Melissa's Idea Garden

My husband has a thing for monkeys...a few years ago, one mysteriously appeared on his desk at work and ever since then we have added to his interesting monkey collection. He has office monkeys, a monkey in a banana that I won at a carnival, and a set of office monkeys.

This year for Christmas, Katrina and I were wandering around Target and we saw it...the perfect gift for Daniel: Sock Monkey!

Sock Monkey was an instant hit with the family. He is always into some kind of mischief. Sometimes he helps Daniel with his work.

Stay tuned for the Adventures of Sock Monkey... As you can see...he's very photogenic!

Posted by Melissa Markham at 9:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Yesterday was a Red Letter day for Katrina. But first let me back up a bit.

For years, my daughter has been hounding me with ideas for her own business. She wanted to build a lemonade stand here in the neighborhood (understand, we have only a few neighbors, not really enough to make that endeavor worthwhile.)

She gives concerts and sells us tickets to come see them. She offers to do extra chores for cash. She will make handmade items and then try to sell them to us. She has talked about setting up a website and selling stuff through it. The problem with her selling us stuff is that...well, we aren't repeat customers. We each buy one of her items, but then we don't want to buy anymore and then she is left with unsold stock.

Last spring we suggested she try a bubblegum machine. I owned 8 vending machines back in the mid 90s. I made some money off of them, but once I had children, the time and money spent seemed less worth it. Places went out of business and I was looking to make way more money than what I was making. But what I was making would be more than enough for a 9 year old girl.

So, Katrina asked our hairdresser if she could put a bubblegum machine in her shop. Mandy gave her permission, but then the whole idea was put on hold. For those of you who are here with any regularity, you know we have been traveling a lot this year. We didn't want to be gone and abandon her machine for weeks on end. So we waited.

She didn't say anymore about it, but when I was thinking about what to get her for Christmas, I thought the bubblegum machine would be a perfect gift. It would get her started on her first real business adventure and it was a way better gift than the same amount of money spent on Littlest Pet Shop. I was thrilled with The Gumball Machine Factory. Their prices were good, their product (once it arrived) is well made and I was able to have them put a decal on the front of her bubblegum machine. She was so excited to get this gift. And for the few days it was in our house, she did a good business from visitors!

So, back to yesterday. We took the vending machine to Lakestyles and she watched with pride as Mandy was her first non-family customer. Here is a photo of Katrina and Mandy with the bubblegum machine in place.

Posted by Melissa Markham at 5:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Today was an awesome day! We checked out of our hotel around 9. Then we headed to the Te Anau Wildlife Center. We took a walk through the woods. We also learned about and photographed some of the local birds. Some pictures are below. For more, you can go to this Flickr link.

Unfortunately it was to cloudy to fully appreciate the beauty of Lake Te Anau, which is the largest lake on the South Island, but what we did see was beautiful and serene.

We grabbed brekky and lunch from the local supermarket and then drove to Invercargill. It was only a 2 hour drive and we saw sheep, cows, deer and a little rain. The land grew flatter and flatter.

We checked into our hotel and it was a welcome place to visit. We each had our own room. The way the hotel was set up was there was a main door, then off of that two doors each leading to a bedroom. Each bedroom had a bathroom, tv, tons of space, and some kitchen facilities. After all of our togetherness, you could practically hear the rejoicing as we each went into our own rooms...

As you can see Daniel was thrilled with the accomodations!

Continue reading "October 18, 2009 - Te Anau to Invercargill and Bluff" »

Posted by Melissa Markham at 7:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Today we got up slowly. Daniel was tired and had a few complaining muscles after yesterday's adventure. Katrina and I were ready first, so we even got to get in an extra game of pool. When I was growing up, we had a pool table in our basement and I would spend hours there. I am not as good as I was back then, but it was still a lot of fun to play.

We left Fox Glacier around 10:00 and began the long drive to Te Anau (without stops, it was a 6 hour drive). Along the way we stopped several times to take photographs of amazing views. It rained off and on in between bouts of sunshine.

We saw sheep, cows, deer. We walked along the Tasman Sea and found some beautiful rocks and loads of driftwood. We saw green fields, icy crags, and rolling hills/mountains covered with everything from Evergreens to tufts of grass. We drove through valleys, admired rivers, streams, and waterfalls, and saw a rainbow. And we took photos of rain in a valley below, then later drove through those patches of rain.

Continue reading "October 17, 2009 - Te Anau" »

Posted by Melissa Markham at 1:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Not too much to speak of on the 14th and 15th. We left Nelson amidst a rainstorm. We drove to Greymouth. It was late afternoon by the time we arrived and we just hung out. We decided to do laundry the next morning and that fiasco ended up taking us 5 hours to complete because of one bad dryer. I am really hating laundry on this trip!

So, after that, we took a walk along the wall which has been built between the river and the town to help prevent flooding. And that was about all we did the whole time we were in Greymouth. We were all feeling kind of grey...

Posted by Melissa Markham at 12:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Today was a fun day. We got up early and headed to the Ferry Terminal. We needed to be ready to board at 7:40 a.m. and we were all good to go by 7 or so. The Interislander is the ferry we rode on and it was huge! There were 10 decks. There was a playground (think big McDonald's playground) on the second deck, along with two movie cinemas and a cafe. Cars, trucks, RVs, were parked on decks 3 and 5. On deck 7, there was a family room with a couple of tv screens (one news, one cartoons), some video games and a few toys, plus plenty of seating and big windows for looking out, a cafe, a reclining room (chairs like you would see on an airplane, but nicer), and a small store. Then on Deck 8, there was another reclining lounge, a food court, and a restaurant. On deck 9 there were passenger cabins. On Deck 10 there was an observation/sun deck. Quite nice! I had never been on such a large ship before. It was really cool and the three hours flew by!

We landed in Picton and picked up a new rental car and had lunch at the Dog and Frog (no kidding!). The food was great!. Picton is a quaint little seaside town and it looked a lot like Mayberry. Only about 12,000 inhabitants. The water was so beautiful - it was turquoise.

Here is a picture or two.

Continue reading "October 13, 2009 - Wellington by Ferry to Picton to Nelson" »

Posted by Melissa Markham at 11:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Today, we left the hotel a little before 10:00. Our first stop was a nearby laundry business that the hotel directed us to. While they offer laundry service at the hotel, the cost is by piece of clothing (for example: $9/pair of pants). This was not going to work for us, so we looked for a place that charged by the load. Well, we plugged the address into our GPS, Golem. But Golem pulled one of his normal stunts and told us we were there, when in fact, we were about 1 mile from where we needed to be. I got out with the three bags of laundry, thinking it was just a little way to go, and I kept asking in stores and being told it was just over there, then I would keep going and before I knew it I had walked about a mile, my arms were breaking and for my troubles, I was told that the place I was looking for had closed last month!!! The lady that told me that, then got out the phonebook and found a couple of other addresses for me before I began my trek back. Fortunately, Daniel had come looking for me in the car, so I didn't have to walk all the way back. We decided the laundry could wait one more day.....

Next we headed to Central Park because Katrina and Jack were keen to show their dad the Flying Fox ride and Katrina was really wanting just some playtime. The Flying Fox is an awesome zipline and the kids had a blast on it. I have some video and when I have better internet, I'll try and post some of these videos I have made. I did get some pictures of the kids climbing around.

After that, we headed to the Sheepskin Warehouse. In Australia, Katrina and I got some opal jewelry, that was our 'big' souvenir from there. Then here, we wanted something made from sheep (since they are everywhere. Katrina got some lovely boots and I am happy with my slippers. Plus I got a sheep wool steering wool cover to keep my hands nice and toasty warm!

Continue reading "October 12, 2009 - Wellington, New Zealand" »

Posted by Melissa Markham at 11:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Today we set off on a tour that included Lord of The Ring(LOTR) filming sights, a seal colony, a winery and other opportunities to see the scenery and lay of the land. This ended up being about a 10 hour tour and is the last one we are signed up for during our big adventure. The tours have been great ways to learn a lot and to have someone else drive so we don't have to go through the headaches of driving and figuring out where stuff was. Our tour was a small one today, only 8 people.

In the morning we visited several sites where scenes from the various LOTR movies had been filmed. Of course, there is nothing left of the elaborate sets, but it was still kind of neat to see where things had been. We saw where Helms Deep had been built (at a quarry), where Rivendell had been built, where Legolas stood guard on the way into Rivendell, the tree that the Orcs danced around, the field that Gandalf took off through on his way to visit Saraman (sp?) and the pillars that they walked by during their talk, where Frodo, Sam, and the others hid from the Ring Wraith under the roots of a tree (the roots were built out of styrofoam, but the forest was real), and we saw the white cliffs that the Fellowship passes after putting their canoes in the water. Here are photos of what the places look like now:

Hiding from the Ring Wraith.

Rivendell was built just past the bend in the river under the electrical pole.

The area where Legolas stood guarding the way to Rivendell.

The white cliffs that you see behind the Fellowship of the Ring after they put their canoes into the water

Continue reading "October 11, 2009 - Wellington" »

Posted by Melissa Markham at 2:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Only 13 more days left before we return to the U.S. That is so hard to believe.

We got checked out of the Chateau around 9:30, had breakfast, and then began the trek towards Wellington. It was a 4 1/2 hour drive. We were suprised to learn that roads to the east of the mountain were closed due to the snow. As we drove along, we saw rain, snow, sun and clouds. A little bit of everything! We arrived in Wellington and got checked into the James Cook Hotel Grand Chancellor. After getting settled, Katrina and I wandered around a bit looking in stores and scoping out the area restaurants. We ended up ordering Pizza from Pizza King (very good) and now we are watching a little TV before turning in. So far this evening, we have watched Spiderwick Chronicles, Fresh Prince of Bel Air, America's Funniest Home Videos, and Barnyard. Tomorrow we have a tour of some Lord of the Ring sites and a Seal Colony. Should be fun!

Here are a few photos from our drive today.

Posted by Melissa Markham at 3:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I took some pictures after we left Waiotapu and headed to Tongariro, but forgot to put them in the last post (which was long enough anywaye, so here are those photos!

So on to October 9th....

Continue reading "October 9, 2009 - Tongariro" »

Posted by Melissa Markham at 2:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Woke up at 8:22 this morning, then showered. We headed down to the included breakfast buffet. It was awesome! A couple of interesting items, there was fried, battered fish on the buffet, cloudy apple juice (looks more like pear juice to me), and 'kidneys' which looked like mushrooms to me, but there were mushrooms in another container... And of course kiwi!

We packed up and left about 10:30. Before checking out, we looked at the sulphur flats/bird sanctuary behind our hotel:

Continue reading "October 8, 2009 - Rotorua, Waitapu, and Tongariro" »

Posted by Melissa Markham at 2:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We arrived in New Zealand today. It was so nice that we didn't have to get up until 5:30...way better than 2 a.m. We arrived at the airport at 7:30 and then the going to another country ordeal - customs out of Australia, we were in lines for over an hour, then we had a hike to the gate, then we had about 30 minutes to find a place to eat. By the time we found a place, stood in line and got our food, we had 10 minutes to eat before going to the gate. Then the plane ended up boarding 20 minutes late! That will teach us to rush!

The plane was very plush! We had complimentary headsets, comfortable eats, had our own monitor and we could choose from movies, music, games, tv and learning about NZ. I watched 3 episodes of Boston Legal. The legal part is a bit of a stretch from what little I know, but I enjoyed watching William Shatner.

We were served lunch (with chocolate ice cream). there were pillows and a candy was handed out when we landed. Cupholders were on the seat in front of us next to the monitor, which made it way easier to hold onto your drink and not spill it. The only down side was the older gent sitting next to me who kept his elbow in my side pretty much the whole trip.

So we landed at the Auckland aiport at about 2:30:

Continue reading "October 7, 2009 - Auckland to Rotorua, New Zealand" »

Posted by Melissa Markham at 12:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Just wanted to chime in and say that we are doing well and are currently touching base in Sydney. Yesterday, we spent the day packing up (trying to rearrange luggage so it will be easier to sort as we are traveling through NZ. Most places we will only stay one night). We also had to get to bed early as we had to get up at 2 a.m. because we had a taxi coming at 3:30 a.m. to take us to the airport for a flight that left Cairns at 5:45 a.m. and arrived in Sydney at 9:45 a.m.

We are checked in here at Sydney and it is just another low key day. Some more rearranging of the luggage and we were able to leave two bags with the Hilton where we will be staying in two weeks when we return from NZ. That much less to lug around for the next couple of weeks:) YEAH!

Tomorrow, we have a 9:30 flight to NZ and will be there for 12 days. Not sure how much we will be online during that time. We will touch base when we can.

And I leave you with these pictures to show what happens when people start buying hats to protect themselves from the sun....

Jack models Daniel's two hats, my hat, Jack's two hats, and Katrina's hat.

Katrina models her hat, my hat, and Daniel's two hats.

Posted by Melissa Markham at 11:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Today was absolutely spectacular! We were up at 5 (today, Katrina was the one who was the hardest to get out of bed). In spite of the fact that we were ready to leave at 6:35 a.m., it was still 6:50 by the time we got downstairs to the vehicle and out of the building. It was like old home week when we got to the Tusa 5. There were several crew members there today who had been there on Friday and they were all pleased to see us back again. Considering the number of people that take their tours, it was nice to be remembered.

I just want to take a moment here and say that Australians are excellent at customer service and people back in the States should take some lessons. They make a real effort to learn the names of the people on the tours. We had a snack at a cafe after we got off of the boat and one of the ladies came and talked to us and asked us how our vacation was going, where we were from, what we had been up to and before we left she gave us a coupon for a complimentary drink with lunch should we come back. This is pretty indicative of the courtesy we have been extended everywhere in this country. It makes such a big difference to walk into a store, onto a tour, and have people treat you like you are more than just a customer. The funny thing is that here in Australia the minimum wage is twice what it is at home, and people here don't expect tips. But their service is so supreme, we have found ourselves giving tips on several occasions. I just can't stress enough what a wonderful experience it has been to be here and how wonderfully we have been treated.

Now, back to today. We knew our way around the ship today and it was nice to be able to help others when we saw them stuck or looking for something. We settled in and the ride today was calmer than Friday's. I didn't see anyone get sick.

We arrived at today's first spot on the reef and were given 2 hours to snorkel. It was absolutely amazing! We saw so many cool fish and other ocean life! I didn't want to get out at the end of two hours (but I was a little cold). Then we had lunch, a reef lesson, and we were off to another site where we got to snorkel and dive for an hour. If possible, it was more spectacular than the first site. There were these amazing canyons among the coral. I could have spent hours there, but we had to leave.

