Travelog for: Tiger Lilly

Well, technically we have a couple more udpates to write about Okinawa, but I thought you'd like to see what we've been up to the last couple weeks and so I thought we'd jump ahead and come back to the Okinawa updates once Jayme can download the information from the camera. First is our last night on Okinawa. We went out to eat at Jayme's favorite restraunt. It's called Sam's

They cook the food in front of you so it comes in courses. First is a small treat made of Okinawa sweet potato.

Next comes Navy Bean soup, and you can also see Jayme's new glass in the background. She ordered her drink with a souvinier glass since it was her last visit

Next comes salad

Then the cook arrives and cooks right in front of you! It's served right off the stove of course. We started with potatoes, onions, and green peppers

Then came the meat

And finally came the fried rice and beans

Yum! At least we'll have our bellies full for what comes next
More soon,
Tiger Lilly

The next day we got up and sat and sat at the airport trying to catch a flight. Finally we left to go home for a bit and came back at midnight to try for a flight then. We were flying space-available so unfortunately we couldn't get on just any flight. Finally we made it on the one at midnight! But it wasn't time for the plane to leave til 3am. We were all very, very tired. And unfortunately Jayme isn't allowed to take pictures of the plane or the airport since it is on a military base But once we got on the plane we could take a shot of us in the seats, looks like an ordinary plane doesn't it? Really we're on a seat above a HUGE cargo hold. We flew on a C-5 which is one of the largest planes out there.

After a long, long 10 hour flight we arrived in... Alaska? We checked into a hotel there even though we'd only have a few hours to sleep, but the kids had a hard time sleeping because it was still light out! Kind of neat really. Here's the view from our hotel at 11pm.

Finally we went back to the airport at 5am to catch our next flight. This one was on a slightly smaller plane, but still very big. We had to get onto our seats first.

But after take off we were able to get out and stretch, and look at how much stretching room there was! The kids had a blast running and playing during the flight. It was lots of fun. They even took a nap spread out on blankets on the floor.

Finally after all those plane rides we made it to Camp Pendleton's airfield just North of San Diego. We took a taxi to the beach to wait for Jayme's ride to show up, since she had an hour or so to drive. We just crossed the Pacific!

More soon,
Tiger Lilly

I am sorry I didn't update for so long! We had all sorts of internet problems and couldn't get the pictures up, but hopefully over the next few days you'll get to find out what I've been up to for the last month. We spent a lot of time just relaxing at Jayme's in-laws house, but we forgot to take pictures there. D'oh! We did do some day trips though. Our first one was to Balboa Park in San Diego to visit the Science Center. Here I am looking towards the park from the parking lot where we waited for the park tram.

And here's the Rubean H. Fleet Science Center. All the buildings here are done in a similar architectural fashion.

Inside was very neat, there were lots of handson science experiments for the children to explore as well as a small area for children under 6 (Jayme's barely made the cut off!) where they could play with balls and other toys. Here you can see some pictures inside.



When we came out the water fountain was on! Here is the water fountain outside the museum and behind it you can see the Natural History Museum.

Here's the central area of the park where we waited for the tram to come get us again.

More soon,
Tiger Lilly

A few days after our trip to Balboa Park we headed to the Ramona Rodeo. Jayme's inlaws actually live in Ramona, which is on the outskirts of San Diego. Every year there's a rodeo held here. It's very, very popular. Here's a couple pictures of me at the rodeo


And these are some zoomed in pictures Jayme took during it. It was lots of fun to see.




More soon,
Tiger Lilly

After the rodeo we lazed around a bit then thought we should go back to Balboa Park again since we'd only seen such a small portion of it. Our goal today was to go to the Air and Space Museum (you can tell we're taking little boys along, right?). We went to a different parking lot this time. We walked past the Organ Pavillion. We didn't get to see it, but every Sunday they have free concerts here.

Then we walked a short ways in Palm Canyon Trail on our way.


Finally we made it! Whew. Here's the entrane to the Air and Space Museum.

There are lots of neat things inside, the boys really liked this globe. You could make it look like any planet in the solar system by pushing a button.

