Saginaw Bay

After last summer's side trip to the Jersey Shore, we wanted to get back to a beach this summer as well. We thought we'd combine it with a camping trip, so we looked for an open campsite in a state park near a beach. We found what we wanted at Bay City State Recreation Area in Michigan, or so we thought. As we pulled into the parking lot, the attendant told us that we should be careful of the muck on the shore. The what? Apparently Saginaw Bay has been plagued by a mysterious ooze that creeps onto the shore and harbors E. coli. They built a pier to let us climb out over the muck and into the Bay. The Bay at this beach was shallow so we could get quite a ways away from the shore, but we didn't really feel comfortable.
We spent a lot of time on the beach, hunting shells and playing in the sand. It was nice - except for the smell of the muck.
Alex wanted to take a picture of us. It occurs to me now that we have many pictures of the kids or shots of one of us with one or more of the kids, but very few of the two of us. Now that Alex is learning, we'll give him the camera more often to try to even the score.

Fossil Park

We decided that we needed to spend the afternoon after sleeping on the Mudhens outfield in a shale quarry looking for fossils. We've never been in the 10 years we've lived here, until today.
Actually, Alex went as a part of a day camp field trip, so he was familiar with the routine. Every few weeks, they dump a load of shale here that dates back to the Devonian Era.
We spent a couple of hours sorting through the shale piles looking for fossils. I found that breaking open large rocks sometimes yielded promising results. Alex and Becky sorted through piles of rocks on a table. Aaron looked cute near other fossil hunters and they gave him some. Hey, it worked.
We mostly ended up with brachiopods - prehistoric clams basically. I found half a trilobite - fairly rare - but it got lost in the pile we brought home and I haven't seen it since. Oh well, another reason to go back.
brachiopods, trilobite,

Camping on the Ball Field

Today was Cub Scout Day at the Toledo Mudhens stadium. Alex has been looking forward to this ever since he first learned about Scouts and the activities they do.
Soon after we arrived at the ballpark, Alex and I got to go on the field to participate in a Scout parade around the front of the stadium. Behind home plate, Alex took a pretend swing and hit a pretend homer.
Unfortunately it rained for much of the game. It was warm enough that we threw on our jackets and toughed it out (the red jacketed figured to the left of Alex is Aaron, and the blue jacket to the left of him is completely covering Becky). The Mudhens lost, which put an even bigger damper on the wet evening. The rain let up and we got to watch another great Mudhens fireworks display.
Then we all went to the vans where we said good night to Aaron and Becky and hauled our tent and camping gear into the stadium. We could hammer stakes into the outfield, so I had worked out a system of weighing down the tent from the inside with 2 liter bottles filled with water that worked surprisingly well, especially when supplemented by our change of clothes, sleeping bags, etc. The biggest danger to the integrity of the tent didn't turn out to be the lack of stakes, but rather the enormous game of tag that was going on around us. As it turns out, this spontaneously erected village of tents made a unique maze that proved tempting for at least half of the kids there that night to run through. We sat in camp chairs and drank hot chocolate while they played the Cars movie on the big stadium screens. The night was noisy and bright because we were still in middle of downtown, but the movie was over after midnight and we were tired enough that sleeping really wasn't a problem.
The next morning we had breakfast in the Roost above the field after packing up our gear. We were well fed, slightly damp, and happy that we could spend the night camping on the baseball field.

Aaron's 1st Dental Checkup

Aaron has been able to watch his brother and mother get their dental checkups, so he knew the routine. Today it was showtime. He did amazingly well. When they remodeled their office, they put TVs in all the rooms. His was tuned to cartoons, which meant he was tuned out.
He did try to help her polish his teeth at one point (note his little hand above her tool hand). The sunglasses are to keep the light of "Mr. Sunshine" out of his eyes.
By the time Dr. Turner came in he was ready for his inspection. No cavities!

Flash Bee Club

Alex's Flash Bee Photo Club met today. They challenged him to take candid pictures, such as these girls swinging...
...posed pictures like this closeup of Aaron...
...and studies in light and shadow, such as this lily pond. He's really enjoying taking his own pictures, so we're lending him the camera more and more to see what he can capture.

Sliding Home

Alex had a another fun baseball game today. He smashed this one and got on base. Then after a few more hits from his teammates, he was able to run home.
Now, no one was rocketing the ball home to try to tag him out, but to get the big league experience, he decided to slide home. No injuries this time, and he was very pleased with his sliding skills.