Continue reading "October 4, 2009 - Diving at The Great Barrier Reef" »

Posted by Melissa Markham at 5:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

On this trip, we have experienced pretty much every mode of transportation: cars, 4WD SUV, 4WD tourist coach, buses, subways/monorails, trains, planes, ships, sky cable cars, and trolleys. We could be in a remake of the movie classic Trains, Planes and Automobilles!

So today, we were off on a great tour! We were picked up at 7:45 and driven to the Fairweather Station. Once there, we were checked in and given our tickets for the train. We were in carriage 9, seats 45-48. The Kuranda Scenic Train was something that Australians we met in Alice Springs were telling us we really must do. And that was lucky for us as we had booked this trip months ago. The train ride took about 1 1/2 hours to take us from Freshwater Station to the village of Kuranda. We drove through rain forest (which was fun to drive though, but probably even prettier during the rainy season). Here are some photos from our train journey.

Melissa looking out of the train.

At one point, we were on Horse Shoe Bend. We could see the front of the train and the back of it! Note all of the people with their cameras out of the window taking pictures of other parts of the train!

This is one of the photos of Barren Falls. These falls are spectacular during the rainy season. But locals here say that this is the driest Dry they remember and there wasn't much water flowing today. But still it was spectacular.

The train track we followed had 15 tunnels that had been carved by hand 100 years ago. It was and is quite an achievement considering that it not only went through the mountains, but the jungles as well.

Continue reading "October 3, 2009 - Kuranda Train, Kuranda, SkyRail, and Tjupaki!" »

Posted by Melissa Markham at 4:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Let me preface this by saying that if you like animals and you are in Cairns, you really, really, really should make this event part of your trip here! We had so much fun!!!!!

So we arrived at the Cairns Night Zoo and were checked in. One of the first to greet us was Sam - the Sulpher-Crested Cockatoo (he liked being scratched behind his ears and told us so by saying 'scratch' and tilting his head to the side.

After we were checked in, we were allowed to grab a drink while we waited for our food to be served. We had water (we have been drinking tons of water here), but beer, wine, and sodas were all available as part of the evening's events. Next came a Swaggie with a Didgeridoo and gave everyone a lesson and a chance to play. Video will come at some point. Then the buffet was ready.

Freshly grilled steak, grilled chicken, Spanish mackerel, sausages, baked potatoes, the world's best cole slaw, pasta salad, green salad and crusty bread. Then the desserts came out. Pavlova with fresh fruit salad and lashings of whipped cream. I was too stuffed to try it, but Daniel said it was very good. Jack tried grilled chicken, a baked potato and the pavlova. He didn't like any of it, but at least he tried it!

While we ate, Dave sang us some songs. Our particular favorite was Country Roads! I feel sure he sang it for us (as he sang it when near our table), but later he seemed surprised to learn we were from Virginia. We bought his CD as we enjoyed his songs so much. Not so sure that Sam liked the music though, he got a bit agitated a couple of times, screeched and flared his crest!

Next we were given torches and a bit of a talk on what to expect and what we could and couldn't do and off we went.

Continue reading "September 30, 2009 - Cairns Night Zoo" »

Posted by Melissa Markham at 4:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I got to talk to Dad and Dianne today and to Ashley and Therese. I tried calling mom, but I missed her and Jim.

Wow, what a day! Who knew how much we could see on a 10 hour tour! We got picked up at noon by David. I have to say up front that he was absolutely the best tour guide we have ever had. David was in charge of taking us on a tour of the highlights of Cairns. He was knowledgeable, personable, and had hands on manipulatives for the passengers to look at. He had photos of local wildlife taped about the bus. He had copies of major news stories - big fish to crocs to floods. He had a cane toad in a jar and some bugs in jars. And he was funny, warm, and friendly. He made it a point to get to know all of our names and where we were from. He was truly a wonderful guide!

First David dropped us off at St. Monica's Cathedral in Cairns to look at the Creation Story in Stained Glass and the Peace Windows. Please, take the time to click on the link and learn about both the Peace Windows and Creation Story Windows. I took some photos but they are no where as good what you will see on this website (though I did load them up to Flickr). I would have a hard time going to this church...I would be spending all of my time staring at the windows.

Next, David drove us about Cairns pointing out good hotels, shops, and restaurants. He told us about sugar cane and sugar production, about tourism, and he showed us a naval base and shipbuilding. During this part of the tour, he showed us a sign that I had to get a photo of:

What you can't quite see in my photo is that this sign is beside a roadway. However, in times past, when there has been flooding, boats have traversed the road and the warning has been so they will note the overhead wires.... We learned that growing sugar cane is a big source of income here in this part of Australia. We saw the fields and the buildings where it was processed. Bet they have a really high Orkin bill!

Next we drove to the local headquarters of the Flying Doctor Service. When we were in Alice Springs, we learned about Reverend Flynn when we visited his grave site. He was the force behind the beginning of the Flying Doctor Service which over the years has saved tens of thousands of people. Because of the Flying Doctor Service, medical help is available to those living in the rural areas of Australia. But, they don't just provide emergency medical service, they also provide medicine chests for these areas (so when people are sick or hurt, a designated person can call in, consult, and dispense the medications). They are providing wellness and immunization services as well. We watched a brief film, toured the museum, saw the inside of a retired medical plane and perused the gift shop.

Continue reading "September 30, 2009 - Cairns Botanical Garden" »

Posted by Melissa Markham at 8:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Today, we were up at 7:30, but moving a bit slowly. It was 9:30 by the time we showered and packed and walked to Lasseter Casino Hotel for breakfast. Then it was back to the room to finish packing, checking out and heading on.

We went to visit Alice Springs Desert Park. This was a spot recommended by both of our tour guides while we are in Alice Springs and since we had been able to rearrange our flights from a mind-numbing 12 hours of flying and layovers to a mere 1 1/2 hours of flying, we had time on our hands to go visit it.

The bad thing is that in the end, we only had a couple of hours to visit and we could have easily spent four hours in this botanical garden/aviary/zoo. While there, we saw and learned about beautiful and useful desert plants from the sandy regions, woodland regions, and river regions.

They have a plant called a Desert Rose which looks a lot like our Rose of Sharon back home.

Then they have a Dogwood that looks nothing like our Dogwood tree!

We saw numerous birds and a few kangaroos. Many of the birds have iridescent wings or brilliant plumage, but they were hard to catch in photographs.

Continue reading "September 29, 2009 - Alice Springs Desert Park" »

Posted by Melissa Markham at 7:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Another long and exciting day today. We were up at 5:00 a.m. We had a tour to meet at 7:10 a.m. Phil, the tour guide, came to pick us up in a really cool 4-wheel drive shuttle. Check this thing out!

We picked up a few other people and away we went. After a quick stop at Dr. Flynn's grave, we headed to Hermannsburg. This was an 80 minute trip through the outback with Phil telling stories along the way. Hermannsburg is an Aboriginal settlement, and was started by a Lutheran Minister. We stopped here briefly for a comfort stop before heading off down the road to Palm Valley.

Phil warned us that the next hour or so would be bumpy, so we put on our seatbelts and prepared to be jolted. The first 20 kilometers wasn't so bad...it was like driving too fast down the road to our house at our home. Then we stopped for another comfort stop and morning tea (tea or coffee and cookies and fruit cake). Then he warned us the next 4 kilometers would be really bad (they would take as long to traverse as the last 20 kilometers). So we strapped in again, and this time the road was much more bumpy. It reminded me of the road up to my dad's cabin. The reason for the bumpy road is that we were riding along the Finke River Bed. It is the dry season here. The last time the Finke River flowed was in January of last year. And then it was 4 or 5 meters (12-15 feet deep). It stayed that way for about 5 days. It is just really hard to imagine and we would like to come back and see it when the river is running high.

Continue reading "September 28, 2009 Palm Valley Tour" »

Posted by Melissa Markham at 7:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Another busy day. We got up about 7 a.m. At 9, we walked down the block to the Alice Springs Lawn Sale at the Lasseter Casino Hotel. We were in search of hats to wear. Turns out for the tours here in the outback, hats were required (along with sunscreen, sturdy shoes and bottled water). We are told that is because the hole in the Ozone is right over Australia and the sun is really gnarly here. We figured if we could get some used hats, it would save us a bit. We did find one for Katrina and you will see a picture of it in a bit. Jack had already picked up a baseball cap and Daniel and I ended up purchasing hats at a nearby souvenir store.

After quickly perusing the lawn sale, we drove into Alice Springs to an area called Todd Mall. This is a bricked street (walking only) surrounded by shops, galleries, and cafes. Daniel and I got hats, we picked up another magnet (I am going to need a new fridge to put them on at this rate) and Jack and Daniel each got boomerangs. Daniel got a returning boomerang (which have only been around for a couple of hundred years) and Jack got a hunting boomerang.

After a bite of early lunch (we had skipped brekky), we headed back to the hotel. Katrina was supposed to meet with Paul, the owner of the Red Rock Opal store, and shape some opals. Well, we got there at 11:30 and he had a sign up that he was gone to lunch until 1. So we went back up to the room and goofed around while we waited.

Continue reading "September 27, 2009 - Alice Springs" »

Posted by Melissa Markham at 4:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Today, we rested, mostly... I managed to sleep in until 7:30! WOW!!! We enjoyed the brekky buffet at nearby Lasseter Casino Hotel and along the way we got some photos which you will see below. Then Katrina and I spent about 90 minutes in the opal store in the lobby talking with the owner. He gave us a class on opals. 95% of the worlds opals come from Australia. There are three main types: white opal, black opal, and boulder opal. The black and boulder opals are only found in Australia. Beware when you are purchasing opals that you don't get the synthetic versions that are made in a laboratory in Japan (unless that's what you want). Back in the states though, the law are such that they don't have to tell you it is synthetic... Here is a link to the history of the opal. Fascinating reading! We also learned that the reason the colors shift in opal when you move it is that there is actually water in there and it is like a rainbow effect! This is the only gem in the world that has this!

In between our visits with Paul at the Red Rock Opal shop, I worked tirelessly on blogging...getting the videos and photos set up is what takes so long.

Continue reading "September 26, 2009 Alice Springs" »

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Friday, September 25, 2009. We got up at 5 so we could be ready to hop in our Maxi Taxi by 7 a.m. We had to get the Maxi Taxi so all of our luggage fit in (it is like a van). The gentleman who picked us up was very interesting and he and Daniel talked the whole way to the airport. Small wait at the airport as we once again had to get the special waiver for being international travelers so they wouldn't charge us an arm and a leg for our excess luggage.

Our flight from Perth to Ayers Rock was uneventful. They really do like to feed you on Qantas! On a 2 hour flight, we received pretzels, drinks, then a meal (pasta salad, roll, toberlone candy, cheese, crackers, tea or coffee and water). They also give you complimentary headsets and the tickets here are cheaper to fly about than at home...go figure that one out!

Anyway, we got to Ayers Rock and got our rental car all sorted out, filled it up with luggage, then headed to the ATM and grocery store. We picked up a bunch of water, some afternoon snacks/supper, and a map. We also added to our magnet collection!

Next we drove to Ayers Rock/Uluru. Uluru is the Aboriginal name and much like places in America that are sacred to the Native Americans, Uluru is sacred to the Aborigines. Our plan was to drive up, take a few photos, then head on to Alice Springs which was where we had rooms. This would give us a chance to drive through the Outback. We couldn't believe it when we arrived at Uluru and discovered it would cost us 50.00 to get in to see it up close! That's 25.00 per person over 16 years of age! So, we pulled out through the exit, Daniel took a couple of shots from afar and we rode on down the road.

Continue reading "September 25, 2009 - Perth to Ayers Rock to Alice Springs" »

Posted by Melissa Markham at 3:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Today we were up at 4:00 a.m. Nothing new there, eh? Our taxi arrived to pick us up at 5:45 a.m. and took us to the Clarkson Train Station. We gave him the last of our cash and expected to get more money from the ATM at the Train Station, but alas, there was no ATM at the train station and the nearest was a 25 minute walk away. No worries, mate, we'll just use our debit cards to get tickets from the machine. Unfortunately, the one problem we have run into here is that while our cards will work fine if we use them with a signature, we cannot use them as debit cards except at an ATM. Very frustrating. The lady at the convenience store couldn't help us because she could only give us cash if we could use the debit card feature. The person who should have been at the ticket counter was off taking care of other business in the station. We had to get to Perth by 7 or we would miss our tour bus.

There was a button on the box next to the ticket machine that said press for information. It rang when I pushed it, but no one ever answered it. I tried pushing it three or four times. A lady walking by asked what our troubles were and we explained, she went on her way. Meanwhile athe ticket agent arrived. We explained our dilemma and told him we would need to buy our tickets directly from him. He went into his office and came out and handed us complimentary passes. We were not expecting that, but apparently, he wasn't set up to sell tickets there. Or at least couldn't do it with signature debit cards. We made it on the train with a couple of minutes to spare. As the ticket agent was signing our passes, the lady came back, she had taken money out using her debit card at the convenience store and was going to loan it to us! Can you believe that? We were astounded. We have been so amazed, time and time again on our trip here at how pleasant, helpful and accomodating Australians are. We took the train to Perth, and once we got off there, our lady friend showed us the correct direction to head in. We arrived at the tour bus pickup right at 7:00 a.m.

Then, it was on to the bus to Rockingham for the Swim with the Dolphins trip. This was something that Katrina had chosen for this trip that she really wanted to do. And she was very excited. During the 40 minute drive to Rockingham, the guide told us what would be happening during our time on the boat and what to expect when we were in the water. It was obvious that she and all of the others on the tour had a true love of the dolphins and what they were doing with these tours where people were allowed to see dolphins in their natural environment.

Continue reading "September 24, 2009 - Swimming with Dolphins and Saying Good-byes" »

Posted by Melissa Markham at 11:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We loved our lovely 3 bedroom Mindarie Villa and we all would have liked to have stayed there longer. Katrina, who is practicing to be a real estate agent, sets you up with a walk through in this video.

We were up again at 4 a.m. That gave us some time to do odds and ends and shower and get ready for the day. The Bezants came by around 8:45 after dropping Charlotte off by school (she had a big test). Then we had a lovely breakfast at The Dome restaurant (an Australian chain). I tried vegiemite. I understand it is an acquired taste...since I can't get it back home, I don't think I will work too hard at acquiring it!

After brekky, our tour guides drove us into Perth. Steve was able to take the day off and it was delightful to have a running commentary from our friends as we saw some of the sights in this area. We visited Kings Park. We enjoyed some fantastic views of Perth and the Swan River. We also enjoyed seeing a variety of Australian flora. And we watched part of a rehearsal for a play called Wildflowers. There was to be a big wildflower festival this coming weekend.

Here is the video I took of parts of the rehearsal. Katrina and Alexis in particular enjoyed watching the flowers and the bee.