And they lots of stuff besides planes to look at, like this Aircraft Carrier model.

But of course, there's lots of planes to see!


Whew! We got to see a lot. On our way out we headed back towards our car and decided to stop at the Botanical Gardens. Here's the outside.

And here's some of the lovely plants inside.



More soon,
Tiger Lilly

Today we stopped by a place called Dos Picos park. It's a nice small park here in Ramona, CA where Jayme's relatives live. They have many hiking trails, but you have to be careful of the wildlife and most specifically the mountain lions on them. Here we are at the entrance.

Oh and did I mention we took Jayme's new puppy with us? His name is Max. He's a sweetie.

We stopped by the playground here at the park to let the kids play for a little bit.

Then we took a little walk around, but we stayed nearby since Jayme didn't really feel like dealing with any mountain lions today

They also have a small duck pond here.

It was nice to get out and stretch a bit! More soon,
Tiger Lilly

Today we headed somewhere special, to Sea World in San Diego. We started out our trip in the artic exhibit to see the polar bears.

After that we headed over to the brand new dolphin show. Unfortunately we got there a little late so we were seated way up high! It provided a nice view of the stadium though.

Here's some zoomed in pictures of the show so you can see it. Sorry I'm not in them, but if I was all you would see would be specks. It was a very neat show, there were a lot of human acrobats in it.



After the dolphin show we headed over to see the sharks, here I am in the shark tunnel.

After that we headed over the main-line attraction, the Shamu show.

And again with some zoomed in pictures.


After the Shamu show we went on to see some flamingos.

And then the seals.


Finally we headed to the kid's area to let the kids unwind a bit. They had a jungle gym type area.

And of course some kiddie rides.

Our final show of the day was the seal show. Here's a few pictures of me and some zoomed in ones.



After that we headed home to collapse for the night! But we had lots of fun. More soon,
Tiger Lilly

Today we headed up a little ways north to a city just south of Los Angeles called Anaheim. Anaheim is famous for one very small reason... it's the home of Disneyland! We got there a little too late in the day to go to Disneyland, so instead we checked out the Downtown Disney area, which is a shopping plaza right outside Disney's gates. Here you can see some of the stores here.


We also went inside the Lego store where they had various creations made of legos (and of course blocks to purchase!) We found a statue of a celebrity there, Woody from Toy Story 3. Jayme's little boys love Toy Story and they were very excited to see this life-size Woody.

Finally we stopped by one more store called Build-a-Bear. We didn't take any pictures inside, but we helped the boys to make a dog to send to their daddy for Father's Day.

After that we headed back to the hotel for a good's nights sleep, we wanted to be well rested before our day at Disney!
Tiger Lilly

We got up very early to go to Disneyland, Jayme said it's best to be there early because it's less crowded the first hour or two the park is open. When we arrived there weren't many people at the plaza in between the two parks at Disney in Anaheim, California Adventure and Disneyland. We aren't going into California Adventure, but we thought you'd like to see the entrance. You usually can't get a picture like this because there's too many people around.

As you can see, once we got inside the crowds showed up! They open up the turnstiles early to allow people into mainstreet, but you can't get to the rest of the park yet. You can see the castle though! And the rest of mainstreet.


Once they put down the barriers and let us in we headed right towards FantasyLand. Jayme said those rides are a pain later in the day because they're so slow to run and load and offload. The first ride we did was Casey Jr's Train. Here's a picture waiting for it and a picture on the ride.


After that we headed over to do the teacups, what fun!

Then it was time for the carousel.

Then the children really wanted to do It's a Small World. We ended up riding it three times! I don't think I'll ever get that song totally out of my head.




Next we headed over to Toon Town. If you look closely in this picture you can see a celebrity That's Pluto in the background!

Next we went over and took the ferry to Tom Sawyer Island, here you can see us waiting in line. We forgot to take pictures over there we were so busy running around chasing kids.

Next we went over to do the Buzz Lightyear ride. Like we said yesterday, Jayme's kids really love Toy Story. They had lots of fun on this ride. Sadly all we got were pictures in line. Here's the line.

