Wednesday, June 20, 2007

Summer movies

Summer movies. One of the reasons I love summer. Sequels, kid movies, animation, action--I love to watch them all.

This summer's list-to-see includes Spiderman 3, Shrek 3, Pirates 3, Fantastic Four 2, Transformers, Die Hard 4, Harry Potter (can't remember the number), plus any other movie that happens to catch my eye.

My family and I usually go to the Movie Tavern. Love this place. Pizza, popcorn, soda and a movie all in one place. Excellent pizza, too. It's a perfect movie experience. lol We have an older Tavern, but the new ones even have waiters! Definitely very cool!

Anyway, from the list, we've seen Spiderman (pretty good), Shrek (I liked the first one better, but the rest of the family really liked it), Pirates (IMO, not as good as the first but better than the second), and Fantastic Four (excellent!).

Saturday, June 16, 2007

Dallas World Aquarium

After our trip to see the JFK museum and memorial, we strolled down to the Dallas World Aquarium. I have to say I was surprised to learn of an aquarium in the middle of a big city. Seems just a tad bit unusual. lol

It was actually very good although rather pricey considering there is five of us. When you walk in, you go up a ramp and, BAM, you're in the middle of a rainforest complete with a beautiful waterfall. You see brightly colored birds, mischievous monkeys who like to drive photographers crazy, crocodiles, spiders, bats, penguins, ocelot, ect.

Despite all the wonderful animals on exhibit, the family favorite has to be the manatees. They are amazing! The aquarium acquired them after the manatees were accidently caught in fishing lines in Venezuela and their mothers could not be found. One of the manatees is a ham. He likes to play by the big underground window. He scratches his back on a rock, swim up and down and back and forth by the window. The kids had a wonderful time watching him and pressing their little faces and hands on the window as he swam by.

When I get the time, I'll post a couple of pictures to share with you.

Thursday, June 14, 2007

Visit to the JFK museum



Let me first say I hate Dallas traffic. I hate driving it, I hate riding in any vehicle that is in it. For me, it's a white-knuckle ride until we get to our destination.

After a hearty breakfast the IHOP, we went to the JFK museum off Dealey Plaza (first photo). It was a very informative and thought-provoking experience. The museum is located on the sixth floor of the book depository--the same floor Oswald positioned himself and hot at the president. They actually had the window and book storage boxes, which were positioned exactly the way the pictures depicted on that fateful day, plexiglassed off so it could not be disturbed. It had the complete history of Kennedy from childhood until his death. It detailed the social highlights of the time including the public reaction to the young president and the ground-breaking steps he was taking in dealing with Russia and communism. A part of the Berlin wall was included in the exhibit, cameras and pictures from various people taken during the assassination, a scaled miniature model to determine the angle and position of the shooters, computer enhanced photos from that time showing unidentified shadowy forms in the legendary grassy knoll, even the conflicting information which further stirred the already murky waters of possible suspects.

On the floor above the JFK museum, the Dallas police has an exhibit relating the assassination from their point of view. It includes the actual door of the interrogation room Oswald was taken to, transcripts from officers who were looking for suspects immediately after the shooting, information about the officer Oswald shot after he ran from the scene, and personal thoughts and reactions of officers on the scene.

After the museum, we took a walk on the grassy knoll. It wasn't until I looked at another picture did I discovered I was standing in the exact spot an unidentified figure dressed in black was standing when the president was fatally shot. I thought that was just a little bit freaky.

We also walked behind the Dallas Courthouse to see the JFK memorial that was erected (second photo). It was huge! It was simply an open structure with no roof, but the proportions were amazing.

Monday, June 11, 2007

Visual DNA

My first post.

Gosh, how intimating. lol After reading several posts concerning blogging, I decided to give it a go.

I've been scrapping since 2001 although I've kept scrapbooks all my life of newspaper articles, postcards and vacation memorabilia, birthday cards and various items signifying important events in my life. Even my photo albums had identifiers for people and places although I didn't have the fancy paper and embellishments like we have now.

I've lived overseas for several years because I'm a military brat. I would love to go back. Once you start traveling, you'll wonder how you ever lived in one place. lol I still get the urge to travel every year. Thank goodness for summer vacations.

I work as a substitute teacher during the school year and love it! I never thought of myself as a teacher, but now that I have tried it, I feel it's something I was meant to do.