Continue reading "September 23, 2009 Mindarie, Kings Park, Perth, and the Bezants" »

Posted by Melissa Markham at 7:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We were up at 4 am this morning (still don't have that time thing down right). At 6:30, we were packed and down in the lobby checking out to catch our airport shuttle. A couple of last thoughts from Bondi Beach.

First, not sure if they do this all over Australia or not, but there is a practice I would like to highly recommend to the American Hotels. In our room, we had small bottles of shampoo and conditioner (you know the ones that if you don't use you grab them all up and take them home with you?) And little bars of soap. They also had a bottle in the shower. (I am on Daniel's computer and cannot put pics in like I normally do, so you will need to click on the links). Anyway, this bottle is attached to the wall and would do no one any good to take with them. It can be used as a soap and a conditioning shampoo. The maids refilled it every day and it was big enough that everyone with you can wash properly and you don't have to waste those little bottles! Just think if every hotel went to this system and did away with the little soaps and bottles...think of all the plastic and trash that would be saved out of our landfills! And think of all the money hotels would save!

And, secondly, I figure you deserve to see the view from our hotel window in Bondi. It was not very pretty, so if you stay at Swiss Grand Resort and Spa, be sure to request an ocean front room.

Then we piled into a taxi. And I do mean piled. We were picked up in a shuttle that held 9 people! Unfortunately, they weren't anticipating our pile of luggage. By the time we had picked everyone up, there was luggage everywhere! I would have taken a picture, but I wasn't sure how everyone would feel about that.

We arrived at the airport and it was a pretty simple matter to get checked in. The one snag was the size of our luggage and the amount of it. It was going to end up costing us a few hundred dollars each leg of our trip to carry our luggage. Since we were international travelers, Qantas gave us a waiver for our journey (THANKS GUYS!!!).

The flight here was 5 hours long. The aircraft personnel were exceedingly friendly (joking around with the passengers). We were delighted with the real cloth coverings on the pillows, the real glass to drink out of, and the ice cream that we were served for a snack. We watched Angels and Demons and overall had a lovely flight.

We disembarked from the plane and Lizzie was there waiting for us! Here, they still let people come to the gates to greet passengers. I can't tell you how neat it was to see my long time friend in person and give her a hug. We chatted while Daniel and the kids snagged the luggage from the carousel. Then Lizzie called Steve and we went out to meet him. He had brought his work van to carry all of our baggage in and Daniel. Lizzie drove Jack, Katrina and I to the hotel and Daniel went with Steve.

Continue reading "September 22, 2009 - Leaving Sydney and Arriving in Perth" »

Posted by Melissa Markham at 5:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We were up and and about early this morning as our pickup for this tour was scheduled for 6:50 a.m. We were going on a Gray Line tour which encompassed first a tour by bus of Sydney and then a Harbor Luncheon Cruise. These tours weren't the most satisfactory tours in the world.

Unfortunately, on the bus tour, our guide was the driver was the guide. So this meant, that as he tried to negotiate city traffic, he threw in blurbs about Sydney. He didn't really share stories as much as facts and they were punctuated with the following: um, uh, long pauses, and "I'm turning right here," or "I'm turning left here." And then there were the frequent advertisements as he told us all the best shops and pubs to visit - made me wonder if some kind of kick back were involved. We usually learn a lot about a city on one of these tours, but this one wasn't as informative as we would have liked. I really blame the set-up more than the driver though. They should have had a separate guide so the guide could concentrate on speaking and the driver could concentrate on driving.

We did make three stops where we got to get out and take pictures and we enjoyed that very much (even though one of the stops was Bondi Beach and we already had plenty of pictures of that!). Then we went on the Harbor Cruise on a Majistic Ship. The lunch buffet was awesome. There was beef stroganoff, and wonderful fish, and a variety of veggies and rice and gruyere cheese and fruit and cheesecake. It was most excellent. The tour guide (I believe an automated recording) was also good and gave us lots of views of Sydney that you can only enjoy from the water and we learned a lot about the area around the Harbor. Being on the boat was awesome. My only two complaints were: 1) the cruise only lasted 90 minutes. I would have liked to been on the ship longer and 2) it turned out drinks weren't included in the price of the ticket. There were beverage menus on the table and there were prices besides them, but I figured the prices were for the cruises where they just went out for beverages. It was my fault for not asking, but they didn't volunteer the information either. And get this! A 10 ounce gingerale was 5.00!!!!! And we each had seconds and there weren't free refills! I threw a bit of a snit when we left (said the prices were insane) and she ended up only charging us for one drink each.

When we returned to the room, I took Katrina up to the rooftop pool so she could play a bit more there. We met a family visiting from Canaberra and enjoyed talking with them. Then after a bite of dinner, we packed up as we are leaving early tomorrow to catch a plane to Perth (5 hour flight).

So, here are the some photos from today. Only a couple of them are really good, but I thought they hit the hilights of what we saw today.

Posted by Melissa Markham at 5:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Well, as I stated previously, we got an early start this morning. The kids and I were all awake at 3:45 a.m.

Around 8:30, we set off for our Sydney Aquarium adventure. Yesterday the concierege had told us we go around the corner and take bus number 380 to Market Street, then walk down to the Aquarium. Sounded easy enough.

We waited patiently for the bus to come. When it did, the bus driver informed me that he couldn't go to Market Street. He told me why, but his accent (not Australian) made it difficult for me to understand. So, I went back to the concierge. He said, I would need to take a bus to Bondi Junction, then take a train to Town Hall, then walk down Main Street to the Aquarium. So that's what we did. It was easy peasy. The train was really cool, it had three levels! You got on and could go down the steps to a lower level, or you could walk up the steps to a higher level. We tried the bottom and top levels. The top level was neatest. The train switched from underground to above ground on our journey.

The Aquarium was very nicely laid out. My favorite parts were the platypus exhibit as I had never seen a live platypus and the Little Penguin exhibit. Little Penguins are the only penguins in the world that breed in Australia. I had never seen or heard of them either. There was a wonderful Dugong exhibit and a wonderful Shark exhibit.

Here, for my friend, Carole, who loves turtles is a picture of a baby long-necked turtle and a picture of a huge green sea turtle (Jack Sparrow really could have ridden on a couple of these!).

For my other Sydney Aquarium photos, you can see them on Flickr

When we came back to the hotel, Katrina wanted to swim in the rooftop pool. We arrived there only to find, the pool was being used by children who were trying to qualify for a local swim team, so we would have to come back. On the bright side, we saw a beautiful rainbow over the Pacific.

Today's odd and ends impressions:

Several people were very kind to help direct us when we were a bit befuddled getting from Town Hall station to the Aquarium. And just as we are interested in learning more about the people of Australia, the people here are interested in learning about us. One lady seemed surprised yesterday that there wasn't Turkish Delight everywhere in the U.S. Today, I was being asked about the flight over from America and someone commented on my accent!

Just like home, prices are higher closer to the beach than when you get away from the beach. We heard more Australian accents today. The McDonalds has a really awesome sandwich available for breakfast (wonderful bread with eggs, two rashers of bacon, cheese and barbecue sauce) and the McDonalds here have McCafes, but they are very different from at home. People can get coffee served to them in a real mug. And they have some awesome looking treats to go with the coffee, but I haven't tried any yet. And the McDonalds we ate lunch at (I don't plan to always eat at McDonalds, but it has been an inexpensive option and the kids like the food)...anyway, the McDonalds had a second level! And red hair is very in here at Bondi Beach. We have seen several men and women sporting dyed red hair (I am not talking auburn, I am talking bright red or pink hair).

Oh, and one more thing, we knew the plugs would be different here, but we are very impressed with how the electric is handled at our hotel. When you come into the room, you use your card key to turn on the electricity for your room. If you don't put the card key in the slot, no power. Then when you leave, you take your card key out so that the power goes out again. A great way for saving electricity! And every plug in has a switch (like a light switch). It is not enough to plug into the wall, you have to turn the switch on too! Very cool!

Tomorrow we are taking the Grayline City Tour and Cruise. Should be awesome! 5 a.m. wake-up call, so early to bed tonight.

Posted by Melissa Markham at 2:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

As I stated at the end of my last lengthy post, we arrived here at our hotel, the Swiss Grand Resort and Spa, around 8 or 8:30 in the morning. Time really is probably going to become meaningless to us on this vacation as we will be flying a lot back and forth between time zones. Of course, we will need to keep up with it so we catch flights and board tours on time.

We have very nice rooms. There is a sitting area, then the bathroom area, then the bedroom area which can be shut off with a door. There is a small balcony, about two feet deep by ten feet long. Unfortunately, we are not on the ocean side of the hotel and we look out onto a brick building. The people here are very nice and have been a big help whenever we have had questions.

We got in our rooms, then we kind of floundered for a bit. We came with adaptors (we thought), unfortunately, none of the things we brought with us work here. So, we had to purchase us each an adaptor yesterday.

We walked up on the roof to check out the rooftop pool. And while the view from our room is the pits, the view of Bondi Beachfrom the roof is awesome!

Then we enjoyed some of the walk on the coastal walk. We didn't even make it to the first set of cliffs. We were tired, but it is beautiful. The water is so blue and the sun is so bright. This beach seems to be a big draw for 20somethings. Unlike Myrtle Beach where you see people of all ages and sizes. This is a beautiful recreation area and people were using it in all kinds of ways. Some were laying

Continue reading "September 19, 2009 Arrive Bondi Beach" »

Posted by Melissa Markham at 2:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Here are a couple of pictures from the plane in the last hour before we landed in Sydney.

Posted by Melissa Markham at 2:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The last ten days have been busy as we have been tying up loose ends to get ready to go to Australia. The plumbing disaster was threw a bit of a monkey wrench into things as it added a bit more stress (house rearranged due to stuff having to be moved out of bathroom and laundry room, having to be here to meet the people coming to do the work, the five day of having machines here to dry everything out. Four people and only one bathroom, but as all things, it really wasn't that horrible and we muddled through. We even managed to pull off a successful family cookout on the 6th of September with one bathroom and one of the exits to our home blocked.

But, here we are, three days before we head out, and most things are back to normal. We have new tile in the bathroom and laundry room. The machines are gone. There is quarter round in both rooms that makes it look very nice, The washer and dryer are hooked back up and I am knee deep in laundry now. The leak has been fixed. Jack and Katrina's shower, which hasn't worked for years, has been repaired. The plumbers still have a couple of things to do (the reason we called them to begin with before we realized we had a leak), we have problems with air in our water and they have ordered parts to fix that, but they are slow in coming. The insulation hasn't been returned under the house either. The friend that was going to do it, decided he really didn't want to crawl around in the crawl space with insulation. I can't blame him, but I don't think we are going to be able to have that dealt with now before we leave. Hope the insurance people are going to be okay with that.

Continue reading "10 More Days in Review" »

Posted by Melissa Markham at 4:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Well, it has taken awhile for me to write about the last two days of our trip, mainly because I have been busier than an ice cream man on a hot summer's day. But that's a different blog post...maybe;)

On our last day in Chicago, we (all four of us this time) grabbed a bus and headed to the Museum of Science and Industry. We had not been able to see this on our previous trip in Chicago and had heard it was definitely the place to visit. We were particularly interested in seeing the Harry Potter exhibit.

We left our room at about 9 and ate at Houlihan's for the breakfast buffet. Awesome omelets. By 10, we were on the bus. Unfortunately, our bus had a technical difficulty on the way there (some access panel on the side hadn't been locked down, so it was popped out and posed a hazard to driving. We had to wait about 30 minutes for a supervisor to come and lock the panel so we could continue on our way. At least it gave us a chance to chat with other passengers!

We decided to see Wild Oceans, the Omnimax presentation and got tickets for the Harry Potter exhibit. Now, let me tell you, we love Harry Potter, but we were not happy when we found out that the cost of the tickets just for that exhibit were between 15 and 18 dollars each! You already pay about 20.00 for entry to the museum, and then they have several other exhibits where you have to pay extra to see them (for instance, seeing inside of the U-505 or visiting the Smart House). But all complaining aside, we really enjoyed our visit and wished we could have stayed longer, but I developed a migraine headache in the afternoon and we had to go.

Continue reading "Chicago Trip 2009 Days 6 and 7 Words, Photos, and Video" »

Posted by Melissa Markham at 2:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Well, today we slept in a little, then we headed out at about 11:00. First we ate lunch at McDonald's, then we headed for the subway/El. It was our first time ever riding it and we were excited and nervous.

After about an hour which included figuring out how to get our passes for the subway and the ride, we arrived at our transfer point - the Rosemont Station. Then we got on a bus and headed to Woodfield Mall. And lastly, we took a trolley and were delivered to the front door of LegoLand Chicago Discovery Center.

It was really cool and you see photos of the amazing sculptures we found there by visiting my flickr page.

We saw a miniature Chicago made with Legos:

We rode through a medieval castle in a dragon car:

Posted by Melissa Markham at 8:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Yesterday we went to visit Shedd Aquarium...in the rain. Yep, we have hit some major rain here in Chicago. In fact, looks like it will be raining again today...

But, since we drove and have the Xterra, we are prepared. I have rain ponchos stored in the back! After breakfast, we found our bus stop and headed to the Museum Campus. We were delighted to be riding on a Clean Air Hybrid Bus which was recently purchased by the city of Chicago with stimulus funds...our tax dollars at work! It should make a huge difference in the air quality here in Chicago as well.

We spent the day at the Shedd Aquarium enjoying the sights of the lovely fish.

Continue reading "Chicago Trip 2009 Day 3 Words, Photos, and Video" »

Posted by Melissa Markham at 8:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Well, we left Virginia yesterday before 8 a.m. We had a pretty uneventful drive. I drove in the morning and Daniel drove in the afternoon and evening. A highlight of the day was we took an exit looking for a promised BP station. We never did find the BP station, but we drove through a beautiful section of Kentucky and saw some amazing homes and beautiful horses. I don't believe I have ever seen such magnificent homes outside of Newport, Rhode Island.

We stopped in Indiana so Daniel could get a haircut (didn't want him looking shaggy for the conference) and we had dinner. We later stayed at a Holiday Inn Express and I tell you that staying there is a great deal for the money. Free internet. Free breakfast. Clean and comfy rooms.

Today we drove the rest of the way into Chicago. I was thinking about driving us around here for the places we are to visit. The drive in was enough to convince me to forget it. I am not qualified for city driving! After we got settled in, we are staying at the Hyatt Regency where the conference is, Daniel went to the conference, and we walked a bit south for a McDonald's (and found a food court). After lunch, the kids and I walked North up Michigan Avenue (also called the Mile with tons of great places to shop). We were headed to the Hancock Tower and saw many strange and wonderful things along the way.

I believe I enjoyed our time at the top of the Hancock building more than the Sears Tower last year. We enjoyed a complimentary cup of coffee (courtesy of our Chicago Passes) and we bought a couple of items in the gift shop and just really enjoyed learning about Chicago. We were up there for about 90 minutes, or maybe 2 hours, I wasn't really keeping track. It wasn't very crowded and the audio tour was awesome! I chose to listen to the kids version because kids' tours always give the best information.