Here's a better picture of one of the wall murals.

Next we went onto the Jungle Cruise. Here's the entrance.

And the boat's we road on.

And here's some of the animals we saw on the way


Finally after that it was time to take a breather while we waited on the parade to start. The kids took a little nap in their stroller and we read for a bit.

Then it was time for the parade! It was more of a show than a parade this time, instead of floats they came out and danced around.



After the parade we ran over as fast as possible to do the Nemo subs. They're very popular right now because they're still new. Here you can see a sub.

And you can't really see what's out the window, but here's where we sat for the ride.

After the Nemo ride the kid's were getting cranky and we were all worn out so we headed home. Whew! I'm sure we'll recover to do some more updates before too long!
Tiger Lilly

After we visited Jayme's family in California it was time to head to Ohio to see the next batch of family! So off we went. Our first stop here was at the Columbus Zoo! It was very neat. This year it was voted by some travel magazine as the best in the nation. We ended up starting out at the petting zoo to see the goats.

Then it was off to see the Moose! We were in the North America area.

Keeping with the North America theme we went onto the polar bear exhibit. The bears were hiding, but we got to play on the playground there.

We stopped by the bobcat exhibit as well. We didn't see much of the bobcats, they were napping. But I wanted to show you this plaque because the people in it are Jayme's relatives (by marriage). They raised the bobcats here at the zoo as well as working with the bonobos here at the zoo and some other small cats. Jayme got to have some real fun here when she was younger and they still worked here.

After that we headed into the Asian area. They had a bell there that was very sad. It chimes every time a species goes extinct.

After that it was time to stop for some dippin dots. Mmm!

And then we went into the aquarium.

We saw a couple more animals on the way out, but decided it was time to call it quits then because the kids were getting tired.

More soon,
Tiger Lilly

We didn't do too much in Ohio besides the zoo, Jayme was too busy making phone calls! But then we found out we had a road trip to go on! We spent a very long time in the car...

When we looked out the window quite awhile later we were... in CHICAGO?! I thought were supposed to be headed towards North Carolina...

Apparently we had to come up to an area near Chicago to pick up Jayme's furniture that had been in storage. In the meantime, we decided to take some time to check out the city

Since Jayme's father hadn't been to the Willis (formerly Sears) Tower we decided to head that way. Here I am outside.

And here are the views of the city from the tower.


They had this neat new thing there. It goes out over the street itself and has a plexi-glass bottom so you can look straight down at the street. I thought it was scary! But Jayme's kids loved it.

More later,
Tiger Lilly

After Chicago we had to go up to Wisconsin to pick up Jayme's items. We only had to go just over the border, and we weren't there long but sine Wisconsin is famous for cheese we had to stop to get some.


We also stopped by a restaraunt called Cracker Barrel. They have lots of what's considered American country cooking and you can find them all over the country. Mm. Lunch.

One of the fun things here is that they have these little wooden table games you can play. We got to relax and play one while drinking some root beer while we waited for the kids to finish eating.

Whew. On our way to North Carolina finally! Next stop Wilmington.
Tiger Lilly

I'm so sorry it's been so long since I updated! Jayme's been too busy. She also realized she forgot to put up the 4th of July photos! Oops! We arrived to Jayme's new home just in time for the 4th of July here. We spent the morning on a quick trip to the beach, it was lots of fun.


We spent the afternoon unpacking, yuck. Then it was time to head out for some fireworks. Aren't they pretty?



More soon,
Tiger Lilly

We had to make one fun stop before the kids went back to school as a special treat. We stopped by Krispy Kreme Donuts. Yum!

Unfortunately the hot donuts sign wasn't on, so we couldn't see the donuts being made. But we did get to enjoy a tasty one.

More soon,
Tiger Lilly

Wilmington is very well known for the it's downtown area on the waterfront. We didn't have long to look today, but we wanted to go check it out finally so down we went. Here's a view of the water front.

And a little view of the downtown.

They were also having a farmer's market the day we were there with lots of things for sale.

More soon,
Tiger Lilly