Pensacola Lighthouse

We went onto the Pensacola Naval Air Station base yesterday to see the Pensacola Lighthouse and the National Naval Aviation Museum and had a fantastic time. The two are virtually side-by-side. It's 177 steps to the top of the lighthouse, and all the kids made it without too much fuss. This lighthouse is still operational, so the mechanics of the lens were moving, and we had to be careful not to bump into it as we went out on the observation deck. The view out on the observation deck was awesome. The pano in this collage is a 14 shot stitch:-) That's the Santa Rosa sound out there best as I understand. Reminded me of Ocracoke where the ships pass through the channel on their way out to sea.

I borrowed my girlfriend Patricia's sign shot for this collage. Mine was too crooked to fix. Thanks! I wish the sign was a bit smaller real estate wise in this collage, but with the two other long shots that's just how it worked out.

Today it's going to be canoeing.

There's a pano of the other side here but unfortunately I missed part of two images and it has two bad seams:

I have a collage of my best lighthouse shots here:

Near the red water towers you can see two of the Blue Angels planes and their Fat Albert support aircraft:


Black skimmers seen on the drive there:

The National Naval Aviation Museum is celebrating 100 years of Naval Aviation, and the museum has recently doubled in size/exhibits. Wow! Hard to show you those shots in a collage, but one of the ones I liked are here:

Fireworks Over Navarre Beach Florida

We had a great time on Navarre Beach yesterday afternoon in the white sand and merald green waters. The kids shared a few tubes and seemed to have a lot of fun with them. We made sandwiches on the beach and then moved a short ways to get ready for the fireworks display. Around 9PM they went off and continued for over 20 minutes. It was a very nice display and we had a good view, so I was able to get some nice fireworks shots.

I bought a Kodak Easy Sport underwater camera. Neat! I didn't get any great shots with it yet, but I'm working on it;-)


Pano coming onto the beach that really shows the emerald waters:


I think we're going to an aviation museum and the Pensacola Lighthouse today.

Navarre Beach on Dwellable

First Time Air Traveler

We're in Navarre, FL for the week. That's about 25 miles east of Pensacola. We're staying with our friends the Vollmer Family.

This is Johnny at the new terminal at RDU (Raleigh airport). We didn't have to get on the moving walkway but of course Johnny wanted to check out all the features of the airport. This trip is the first time Joey and Johnny were up in a commercial plane, and they did great.

A collage of more flight shots is here:

The front side of the backpack you ask? Lightning McQueen of course:-)

Have a safe and happy 4th of July!

Bubble Blitz

The kids, Aunt Debbie, and I had a great time at the Museum of Life and Science in Durham yesterday. They had their Bubble Blitz event, so there were extra things to do on top of the normal always something going on there activities. Dr. Ken Lyle, Professor of Chemistry at Duke University and some of his students were there to lead the kids in doing various activities with bubbles. They did the traditional Diet Coke with Mentos explosion, make your own soda, ignite a bubble, and several bubble creating things with dry ice. Lots of fun and thankfully all set up under a huge shaded tent as it was incredibly hot yesterday. 2nd row far right Johnny is creating a bubble around his body. I got one kid with the bubble over his head:

Kicking myself for not having any of my 'business' cards left in my camera case to hand them. 3rd row far right the kids are doing an experiment mixing acids and bases. Baking soda reacted with water, vinegar, and lemon juice. Bottom row far right, Madi is on their new bungee jump. A duo of them is situated in the spot where the ornithopter used to be. Of course I had to sneak in a few flower pics I took at the museum yesterday too. Even Max the Jersey Cow.

Dr. Lyle with the Diet Coke fountain:

This picture show just exactly how hot it was:

She had misted her face. The misters really come in handy!

Neat texture shot:

Rest of the pics on Picasa.

Until their next event or our next trip...

To Wii or Kinect - That Is the Question!

Our family has been a Nintendo Wii owner for over 2 years now. We've spent hours and hours on our favorite game Mario Kart Wii. I did 70 straight days on the Wii Fit with Balance Board. Wow! We picked up titles like Mario Galaxy that didn't get much play. Then we picked up the new Wii Motion Plus Sensor and Will Sports Resort and fell in love with the play all over again. All in all, a good investment for the family and one that we've made great use of especially when it's too cold to go outside in the winter and too warm to go outside in the summer.

