Konnichiwa!

I've just returned from spending 8 days in Yokosuka, Japan.  It is about an hour from Tokyo.  The Asst. Zookeeper sent me there as my anniversary gift (bless his heart!).  My friend moved to Yokosuka Naval Base alittle over a year ago and I was thrilled at the chance to visit!

Before anyone thinks of it:  NO, I do NOT speak Japanese.  And my 9 years of French study were not of much use either.  After 8 days, here is the extent of my Japanese:

Dōmo arigatō. (doh-moh ah-ree-GAH-toh) - thank you
Sumimasen. (soo-mee-mah-sen) - excuse me
Konnichiwa. (kon-nee-chee-WAH) - hello
Gomen-nasai. (goh-men-nah-sigh) - I'm sorry.

Yup, I managed to navigate the entire trip with those four phrases.  And Bethany's Japanese isn't a whole lot more advanced.  Many of the signs on the train and subway were also in English, which was a huge help.  It was also helpful that Bethany's been there for a year already and really knew where we were going!

 One of my favorite parts of the experience was the English translations.  Here were some of the cute ones, but there were too many to photograph them all!



Some of the places we visited:

Outside of Senso-ji Temple.

Imperial Palace in Tokyo.

Part of the temple at Kamakura.

The Money Washing Shrine.  Bethany is pointing to the
thousands of paper cranes that are hanging from the
cave ceiling above us.

 

Torii gate lined path to one of the shrines in Asakusa.

These animals seem to be the Japanese version of the "Alpha and Omega" that are so commonly seen in Western culture.  The open-mouthed lion is saying the "aahh" sound that is the first letter of the Japanese alphabet, and the closed-mouthed lion is saying the "nnnn" sound, which is the last letter.  These two statues were seen in pairs everywhere we went to visit a shrine or a temple.



The Japanese "Alpha."





The Japanese "Omega."





It was a wonderful trip.  I missed the Asst. Zookeeper and the three Heathens.  I was happy to be home at the Zoo.  But I saw fascinating things that I never thought to see.  Definitely on the list of "Places to Return." 

The Last Two Weeks...

This Fourth of July found us celebrating with family and friends.  All totaled, there were 12 children and many more adults.  Celebrating the 4th with young children is the BEST way to go.  You should have seen these four children screeching and dancing when something was set off!



The Asst. Zookeeper took over cleanup after Round One was over.  The family event always includes road cleanup!

Once it was dark, the children lined up their chairs and watched the show!

The first week of July also found the Miller Heathens attending Cub Scout Day Camp.  It is three days of fun (and exhaustion!).  This was the first year that Heathen #3 was old enough to attend as a scout.  He was SO tired the first day that he fell asleep in the car before we pulled out of the lot!





Heathen #2 at crafts.

Heathen #3 in the BB barn.







Heathen #1 joined us as staff.



Friday night at the end of camp, the Webelos Scouts and Boy Scouts were invited to stay overnight.  They conducted a flag retirement ceremony and the boys were all able to participate.  They also had cinnamon rolls made in a dutch oven (curtesy of the Asst. Zookeeper) and they made their own breakfast the next morning!

 

Heathen #2 placing his
portion of the flag on the fire.

And today was an important day at the Miller Zoo!  The youngest Heathen celebrated his 6th birthday!  Although he's still not old enough to ride his bicycle past the stop sign, he thinks its cool that he had to use 2 hands to show his age.  Happy Birthday, Squeaker!

Heathen #3 in SIX-YEARS-OLD!!!

 

Dragonfly Pond

The Asst. Zookeeper and Heathen #1 left the Zoo to head to resident camp with Troop 217 for the week.  It always leaves a hole at home, and the other two Heathens always feel left out.  When we spend so much time together as a family, they have trouble understanding when they can't go along.

I took them to Dragonfly Pond.  I've driven past it for years and always thought it would be a great place to stop.  It was definitely worth it.

I packed a picnic lunch (via Subway!), put the Heathens into the car and headed to Yellow Creek State Park.  The Heathens and I spend a great afternoon looking at all of the dragonflies and trying to get pictures of them.  We also watched a family of muskrats swimming in the pond and playing in the water.  The two younger Heathens came home happy and tired.  Mission Accomplished!

Sky Lanterns

Heathen #2 asked me the other day if I had added a post about his sky lanterns - and I had to admit that I hadn't gotten to it yet.  Here is the post I promised him!

Heathen #2 is part of a FANTASTIC cub scout den.  It is full of great boys and fantastic parents.  They do all kinds of really cool projects together.  This year, the coolest was definitely the sky lanterns.

Anyone who has seen the movie Tangled recognizes this image:

 Our boys built and flew their own lanterns.  The images aren't the greatest but they definitely show what the boys accomplished.  The boys did a fantastic job and the lanterns were amazing to watch! 

A completed lantern

Heathen #2 is ready for flight!

Lighting the fuel source.

Letting the air warm.

We have lift-off!



Up...

Up...

And away!

Frolicking in Florida: a story of Miller Mishaps (Part 4)

Thursday we spent the first part of the day at Sea World.  Since the one in Ohio closed, it has been years since I've been to one.

We discovered that Heathen #3 is a little fountain of knowledge about Manatees.  He spent the entire time with them spouting off about boats hitting them and special hospitals.  It was really cute - and surprising!  I didn't realize he even knew what they were!  Hurray for Animal Planet!