While at the top of the Hancock Tower, we enjoyed looking at the beautiful Lake Michigan and it was neat how small Navy Pier looked from our vantage point.

Off to the left of Navy Pier and the filtration area, there was this roundish looking building. I wanted to know what it was, but it wasn't mentioned on the tour. I zoomed as much as I could, but couldn't really get a good picture. It looked to me like a Merry Go Round out in the middle of the lake (Katrina thought the same thing, separately from me). Finally I went up to the desk to ask because I just had to know...

It is a pumping station that goes with the water filtration area. It pumps water out of the lake for the people of Chicago to drink. I like my idea better. Wouldn't it be cool to have a Merry-Go-Round in the middle of the lake that you could only get to by boat???

As we were getting ready to leave, I couldn't find Katrina (this is a frequent happening) and I about had a heart attack when I did find her...

She kept pointing that it was a long way down as she worked hard to clean those windows!

We left there and stopped in Borders (it is the first time I have been in a Borders and I was really amazed!!!!!). We picked up the newest Daniel X book, then headed to Hershey's. Well, we had to go after we ran into the Kiss out on the Mile. Then we headed to the Chicago Tribune building.

We had learned while on our tour that reporters used to bring back pieces of places they had visited (i.e. a piece of the Great Wall of China, a piece of the Forbidden Temple in China, a piece of the Berlin Wall...). And these pieces are embedded in the outside of the building. It was really cool!

So, now we are back in the room and it is dinner time. More later...I have some videos to share too:)

Posted by Melissa Markham at 6:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Okay, the last four days, including today, have been busy, so I have fallen a wee bit behind. Time to catch you up.

Tuesday morning, the kids did some school work before we headed to the State Farm Water Park. Last year, we were given passes one day to the State Farm Water Park, it is for State Farm Employees, not contractors, and their guests. We were really tickled to get to go, but the day we ended up being able to go was so cold (last July) that I sat there under a towel most of the time. The kids of course were fine with the chilly, misty day, but it still dampened the experience. So we asked if we could try again this year. They were kind enough to extend us passes for one day, and we got to enjoy three hours of lovely warm water, before thunderstorms closed the park. The kids had fun with the two diving boards, two water slides, lazy river, splash area, and swimming areas. I played a lot with Katrina and I read some until we had to go.

Once we returned to the apartment, I did a little packing, then got showered and ready to go to Daniel's going away party. We left the children with strict instructions for them to spend the couple of hours in separate rooms and not bother each other (they have a terrible tendency to pick on one another and argue). We met at a local pool hall and about 10 people that Daniel has worked with came by for a couple of hours more or less. We played some pool, chatted, shared a couple of drinks and some food. Got home and did a little more packing.

Continue reading "Days 9 and 10 of Illinois Trip" »

Posted by Melissa Markham at 7:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Well, yesterday was day 8 of our great Illinois adventure. On Thursday, we will be heading back home, but whe still have a lot to do yet.

I spent yesterday morning getting my webmail set up. I have been using Outlook for ages, but some times when we go out of town, Outlook doesn't want to work properly. The problem with that is that I never set my webmail page up with my contacts and since I don't have everyone's email memorized, it is a pain. Now my contacts are all imported into my webmail and I was able to set my spam settings on my webmail account to automatic delete. Now instead of getting 200 junk mails a day, I am down to 10. Thank goodness! While I played computer guru, the kids did school work, then we went to Anderson Aquatic Park in Normal yesterday. They have a huge little kid area with lots of splashy toys and a fun slide.

They have a life size chess board and Katrina and I enjoyed playing with that. I had a picture, but it was too fuzzy to share.

They have two large one slides, a diving board area, a 5 foot swim area, then a 3.6-5 foot swim area. I read most of the time we were there. After we were there for an hour, Jack was ready to leave (Xbox Live has been calling his name and he can't play it at our house). So I called Daniel who picked him up on his way home from work. Then Katrina and I stayed until 8. The last hour or so, I played in the pools with her. Afterwards, we had to stop and check out the nearby playground.

Posted by Melissa Markham at 8:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Well, the last three days have been pretty tame. Friday, the kids decided that they just wanted to hang out around the apartment. Daniel got home early. We did some packing. It's hard to do too much as a lot of the stuff he uses pretty regularly. He has an awesome keyboard out here and he played some and we sang with him. That was fun.

Saturday, Daniel and I watched movies. We watched an old Steve McQueen movie called Bullit. It was very good and even though an older movie, it was one that I didn't see the end coming. We also watched A Haunting in Connecticut. After seeing The Haunting of Molly Hartley (0 stars on that one), this was a definite improvement. Then we watched 12 rounds. It was also a tolerable movie to watch. Very fast paced, though one can't help but wonder if the hero of the story really could do all the things he did. Then we watched The Unborn. Another good movie. And we finished up by watching Coraline with Katrina. A bit of a dark tale, but we really enjoyed it! Hopefully, Katrina got the message that home isn't as bad as one might think;)

Yesterday we each kind of did our own thing. I am reading a really good book. Jack has been enjoying playing XBox Live here because our satellite connection just doesn't support it. Katrina was outside some, inside some watching some TV and playing with her Littlest Pet Shop Critters. Katrina and I did take a walk. She loves being outside. There is a pond here behind the apartments that is a bird refuge. There are tons of wonderful bushes, berries, flowers just right for birds. On this side of the pond there are bushes next to the pond that are loaded with red berries. If I was a bird, I would love it!

There are also all kinds of flowers:Queen Anne's Lace is the one I knew. Then there are blue flowers, purple flowers, morning glories (okay, I know another one) and lovely yellow flowers!

We stopped for awhile and threw bread to the fish. They were very happy to get the bread, and very skittish. They would eat any of the bread that floated, we had to squeeze it up so it would sink. We got video of this and when I figure out how to link to it, I will.

Then we walked around the other side of the pond. It is cool because on the pond side, there are tons of bushes and on the other side of the pathway, home owners or the city has planted cherry trees and what I think are juniper trees. It makes a lovely area to walk through!

During our visit, we have noticed a little baby bunny that frequently visits. Katrina caught a couple of shots of him yesterday. Isn't he cute and tiny???

Posted by Melissa Markham at 9:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

We spent yesterday morning doing school work. Then in the afternoon we went to Fairview Family Aquatic Center. This is a water park in Normal, IL. Unfortunately, they are in the midst of remodeling so the two giant water slides had been dismantled in preparation to be replaced. But the children still had a lovely time. There were slides, a diving board, two lap swimming lanes, and a zero depth pool with tons of fun children amusements. The kids liked the water slides and the diving board the best. And while there Jack taught himself how to dive. I got that on video and when I can figure out how to put it on you tube, I'll share the link.

Jack said this water slide was best
Katrina agreed.
Katrina made friends and they spent a bit of time playing with a water toy that enabled them to first stop, then pour a bunch of water onto the person waiting below. Katrina liked it when it was her turn to get water poured on her.

Posted by Melissa Markham at 8:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I spent most of my morning yesterday blogging while the children did some school work. After lunch, we went to the nearby pool for a couple of hours. There weren't very many people there and without a diving board, the kids lost interest quickly. We are going to be going to a water park today with a bit more going on.

After supper, Katrina wanted to go play at a nearby park playground area so we went for about an hour. Parks here in Bloomington are wonderful. There are multiple ponds and lakes, trails to walk on, picnic tables, benches, spectacular playgrounds, and geese. We are here during a cool summer (shhh...don't tell the global warming people...oh yeah, that's right, it's global climate change now...). So the weather has been spectacular just to be outside. Not humid, not hot, and a lovely breeze. The only reason that Katrina and I left after an hour was we had told the guys we would be home them. I should have called and prolonged our stay!

There are a lot of geese here and we enjoyed watching them wander around until one tried walking across the road, then we were hollering at him to go back. He almost became goose fricasee!
This piece of equipment is a balance beam and a see-saw all in one. You can sit on it and bounce one another up and down similar to a see-saw movement without the jarring. Or you can walk across. We did both.
She jumps and lands on her feet! Swings are probably one of my favorite pieces of playground equipment and Katrina agrees. And check out the stuff under her feet. I don't know exactly what it is, but it is very unlikely that a child could fall on it and get hurt. It is soooo comfortable to walk on!

One more time on the slide before we go...wheeeeee!

Posted by Melissa Markham at 8:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Monday, July 20th, we were up at 5:30 a.m. We got ready to go and left Virginia around 6:30. Before we left, Daniel told me to drive safely...and what did I do, when backing out of the drive way, I backed into his car and knocked out his parking light (good thing I wasn't going fast)...geez!!!! I almost decided to stay at home at that point as it didn't seem like a good start to me.

As we headed towards Roanoke, I was dismayed to see ominous skies up ahead. By the time we reached Roanoke, we were in the midst of a good old-fashioned gullywasher during rush hour traffic. The rain was pouring down and up (the roads were flooded in places and when we drove through the enormous puddles, the rain came up as well as down). Had the windshield wipers on full blast and everyone was going 10-20 mph under the normal speed limit. Boy, was I glad when we drove out of that...and I was still debating the wisdom of this trip.

The rest of the drive was beautiful. We drove across West Virginia, Kentucky, Indiana and into Illinois without incident. We stopped every couple of hours either to eat or get gasoline or just to stretch our legs. We arrived in Bloomington at 9:30 EST. We got unloaded and of course Jack was busy trying to get his piece of home here...computer on, XBox working....you know the important things!

Continue reading "Day 1 and Day 2 of Illinois Trip" »

Posted by Melissa Markham at 11:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

On July 19th, 2009, we had an amazing day of sadness and joy. Our pastor, who has pastored our church for 18 years, was giving his last sermon at our church. Pastor Tim also teaches my Sunday School class. We were able to get through the class without anyone being sad.

The service however, was a bit more difficult. Deanna presented Pastor Tim with a plaque for 18 years of service and they were both a bit wet-eyed. Then our choir director had handed out the words to the song Friends by Michael W. Smith.

The congregation sang this song for Pastor Tim and his wife Ruby while different members took the opportunity to walk up to them and give them a hug. This was a very teary and special moment.

After Tim's sermon (1 Corinthians 13) which was full of our love for one another and reminiscences, we had a baptism. There were 5 children baptized. One young man, had been baptized when he was younger, but he told Tim that he didn't really feel like he knew what he was doing at the time and he wanted to be baptized again. The other four children, including Jack, had at some point or another asked Jesus into their hearts, but for one reason or another had not gotten baptized yet.

Jack receives his bible and certificate.
Jack gets baptized.

After the service, we had a farewell meal for Ruby and Tim. They will be sorely missed. We are all looking forward to seeing what God has in store next for us and for them.

Posted by Melissa Markham at 10:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

No lazy summer days here...though we are fitting in tons of summer fun:) Since coming back from the beach, we have been doing school work (trying to get ahead to make up for when we go to Australia in the fall).

Jack spent five days at Go Tell Camp with other youth from church. He came back happy, tired, and full of stories about the inspirational messages he heard while he was there.

While Jack was at camp, Katrina's friend, Kaley, spent most of that time with us (and many days thereafter). The girls have been taking full advantage of summer and enjoying being able to visit and play as much as they want to. One day while Jack was at camp, we met some 4-H friends and went swimming at Miller Park Pool.

For the 4th of July, we planned to go on a cool hike that is held every year here in Bedford County. It is a sunset hike up to the top of Sharp Top Mountain. . Normally there are two ways to get to the top of Sharp Top. Ride a bus that lets you off near the top or hike up from the bottom. I have never ridden the bus, we have always hiked. On the 4th of July, they let people walk up the road to the top. Once at the top, you can see fireworks displays from a multitude of surrounding communities. However, the weather deterioriated and we weren't looking forward to driving an hour only to be told the hike was cancelled or worse, get on the top of the mountain in a Thunderstorm...so we stayed home and lit up our own fireworks. We did fireworks for an hour and had a blast. One of the benefits of living on a country road!

Continue reading "Busy At the Markhams" »

Posted by Melissa Markham at 9:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Well, another beach trip under our belts. Boy, I had forgotten how crowded the beach becomes in the summer time. The last couple of years we went to Myrtle Beach, we went in late May. Which is great crowd wise, but the very last time, was a bit on the nippy side...

One of the things I have done over the years is to keep a daily record of trips. I have some trips written down in journals, some on my blogs and some I missed writing down for one reason or another. I didn't keep track of this trip daily. I was too worn out most of the time. So instead of a day by day journal, I am going to divide this entry up into sections of things done. Also, if you want to see photos of our trip, I have uploaded them to Flickr. That way I don't fill up my blog with a lot of photos and you get to see more!

Okay, beach time. We were gone for 9 days. We were split up a lot of the times doing different things. But actual on the beach time during that five days for the majority of us occured five times. Two sunrise walks on the beach and three playtimes for 2-3 hours each. Frisbee throwing, shell collecting, and playing in the waves were the preferred past times.

Continue reading "Myrtle Beach 2009" »

Posted by Melissa Markham at 2:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

In the spring of 2000 we were looking to move. We had been looking at West Virginia. Great real estate prices, more snow, and an airport nearby so Daniel could get out to travel for work. I was also very pregnant. Katrina was born in April. Around that time, Daniel stumbled on a beautiful 200 year old, 16,000 sq foot plus home, Willow Wall, which was up for sale.

Over a 4-6 week period, Daniel made three trips to Willow Wall. Once on his own with Bruce, once with my father and Uncle Jimmy and lastly with me. This home was beautiful. And the history. We have pictures and videos that we took and made during our forays there. My father told me yesterday that when he and Uncle Jimmy met with Colonel Ivan Harris at 10 a.m., they broke briefly for lunch, then the tour continued on until 3 p.m. Not only was the current owner, Colonel Ivan, in love with this house and its history, he passed that on to my husband. Daniel became driven by his desire to own this house. He read about McNeill's Rangers, and he dreamed of what it would be like to live in this beautiful home with all of its history.

Continue reading "Willow Wall - A Place of History" »

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Here is the link to the photos from our very fun birthday party/sleepover! We had so much fun! And go so little sleep;)

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You decide...

Posted by Melissa Markham at 9:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I have uploaded photos to Flickr so you can see what we were doing while we were out of town visiting. Details to follow!

Posted by Melissa Markham at 11:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I finally got around to uploading photos on Flickr from our great snow fun we had. Check them out when you have the time!

Posted by Melissa Markham at 6:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I don't know if it is because warmer temperatures are in the air or if it all started with a lucky find at the local Goodwill, but the kids and I have been busy this last week.

