Banton Rouge Baby

Here are some pics of Baton Rouge where I am presenting my summer research. I don't have any pics of the actaully conference, just all the fun things we have been doing :) I will be putting up the videos of the gators a little lator.

Prague

The National Opera House in Prague. It is on the street where the USSR tanks came to put a stop to the Revolution there.
This is Charles Bridge and it stretches over the Vltava River

This is Antygl in Sumava. Samuel, Jane, and I hiked along the river Vydra, which means riveotter. Unfortunately there are no otters here.
St. Vitus's Cathedral lies in the area of the Presidential Palace. It has a magnificent rose window and a primarily gold mosaic.

Farewell to Our Multigenerational Friend, the Surfer

Yesterday, we all had dinner together and said our farewells to the Johnson Surfer, the boat that 3 generations learned to ski and wakeboard on. A nice family from Mariposa will use this boat and create memories for their children with it. This was the Cadillac of boats when Mom and Dad bought it in 1967 and we've had so many great vacations with it (Trinity Lake, Lake Mead, Lake Powell, Kentucky Lake, Lake Nippissing, and Lake Erie to name a few). Our families are closer because of it.
Also, Jeannie flew in with some of her friends from the Coast Guard Academy and they joined us for dinner. And in the final picture, Tony is imitating Flat Stanley.

 

Southwest Hack

I know that almost everyone in my family uses Southwest airlines for its cheapness. Well I ran across this nifty little hack to make sure that you get an A boarding pass. You will have to edit a little HTML but it will save you from sitting in some non-exit row for a few hours. Click here.

Just as a side note I DON'T suggest that anybody try this. I am glad that somebody figured this out so that SWA can figure out a better way to dole out the boarding passes. Be safe folks.

Czech This Out

This is Hbluko castle near Ceske Budejovice. Marketa's Family only lives in a suburb right outisde of the city.
This is the Vaclave Square in Prague. It is filled with shops and tourist attractions. At the top of the Square is the Czech Republic National Museum.
This is me in the Terezie Valley. It is such a beautiful place which is near Nove Hrady.
This is Marketa and me going down the river Vlatava. This river is extremely cold, but the scenery makes up for it.

Guatemala by Margaret

Here is another version of our trip to Guatemala. It was a wonderful opportunity to help out in any way that we could. The ambulance was certainly a huge hit in Villa Canales. It provides a vast improvement over their current vehicle. We also visited an elementary school of about 300 children and delivered school supplies and clothing. A fun game of soccer followed... the "USA" team lost. Animal care books were donated to veterinary clinics and public libraries to help farmers take better care of their food animals. Guatemala is a beautiful country and we all hope to be able to return soon.

Evan at Castle Landstejn

Evan is shown here on the top of the castle overlooking the Czech countryside. With him are Mom and Dad Hezinova and their 16-year old son Frankie. Evan said that it is so green and lush there. He has been canoeing on the rivers there, swimming in lakes, and visited many castles. He said that he is going to talk at a Rotary Club meeting there this week as a Rotary exchange student. 

Fun Times

For fear of having pictures of cats up here I figured it was time to post to pics. These are from two separate weekends, one in Lansing and the other in Akron.


Megan and I went to a Lansing Lugnuts game on the Fourth of July. It was a really fun game and they had fireworks at the end! On top of that the City of Lansing had its firework show right across from the stadium. Two for the price of one is always nice.



We had a big BBQ on July 3rd and then thought it would be fun to have people camp out afterwards. This is a pic of breakfast the following morning. Megan and I slept outside as well, but just on an air mattress.



The weekend following July 4th we went to Ohio. We had a wonderful time. It was fun to see Gram and Gramp and watch the World Cup with them (in HD I might add). They also took us to the Blossom Music center where we heard some amazing musical pieces.

Birthdays and Goodbyes

This past weekend, on July 8th, Alana and Grammie (aka Helen, Mom) celebrated their birthdays. It started by surprising Grammie with Helen and Allison flying in from Sacramento and meeting us at Mimi's for the birthday breakfast. That night we had a small party with family and friends for Alana and Grammie. Sunday, we all said "goodbye" to Evan at the airport for his month in the Czech Republic as a Rotary Youth Exchange student.

 

Head Butt!

In case anyone hasn't seen this clip, it is a really bad display of sportsmanship. It made me even more glad that France lost.

Look Who's Turning 14!

Today we celebrated Honey's 14th birthday. She enjoyed a great day by doing some of her favorite things - sleeping, taking walks in the green belt, resting on the cool terrazo floor in the entry way, rolling around on her back on the front lawn and eating a special dinner of roasted chicken breast with Purina One kibbles (thanks, James!). Honey is still as sweet as ever! Best wishes for many more! Bunches is a good dog! 

