© Robin for martinzoo, 2008. | Permalink | One comment

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You can track it’s orbit at this site to see when it will fly over your house.

© Robin for martinzoo, 2008. | Permalink | 2 comments

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Since we came back from the beach he has had a less than stellar diet. He’s also been in a stubborn streak. And when he went to spend the night with his buddy he stupidly refused almost all food. And when he combines food issues with not enough sleep, like what happens at a sleepover, he tends to have weird irrationalities.

And he did. And I blamed him totally for it. He has low blood sugar anyway. And our family is all over us for letting him be a vegetarian. So I really want him to learn to be more aware of what his body needs.

So I made him a special poster.

Remember that old Richard Simmons Deal-a-Meal thing? Well, I thought I’d make one of those for GB. It has all the health requirements for a day, including protein (he needs 52.6 grams), dairy, vegetables, fruits, grains, water, and I also included a pocket for two snacks and one for one hour of exercise.

Today was our first day using it, and it went really well. I did this for him when he was really little, but he didn’t remember it. All he has to do is take sticks and put them in the pockets after he eats. That way he’ll know what he’s eaten and what he still needs to eat to make minimum health requirements.

Oh, and by the way, his mood was way better too.

© Robin for martinzoo, 2008. | Permalink | 8 comments

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What’s up with that?

You can blame my mom.

She is truly amazing. For the last couple of years she has been on a walking mission. She walks everyday for about 4-5 miles. And while I was at the beach, I walked with her. It was nice to have someone to talk to while I walk. I usually walk on my treadmill and I usually only do 1-2  miles per day. And on a treadmill there is no one to talk to. So that was really a nice thing.

I am not in my mom’s league.

But I did it! And guess what? It wasn’t my muscles that were sore at the end of my week. It was my dadgum stupid knees. Every step by Wednesday was excruciating.

Don’t worry, I feel much better now. And I’m back to my piddly little 1-2 mile walks.

But! It did make me feel good that walking that far didn’t incapacitate me. I have had fibromyalgia health issues for years. And sometimes it lays me low. But I must be getting better or going through a good spell because I did this.

Here is a GPS picture of our route that my mom downloaded from her special GPS walking watch. It records every step you take.

© Robin for martinzoo, 2008. | Permalink | 2 comments

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Quite chilly with the wind blowing.

Plus, GB is always cold in the mornings.

This is our last little hurrah at the beach. Time to go home.

It may be chilly in November at the beach, but we love it anyway. It’s quiet and peaceful. We love watching the antics of the birds, finding really cool shells that would normally be trod upon by masses of people, and walking in the sand.

See? Not one other person to disturb our jaunt.

Sherry berry enjoys the beach, too. Just look at those happy ears.

…….. a little sand art for my sweetie!

……And GB’s sand art, again saying, “Jason Vorheese was here.”

Goodbye beach! See you next Fall!

© Robin for martinzoo, 2008. | Permalink | 4 comments

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Today GB, Gramma and I headed out to Currituck Lighthouse.

Up, up, up………..

214 thigh-burning steps later we came out to the platform that runs all the way round the top of the lighthouse. GB loves climbing this lighthouse. But he does get ‘the danger feel’ when he turns away from the railing.

I don’t get the danger feel at all. I love being high up and seeing a panoramic view.

I thought this was a cool sight, the shadow of the lighthouse on the tops of the trees down below.

Going down, down, down…….

This is the boardwalk at Currituck. It goes all the way out to the sound. We decided to bring Gramma’s little daushund, Sherrie. Sherrie enjoyed the extra attention that GB lavished on her during our trip to the lighthouse and letterboxing.

Here they are on the sound, enjoying the sunshine.

Aha! There’s the letterbox!

Open it……

…….and stamp our books. It had a cute little lighthouse stamp.

I walked around the back of the lighthouse and got this cool picture. This is the lightkeeper’s house with the lighthouse in the background. We were on a quest to find the Wild Horses of the Currituck Outer Banks Museum.

