Owen's Swamp Field Trip

Owen's Pre-K class recently took a field trip to the Okefenokee Swamp Park.  Owen was excited to have his Papa go with him as a chaperone.  Both Owen and my Dad reported that they had a great time.  They got to see a bunch of different animals and exhibits.  Owen is not exactly one for details, but I know by looking at the pictures that he was able to touch a turtle, snake, and alligator.  Before leaving, my dad bought a toy snake for Owen from the gift shop.  Owen was really excited about that snake and has enjoyed chasing his sister around the house with it.  I think it's safe to say that everyone had a great time.

Let the Good Times Bowl

Last week I had to take Owen to the pediatric dentist on St. Simon's Island. It was a school holiday (furlough), so I also had Olivia with me.  Since we were already in the Golden Isles area, the kids and I decided to have some fun after Owen's appointment.  We went shopping, ate a nice lunch at Golden Corral, and then we went bowling.  This was the first time that the kids had been to a bowling alley, and they loved it.  I've signed up with kidsbowlfree.com and they send me free bowling coupons each week.  I've been receiving the coupons since last year, but we've not used them because the nearest alley that accepts the coupons is in Brunswick.  We bowled two games, and the kids loved it.  No one bowled a strike, but each kid got a few spares.  Of course it helped that the bumpers were up during their turns.  I definitely think that we will be bowling some more during the summer.

Southern Forest World

Olivia's class took a short field trip to Southern Forest World last week.  Since the field trip only lasted about two hours- and since the location is less than a 10 minute drive from my school- I was able to go with her on this trip. I've never been able to go with either child on a field trip before, so I was psyched to get to go on this one.  Southern Forest World is a neat museum with several exhibits about the planting, cultivating, and harvesting of trees in our area of the country.  The kids went to several "stations" and learned all sorts of different things.  At the first station, the kids learned about camouflage and participated in an activity that helped demonstrate the importance of blending in. The second station took us on a tour of various forestry exhibits.  We learned about how to count rings on trees and about the importance of replanting.  The final station was a nature trail.  Here the students saw how to get sap out of pine trees.  All of the kids really seemed to enjoy themselves.

 The museum has recently come under a new director, and she is doing wonderful things to "update" the exhibits.  There were "coming soon" signs everywhere.  This "spider web" net appeared to be one of the new additions, and it was very popular with the kids.

And finally, no trip to Southern Forest World would be complete without visiting Stuckie the dog.  Years ago, this poor dog chased some animal up a tree and got stuck (thus the name).  The conditions inside of the tree preserved his body.  He was found in the 1980s and given to the museum.  This is without a doubt the most popular exhibit.  Petrified dog = cool.

Running and Recovery

Before I begin this post- I want to take a moment and offer my sympathies to the runners, organizers, volunteers, and spectators of the Boston Marathon.  I don't understand how anyone could do the terrible thing that those two young men did.  In the face of this adversity, though, the residents of Boston and the running community as a whole has reacted in the best possible way.  I'm pleased to see that these criminals have been brought to justice.  I am proud to live in this great land of ours and to be part of such a wonderful community of runners.  

Now- on to recent local running events.  The last time I blogged about running was immediately following my first full marathon.  If you'll recall, I injured my left knee during this event and even sought the advice of a knee specialist.  I had to lay off of my knee until it felt better and then he said that I could slowly return to running.  I looked at my racing calendar to see what I had coming up and noticed that the Gate River Run- one of my favorite races- was coming up.  I certainly didn't want to miss that.  So, I was very careful in how I proceeded with the recovery runs. 

I decided to enter a 5K in town- the local Fund Run- on the weekend before the Gate so that I could be sure that my knee was going to hold up.  I ran that race with no difficulty and finished in 26.14- which qualified me for first in age group.  This ended up being a pretty fun race.  Quincy and my cousin Jessica both ended up running.  Cassie was home that weekend, so she came too.  We all placed in our age groups.  In addition to this, Jessica brought her little girl Natalie to run the 1-mile race.  Natalie did a great job.  Franklin ran with her- so I guess this makes it his first race as well.  I like running in my hometown because you never know who you're going to run into.  As I was running down one of the roads, I noticed a large white van (my mom) that had stopped to let the runners past.  I waved as I passed.  Cassie was right behind me and she stopped and did a dance.  I was so happy to reach the finish line with no knee problems.  Yay!!!

The next weekend was the Gate River Run 15K.  I LOVE this race.  This and the Peachtree Road Race are probably my two favorite.  I traveled to Jacksonville with Quincy and Maura.  We arrived in plenty of time to pick up our race numbers, stretch, and hit the port-a-potty before the start.  As usual, there were a large number of participants in this race.  I finished in 1:24:58.

