Shamu! Shamu! Shamu!

Grandy and Nana spent a wonderful week with us around Easter. We took the chance to visit Sea World - our first theme-park outting!

To be honest, I was dreading it a bit. Tex is one a year so I thought there wouldn't be much to hold his attention and once he is done with something, the little guys wants to MOVE! I thought we'd be floating in a sea of people, standing in endless lines and looking for the exit in no time at all. Our Peanut is very sensitive to noisy, large and electronic things like rides, characters, talking trash cans and quickly hides under her blanket when they frighten her. I imagined us having to carry her through the park shielding her eyes half the time.

But, none of it was true.

We all had a fabulous time. Tex and Peanut could not have been more enthralled the 45 mins we spent at the Shamu show (OK, at first the loud music got Peanut anxious, but once the whales appeared all was good), the 30 mins at the dolphin show and the hours we strolled around looking at the exhibits. Both little ones got a stuffed Shamu and now P

It wasn't crowded. It wasn't loud or obnoxious anywhere. There were no characters to run and hide from. Just a beautifully landscaped, breezy, very large park that happened to be full of opportunities to get close to wonderous and amusing marine life.

The only glitch in the system was the entry-point where eveyone was finger-printed which slowed the line. When I asked why we had to be finger printed, the Sea World employee tried to explain it wasn't finger printing, but a "biometric scan capturing five uniquely identifying characteristics of your finger". Really. You could opt to show your photo ID.

We can't wait to go again!

Alaska Greetings

Earlier this week, Peanut & Tex received an Alaska care package from their Grandy & Nana, who are on their nearly annual adventure to the wilds of Alaska.



From the pictures we've seen, they are enjoying themselves as never before. Grandy is hauling in halibut (see picture) of sea-monster proportions with struggles that sound as if they could be the basis for a good fairy tale.

Whales, sea otters and other wildlife glide past their boat as they explore the coast. Grandy has made connections with one of the only other Finns in the area and his eagle eye spotted the local sauna one evening. They've been offered a turn "whenever they don't see smoke coming out of the chimney".




Even Nana gets a turn at the helm of their craft.




Inside the care packages were three unique tales from that great state. Peanut's already been enjoying the Alaska ABC's book from last summer. She'll often tell us that "D is for dall sheep going down" and "V is for vegetables in the valley".


This time, the little ones received The Alaska Mother Goose, Count Alaska's Colors, and Alaska's Three Pigs.


In the package were 6 cans of fresh caught salmon and two jars of hand-picked and lightly prepared blueberries. Yum! The blueberries tasted like blueberries which is not always the case when you buy a jar of jam from the store.

And for dinner tonight --- Salmon Burgers! Peanut's papa reminded me I couldn't just post the Salmon Burger recipe Nana had sent since she copied from the Alaskan Cooking cookbook, but certainly I can link to an Alaskan Salmon Burger recipe.

Santa's smaller helpers

On Saturday, Peanut's Grandy and Nana were busy at the dog park in Gulf Breeze, FL, taking pictures of Santa's four-legged helpers to raise money for the American Cancer Society.

About 100 dogs & owners stopped by to have a photo taken and printed at the rolling stand. Grandy reports all went well and there weren't even any dog fights!

They raised more than $600 during the afternoon and will be back at Shoreline Park for more photos next weekend.

Skype IS the future

While way too many technologies overhype themselves and how they will make our lives 'easier, better, cheaper, faster...etc', Skype really really does.

I had one of those 'the future really is here' moments yesterday as we had a live video/audio call on the computer between our house and Peanut's grandparents in Florida. It was like we were living the commercial where the grandparents coo at the grandbaby miles and miles away.

We started using Skype back in Finland to keep in touch with family in the Netherlands and the US. The audio quality was always amazing - crisp and sometimes even clearer than on our real phones.

Now, they have rolled out the beta version of the video call. Both parties just need a simple $25 webcam on their ends and you're ready to roll. To get the grandparents set up, peanut's papa sent them a short email with instructions on how to download the latest version. They didn't run into any problems and using the program is so intuitive, we were looking at each other in our nightgowns and morning hair in no time :-)

It is just like they've been promising! Peanut's grandparents just loved it. Instead of keeping the webcam static on us sitting here, I let Peanut loose and followed her around the room with the cam that way they can see what all she's up to. I suspect we'll soon have to set up a regular broadcast schedule and some sort of Peanut show :-) I'll have to figure out if Skype supports conference video calls.

Oh! the cost of all of this -- $0! Skype is free!!