Heathen #3 and his manatees

Of course, we saw Shamu!  And just as the show was getting ready to start - my camera battery died.  I remembered to empty the memory card but not to charge the battery.

Since we were returning the next day, we left Sea World a little early that afternoon.  The Asst. Zookeeper surprised us with tickets to Medieval Times!  I wanted to stop at a camera store to see about a camera grip and battery adapter.

We stopped at two camera stores, both run by Indian men.  The first store didn't have the right grip for my camera, so I simply bought a new battery.  While we were there, the man asked if I had any filters for my camera.  He showed me a filter that I really liked.  But I saw the price on the box ($250) and didn't want to spend that while on vacation.  When I declined the filter, the man told me it was only $125.  I thanked him, declined again, and paid for my battery.

As we were getting ready to walk out of the store, he said, "You got cash on you? I sell you filter for cost. $99 for you."  One of the other men in the store questioned him about the drastic price reduction.  His response was, "It going to rain.  We have do inventory.  I sell $99."

We declined and headed for the van and the next camera shop.  They had the grip for my camera.  We paid and were heading for the door.  The man behind us called after us, "You have filter for camera?"  We replied YES and kept walking, trying not to laugh until we were out of his hearing!

We were headed for Medieval Times!  I couldn't wait to see it!  I had loved Arabian Nights and the Asst. Zookeeper has spent years telling me about Medieval Times.  According to the GPS, we were only 5 minutes away, just one exit up on the highway.

Item #4 of the Miller Mishaps: the van dies!

We took our exit ramp and entered the middle lane of 5 on the ramp.  At the end of the ramp, the light was red, so we stopped.  AND SO DID THE VAN!!!!  And it wouldn't restart.  It was rush hour traffic in Orlando and we were stuck in the middle of the ramp!

The Asst. Zookeeper got out to push it to the side of the road.  In PA, people stop and ask if you need help.  Really OLD men will stop and help push a can.  In FL, they simply honk horns and make rude gestures.  Did I mention the Asst. Zookeeper was pushing a CONVERSION VAN by himself?  We tied up quite a bit of traffic!

Once along the side of the road, the Asst. Zookeeper (bless his heart!) walked over to the closest hotel and arranged for a taxi to take the Heathens and I to Medieval Times.  He also arranged for a tow truck to take him and the van back to the condo.

I'm worried about abandoning my husband on the side of the road, and the Heathens are ECSTATIC that they are going for their FIRST ride in a taxi!

Medieval Times was fantastic once we got there.  The Asst. Zookeeper called ahead to let them know we would be a few minutes late and the people there took care of us.  Once the Heathens got over the fact that they were SUPPOSED to eat with their fingers, they promptly FORGOT to eat as they were busy watching the jousting and sword play in front of us.  To my delight and Heathen #1's dismay, one of the characters in the show was "Prince Tristan" and he was married to a very pretty lady.  The other two Heathens kept calling him "Prince" for the rest of the evening.

Touring the Village

NO UTENSILS!

We took another taxi back to the condo at the end of the show.  The Asst. Zookeeper had spent the evening with the tow truck guy deciding what was wrong with the van.  By the time we arrived "home," he knew what was wrong and what parts he needed to fix it!  Being married to an electrician/mechanic is REALLY handy!

The rest of the vacation was spent fixing the van (the Asst. Zookeeper) or swimming at the condo (me and the Heathens).  We did run back over to Sea World for Friday afternoon to see the shows we hadn't the day before.  Then it was a 16 hour drive home the next day.

Despite the mishaps over the course of the week, I couldn't have asked for a better week with the Zoo. I already wish we could go back and do it again!

The Entire Zoo!

Frolicking in Florida: a story of Miller Mishaps (Part 3)

Wednesday was the day I had been waiting for - since February!  This was my birthday present!  This was what I'd been selling to the Heathens for two years!  And it was finally time to swim with the dolphins!!!!!

Discovery Cove was UNDESCRIBABLE.  But I will do my best.

All you had to bring was YOU - everything else was covered.  Breakfast, lunch, snacks, drinks all day long, towels, sunscreen, snorkeling gear, beach chairs and umbrellas.

Our dolphin's name was Catalina. She was three years old and she was great.  Although the younger two were a little nervous at first, by the end they loved her!

Heathen #1 kissing Catalina!

Heathen #2 with his new best buddy!

Heathen #3 was nervous being with something
that much bigger than him, but he did great!

In addition to the dolphins, there was sting ray pool where you could touch and feed the sting rays.  The water was a little too deep for Heathen #3 to stand, but he still loved watching me feed them!

 

There was also a coral reef with fish, manta rays and sharks (enclosed in a separate area).  You could snorkel with the fish and pet the manta rays.  Heathen #1 spent a good bit of the day diving down to the manta rays and hanging on for rides.  The sharks were in an enclosed area within the reef but you could still see them underwater.  It was amazing!

Discovery Cove also houses an aviary with beautiful birds.  Here are just a few of my favorites that I snapped!

We watched a man propose "by dolphin" while we were there!  As we were waiting our turn to enter the dolphin lagoon, Catalina (our dolphin) brought over a white buoy to a couple already in the water.  The white buoy was enscribed with "Will you marry me?"  It was really sweet!  Our trainer said he's been there for twelve years and has seen more than a few proposals that weren't accepted!

The Heathens had a fabulous day of snorkeling and sun.  We were sad to leave, but spent the trip back to the condo planning our next Discovery Cove visit.  We will definitely be going back.

Tired, but planning the return visit.