New out is the xBox 360 with Kinect. Poppop asked me what to get the boys for Christmas, and I suggested that the xBox 360 with Kinect would be a good idea, and he got it for us.

The main advertising point for the Wii when it came out was wireless control between the remote and the sensor bar. You could move around. You didn't have to sit attached to a game box. You could burn calories and not be a couch potato.

Kinect did a one upper with wireless communication from your body to the sensor. That's right, no remote (at least most of the time). The sensor would pick up your actual body movements. Think Wii but next generation sensing technology.

We got Kinect Adventures in the box and Kinect Sports and Kinectimals as part of the bundle. We've picked up Sonic Riders too.

So, after a month, what do we think? Which do we like better? What are the pros and cons as we see it?

The Remote or Not...

I don't think holding the Wii remote is a big deal. Neither do the boys. We have acquired 4 remotes, and the biggest problem I have is who gets the blue one (or the white one or the pink one). During game play, there are a few times when the remote and sensor bar lose each other. Annoying but workable. The Wii Motion Plus add-on to the remote and the games that make use of it (an important point), is a definite improvement.

For the xBox set-up, you have to use the game controller. OK. No big deal. Once you get into the games, it's really fun at first to wave at the screen and get it to do things for you. Think scifi movies and humans using computers by just talking to them and waving at the 'monitor', and that's here...NOW. In your home! But on some of the menus incidental arm/hand movements can cause you to pick the wrong things. The games have these wheels that you spin and slide things off of to make choices, and we've spent some time trying to slide back to what we want. Equally annoying to the remote and sensor bar on the Wii getting out of sync.

A Mii or an Avatar?

The Wii has a concept of a Mii; it's a cartoon like representation of you that you see while you're playing. There's a built-in 'game' that lets you build custom Mii's, share them over the internet, etc. The kids love creating new ones for people like SpongeBob. During game play on the Wii Fit Plus, other Mii's created on or downloaded to the unit cheer you on. When Mom pops up as your coach for the Hula Hoop game, that gets a smile very time.

For us, the avatar concept that the xBox incorporates just is not as fun. I have to say in all fairness that I don't think we've spent enough time understanding all that it can do. But, it just doesn't look as personable. We tolerate the avatars that we get during play, and that's about it.

Space - The Play Area Frontier

No, not outer space, the space you need to run the games. The xBox with Kinect says we have Good space (the smaller court) vs. Better space (the bigger court). This is limiting us from making use of 2 player mode for some of the games. The ads and game screens for the Kinect talk about getting rid of the coffee table and moving furniture. Really, they aren't kidding. We have a 10'X10' space in front of our family room TV cleared, and it's sufficient, but more would be better.

The Wii needs about the same amount of space for things like the Wii Fit and Wii Sports Resort, but not for things like Mario Kart.

Mostly what I notice with the Kinect is that once it scans you and the area at a certain location, you really do have to stay inside the confines of that rectangle or else it puts up a picture telling you your are too far forward or backward. With fast-paced games and high adventure, I see the kids moving out of range and impacting their game performance quite a bit.

How's the Body Doin'?

To me, more of the xBox Kinect games require jumping and knee bending. I noticed right away during Kinect Adventures that my knees were feeling it. Is it a better workout? Not necessarily. And, I've had my wrists get sore playing Wii Sports tennis. I get a little excited during the volleys. Just be aware that some games are going to require you to work out certain body parts more than others. Pick games that are right for you.

I really need to try out the xBox Kinect version of The Biggest Loser so I can compare it to the Wii Fit. I do know that the Wii Fit has muscle toning, balance enhancing, and aerobic exercises to name a few and that they don't seem to bother my knees.

You're in the Spotlight!

The sensor bar for the xBox 360 Kinect takes pictures:-) Not high quality unfortunately, but pictures of you while you are playing the games none-the-less. We love the 3 snapshots that it shows at the end of each game and the adjectives used to describe the action captured (random I am sure). You can even upload the pictures and then share them on Facebook, etc. Very neat!

It would be nice if the Wii would add a camera:-) But, hey, that's coming from fotomom. Don't do it if it's lousy quality, though; do it right.

Let's Surf!