The carpet in our den is old and frayed. It is a main thoroughfare for the house, it is 15 1/2 years old, and quite honestly it is threadbare:) But the den is one of our fullest rooms. There are four filled floor to ceiling bookshelves, three desks (one for me and one for each of the kids), a piano, a printer tower, a recumbent bike, and a couple of other smaller shelves. And since our domicile is overall on the small side, the thought of where we were going to put all of that stuff while new carpet was put down was a bit overwhelming and then of course there was the whole moving of the stuff. So, I found an area rug that covered the worst of the bare spots for 20.00! And now I can look at my den floor without cringing.

Well, once something like that happens other things start happening. I picked up a new chair for Katrina at the Goodwill. Then when we went to my dad's this weekend, we came home with a desk with 7 drawers for Katrina...7 drawers, people! My daughter, who loves to keep everything is sooooo happy! The problem was that where we wanted to put her desk was a horizontal filing cabinet that was no longer in use and a small white telephone type shelf that holds our telephone books and other asundry items. Well, we found new homes for those items, one in the den, and one as a replacement to an old tv cart that sits between our living room and dining room. Now all of our karaoke stuff fits inside the old filing cabinet and it won't be dusty anymore either:) And the tv cart, which still had some life in it was wheeled into Jack's room to help organize a pile of stuff.

So then the outside shots...some cleaning of the sidewalk needed to be done (I should have taken before pictures, but so often I don't think of that until I am taking the after pictures). So the kids went out and picked up dozens of sticks that the dogs had left laying on the sidewalk, and they picked up the remnants of some doggie toys, and they pushed rocks back to where they were supposed to be. Doesn't it look grand (see shots above).

So, now things will settle down for a bit, though I am looking for more area rugs and bookshelves for Jack and Katrina's rooms....

Posted by Melissa Markham at 3:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Here is a photo of Plato right after he came to live with us.

This is Plato today (he is inside, bathed and enjoying some one-on-one time with us!

Posted by Melissa Markham at 7:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

We were at my Dad's cabin on Friday. On Monday, northern Bedford County had had some snow and with temperatures pretty cold, there was still snow and ice to be found along the creek's edges. So the kids, who are working on a photo project book in 4H decided to take some pictures. I wanted to get a couple at the water fall and was very surprised by what I found when I looked through the camera lens!

And in a little bit further back image, we found not only the wolf or dog looking off to the right, but we found the profile of a woman looking to the left with her hair flowing back to the right. And we found a hand and fingers part way down the wolf's neck and my daughter found an eagle. You just never know what you are going to find when you spend time looking at the wonders God has put there for us!

Posted by Melissa Markham at 7:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

three days of rain, mud, and a Goldendoodle together?

Posted by Melissa Markham at 9:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I didn't blog much last month. I was so busy with normal holiday stuff and extra stuff going on (like travelling to Illinois), that there just wasn't time left to blog. So I figure pictures are worth a thousand words and I found a bunch of photos on my camera. I uploaded them to Flickr if you care to go and take a peek.

From a family gathering at Thanksgiving (where we enjoyed the hot tub, the fire pit, good food and Rock Band) to Katrina's first cookie exchange to a week long trip to Illinois to not one, not two but four different Christmas celebrations....you will see we were busy, but having a blast! Things not pictured include two recitals and a Christmas program and a 4-H Christmas party.... And I didn't take any photos of my final two paralegal classes...

But for those of you who want to see the photos, go check out my flickr account. I labeled the pictures to help you know what was what...

There were days where I met myself coming in as I was going out and I was thinking that I might lose my mind, but all in all, while this past fall has been one of the busiest I have lived through, it has also been one of the best with lots of time with family, meeting new friends and realizing that my 'old brain' still could learn.

I am looking forward to busy times ahead and will try to touch base from time to time so you will know that I am still alive and well! Already, I am looking at next week...Sunday night Awanas starts back up, Monday piano starts back up, Tuesday Plato has to go for his rabies shot, Wednesday we have homeschool game day, Thursday we have 4-H and Friday we have plans to get together with friends.....yikes!!!!!! so much for starting back slowly!

Blessings and Happy New YEar!

Posted by Melissa Markham at 11:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Well, another busy week has come and gone. The fence work has been going along (slower than I thought it would be, they have completed one of the four sides). Two of the sides are going to be chain link and they say those will go up in about a day. But the vinyl part of the fence is very complex. They spent all week this week working on it and setting up the posts for the chain link fence. I am ready for the puppies to go outside. Our house just isn't big enough for the two of them and I am very tired of cleaning up puppy messes.

But we have had a little fun this week. Yesterday, I took the kids to FunQuest for a homeschool skate. I really appreciated the fact that they are reaching out to homeschoolers and are trying to set up a reasonably priced fun time for the children. Jack and Katrina had fun skating, playing laser tag, and Katrina spent some time in the big playplace.

Continue reading "Skating, Sweet Puppy Moment, Locks of Love" »

Posted by Melissa Markham at 7:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Yesterday, we left fluffball here with Daniel and took Ginger for some fun one-on-one time. Unfortunately, Ginger and fluffball aren't getting along all that well. Hopefully, they will come to like one another. Anyway, we took Ginger on a visit to my dad's mountain cabin. As you can see by the pictures below, she had a wonderful time!

Posted by Melissa Markham at 7:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

When we first built our deck last spring, we built in extra big with the intention of installing a hot tub in the next phase. Well phase two came this past week when we finished paying off our Hot Springs Grandee Hot Tub, which was delivered yesterday. And, boy did I miss some shots for my blog! It took them two hours to get lined up with the crane to maneuver the hot tub into place and seeing a several hundred pound hot tub hoisted through the air and heading towards your French doors...nothing quite like it! But, nothing was damaged and I regret to say I missed the great installation photos. Here is what it looks with the cover on and inserted into our deck.

And here is a picture of what the tub looks like uncovered and out in the open (though we chose to recess ours).

We also picked up another item for the deck that had been on our wish list. A firebowl. We tried it out Tuesday night and it is lovely!

We can't wait for the snow to fly so we can enjoy our firebowl and sit in the hot tub. When we picked out the hot tub, the salesperson informed me this was the same model that is in the White House! Wow...we are in some good company, here!

Continue reading "Hot Tub and Goldendoodle - Are We White House Material?" »

Posted by Melissa Markham at 9:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Before we went trick or treating on Friday, we had a photo session Friday morning. A gentleman in our church has a photography business and I thought it would be fun for the kids to have their pictures taken in a photo shoot:) We had tried to get together before the leaves had all fallen from the trees, but between inclement weather and busy schedules, we missed some of the prettier days. But in the end, we got some great shots. You can check them out at my flickr account

Friday night, we got home about 9 from trick or treating and went to bed around 10:30. We were up at 7:30 to head to my mom's church for the Holiday Bazaar. It was amazing!

Continue reading "Holiday Bazaar, Photo Session, and Goblins and Goodies" »

Posted by Melissa Markham at 1:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

We had a wonderful time trick or treating last night. The kids got their costumes together and I took pictures as we were leaving so they would be looking their best:

First we went to the town of Bedford for Spooktacular. Something I have read about every year, but we have not gone. It is a program put on by our county parks and recreation department. There were several games for the children to play (free of charge) and depending on how well they did at the game, they would get a prize that matched their skill. Katrina's best gift was a cute stuffed bat. Jack's best gift was a pumpkin faced yo-yo. They also won lots of candy and had fun just playing the games. We were there about 45 minutes.

It was still early to trick or treat so I suprised the kids with dinner at Burger King. Then we headed over to drop in on some friends of ours to show off the kids costumes before we started walking through the streets of Bedford. Every year we trick or treat somewhere different. Living out in a rural area, it is hard to trick or treat nearby.

We walked about 3 miles in a 2 hour time period. The kids got lots of yummy candy. The thing I liked about trick or treating in Bedford were the great decorations. People there really went all out and made some beautiful displays! The other thing I really enjoyed about our evening was the great costumes and seeing so many adults joining in the fun. If we go back to Bedford next year, I will be in costume too.

I took a bunch of pictures. If you would like to see more of the kids and our Halloween fun, go check it out at
Flickr.

We got home about 8:45. The kids looked through their goodies and by the time we got to turn in, it was around 11. We had a 7 am wake up call (and I was tuckered out from all that walking, plus three wake up calls in the night from Ginger).

So come back tomorrow and I'll fill you in on what we did today:)

Posted by Melissa Markham at 9:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Today, families from my homeschool group went on a field trip to the Old City Cemetery in Lynchburg. My kids and I have visited this site many times and learned a lot at the variety of tours we have signed up for. Today we were very excited about the opportunity to picnic in the autumn weather, swing on the swing that hangs from the pecan tree and learn more about the cemetery.

In years past, we have learned about composting, pond life, the railroad station, the pestilence house, bats, tombstone rubbings, the Confederate Cemetery, and some of the historical markers. Today we were supposed to learn about the trees in the cemetery and some African American history.

The kids and I packed lunches, packed up for the afternoon (the children had group piano lessons after the field trip). It was overcast and cool, but we were expecting the temperatures to reach 55 and for it to be sunny without precipitation.

Continue reading "Old City Cemetery Field Trip" »

Posted by Melissa Markham at 10:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

My children have gone to Awanas for several years now and it is a highlight of their life. Not only do they learn a lot of bible verses and ways to get along with others, but they play fun games and enjoy crafts and they spend time with Christian adults who are kind enough to volunteer their time every week to spend with them.

Tonight, there was a special event at Awanas. We had a Fall Festival. The weather was perfect and we all had fun. We are very blessed to attend a church that has members with such a heart for children.

So without further ado...some photos...

Continue reading "Awanas Fall Festival" »

Posted by Melissa Markham at 9:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

On Wednesday, we visited Liberty Lake Park in Bedford. We have been trying to get there once a week as a homeschool function, but we have had a hard time getting others to come. Not sure if it is the day or if everyone just has so much to do, they just don't need or want to do a 'park day'. Anyway...this past Wednesday, we met a new family. The oldest daughter, Melinda, had been exploring with her magnifying glass and the sun. Pretty soon, Melinda, Rebecca, Jack and Katrina were busy setting small fires.

They were not content though just to try to burn leaves and nuts, they got creative too and now I have some fun Halloween decorations!

Posted by Melissa Markham at 8:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Last Saturday afternoon the kids and I went Five Blessings Farm for their Farm Fall Festival. It was fun. There was an inflatable bouncy thing. We got to feed goats from our hands and we got to see Tickles and Billy (they are doing great in their new home and they are getting to see lots of children).

We enjoyed a hayride and pony rides (Katrina went three times). And there were pumpkins to paint. Katrina decided that the Jekyll and Hyde approach was good. We put out Jekyll during the day, but then turn it around for Hyde in the evening!

Posted by Melissa Markham at 8:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

...and he gives the best treats!

Posted by Melissa Markham at 7:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

One of the things I love most about the church we attend is that the members there really have a heart for children and family. We are a small church, but we have Awanas and during the year do a lot of things with our youngsters in mind. Our Pastor started a father/son campout and the boys and dads love it. They go camp near a creek in tents and fish and swim and spend time together.

Well, of course us moms and daughters didn't want to be left out, so we started the Mother/Daughter sleepover. We didn't want to go camping, so we spent the night at the church. We had so much fun.

We ate pizza for dinner.

In the morning we woke up and had coffee, milk, and cinnamon rolls before packing up, cleaning up and heading home about 9 a.m. It was a wonderful time!

Posted by Melissa Markham at 8:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)

For the last week, I spent all my spare blogging moments working on the Homeschool Carnival. Now that it is posted, I can update you on how things are going with Ginger and a little bit about what we have been up to.

Ginger is doing better with sleeping (well except for last night, but I guess we all have off nights...) She is sleeping up to 4 hours before waking up and then she goes back to bed within a few minutes after going out and taking care of business. But when she wakes up around 5 or 6, she is ready to be up for today.

Here are some photos...after all, they always speak more than words...

Continue reading "Ginger Update" »

Posted by Melissa Markham at 7:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

Hopefully you will forgive me for not visiting and for having a few posts. Between sleep deprivation due to the new puppy that doesn't want to sleep at night and trying to keep some semblance of a homeschool schedule and trying to prepare for a test in tonight's class...I am having a hard time thinking straight, much less keeping up. But fortunately, I am still able to use the camera so that you can see the reason for the current havoc in our lives;)

Posted by Melissa Markham at 8:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (7)

Go check out this video for some amazing creatures like the one pictured above (which is a comb jelly).

And here you can see more photos of these interesting new creatures that have been recently found. Beautiful, aren't they?

Posted by Melissa Markham at 6:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Imagine...going underwater to see the remains of the sunken palace of Cleopatra or the Lighthouse of Alexandria. As the earth has shifted through the ages and earthquakes have caused land to be lowered and raised, some amazing treasures have fallen into the water.

The bay is filled archaeological sunken treasures. In the 1990s archaeologist-divers found thousands of objects: 26 sphinxes, statues bearing gifts to the gods, blocks weighing up to 56 tons, and even Roman and Greek shipwrecks.

A committee has been set up to discuss the feasibility of creating an underwater museum which will enable visitors to more truly experience the palace and lighthouse the way they were.

For more information on the proceedings, click here.

For more cool photos, click here.

Posted by Melissa Markham at 5:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Sorry, I have been away, but life is busy with homeschool, home activities, social activities, class, church, fundraisers, field trips and visitors. I think that about covers it!

Let's see...Homeschooling is going pretty well. We have gotten through about 6 chapters of Story of the World. Jack is learning about the Human Genome and Katrina is studying about classifying living and non-living things. We are learning grammar, spelling, and of course, lovely math. Piano is going well and they are getting back in the groove of things after not having practiced as much as they should over the summer.

We are busy doing some odds and ends around the house. As you saw in photos last week. This week, the appliance repair man came. Parts are on order to fix the freezer. The cost of the dryer repairs was almost as much as a new dryer, so we got a new dryer. Our old one had a computer 'board' on it and I wanted to get away from that. It was 14 years old and for the extra 26 dollars we paid for the brand new dryer, I am happy. I also purchased a small outside storage shed (but I can't tell you why just yet). We are also expecting a lot of packages coming in the mail in the near future. But again, can't share about that just yet. All of those calls and ordering and researching take up time.

Continue reading "Hi There...Remember Me?" »

Posted by Melissa Markham at 7:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

When I was a child, my parents and I often took rides into the mountains of Bedford and Amherst County on Sunday afternoons. As impressive as the surroundings are, there was something that stood out...

The above photo is from this website.

This thing resembles a huge golf ball perched atop of Apple Orchard Mountain. But it is really a FAA Radar tower that used to be part of a military base. The other buildings that were part of what used to be a military base have been dismantled and only the radar dome remains.

The radar dome continues to be a draw to hikers. Here's a couple of hikers you might recognize checking out the top of Apple Orchard Mountain.