Next up, the Swamp Run 10K.  This is an off-road course through the Okefenokee Swamp.  I've run this race several times, and the course is hit-or-miss.  One year the dirt wasn't packed down very well and I spent the whole race worried about twisting my ankle.  Another year the mosquitos were horrible.  This year was actually a little chilly.  I started the race strong, but didn't finish that way.  At mile 4 my other knee (the right one) started hurting.  All I could think as I was running is "Are you kidding me?"  I finished the race in 56.05, which is not what I was hoping for.  This race awards the top 5 in each age group, so I ended up getting a medal for fourth place.  Quincy also placed in her age group.

I didn't go to the doctor for the new knee because all he had told me to do last time was stay off it for awhile and then start back slowly with the running. I have been doing some research on how I can avoid these problems in the future, and I am implementing some of the things that I've learned.  After taking over two weeks off, I started training again.  Last weekend I ran in the SCA 5K and finished in 26.08 (3rd in age group) with NO knee pain whatsoever.  I've also run all this week with no pain.  I hope this continues.  I hate being sidelined.  

USS Alabama

 On the way to New Orleans we stopped for a few hours in Mobile to visit the USS Alabama at Battleship Park.  The battleship, of course, was the star attraction- but there was also a submarine and numerous tanks and aircraft to explore.  Upon seeing the size of the battleship, Owen became very excited.  He ran ahead of us up the ramp stating that this was "going to be awesome".  We got to roam all over the battleship.  It is a large boat, but I certainly wouldn't want to be on it in the middle of the sea.  I have a whole new respect for those serving in the Navy.  As tight as things were on the battleship- they were much, much tighter on the submarine.  Once again, lots of respect for those serving on submarines.  That has got to be tough.   The kids (and adults) really liked poking around the ships and checking out what life at sea would be like.

Yep- my family tried to throw me in the brig, but I escaped.

This is a replica of the Hunley.  Can you imagine being underwater in this little thing?

Steamboat Natchez

On our last day in NOLA we channeled our inner Mark Twain and took a trip on the Steamboat Natchez.  The Natchez is one of only a handful of steam-powered paddle-wheeled boats left in the U.S. today.  This was a two-hour cruise on the Mississippi River.  Two hours sounds like a long time, but it was really quite enjoyable.  We were able to see a lot of neat sites along the river- including large ships and barges, interesting buildings, an oil refinery, and the Dixie sugar plant.  There was a guide narrating our journey over the loudspeaker so that we knew what we were looking at.  I actually learned a little about shipping on the Mississippi. While the narration was happening on the outside, there was a band playing on the inside of the ship.  We went inside to hear them, but didn't stay long.  We much preferred being outdoors.

The guide also pointed out the areas near the river that were the hardest hit by Hurricane Katrina- including the lower ninth ward.  There is still some visible damage today.











Here's Tom and Huck, they liked sitting in the very back so that they could watch the paddle wheel

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We also got to visit the engine room where we saw the engine and learned how it works.














The weather was still unseasonably cold, so Olivia and I purchased new sweatshirts before boarding

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Mardi Gras World

We got into the Mardi Gras spirit in NOLA by visiting Blaine Kern's Mardi Gras World.  This is the company that makes the floats for Mardi Gras and various other high-profile parades.  We had to pay to take a tour of the factory / warehouse, but it was worth it (especially since I had a coupon).  Instead of paper tickets, they gave us a special string of mardi gras beads that served as our entrance passes.  The warehouse was huge and had many floats and decorations from past events stored in it.  I couldn't believe how much stuff was in the warehouse.  Even more amazing was that this was only one of eighteen warehouses owned by the company.  On our tour we learned how the floats are made and got to hear about how the parades are sponsored by different krewes.  We also got to see some of the employees working on floats for next years' event.  One really nice worker spotted Owen and Olivia and gave them beads and a toy football that were left over from this year's festivities.

 After the tour was over, we were allowed to wonder around the warehouse and have a closer look at all of the cool floats from years past.  Some of our favorites were Lumiere from Beauty and the Beast, a large panda, and the Wizard of Oz.  Olivia wanted see each and every inch of the warehouse.  Owen, on the other hand, was not quite as interested.  To pass the time while us girls did some exploring, Brian and Owen started tossing the toy football around in the warehouse.  Silly boys.

After the tour, we were each given a piece of King Cake- a pastry typically associated with Mardi Gras.  It was pretty good- but not as good as my sister Hannah's cakes =)  This is probably the closest that I will ever get to attending Mardi Gras, so I'm glad that it was a fun experience.