Light and Shadow

As part of Alex's Flash Bee Photo Club, his teacher asked him to take pictures of interesting shadows. It was a very sunny day, so Alex and Aaron started by making shadow pictures with construction paper. They placed a piece on a cookie sheet, covered it in small items, and set it out in the sun. A few hours later, the sun had faded all of the exposed areas leaving a reverse image of their collage.
The sunny day also made for great shadow pictures for Alex to gather. This is the back of a plastic deck chair.
His new bike.
And a water bottle. He thought this was neat because it made a shadow, even though it was essentially clear.

Sparklers - Happy 4th!

We don't usually break out the big personal fireworks, but we can't avoid firing off a few sparklers. We brought out a candle and lit that, then used that flame to light the sparklers. These were cheap, but small. Maybe next year we'll find some larger ones.

Happy 4th of July!

Shish Tawook

I made this from a recipe that was published in the local paper, but originally came from The Arab Table, by May Bsisu (William Morrow). Becky loved it - not a surprise - but Alex loved it also. I've modified it only slightly with more convenient pre-prepared garlic and lemon juice.

Combine 5 tsp jarred minced garlic, 1/2 c. bottled lemon juice, 1/3 c. olive oil, 2 Tbsp plain yogurt, 1/2 tsp ground cardamom, 1 tsp. salt, 1 tsp. white pepper in a large bowl and thoroughly mix with a fork or whisk. Cut 2-3 lbs of bone/skin-less chicken breasts into 1 inch chunks and place them in a gallon Ziploc bag. Pour the mixture in on top and seal tightly, forcing out the excess air. Put that bag in another bag and park it in the fridge for 2-8 hours.

Soak a bundle of wooden skewers or find your metal ones.

Meanwhile blend 10 tsp of the minced garlic, 1/2 tsp. of salt, and 2 tsp of the plain yogurt in a blender or small food processor. With it running, trickle 1/3 c. of the olive oil into the mix until incorporated, then do the same with 1 tsp. of the lemon juice until a paste is formed. Stick it in a plastic, lidded container in the fridge until you're ready to cook.

With a grill hot and ready, skewer the chicken and then grill it over medium high heat for about 6-8 minutes until cooked through. Before taking it off of the grill, brush it with the garlic paste and serve over rice. I made six cups of saffron rice using chicken stock and 1/4 tsp saffron - pictured above.

Fireworks at the Fort

Each year we go on a quest to look for the best place to see fireworks this time of year. There is a great display downtown, but the traffic and scope of the crowd has left us looking for other, smaller venues. This year's discovery was the display on Independence Day Eve at Fort Meigs in Perrysburg, just down the road from my office. We were so excited that we turn the camera over to Aaron for his first group photo credit.
This large monument is found in the middle of the restored Fort Meigs itself. This replica is of a fort used in the War of 1812 against the British and Native Americans.
The interior is filled with numerous long low hills, called traverses, that helped shield the Americans from incoming British shells. The kids loved running up and down these.

We laid out some blankets inside the fort and watched a great display set up on the bridge between Perrysburg and Maumee over the Maumee River. Becky and I have seen fireworks framed by the St. Louis Arch, but these were the most patriotic, if that's the right word, watching them from inside an American fort replica. The trafic leaving was worse than we'd thought it would be, but next year we'll be ready for it. (We'll still get stuck in it, but next time we'll be ready to get stuck in it.)

OK Vacation - Casa Viva

After the Air & Space Museum, we made our way for dinner nearby at Casa Viva. This used to be Casa Bonita when Becky and I were kids. It shut down for a year, remodeled and changed owner. Now, it looks exactly like we remembered it. We ate in a cave and lifted our little flag up when it was time for sopapillas and honey.


After dinner we watched a magic show and the kids got to participate in the act. They had a blast and we made some new memories at the old/new Casa Viva.