For more pictures that Daniel and Jack took during their hike to the Radar dome, visit Daniel's blog post.

For more photos taken by other hikers, go visit this photo page.

Posted by Melissa Markham at 8:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I am fascinated by unusual animals. The American Bison which was brought back from the brink of extinction.
The Ruby-Throated Hummingbird that flies hundreds of miles across the Gulf each year to its breeding grounds. And my favorite...the Komodo Dragon. I find this magnificent reptile absolutely amazing!

The Okapi is another animal that captured my attention when I was pursuing writing non-fiction books on unusual animals.

Just recently, the first ever photo of a wild Okapi was caught last week by trip cameras in Virunga National Park. This elusive creature which resembles a giraffe and resembles a zebra is on the brink of extinction. We can only hope that its elusiveness serves to protect it.

Posted by Melissa Markham at 10:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Daniel is many things...He is smart. He is well-informed. He is a great Dad. He is a loving son and husband. He can make a computer do just about anything. But he has only a little bit of expertise in the mechanical and home repair departments. So things break around here and they tend to get left undone, unless it's something I can fix. Well, last week, I rented two handymen and now little things that had piled up are working very well!

Continue reading "Home Improvement" »

Posted by Melissa Markham at 12:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

National Geographic has the best photos! And they have had them for a long, long time. Here are some that caught my eye this week.

Posted by Melissa Markham at 10:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Because I know the inquiring minds of my readers like knowing what I am up to (and believe me,
I have been busy, busy, busy and more news about that will be following in the days and weeks ahead). But last week, one thing on the agenda was to take Jack to have his braces put on.

Well, here are a couple of before photos...

Posted by Melissa Markham at 7:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

Today was a busy one. One of the things we had to do was load up Billy and Tickles, the bunnies, to take to Five Blessings Farm. We got the bunnies a little over a year ago, but they weren't the pet that Katrina envisioned. They are beautiful and cuddly, but mostly they just eat and sleep and poop. She would try to play with them, but would often end up scratched. And cleaning up a litter box full of poop everyday became very old (as did me having to remind her to do it and coax her to do it and yell at her to do it).

What we learned that Katrina really wanted was a dog. Something that will interact with her and play with her and be more responsive than a rabbit. She has been begging for a dog for awhile, so we told her she could choose. She could find a new home for the rabbits and then get a dog or she could keep the rabbits and wait on the dogs. It was a hard decision for her. Katrina wants to bring home every creature she sees. She loves animals, is tender hearted and wants to take care of them all. So she started picking people that we knew to ask. The first family already had a bunny and we thought they might like to have two more. While they weren't interested, she did give me the name of the lady who runs Five Blessings Farm. After a few conversations, the owner decided she would like to add them to her farm. Katrina was very pleased with this as the bunnies will be part of classroom presentations and field trips and they will get lots of time around people.

So today, before we left, we gathered the bunnies for a photo shoot and thought we would share.

Tune in tomorrow to see what Jack was doing today! And be sure to keep tuned in for more news about upcoming additions to our menagerie.

Posted by Melissa Markham at 10:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

There were several reasons for my silence yesterday.

1. We were up at 5 and did all of our pre-school activities.
2. We had school from 9-12.
3. About 9:30, the duct people arrived to assess our air flow, then they said that they would be back tomorrow. I said 'what?' You were supposed to be installing today. After some discussion, we all got our ducks lined up and more people showed up at about 11:00. (And we still managed to get our work done even with the distractions.
4. Spent the afternoon studying for my paralegal class tomorrow night, finishing reading the book Secret, watching the people working on the Heat Pump, and watching the movie Halloweentown High.
5. Last night I watched the movie Gone, Baby, Gone, based on my friend Nikowa's recommendation (more on the later).
6. And my final reason was that Monday night, I was watching an episode from Season 4 of LOST and exceeded our fair use thingy with Hughes Net and they cut my internet down to worse than dial up for 24 hours...

So now you know what I was doing yesterday. And now you get to see some pictures:)

Continue reading "We're Chillin With Our New Frigidaire Heat Pump" »

Posted by Melissa Markham at 7:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

The last several mornings, we have gone out and found this lovely 4 point buck grazing in our yard. See the velvet on his antlers? He looked up once at me before I got my camera out, but then I couldn't get him to look up again. Perhaps I will get a better picture later this week.

He lets us get really close. I was standing less than 50 feet away when I took this photo.

Posted by Melissa Markham at 6:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Oops....I forgot last week to do my weekly report and by the time I remembered, it was too late to get something put together and our first week of school was about to launch. Sorry about that!

Bedford County is in the Piedmont (foothills) of Virginia). And the peaks of Sharp Top and Flat Top dominate the horizon. These are twin peaks and called The Peaks of Otter. These are favorite destinations on the Blue Ridge Parkway, not just for locals, but for people visiting from around the country. Both mountains have a hiking trail to the top and Flat Top is actually the higher peak, though the pointy top of Sharp Top gives the illusion that it is the taller of the two.

Here are some quotes about the Peaks of Otter that date back to the days of Thomas Jefferson.

Continue reading "52 Weeks in Bedford County, Va: Week 4 The Peaks of Otter" »

Posted by Melissa Markham at 4:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

This morning, I spent about 1 hour cleaning out the fridge. I noticed it was getting a bit dirty and I wanted to clean it up. I don't know how all of that dirt gets in there...I found a dried up grape, spills that had been hidden, and a couple of pieces of my hair! How did that get in there!?

I cleaned out the expired stuff. I found some sauce that was dated to 2004...don't know how I missed that on previous clean ups (and no, it hasn't been 4 years since I cleaned the fridge...honest!

So here's what got thrown away (only the stuff on the top, really...!)

And then it was all sparkly clean. Didn't think to take a picture of it dirty, but it really does look tons better!

Stay tuned...the freezers are on the agenda...I know you are quivering with excitement;)

Posted by Melissa Markham at 3:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Back in the late 1970s, a friend and co-worker of my fathers purchased land in northern Bedford County. At first he went in on the property with another gentleman, but eventually, Bob Donovan purchased the complete property for a total of 51 acres backed up to National Forest.

Bob and Dad frequently went hunting together and Bob and his family enjoyed times spent at the cabin. Bob was eventually transferred first to Ohio, then to Canada and then to ABB in Connecticut. In 1994 he was named President of ABB. During this time, Bob still found time to come back and visit his land in Sedalia to hunt. Sometimes alone, sometimes with his family, because even though he left the area, that land meant a lot to him.

Continue reading "A Visit With My Dad and Dianne" »

Posted by Melissa Markham at 8:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Pictures are truly worth a thousand words, aren't they?

Continue reading "Smith Mountain Lake Photos Part 3" »

Posted by Melissa Markham at 9:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Today, the kids and I loaded up and headed to Rocky Mount, VA (about an hour away from our house). We were going to see Carole and Jessica. Carole and I met the first year I started homeschooling and over the last 6 years, we have had lots of fun times together. We hadn't seen Carole and Jessica since back in the spring. I was particularly excited about going and visiting her and enjoying some time in her lovely garden.

Continue reading "A Visit With A Friend" »

Posted by Melissa Markham at 9:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The first two photos will show you the contrast of the views around the lake. Because I was busy piloting, I didn't get the opportunity to take pictures of some of the beautiful homes there, but every year, there is a home tour where several of the lovely homes are opened up by their owners for tours and the money raised goes to fight Multiple Sclerosis.

Continue reading "Smith Mountain Lake Photos Part 2" »

Posted by Melissa Markham at 9:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Here are some photos of our 4-H club officers.

Posted by Melissa Markham at 9:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Well, my internet connection seems to be better today...so I will share some more pictures from our day yesterday.

Continue reading "Smith Mountain Lake Photos Part 1" »

Posted by Melissa Markham at 8:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Bedford County has many fun places to offer those who love the great outdoors. National Forest Land, the Blue Ridge Parkway, The Peaks of Otter and Smith Mountain Lake are just a few. Smith Mountain Lake is considered the Jewel of the Blue Ridge. Smith Mountain Lake is the most popular lake destination in the state of Virginia. It has over 500 miles of shoreline.

From Smith Mountain Lake.Com

Why is there a gorgeous, 40-mile long, 20,600 acre lake, with 500 miles of shoreline, nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains of rural southwestern Virginia? Because Smith Mountain Lake was created to generate electricity, and to help manage water flows downstream and nearby. The damming of the Blackwater and Roanoke Rivers formed Smith Mountain Lake in a filling process that began on September 24, 1963 -- and ended almost 2.5 years later on March 7, 1966.

Smith Mountain Lake's surface covers 32 square miles. Its highest normal water level ("full pond") is 795 feet above sea level. There is typically very little seasonal variation in the water level. The daily variation for electricity production is 12-24 inches. During severe drought conditions, including 2007, lake levels have fallen by five feet. Under extreme flood control conditions, the water level could reach the top of the Smith Mountain Dam -- 802 feet above sea level. (The US Army Corps of Engineers publishes a daily water level report that is also available graphically over time.)

Continue reading "52 Weeks in Bedford County, VA: Week 3 Smith Mountain Lake" »

Posted by Melissa Markham at 6:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Last week, I told you all about our Bald Faced Hornets Nest. Well here are the photos. Our Orkin guy is going to help this week. Ain't it amazing!!!???

You can even see the hornets on the outside of the nest.

Posted by Melissa Markham at 5:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

In an army hospital at Fort Gordon, Georgia, at 9:17 pm, I came kicking and screaming into the world.

For the next year and a half, my parents lived in Georgia, then Texas, before moving to Lynchburg, VA when my Dad finished his time in the Army. I have been in the Lynchburg, Va area pretty much ever since. We lived in a trailer, and then a house in Forest, VA until I was 9. The trailer is now gone with a huge subdivision in the fields behind where it used to sit. The little brick house still stands. Then we moved to a ranch style home in Lynchburg, but still on the Forest side of town and in Bedford County (though we had a Lynchburg address). We lived there for until I was 15, when we moved about a mile across the road to a home that we had built. When I was 18, I went to the College of William and Mary and spent my summers at home, except for the summer between my junior and senior year when I lived in Williamsburg with a college friend.

I was married 6 days after graduation.We were college sweethearts, but the marriage only lasted a little over a year. Then I returned home to Mom and Dad's. A year later, I met Daniel and moved in with him in a trailer in Moneta. A year after that his kids came to live with us and we moved to a bigger trailer in Body Camp (both of these places still in Bedford County. A year later, we purchased 5 acres of land for 100.00 down and monthly payments in Huddleston (southeastern Bedford County). A year later (after we had chopped down a kazillion trees), we moved into our current home and come this October we will have lived here for 15 years.

Continue reading "42 Years Ago Today...." »

Posted by Melissa Markham at 10:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (9)

Ever since we arrived back in May, Daniel has mentioned us going to State Farm Water Park. It never seemed to be in the cards though. Since he is a contractor, he is not included among those who get to take advantage of the very nice recreational area that State Farm has set up. But, his boss told him this week that she would get passes for the kids and me to go and we went today. It was 74, cloudy and started raining about 4. I was literally sitting with a towel wrapped around me while the wind blew. The kids weren't bothered by the cold and in fact told me I would get warm if I just got in the water. While the water was heated and it probably would have been warmer than sitting in the chair, I knew that getting in meant only one thing...getting back out and I just wasn't up for it.

Continue reading "State Farm Water Park" »

Posted by Melissa Markham at 7:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Well, here we are back in Bloomington. One week from today we will be half way back to Virginia. We have had a wonderful couple of months and we are looking forward to going home.

So, for our last 36 hours in Michigan City, I am sure you are wondering what we did. Sunday we hung around the condo in the morning. Reading, playing DS and being lazy. In the afternoon we went to the beach. The kids and I played in the water. Daniel went out for a bit, but said it was a bit too cold. Katrina and I grabbed a raft and paddled and kicked through a deep area to a sandbar that was probably 100 yards from shore. It was neat being way out there and being able to stand. We played around for about an hour, then Katrina and I let the currents/waves take us back to shore.

While on shore, the kids decided one last great sand adventure must happen.

Continue reading "Michigan City, Days 4 and 5" »

Posted by Melissa Markham at 8:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Well, we had another lovely day yesterday, although it was an inside day. We woke up to cloudy skies and pouring down rain. It finally stopped about 12, but everything was saturated, so we decided that yesterday would be a good day to do the one excursion we had planned while we were here. Before we went though, the kids spent the morning playing on their DS and I spent the morning reading.

Daniel has been interviewing some people for a project he is working on, so he wasn't done with that until about 2:30, then we all got dressed and headed for the car and New Buffalo, MI which is about 15 minutes away. For those of you counting...that means another state magnet for our refrigerator...yippee!

We were heading for Four Winds Casino and Kid's Quest. It took us almost as long to find a parking space as it did to drive to the Casino. The place was packed! The first thing we did upon arrival was check the kids into Kid's Quest (and think to ourselves that maybe we should stay there too.

Continue reading "Michigan City, Day 3" »

Posted by Melissa Markham at 8:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Daniel was done with work early yesterday and we were delighted to head off on our last big weekend excursion. We arrived at the condo at about 1:30 pm. It's very nice. we have a view of the harbor, we are a short walk from the beach (which is still a little long for my problem knee so we will be driving), and the kids love the spiral staircase that leads up to the loft (where they have a bedroom, bathroom and lounging area...)

The only drawback is we are on the third floor...my knee is definitely not happy about all of the steps.

Continue reading "Lake Michigan City, IN...Day 1" »

Posted by Melissa Markham at 9:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Yesterday, Jack and Katrina and I visited Anderson Aquatic Park in Normal, IL.

For 13.00, we gained several hours of admittance into a lovely water park with two waterslides, a diving board, two pool areas, and a spray area (which was mostly populated by toddlers) and a reasonable concession stand.

Jack and Katrina really enjoyed diving in. Here are some pictures of them having fun.

Continue reading "Diving Champions...Jack and Katrina" »

Posted by Melissa Markham at 7:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Watch this lovely video from National Geographic. After being rejected by its mother, this red panda has found a haven and survival with the zookeeper's tabby cat. Unfortunately, its sibling was too weak, and did not survive, but hopefully this little guy, with the help of a feline mommy, will make it.

Posted by Melissa Markham at 7:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Today, we went to meet a couple that Daniel knows from work and their family. Lisa and Ryan have four children ages 2-13. We met for a picnic lunch of gondolas, chips, fruit and cookies. Gondolas are a local treat made by Avantis. Yummy bread with salami, ham, lettuce and cheese. I went to Meijer's and found some wonderful fruit for us...we had cherries, strawberries, blueberries, watermelon, bananas, and grapes...I love summer time!

The kids liked the spray park! I got a couple of good shots of Katrina at play.

Posted by Melissa Markham at 6:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Sorry that I didn't blog yesterday, but I was just too pooped to pop last night and I had a killer headache...but I am getting ahead of myself...