Summer Nights

The real hit of the Duarte 2nd Ward party was the Karaoke machine. The young people really got into it, especially when they were singing songs from the "Grease" sountdtrack.
 

The Disney Princesses

Ian and the girls all went to Downtown Disney after a day of watching World Cup Soccer at Il Fornaio and riding the waves at Huntington Beach. He stayed outside while Whitney (from Seattle), Erin, Alana, and Adrienne (from Houston) all tried on their favorite Disney princess dresses. Whitney and Adrienne drove down from BYU to visit Ian for the long 4th of July weekend. 

St. Louis

I was in St. Louis for the past 5 days. I had a wonderful time, mostly because Purina paid for everything and really took care of us. I was very sad that Megan was not able to go with me, as she would have had a great time. Other then attending meetings and a few guest lectures we were able to go and explore a little. The Arch was of course at the top of the list. I also went to the zoo, which was just down the street from the Hotel (a free zoo!). I took the picture of the snake at the Herpeterium at the zoo.

Dad's 81st Birthday

Dad turned 81 years old today. Larry and Susan Marino dropped in from across the street, Marshall Jackman dropped in from Burlington, Iowa and Shing dropped in from the aerobics class. . .we had a Mexican food feast, with Dad's favorites of enchiladas, tacos and chili beans. 

Optical Illusion

So I haven't posted anything new on the Blog for a little while so I thought I would entertain you all with this litter gem that I found online. I am not sure exactly how it works, though I am sure I have learn the reason why at some point in my life. You stare at a picture for about 30 seconds then move your mouse over it and you will see the picture in color, despite the picture actually being black and white. Give it a try here!

How I Spent My Summer Vacation!

This is a picture of Jeannie doing her watch on the lookout aboard the cutter Boutwell. It looks to be a might chilly and windy there! Her cutter docked in Alameda on Sunday, June 11 and we were there to greet it. Jeannie took us on a tour of the cutter and we were able to have lunch on board too. Natalie joined us and enjoyed the experience. The crew thought it was cool to see Allison and even stood at attention when they saw her, thinking it was Jeannie! On June 16, Jeannie leaves for 6 weeks aboard Eagle, the 300 ft. sailing ship along the East Coast. Fair winds and seas, Jeannie!
 

Trip to D.C., Annapolis, and Greenbelt, MD

Alana and I went to Washington D.C., Annapolis and Greenbelt, Maryland for the National League of Cities Board Meeting and the Small Cities Council. We toured the oldest airport in the world at Greenbelt, where the Wright Brothers flew their airplane in 1908 (to get the U.S. military to order a contract from them). We also toured Greenbelt, which was the first planned community in the U.S., under FDR (Small Cities people on the steps of the museum). We also went down to Chesapeake Bay, had more crabs for dinner than I have ever eaten, and toured the old capital building in Annapolis. It was great for us to be with all of the Small Cities people again.

 

Birthday Bash and Fashion Show

Last weekend, we were able to get together at Grammy and Grampie's house to celebrate Jeannie and Allison's birthday (minus Allison because she was at SLO studying for finals). It was great fun to see everyone and to surprise Jeannie and Erin - they didn't know I was coming! Grammy made Jeannie's favorite dinner - TACOS! Erin, Alana, and Jeannie found some dresses that Grammy had worn to college friends' weddings a "few years ago". The girls enjoyed playing "dress up" with the gowns and the adults loved seeing the beautiful styles on them. Mom, you must have turned quite a few heads when you wore those gowns at the weddings. The weekend was fun - just wish we could have had the entire family together!
 

Weekend Getaway - $24,250

Thought this would be a pretty cool trip, and then I realized that it is just a little bit outside my price range. Anyway, check out this website for a pretty hardcore vacation. Seven course meals, rental cars in the form a Ferrari and Bentley, etc...

Click here to check it out.

It could be a sweet honeymoon huh?

G'Day Mate

Brad, Shirley and I just got back from Australia about 7 a.m. this morning. The speech in Melbourne went well but I am glad that it is over. These are some of the pictures that we took. ..saw the penguin migration to their nests one night near Melbourne, walked around the Sydney harbor (cleanest harbor I have ever seen), saw a lot of kangaroos (this one with a baby in her pouch), and then went scuba diving at the Great Barrier Reef. The people were very friendly. . .I would really like to go back again to see this country that is about the same land mass as the continental U.S. but only has 20 million people.