OK Vacation - Tulsa Air and Space Museum

I got online last night and started looking for things to do in the Bartlesville area that we had not done before. The Tulsa Air and Space Museum is located on the campus of the Tulsa Airport. We spent the afternoon here with Nana & Papa. The main building houses all of the aircraft - including an F-14 Tomcat like they used in the movie Top Gun. In order to get permission to have it on display here, the museum agreed that it could be pulled and ready for combat within 24 hours if needed. The kids loved clambering into all of the cockpits and fiddling with the dials and switches.
We couldn't resist this picture. I'll have to find mine from the Kennedy Space Center in Houston. Alex also got to try some hands-on space simulations. One was just flipping a series of switches to help "launch" a large model of the Space Shuttle. Both boys went into a space ride simulator, Aaron went twice.
Alex got to manipulate a robotic arm to pick up objects in the simulator's payload bay using the controls in front of him and the camera views shown on those little screens to the right. He did very well. Once upon a time he wanted to be an astronaut. Maybe activities like this will spur him toward it again, or at least a career in the sciences. I know, I'm partial, but its got to better than his current favorite - video game tester. Thanks to whoever told him that he could get paid for that.

This cockpit didn't have a plane around it, but they could sit side-by-side and flip the switches and move the sticks. To add a touch of realism, this cockpit was playing a live feed from the control tower nearby.

The next building held a planetarium that we watched a neat film about how a trip to space affects the human body and what would happen to it on different planets. At least thats what I think it was about. Lets just say the chairs were comfy, it was dark, and it had been a long week - right, Papa? The kids said it was a good show.

OK Vacation - Woolaroc

We drove back to Bartlesville last night and brought everyone (except Mark, who was working) to Woolaroc just outside of town. I had been here lots as a kid as it was the closest museum to us growing up. We'd never brought the kids and Alex had finished a Native American unit at school earlier this year. Woolaroc used to be the country lodge, ranch, and retreat for oil tycoon Frank Philips (of Conoco-Philips fame). It was named for the WOods, LAkes, and ROCks that surround this region. We ate a picnic lunch that we brought and then headed to the museum. The main museum has a mosaic with several Native Americans depicted in traditional ceremonial costumes, which we thought was a great place to pose. (I had gotten a short haircut the week before, and I thought that today would be a good day to spike it up.)

The problem with a museum is that the interior lights are not very bright and they don't allow flash photography. This means I got a lot of blurry, poorly lit pictures. Alex was smiling in the 1st 3 shots of him near the headdress, but by the time I held the camera still enough for the 4th to come into focus, he had had enough. The museum was still in great shape, and they had expanded it since I had toured it last. The kids loved the animals, the artifacts, and the huge paintings. Nana used to be a docent, so she had given tours of this museum and pointed out many of the highlights to the grandkids.

There were numerous stuffed animals, some of them gifts to Frank Philips, and some of them were from his big game hunting expeditions. The ranch portion of Woolaroc had numerous live buffalo, but Aaron posed by this stuffed one.


The Woolaroc Airplane, that is on display at the Woolaroc Museum, won the "Dole Derby," a glorious race from Oakland to Hawaii in 1927. More than a dozen airplanes entered the contest, but only two made it to Hawaii. Ten lives were lost during the race. Phillips Petroleum sponsored the Woolaroc in the race, and hired stuntman Arthur Goebel to pilot the plane.
A summary of the race is found at the San Francisco Museum website. As you can tell from the picture, it was well-lit:)

We took the kids to "Arrows Skyward" which used to be a multiple screen movie/slideshow that taught viewers an old Indian lesson about taking the hard but correct path. The message is intact, but the presentation wasn't. They were down to one screen, but still used the same slides, which meant that the narrator would refer to something that should have been visible on one of the other screens but wasn't. Moderately disappointing. We drove out, like we did when we came in, past all of the zebras, buffaloes, deer, mountain sheep, and ostriches that dot the ranch. I think the next time we're in town, we'll have to check it out again.

OK Vacation - The Evans Clan

The serious picture with the kids in matching "Evans Cousins" T-shirts that Nana worked very hard to get for everyone.

And the silly one. Note the outrageous use of rabbit ears by Nana & Papa. :)

OK Vacation - Cupcake Fun

Becky brought (with Nana's help) ingredients for a tasty craft. She baked chocolate cupcakes, then all the kids sat down to decorate them. She had different colored and flavored frostings, jellybeans, candies, sprinkles, chocolate chips, gummi Lifesavers and little marshmallows.
Of course, eating them was just as much fun as making them.

OK Vacation - Gazillions of Bubbles

Leave it to Nana to find an electronic bubble blower that could shoot out 4000 bubbles a minute. Needless to say, it was a big hit.