For those of you who want just the pictures, here's the link to the photos that I took yesterday. Enjoy!

Now on with the story...

Continue reading "Chicago...Days 4 and 5" »

Posted by Melissa Markham at 10:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Yep, folks, you heard it here first! NASA has announced the next astronauts that will be heading to the moon. You can see their picture here. NASA has decided that a family would be a great choice for the next mission and I am sure you will agree. Of course, the fact that the family had all recently gone on a shopping spree at the House of Blues was what clinched NASA's decision.

"This family is on a mission from God," one NASA spokesman reported.

Posted by Melissa Markham at 9:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Today was long and busy and I am pooped.

I was up around 6:30. I showered and then read a bit before spending over 1/2 hour trying to wake up Katrina who was very, very tired... We went and had breakfast at Starbucks...just what I needed to jump start my day!

Then we got hooked up with the Gray Line On/Off Trolley/Double Decker tour. It is a two hour tour of the loop and we were tickled to be on the top of the bus...though Daniel now resembles a lobster due to his fair skin.

We had a great guide who told us all about the architecture of the area. We rode the whole tour without getting off, then we got off in the restaurant district and went to the House of Blues for lunch. It was neat being there and since we love the movie, The Blues Brothers, we went a little crazy in the souvenir shop...you'll be able to see what I mean tomorrow... Then we got back on the trolley (we were glad to be out of the sun). We went to the Field Museum. Way too much stuff to see in the 2 hours we had. We did make a point to see Sue, the T-rex, the Egyptian exhibit, and an exhibit where we were shrunk down to less than 1 inch in size. I loved the Egyptian section, particularly the mummies, the artifacts and the fact that part of the exhibit was made of actual stones from an actual 5000 year old tomb. That was absolutely amazing!!!!!! The art work on the walls....it was just incredible! Unfortunately, it was too dark for any of my photos to turn out.

Then we got a trolley back to the beginning and headed home. It is 9 pm and we are going to sleep and get ready for another busy day. You can check out photos from our Chicago Tour at my Flickr account.

And for all of you who are commenting, thanks so much. I spend time this morning answering, but then realized that even though I am on the internet, my emails are not going out of Outlook. Don't know why. Daniel is having the same problem. But never fear, all of those emails will get sent when we return to Bloomington! I am glad you are enjoying reading about our trip.

Posted by Melissa Markham at 8:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

This morning I woke up to an invitation to include my Malayan Sun Bear photos in an article on the Serious Underestimation of Wildlife Extinction Rates.

A wonderful way to start my day!

Posted by Melissa Markham at 8:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

First a couple of moments I forgot to mention yesterday. We ordered Deep Dish Chicago pizza for supper! They sure make it different here...and one piece is a meal! I would never say that back home. A corn meal deep dish crust. Then comes a layer of cheese, then veggies or whatever toppings, then the sauce. It was about an inch thick and it was awesome!!!! Also, as it was our first night here at the Sofitel, we were surprised with trays of milk, cookies, chocolate covered strawberries and bottles of water from Norway. Very neat!

Last night Katrina, Jack and I watched the fireworks from our bedroom windows. It was cool, even though we couldn't see them completely for buildings. Tonight we are walking to Navy Pier to see the big firework show.

Today we got up a bit earlier than planned. I told Jack that we would try and leave by 9. Well, at 7, I was still in bed, thinking about getting up when a knock came at our door. Jack couldn't believe we were still in bed. He thought it was 9! He had just woke up, looked at the clock on his computer (which said 8 a.m. because it is on East Coast time). Instead of subtracting an hour, he added an hour and viola...it was 9!!!! He got up and dressed quickly, let me tell you.

We spent about an hour waking up, then headed to McDonald's for breakfast.

Continue reading "Chicago...Day 2" »

Posted by Melissa Markham at 9:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

When he returned from Go Tell Camp with his bible under his arm.

Jack had a wonderful time and is already excited about going next year.

Posted by Melissa Markham at 8:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Katrina and Kayley are busy enjoying their girlfriend time this week. Yesterday we went to the community pool in Lynchburg. They spent three hours having loads of fun. Then we played at the playground in the park for awhile before spending a couple of hours at McDonald's playground. Since pictures are worth a thousand words... I'll show you how much fun they were having (yep, I'm still loving my camera).

Continue reading "Fun at the Pool" »

Posted by Melissa Markham at 10:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

As I told you this morning, we headed north to visit two bloggers that I have known for a couple of years....but only via reading their blog posts, their comments on my posts and a few emails sent back and forth. We had a lovely visit with Momanna98 and Abiga.

It was like meeting old friends and getting to know new ones all at the same time. One of the things that was really neat is the fact that we read some of the same blogs! We enjoyed several hours of conversation, a yummy lunch, and watching the children play before we headed back down the road. But don't take my word for it, check out these pictures!

Continue reading "Meeting Old Friends...Face to Face" »

Posted by Melissa Markham at 9:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Yesterday we didn't do much except watch movies in the hotel room and recouperate from our previous two days of adventures. We did try to go swimming at the hotel pool, but unfortunately it was closed. That did not go over well. We did watch three good movies on the Pay Per View Channel though. The Golden Compass, Spiderwick Chronicles and The WaterHorse. Jack liked The Golden Compass best. Katrina and I liked Spiderwick Chronicles the best.

Today we packed up, checked out and spent a few hours at Six Flags St. Louis. It is not a very large park and seems to be heavy on the rollercoaster and dare devil type rides.

We walked around looking for a ride to enjoy.

First we rode the Ferris Wheel, a nice easy ride (though for a son that doesn't like heights, even the Ferris Wheel has its problems). From there we spotted a couple of other interesting looking rides.

The second one we tried was Thunder River. Daniel had his cell phone. I had mine and my camera in a bag. The signs warned that we may get soaked. Daniel was saying...oh, it won't be that bad....

Continue reading "My St. Louis Zoo Pictures and Trip Wrap-Up" »

Posted by Melissa Markham at 9:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Yesterday we had tickets to take a ride on the Gray Line. We got up, had breakfast and were ready at the busstop where the people at the front desk told us to go by 9:50. We waited and waited and waited. Daniel happened to look up to the front door and there the bus was...turns out that we were suppposed to wait inside the lobby. Oh well, at last we were on our way.

Ann was our driver for the day and she was very knowledgeable, fun and eager to suggest places that were child friendly for us. The first part of the tour was a drive through the downtown historical area along with running commentary on what was what. One of the things I thought most interesting was a water fountain that depicted a woman (the Missouri) and a man (the Missisippi).

And our driver took us to a neat picture spot. So here we are at the beginning of the day looking rather fresh and peppy:

Continue reading "St. Louis Gray Lines Tour" »

Posted by Melissa Markham at 12:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Here is the first photo I took with my new camera!

Aren't those cute, cute, cute freckles!

Posted by Melissa Markham at 9:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

When I left you yesterday, faithful reader, I was on my way out the door to run some errands.

First stop was the Krispy Kream Donut Shoppe I had been eyeing since our arrival...you know the ones...they have the little sign that when it is lit up means hot donuts being made inside? Well, it was everything my tastebuds had dreamed it would be. Those were some of the best tasting donuts I have ever had. Then we went to the Casual Male to pick up some shorts and a swimsuit for Daniel. But the store was closed and I couldn't see a time card for when they would open.

So we went next door to the Dollar Tree. Father's Day is coming up and that is the best place to buy cards (.50 each). So we bought Father's Day cards and birthday cards for three upcoming birthdays. We wandered around a bit, figuring the Casual Male would be open by 10:00. When we got there, I pulled on the door while also finally seeing the sign which said 11 was the opening time. At the same time the door came open. The shopkeeper invited us to come on in. Boy, was I glad because I had a lot to do. So we made our purchases and then headed towards the library to return books...but first we made a pitstop.

I did something that I rarely ever do, I made a big impulse buy. I think I have mentioned that I have been wanting a new camera for my birthday. Well, my birthday is coming up the end of July (me and Harry Potter and J.K. Rowling will all be having a party together). And I kept thinking about how many need photo possiblities would be coming up between now and then, so I decided to get my birthday present early.

We swung into Best Buy and I picked out a lovely Panasonic Luminix (that I am in love with), a case for it and some memory. The camera was 1/3 off because it was the display model! Katrina pointed out the video camera next to it (which was also 1/3 off). We haven't had a video camera (DVD) in years and I have missed it. So I did something else I never do, I bought something big without consulting Daniel. Usually he is in charge of the photographic equipment, but the price was excellent and I have missed being able to record things like recitals.

Continue reading "From Bloomington to Hotel Lumiere to the St. Louis Zoo...Exciting Times" »

Posted by Melissa Markham at 9:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

I received this photo in an email. It was so good, I had to pass it on:)

Posted by Melissa Markham at 2:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

This is a photo taken by an obsevatory of the Supernova Remnant, Cassiopeia A. Isn't it gorgeous? And study has given scientists the ability to figure out the cause for the Supernova. Very cool.

Posted by Melissa Markham at 8:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

If you sit on our patio at the apartment, you will find the air is filled with the sounds of happy birds. You will look at the chain link fence about 15 feet away that is periodically dotted with bird feeders that the apartment dwellers have put out. Then you can look through the fence to a lush undergrowth that surrounds Angler's Lake.

This is a protected wildlife area. There are signs around it stating you are not to bother the vegetation. And the birds are very happy here. Water. Plenty of cover for their nests and humans willing to throw some extra food their way.

Yesterday, Katrina and I decided to take a walk around the lake and see what we could see. Why don't you come along with us...

Continue reading "A Walk Around Angler's Lake" »

Posted by Melissa Markham at 8:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Check out this beautiful new Red Spot on Jupiter. Though it is tinier than the other red spots and it may have a short life, it is still very cool to look at!

Did you realize that the giant red spot is as wide as the Earth! Jupiter is hugamongus!!!!!! Scientists are waiting to see if the 'tiny' spot will be repelled by the big red spot or absorbed...

Posted by Melissa Markham at 1:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I have been following the story of the Tasmanian Devil for awhile. In the last 10 years, the Tasmanian Devil has suffered a tremendous loss of life due to a contagious facial cancer. Losses are estimated to be somewhere around 100,000-130,000 in the last decade. Unfortunately, there is no cure for the cancer and scientist aren't sure what the cause is. They do know that the disease isn't running its course and then disappearing.

The cancer is spread when one Tasmanian Devil bites another. Tumors arise on the face and make it so that the Tasmanian Devil can't eat. It then starveds to death. There is an unaffected population in NW Tasmania and it is hoped that they will be able to protect this group unil the infected die out, then maybe a colongy can grown again.

Posted by Melissa Markham at 8:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

This very colorful shrimp can see 11 or 12 primary colors compared to the measly three that we can see. Perhaps that explains why the mantis shrimp is so colorful himself. Now a study shows that the mantis shrimp can also see rare forms of polarization (directions in which light vibrates). As Spock would say....Fascinating.

I think one of these would be lovely in an aquarium. I just can't get over how beautiful this shrimp is.

Posted by Melissa Markham at 5:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Yesterday evening, Daniel and I were anxious to watch the news and see if the Phoenix landed safely on Mars. But then the rain came and the signal went out and we had to wait until today to see how it all turned out.

Well done, NASA! The Phoenix completed its soft landing and is now exploring the icy soil to see if it can find any signs of life. The Phoenix now has 3 months to explore and take samples of the soil and run these samples through tests looking for water and life. While they are only expecting the Phoenix to last three months, one never knows. Since Spirit and Opportunity are still chugging along after 4 years!

For more information on The Phoenix you can read articles at Bloomberg.com and BBC News.

And here is a video with explanation and pictures

Posted by Melissa Markham at 5:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Today we got up, ready for our first sight-seeing adventure. First order of the day was breakfast. At home, we don't go out for breakfast very often because it just isn't practical. But with a Starbucks and a Panera Bread within a block of the apartment...a special Sunday breakfast was in order. Katrina and I went out to fetch our 'gourmet' breakfast and on the way saw the local residents out walking their children!

I wish I had a better camera so I could have zoomed in better. Maybe for my birthday in July...Anyway, we were very tickled to see the cute goslings and their parents.

Continue reading "Visit To Abraham Lincoln Museum" »

Posted by Melissa Markham at 7:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

It's a bird....it's a plane...it's Swiss pilot and inventor Yves Rossy testing out his jet-powered wing flying up to 186 miles (300 kilometers) an hour after jumping from an airplane at 7,500 feet (2,300 meters). That's so cool!

Continue reading "Cool National Geographic Photos for the Week" »

Posted by Melissa Markham at 8:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

We were up early this morning because we all went to bed early last night. I was dreading the fact that Daniel goes to bed so early (like 8 pm), but it hasn't been bad. We go to bed between 9 and 10 and then we are ready to wake up about the time he is heading out to work (around 6:30). Today it was raining, raining, raining and thundering. Jack is a bit concerned about the tornado potential here and when it was thundering this morning he looked a bit wide-eyed.

We got up, ate, got dressed and then were playing UNO while waiting for the maids to arrive. They arrived about 8:30, so we headed to the office. I found out last night that our garbage disposal unit doesn't work and we are having trouble with Jack and Katrina's beds rolling across the wood floor (the twin beds are on wheels. I am concerned about scratching the floor, plus the beds keep rolling in to the wall and thumping (not very quiet) when the kids move around in them. And I wanted to see if they would provide us with a DVD for the kid's room (we rented the apartment furnished.) I also needed to pick up a letter from them saying we lived here so that we could get a library card.

Well, got to the office and it was 8:32. The office doesn't open until 9. I decided to go on and go to the library. Of course part way there, I remembered I didn't have the letter I needed.... but I went on to make sure I could find the library. Of course, it didn't open until 9:00 either! (This getting up at the crack of dawn has its disadvantages).

Continue reading "Day 3 Bloomington Trip (apartment photos)" »

Posted by Melissa Markham at 6:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Well, I didn't sleep as well as I would have liked last night, but you know how it is when you get to a strange place...getting used to it takes some time.

This morning, the sunny skies woke me up(well, the second time. The first time, Daniel woke me up, but the sun wasn't up then), then Jack. I can't get how Katrina can sleep in front of a window with the sun streaming in. I have to have a dark room to sleep through that.

I did some more straightening up and finished up my shopping list and my 'complaint list for the office'. They had only given us one set of extra sheets for the kids room, but we needed two. Also, the phone in the MBR didn't work and the cable wasn't plugged up to the kid's tv. We took our lists and hit the road.

First we stopped by the office, filled out a work order and got the 25 cent tour. We oohed and ahhed at the pool and hot tub. We admired the pool table and checked out the exercise room. Then we headed off to breakfast at Denny's before tackling Walmart. Not only did we need groceries, but there were several housekeeping items we needed as well. I didn't think we would ever get away from Walmart...ever! We came home, put stuff away, had lunch and watched Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade. We are all looking forward to seeing the new Indiana Jones movie this weekend.

