If you've ever driven through the I-10 tunnel (called the George C. Wallace Memorial Tunnel...shudder), you will have driven right under Fort Conde. It's just above the western end of the tunnel.

If you’ve ever driven through the I-10 tunnel (called the George C. Wallace Tunnel…shudder), you will have driven right under Fort Conde. It’s just above the western end of the tunnel.

The boys and I had a fun field trip and it was a nice way to wrap up their Spring Break this year.

30. March 2012 · Comments Off on Alabama Discoveries 3: USS Alabama Battleship “Overnight Adventure” in Mobile · Categories: Uncategorized · Tags: , , , ,
You can get an idea of how BIG the guns are on this ship.

This past weekend the boys had the opportunity to camp out on the USS Alabama battleship at its museum location in Mobile Bay.  This is something the organization does for Scout groups (and other groups) most weekends.

The USS Alabama trip is truly one of the highlights of the scout year for my boys’ pack.  I was the coordinator for the trip this year, even though females aren’t allowed to remain on the ship if it’s a male-booking.  Everything went surprisingly well; the kids and male chaperones seemed to have a great time!

More »

Happy Mardi Gras, friends!

I haven’t written much lately — it’s been crazy busy around here and things are getting busier as the boys’ baseball practices start up this week.  They’re both playing this year.  Part of why we’re busier is that Dave’s now more active and we can again do family activities.  The cruise really cinched things for us — Dave’s back surgery from October was a resounding success.

For the past week or so I’d been suggesting we take the family to see a Mardi Gras parade in the area.

I guess, in typical Major Mom fashion, I should give you some background to what Mardi Gras is, huh?  Here you go.
While the phrase “Mardi Gras” does literally translate into the words “Fat Tuesday”, which is the day before Ash Wednesday, Mardi Gras along the Gulf Coast is actually more of a “season” — between Epiphany and Ash Wednesday.  This is the time to be festive, eat richer foods, imbibe on beverages and just plain party before the more serious penitential Lenten season.

Many Americans are familiar with Carnival season in many parts of the world, such as the largest Carnival there is: Rio de Janiero, Brazil!

More »

26. December 2011 · Comments Off on Alabama Discoveries 1: The Santa Train and Zoo Lights! · Categories: Uncategorized · Tags: , , , , , ,

We had a fun couple days sightseeing and enjoying some of the local holiday traditions.  Dave’s finally getting his “travel legs” back after his surgery and on Friday withstood about 4 hours in the car, to and from the Foley, Alabama area.

We live about 1 1/2 hours from the Wales West RV Park…and Tourist Railroad.  Yes, if you can imagine the two businesses coexisting, that’s what we have.  It’s tucked deep in a rural town in Alabama, east of Mobile….

Okay, an aside here: I’m not sure what you officially call that part of Alabama that’s due west of the Florida Panhandle and has the Gulf of Mexico as its southern border.  I always thought of it as a “stem”.  I did some cursory research and determined it could be either “South Alabama” or “Lower Alabama”.  Wikipedia didn’t offer too much help.

…anyway, this RV Park offers Welsh Narrow Gauge train rides on weekends, and in December they had an adorable Santa Train experience.

After dark, the train takes riders throughout the extensive RV park, which is brilliantly lit up.  You ride to the far eastern side of the park, where you’re dropped off: Santa Claus is waiting for the kids in his “North Pole” workshop.  The kids meet Santa, photographs are free, and Santa gives each child a wooden toy train to decorate in a craft section at the workshop.  What a wonderful way to meet Santa!

After returning to the main train station on the west side of the RV park, the riders get cocoa, cookies and entertainment.  There were a traveling petting zoo on hand, and a snack bar/gift shop area.

The facilities were well-kept and the holiday decorations were beautiful!

After the train, we headed over to Foley, AL to a touristy restaurant called Lambert’s Cafe.  They advertise that they’re the “Home of Thrown [sic] Rolls”…and that’s precisely what they do: fling the HUGE yeast rolls across the dining room to customers.  The boys enjoyed catching them for us!  Sadly, I tried and tried to get a picture of the young man just as the roll was leaving his hands.

The menu is “comfort food”, like what you would expect at Cracker Barrel, and the portions were ENORMOUS!  Dave and I should have share something!

The kid was too fast for me to catch the roll flying through the air.
Look at the size of these rolls!  Still warm, too!
There’s a paper towel with fried okra in front of me.  Servers came around with “pass arounds” all throughout the meal.

On Saturday evening, after Christmas Eve church services, we headed to the Gulf Breeze Zoo for the “Zoo Lights” event.  We had a nice time seeing the lights, and even got a sneak peek at many of the animals at night!

Unfortunately, I left the good camera at home and most of my iPhone pictures were pretty lousy.  This one was nice, though.  The kids were being silly in the foreground.