Spinosaurus is ready to rumble!

While setting up for one of our famous dinosaur tea parties, I noticed Spinosaurus giving me the evil-eye.

Dunkleosteus terrelli, a.k.a, Prehistoric Shark

Last week, Rebecca, Katherine and I  traveled up to Cleveland and went to both the Cleveland Museum of Natural History and the Great Lakes Science Center.

Both museums were nice, but the natural history museum really stood out to me for two main reasons:

• The quality of the items on display are fantastic. It isn’t as big as The Field Museum in Chicago, but the items on display were as good. They also have live animal exhibits outside, including many birds of prey, deer, etc.
• At 20 months of age, Katherine loved it.  I had no idea that she would be as entertained by the exhibits as she was.

The photo above is a replica of a prehistoric shark called Dunkleosteus Terrelli. It was found in the Cleveland Shale in 1867 and while the one hanging is a full body replica, the fossils of this creature are there and are among the best in the world.

The funny thing about this is that Katherine had a funny love-hate relationship with the hanging replica.  She really does love sharks, but this one would scare her when I would get her close to it to the point that she would cry.  After I would get her out of the danger zone, she would ask to go back and see it.  And again, she would get scared.  Back and forth this went for some time until we finally left.  Even now, she still will talk about the shark with a very serious look in her eye

Perspective of a fish about to become lunch

I took this picture from the bottom portion of the Polar Bear exhibit at the Columbus Zoo looking at the fish. In the background you can see one of the Polar Bears looking at the fish as well. Or, is he looking at me?

Good morning espresso

The espresso seemed photo worthy this morning.

I didn't mind the Gator fan taking a picture behind me.

The Alligators were in full view today and I was in a good enough mood to not mind the Florida Gator fans enjoying the view.

Come and knock on our door, we've been waiting for you ...

Every time  I see Flamingoes at the zoo I think of the opening bit to the Three’s Company television show. There definitely weren’t this many the last time I was at the zoo.

Okapi - It's pronounced 'Oh-Copy'

The Okapi had a lot of room to roam today and seemed very happy.   I am always impressed that when Katherine sees one, she calls it by name.

Katherine in her shades

Katherine was having a great time with the animals and grandparents to chaperone her trip.

Rebecca, Bea, David and Katherine: a photogenic bunch

Lion Roars

We had such a great view of the Lion marching back and forth in front of us roaring and bearing his teeth.  Katherine loves to roar like a lion, but she was somewhat intimidated today.  This was up close and personal.

• When we landed in LAX to visit the Swanson side of the family, the attendants said, ‘Welcome to Seattle’. It was a joke due to all of the rain that was falling there — which was actually far more damaging than we realized.  Huntington Beach, our destination, was spared.
• Katherine, at just over a year old actually responded enthusiastically to her gifts. The craziest was when she announced ‘I love it’, while opening a Fisher Price Little People toy. She really does love these toys of characters and people she can hold in her hand.
• Southwest Airlines – Sometimes it is wonderful to have unassigned seating and this is true when having infants. It means for the most part that if someone sits with you, they know what they are getting in for. We met a wonderful woman on the way out who was a saint in the way she treated sitting next to Katherine who was not having a good flight for the most part. It made us feel a lot better. Also, on three of the four flights we made, we didn’t have to share our row with anyone.
• Time with family. It really doesn’t matter how much or how little we get with one another, but that we cherish the time we have. I feel like I have always had this appreciation, but this year was much different. It was the first time seeing it through my daughter’s eyes and the way she lights up getting to see her family.  It was also the first time seeing it through the eyes of an expecting wife, making the effort to visit even though I know she is exhausted. We all do it because it is important.
• Fortunate to get home.  With all of the bad weather, we are really glad we didn’t fly through Chicago.  Otherwise, we might still be there. We feel lucky.
• Family Pictures. I made an effort this year to attempt to get group pictures of the families from both sides as we got together. They didn’t all turn out great visually, but content wise, I am happy. I have below the pics from the Swanson and Jacobs crew respectively.
• Sometimes, bad pictures are great. I found a few pics that I took were just noisy, blurry or otherwise ‘wrong’, but still captured a great moment.  Therefore, in my mind, they are great pictures. A few are included below.

Swanson Crew - (Back to front) David, Monique, Chris, Rebecca, Ryan, Linnea, Katherine, Bea, Luke

Jacobs Crew - (Back to front) David, Katherine, Steve, Ryan, Rebecca, Jen, Mark, Allison, Diane, Abigail, Grandma Curler, Greg, Cindy

Content trumps photo quality example #1 - Motion is everywhere. This is the way it is on Christmas Eve with kids opening gifts.

Content trumps photo quality example #2 - There are so many technical problems with this photo. However, I love the way it captures Rebecca's contentment with Katherine's joy.

15 or 20 Percent?

I thought I would have to wait for years to experience the joy of Katherine picking up the dinner check.  Instead, she picked up the check this evening — literally.  My joy was dampened as I realized she used my credit card.