Continue reading "Day 2 in Bloomington (with photos)" »

Posted by Melissa Markham at 8:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I still haven't had the time to work more on getting the pictures off of my camera, but Bruce had taken a picture of Jack and a picture of Katrina using his cell phone. He tried to put them in the comments, but that didn't work, so here is the one of Jack. The one of Katrina was pretty much like the one I had and blurry (like mine which I thought was odd that we both got blurry shots of her. Thanks Bruce!

Posted by Melissa Markham at 6:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Last night the children participated in their end of the year piano recital. It is a big deal and we were there for about two hours. I am disappointed because while there, my digital camera slid off of my lap and the batteries popped out. I put them in and took several photos. What I didn't realize is the memory card popped out, so they were taken on the internal memory of the camera. So I have a few pictures (all of Katrina), and the ones of Jack are trapped on my camera. I tried to download and install the driver today, but was unsuccessful. I will try again so you can see the rest of the pictures.

Before we left, my neighbor was visiting and she did a wonderful job with Katrina's hair.

Here she is from the front. And if you look closely, you will see Jack at the piano practicing and talking with their music teacher, Mrs. Booth.

Continue reading "Piano Recital: Awards and Photos" »

Posted by Melissa Markham at 6:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)

A couple of cool photos from National Geographic that I wanted to share:

Posted by Melissa Markham at 6:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

This is a grim reminder of how precious life is and how quickly it can change. It also serves to remind us that while Man is changing the face of the earth over time, the forces of nature can change it in mere seconds.

Below is a photo of what Myanmar (Burma) looked like before and after Cyclone Nargis. Note the tan agricutural areas and green vegetation areas that were wiped out by the flooding. For more information, visit National Geographic

And you can see a video here where survivors speak.

Posted by Melissa Markham at 9:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

They say pictures are worth a thousand words. Here are a few thousand words about what I am seeing around my home!

Continue reading "Spring is Springing Out All Over" »

Posted by Melissa Markham at 4:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Last week, Katrina opened a French cafe. She played a CD I had purchased that was of Parisian music. She set up her cafe and played her music and she felt like a little black paint would complete the scene for us...

I think she looks more like Jack Sparrow instead of a Parisian garcon...what do you think?

Continue reading "Mustaches, Performances, and Easter Egg Hunts" »

Posted by Melissa Markham at 4:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Midnight is my cat. When we adopted the three sisters that you have met in the last few days, we decided to let them have one litter before getting them neutered. They all got pregnant about the same time and their kittens were born within a week of each other. Altogether, we had 14 kittens!

At first the cats had them scattered around hither and yon, but we were afraid that would make the kittens too wild, so we placed a big dog house at the front and brought the kittens to it. What we thought was really cool was that the sisters would nurse one another's kittens. They didn't care at all. At any rate, there was a kitten (cream and peach color) that I wanted to keep, but we had two wild boys that were more shy, so we decided to keep them because we were afraid we would have a hard time giving them away. We named the orange tiger cat, Fido. He belonged to my husband. Unfortunately Fido ran away or was taken away before he was 1 year old. We never could find him. The other cat was mine and I called him Midnight. Okay, not very original, I know, but at least there is no doubt about which one I am speaking of when I say his name!

Continue reading "Meet Midnight, Cat Number Four" »

Posted by Melissa Markham at 5:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

If you have read my blog for any length of time, you know that i love learning about animals, space and anything to do with archaeology. I have been so busy with cleaning and homeschooling and life, that I am a bit behind with sharing the interesting things from National Geographic. I have over 90 stories to wade through. I only share the ones most interesting to me here, and currently, I don't link to the videos because my computer is getting a tad ancient and I can't watch the videos anymore (there is a new laptop in my future...probably April), but I don't want to link to videos when I don't know what is in them. Anyway, since I don't want to right up a kazillion posts to catch up, I am going to briefly share links that interest me in this post in order to get caught up. And maybe some photos to.

1. Mysterious Pyramid Complex Discovered in Peru - what fascinates me about stories like this is the fact that we find pyramid and pyramid shapes all over the world. This vast ceremonial site is believed to have been used by a little known ancient culture, Vicus.

2. Ancient Maya Used "Glitter" Paint to Make Temple Gleam - A new study of paint flakes taken from masks on the temple's exterior found that the Maya used mica to make the temple's colorful paint glimmer in the sun. It appears, glitter paint has been around for a long, long time! We love glitter paint in our house. We used it on our snowmen, our pine cones and whatever else we want to give an extra sparkle!

Continue reading "National Geographic Headlines: Archaeology, Astronomy, and Animals" »

Posted by Melissa Markham at 9:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Today has been a busy day for us. We attended Sunday School and Church this morning where the theme for the day was love. When we came out of church, winds had picked up and tore the car door out of my daughter's hand and blew papers out of a friend's car. We watched as flowers from tombstones were blown across the street.

When we arrived home, it was to three downed trees - 2 at our office across the street and one here at the house. All were old, dead and didn't damage anything.

At 2:45 Katrina and I left for a baby shower. It was her first and the first one I had been to in several years. We arrived at the church, holding tightly to our gifts and purses. We walked in to find the power was out. As we sat at the shower and visited and had snacks, we heard stories about fires, trees down, blocked roads and power outages. We played fun games. In one game, they had set out a diaper bag of items for us to look at. Then later, we had to fill out a piece of paper with what we remembered from the bag. One gal remembered 16 out of the 21 items. I only remembered 13. We played another game where we had to guess the prices of the items. I was only 6.00 off - which I thought was pretty good since I haven't bought baby stuff in years! One lady got within 56 cents! That was so cool!

Continue reading "Love, Shower, Wind, Cancelled Flights, and Fire" »

Posted by Melissa Markham at 6:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

The kids have been fun in that greatest snow tradition...making snowmen. They both made their own all by themselves!

Posted by Melissa Markham at 12:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

Just as my predicted, the snow has arrived! And we couldn't be happier! (Well, maybe if we got like a foot we would be happier!)

My angel making an angel!

Continue reading "It's Heeerrrreee!!!!!!" »

Posted by Melissa Markham at 9:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Had a busy morning. Not going to bore you with the details, but it included laundry, making quiche and baking cookies as we prepared to visit friends this afternoon. We visited Jack's best friend's family for the afternoon and had a very nice time. The kids hadn't seen each other in awhile and really enjoyed their time together. Karen and I got all caught up with what we had been doing in the last few months.

I stopped to get gas on the way home...boy, was it chilly! The current temperature is 24 with a windchill of 12!!!!! Before coming down to the house, I stopped across the street at the office and emailed Daniel some files he needed in Illinois. Then, I came home to get something warm to eat and sit down at my computer...but others had gotten to my spot first!!!

The cats aren't inside very often as I am allergic to them. Not as bad as I used to be, so I guess I am outgrowing my allergy. This means I can let them in on very rainy or snowy or cold days. And they are making themselves right at home.

Midnight and Cuddles are two of our four cats. Betcha can't tell which is which! Cuddles is the most unusual colored cat we have ever seen. In fact, we haven't never seen another colored like her. And see how she matches the sofa!

After I snapped those pictures, they decided it was time to move to another spot, so I got to sit in my seat and blog away...ahhhh....

Posted by Melissa Markham at 7:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

As the year winds down, everyone gets busy making their top 10 lists or top 50 list or top 100 lists depending on what their preference is. We always have to come up with the best of the best of the worst of the worst because it helps us to encapsulate what happened during the year. National Geographic is no different! Earlier I shared their top ten news photos...I guess that category was great photos with top news stories? Here I will share the links for what they have picked for their top ten stories and top ten photos of 2007.

Top Ten Stories of 2007 A dinosaur "mummy," mass plague graves in Venice, and a stone box that might have held Jesus' remains were just some of the blockbuster stories covered this year by National Geographic News. Personally, the number one story of 2007 has me the most intrigued and still waiting to hear more.

Mars Melt Hints at Solar, Not Human, Cause for Warming, Scientist Says (February 28, 2007) Simultaneous warming on Earth and Mars suggests that our planet's recent climate changes have a natural—and not a human-induced—cause, according to a controversial theory.

Top Ten Photos of 2007 Just like with the top ten news photos, I have posted several of these top photos on my blog in the past year! Yeah me! The strange owl from Peru, new leopard species, the smiling bird in Columbia, the Goblin Shark, The Giant Squid, the 100 year old Rockfish, and the Colossal Squid. Somehow I missed the photo of the crocodile that had bit off the vet's hand and forearm! YIKES!

Posted by Melissa Markham at 3:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

As I was perusing the list of top ten news photos for 2007, I was tickled to find that several of the photos that have found their way onto this blog and my HSB blog are among the top ten:

The Toyger, the frilled shark, the 8 foot catfish, the dino mummy, the inner workings of the inner nose, the crystal cave in Mexico, the weird deep sea creatures in the Atlantic, and the new 7 wonders of the world.

I missed the monster fish story (not sure how that happened) and I read about but didn't share, I don't think, about the quake that lifted the island 10 feet out of the ground.

Take a few moments and visit National Geographic to see these top ten news photos and read a bit about them!

Posted by Melissa Markham at 8:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Back in the summer of 2005, I was the owner, instigator and moderator of the Lynchburg Freecycle list. It was a lot of fun and I met some lovely people. One person on my Freecycle list had started a blog dedicated to Lynchburg and the surrounding areas. He invited me to join his writing team and so I did. It was a blast and the Lynchburg, VA blog rose high in the ranks. We had a huge following and got lots of comments and had lots of fun. I decided I wanted to start my own blog and the other writers turned to other interests, but I the Lynchburg, VA blog still gets a lot of hits even though it is mostly inactive these days.

Anyway, Bob, the fellow who had the vision for the Lynchburg blog discovered he had a truly amazing talent. The man takes awesome photos. And I do mean awesome! I knew that over the past 18 months, Bob's photos have won awards and contests. He is a favorite over at flickr. He has had photos in Lynchburg Life Magazine and photos that were exhibited in the Musée de l'Elysée, Lausanne in Switzerland,(a museum for photography).

What I didn't know was that Bob has put together a book title Blue Ridge Parkway and Beyond that is chock full of his amazing photos. If you or someone you know enjoys beautiful photography and/or pictures from the Blue Ridge, this book would make an awesome gift! Bob is an interesting man who has experienced a lot of interesting adventures during his lifetime. I am pleased to have been around at the beginning of this latest adventure! Way to go, Bob!

Posted by Melissa Markham at 10:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

If you love those great National Geographic photos, be sure to check out this week's selection! You will find a whale shark, spiral galaxy Messier 74, Glasgow Cathedral, Robot Dental Exam, Record Truffle, and a Western Lowland Gorilla, and California smoke.

Did you hear about the record truffle? It weighed in at 3.3 pounds (normally 1 - 2 oz) and sold for $313,000!!!!! WOW!

My favorite photo (though there are several good ones this week) is the spiral galaxy. Isn't it beautiful?

Posted by Melissa Markham at 9:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

National Geographic always has the best photos! Here are two you are sure to enjoy!

The emperor tamarin, which lives in lowland forests across Brazil and Peru, was supposedly named after German emperor Wilhelm II, who sported an iconic handlebar mustache during his late 19th-century to early 20th-century reign.

Thick fog envelops the Dubayy Marina. The landed cloud settled over the Middle Eastern country last week, disrupting traffic and delaying flights.

Posted by Melissa Markham at 6:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Today my hubby sent me a short story and cute picture. The story goes like this...

I had a similar moment about 15 years ago...egads...how can I say something happened to me 15 years ago and realize at the time I was a 20 something adult???? Oh well, back to my story.

I woke up around 5:30...bleary-eyed and ready to take a shower. I opened the cabinet door under the bathroom sink and reached for my shampoo before recoiling in wide-awake horror! Even with my bleary-eyed condition, I could see that my cotton ball bag was MOVING!!!! That's right, I said MOVING! What in the world?

Was that a tail? A snout? Multiple tails? HONEY!!!!

'Huh...what...what is it???'

It turned out that there was not one, not two, not three....but four baby possums inside of the cottonball bag! We lived in an old trailer at the time and the best we could figure out was that they had crawled up between the tub and the sink (the wall had been cut there at one time, probably due to plumbing repairs). They found that nice soft bag of cotton and made themselves at home. Unfortunately, we found their mother beside the road. So for a few days, we put cat food in there and tried to make them as comfortable as we could until they decided to leave and go on with their lives.

Baby possums are kind of cute...in an ugly sort of way....

Posted by Melissa Markham at 3:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tonight was the night...you won't believe who we saw wandering about on our deck...

First there was this pink devil girl (believe me it is all about the 'pink')

Then this famous person showed up...he really needs no introduction!

Ignore the woman behind the singer

And finally DH got in on the action!

Posted by Melissa Markham at 11:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

It's Mothra! No....
It's an alien from another planet! No....
It's a new form of Rorschach! No....It's....

It's a CT image of the human nose!!!!!

Wow, bet you would never have guessed that one! For more cool images, head over to National Geographic and see the other 4 best Science Images of 2007!

Posted by Melissa Markham at 11:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

National Geographic is reporting that scientists found 11 new species during WWF studies in 2005 and 2006 in a tropical region dubbed the Green Corridor in the Annamites mountain range of Thua Thien Hue Province.

White-lipped Keelback Snake

Photos: 11 New Species Discovered in Vietnam

http://www.melissaomarkham.com/2007/09/photos_11_new_species_discover_1.html

Continue reading "Photos: 11 New Species Discovered in Vietnam" »

Posted by Melissa Markham at 8:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Check out this African Photos Website for fantastic photos from the Dark Continent!

Posted by Melissa Markham at 8:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

August 2006, the yacht 'Maiken' is travelling in the south Pacific when they came across a weird sight ... check out this link which shows an island being born!

Posted by Melissa Markham at 7:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Here are two photos I found at the National Geographic Website.

1. This is a photo taken from space of a volcanic eruption on Jupiter's moon Io. Isn't is spectacular!? And isn't it cool that we can take photos of other planets and moons? The plume of gas vaulted over 200 miles into the air.

2. The < a href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/05/070503-oldest-lobster.html?source=rss">oldest Lobster fossil on record was found in Mexcio...boy, wouldn't this guy have filled up a houseful of guests!

Posted by Melissa Markham at 10:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

DH sent me a link to Dark Roasted Blend because of some amazing Dry Valleys of Anatartica photos. I stuck around looking because there were lots of other wonderful pictures and information. I haven't seen everything, but it appears to be a family friendly site. Check it out! You'll love the photos!

Posted by Melissa Markham at 8:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Continue reading "Week in Photos from National Geographic" »

Posted by Melissa Markham at 6:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)