No, not on a surf board, but on the web. You can surf the web from either system. The Wii uses the Opera browser which is the same as the Nintendo DSi. The xBox 360 uses Windows Media Center and the MCE browser. I've not set that up and see no reason to at this time. It was kindof fun on the Wii to bring up YouTube and play music videos on the TV or go to Picasa and/or SmugMug to see my pics. Apparently the MCE browser for the xBox 360 does not support sound.

In a household without a good PC, the ability to browse on the internet might come into play for more than just a novelty.

Life's a Stream

Well, it is if you're interested in hooking up Netflix and streaming video through the Wii or xBox to your TV. Both units support Netflix. I have it set up for the Wii. My account, for the same cost, will allow me to set it up on the xBox too if I want. Not sure if I'll do that or not.

Having Netflix set-up on the Wii has worked well at our house and been a great option for kids' programming without commercials. I recommend it.

Give Us That Title!

When the Wii first came out, there were only a few titles available for it. Today, there are plenty. It's the same with the xBox 360 with Kinect right now. There are spartan titles available, but I feel sure that will change in the next 6-12 months.

Which Is Right for You?

Well, I don't know. But, I think adding one of these game systems to your house if you don't already have one is a good idea. Try to find a friend that has a Wii that you can play on for a few hours. Do the same for the xBox 360 with Kinect. Both are fun. Both are easy to set-up. The cost is comparable (several hundred dollars). The games themselves cost about the same.

Spooky Chemistry Delights Again

If it's October, then it must be time for Spooky Chemistry at The Museum of Life and Science in Durham. The boys and I went to the museum today for their annual Halloween fun and learn about science in a spooky way day:-) Dr. Ken Lyle’s Duke University Chemistry Students put on a great chemistry demonstration in the Biolab. We saw how hydrogen peroxide and some other ingredients could help a sick pumpkin. The students made 'snow'. A pirate made water disappear. Dry ice and bubbles were used to make a huge bubble over a cauldron. And, the kids got to hold bubbles in their hands. Fun! And, in The Lab, the boys got to do some Candy Science. They decoratee marshmallows and puffed them up with air. They got to view some cool Halloween colored items under the microscope, and they got to do a chromatography experiment. Below is a collage of both of those activities.


At the bear habitat, Gus and one of the other bears were in the water swimming and being frisky. What a delight to walk up to that show!

What a treat today too. We got to meet Christopher the Barred Owl in the Farmyard. There were Harry Potter characters at the museum today, and it seemed appropriate given them and the season to see the owl up so close. The trainer was cute with the kids asking them questions and leading them through answers. I enjoyed the photo op!


Finally we have some fall leaf color in NC! The wetlands area in Explore the Wild is definitely starting to come alive with color!





Don't forget if you go to the museum to buy train tickets and have a great ride!


Although the boys weren't lucky enough today to 'hold' a butterfly during the release, we did have a good time in the Butterfly House. I especially like the shot of Johnny in the collage below. The rain had come on to bring the humidity back up, and Johnny (and Joey too) was just sitting on the bench relaxing and enjoying the cooling mist.


If you didn't make it to Spooky Chemistry this year, I recommend that you try to get to this event next year. Next up, Holiday Springs and Sprockets and the Santa Train.

A link to all of today's pictures is here.

A Day at the Aquarium and Beach - Fort Fisher

The boys and I went to the Aquarium at Fort Fisher today and then onto the beach at the Fort Fisher Recreation Area. We had a great time! The aquarium was not crowded, and we were able to get to all the exhibits and spend all the time we wanted to. The boys were fascinated with the volunteers that had seashells out. They both clearly heard the ocean in several shells and were delighted. We enjoyed the extra crafts in the discovery room, and the boys had a lot of fun making a jelly fish from egg carton and yarn and drawing 'fish' on the white board. Outside, we saw a croc in the wetlands water...a first! I also was super thrilled to get pics of a fearless Green Heron. I waited him out 15 minutes, but he never did come up with a fish.

I got the coolest butterfly shot on our way into the aquarium. It's a Gulf Fritillary...my first sighting ever. A very patient butterfly but harsh light. He was on the rocks as you come into Fort Fisher on the wildflowers.

The ocean water was warm. I looked it up, and it said 82. The tide was out, the waves were calm, and we had a great time. I went out with both boys for nearly an hour just going up and down over the waves. Johnny finally was not afraid to be held out there. He was even wanting to go back out after we came in. Lots of work to keep us all safe and eyes dried after the bigger waves but well worth it.

The rest of today's pics are here.