We found it in this old Corolla Schoolhouse. It’s a teeny, tiny little museum with a great big cause. Purchases from the Mustang Store help to protect and preserve the herd.

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Just North of where we are staying is a beautiful area of the Outer Banks called Swan Beach and Carova Beach (Carova got it’s name because it is SO close to the border of Carolina and Virgina).  These beaches have the most secluded, beautiful vacation homes I’ve ever seen.

We decided to go on one of the wild horse tours that are available in these remote beach areas. We used Bob’s Wild Horse Adventure Tours and our guide was Byron. He did a great job and we really felt like we got very personal attention.

The wild horses are believed to be decendents of Spanish Mustangs from the 16th century explorers. For centuries they’ve roamed the Outer Banks feasting on the native vegetation and providing locals with stock for farming. However, with developement, the horses became threatened. Most of the herd was moved into the four-wheel-drive area of the beach and the Corolla Wild Horse Fund now helps with the horses’ medical care to make sure the herd is protected for many more years to come.

Byron told us that there were two theories about the mustangs. The first was that Spanish explorers were so greedy that they left the horses on land so that they could bring back more treasures from the new world. The second story was that two Spanish ships colided off shore and the horses that survived swam to the coastline and stayed. Byron seemed to think the second story sounded more true, but I like the first story better.

Here is GB standing in front of our crazy looking jeep/off road vehicle. It has seating inside for the driver and one passenger. That’s where Gramma sat. The middle row seats three, me, GB and Grampa. The seat in the back is raised up a bit and seats two. We had two young ladies in our group who were clearly unprepared for the weather. They were wearing high healed shoes and light jackets. And it was way too chilly for that.

This beach is considered to be a solidified forest. It’s quite similar to a petrified forest, which has tree trunks that have turned into fossils. But it’s not quite as old as a petrified forest. The photo above shows the almost petrified tree trunks on the beach.

This vacation home was on a row of houses that the locals have termed “wedding row” because there are so many weddings that take place here.  This house is the crème de  la crème. It rents for $45,000. and will sleep 45-50 people. So you can have your wedding on the beach, party at the house, and nobody has to go home afterwards. All-in-one-stop-wedding-reception-honeymoon-vacation……..LOL!

In this video we are on the tour and you can see the horses just meandering around. They seemed so comfortable and free. It was wonderful!

I loved the look of this shot that I got of this trio of horses. The baby one is just adorable, and the movement of the tail on the bigger one just cracks me up.

Aren’t they amazing?

The road system…….. well, there is hardly a road system. This was a frequent occurance. And if you don’t have a local as your guide, you won’t know if this water in the road is 12 inches or 12 feet. The young ladies in the back of our jeep were scared to death that they were going to get drenched with spray. But our guide was great. Oh! And some of the dune/roads were outrageously hilly; so hilly and wildly bumpy that you couldn’t even see over the tops when you were driving through and over them. Can I say again that it was nice to have a guide?

You really had to keep an eye out because around any bend in the road you may find a group of horses just munching away.

Me.

If you are a local, this is a sight that you may just be greeted with when you step out into your front yard.

Gramma’s favorite part of the trip was getting to ride on the beach. Byron drove really fast, it was really bumpy, which GB LOVED, and it was deserted. So freakin’ cool!!

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They all had been here for a few days and they departed earlier this afternoon. Then, my mom and I took a long walk around town. She’s a walking pro and walks everyday around four miles. But I am a treadmiller. And I usually only walk about one,  maybe two miles. Today we walked about two and three quarter miles. Then we went to Walmart to get me a pillow. Love the house - hate the pillows. Sleep tonight will be blissful. Anyway, lots of walking around Walmart.

Then back here to the house to sit and chat in the hot tub. This is my aunt’s house, and it’s a gorgeous house, but the hot tub is the major draw for me. Oh, the heaven of sitting in 102 degree water with crisp, cool, Autumnal air all around me.

After our hot tub excursion GB and I decided to have some Mommy - son time.

So we went (you guessed it)……… walking………. on the beach. He’d been REALLY lazy today, playing with his cousins and goofing off around the house. He told me on the way down here yesterday that he wanted to have LOTS of beach house time; which is his way of telling me not to over-schedule him……LOL! So he needed the walk. Me? Not so much. I’m really tuckered out now. But I really enjoyed our alone time. We just walked and chatted and watched the funny sea gulls.

Here are some cute pictures I took while we were out there:

The sun was already starting to set.

And we had the entire beach ALL to ourselves. I just finished reading “The Road” so this gave me kind of a weird feeling. But only briefly.

See the moon up above? The other picture has GB inspecting a horseshoe bay crab shell.

He really thought it would be funny to write “Jason Vorheese was here!” You have to be a Friday the 13th fan. And I am too tolerant.

Grandma wanted to make our trip special so we had a complete turkey dinner a couple of weeks early.

It was yummy!

Don’t worry honey, I’m bringing you the dark meat.

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Then, when I got home, someone had sent me this video featuring Sir Ken Robinson speaking about creativity being killed in the public school system.  And the two events, plus my creative nature, converged, and pointed towards a day of artistic pursuits.

While I was picking up my bil, GB was home with my dh dutifully working on his online German course. So that by the time I got home he was ready for a break. While he was outside on the swing set, I got all my art materials out. And when he came in we painted. I got our project ideas from the amazing woman on this site. I love the way she explains her processes.

Usually, GB does not want to do ‘art’ but if you ask him if he wants to ‘paint’ he always says yes. It’s all in the phraseology.

This first picture was done on watercolor paper. He painted the sky and the grass first with watercolors. Then, while that was drying, he painted a piece of copy paper with fall colors, let that sheet dry, then cut it into little triangles. He then cut a tree trunk with branches and roots out of black construction paper. After all the paint was dry, he glued the tree to the grass line, then started gluing on all the leaves. I think it turned out fabulous. And it makes me smile EVERY time I look at it.

This next picture was done with our pastels. It was very basic shapes which he filled and then smudged. The tree trunks were done with clean brown lines. And we used another sheet of paper to make a mat for his picture. This is my dh’s favorite picture.

GB really enjoyed it. And it was nice to spend an afternoon in artistic oblivion.

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It sounded intriguing, so we went.

What a blast!

This is what About.com has to say about our activity:

November first begins the Dia de los Muertos (also known as “Day of the Dead”) festivities with All Saints Day in which the deceased children are honored and remembered. November second All Souls Day is for the remembrance of the adult dead. Dia de los Muertos combines these days to celebrate the the deceased and enjoy their memories. Dia de los Muertos is not at all scary, spooky or somber.

The most popular “Dia de los Muertos” ofrenda is Sugar Skulls. Sugar skulls are a traditional folk art from Central and Southern Mexico used to celebrate Day of the Dead. Mounds of colorful sugar skulls are sold by vendors in the village open air markets during the week preceding Day of the Dead. Increasing numbers of non-traditional colorful candies such as decorated chocolate skulls and other Halloween candies are now competing with the traditional sugar skulls, which are becoming harder and harder to find in Southern Mexico. The skulls are made of a sugar mixture that has been pressed into molds and then dried. The dried sugar skulls are decorated with icing and sometimes non-edible items such as colored foil, feathers or sequins.

Three moms, lots of kids, lots of colored icing……..

Creative juices are flowing……..

And for some, the concentration was fierce!

Check out this awesome skull!

And check out these cheeks. I could just pinch them!

Some skulls just gotta have hair. Don’t you agree?

After the kids were done, the moms decided to give it a go, too. It was nice to sit, decorate, and chat. I had a lot of fun.

This is GB’s skull. He says that his skull is wearing a Jason mask; from the movie, Friday the 13th.

Maybe if I squint my eyes………

And this is mine. He has no theme, just some crazy colors. I think he looks like a happy warrior.

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