Space at the Staples Center

Around this time last year, I took the family to see a Clippers game in Los Angeles. (Ignore the boy's happy face...He thought we were going to see the Lakers...)

None of us are all that knowledgeable about basketball, but believe it or not, tickets to the Clippers were very affordable!

I spent some time doing some research online, trying to figure out just where the perfect seats would be. I might have put a little too much effort into it.

At least there was nobody blocking our view.

Of course, when the crowd's that sparse, you run the risk of being very visible, and if volunteers are needed, it's pretty much going to have to be you.

Say for instance, the Clippers were to run in to injury problems.  Who would they call on?

Get in there Neve!

This post is a part of Photo Friday at Delicious Baby and Friday Daydreamin at R We There Yet Mom. If you didn't get here from one of those sites, you should really go check them out. There's people there whose kids might have actually made this free throw!

Discovery Science Center - Fun in a Rubik's Cube

In our house, helping with the homework is a job that Lori and I have split down the middle. I handle any English, Math, or French questions, and Lori takes care of Social Studies, Bible, and Art. The kids are on their own for P.E., but the subject that gets passed around the most is science. The standing rule for science is that whichever parent you ask for help first, will send you to the other one. Whoever gets the homework referral is stuck trying to figure out what laws of the universe have changed since we were in school.

This lack of scientific expertise in our family meant that we were all going in on a level playing field when we went to visit the Discovery Science Center in Santa Ana, California. For a family that tries to avoid bunsen burners at all costs, you may think that a science center would be a strange choice for a place to spend an afternoon, and you'd be right. If you've ever driven the I5 south of Anaheim though, you know the reason. It's the giant Rubik's Cube.

OK, it's not exactly a Rubik's Cube, but it's similar enough to get us to stop and investigate. The cube itself is hollow, but the main building is packed with all sorts of neat, interactive science exhibits. My kids, who usually share their parents disinterest in the laws of physics, were off and running almost as soon as we stepped through the door. Within five minutes my older two were lying on a bed of nails, learning the principles behind the distribution of weight. I decided not to join them, thus saving them from having to learn that there's a maximum amount of weight you are allowed to distribute.

The kids tore around the place, checking in to everything. They rode in a shack that simulates and earthquake (which felt more realistic than the time I was actually in one), they learned how to make tornadoes with air currents (because what kid doesn't need to know that), and they learned how to send smoke signals (technically I think they made cloud rings, but nobody tries to figure out what cloud rings are saying).

Smoke signals! I believe this translates to "Dad, I need a raise in my allowance!"

After exploring everything thoroughly on the ground floor, we made our way up to the second floor to check out the "Science of Hockey". There were plenty of things to do here like make your own play-by-play tape, test the sturdiness of some sticks, or throw on some gear and become a goalie. This was our favorite activity, as there was a giant video screen in front of your net where you could watch a player skate in at you, and then just when the player took a shot, a puck would shoot out of the screen. It's lots of fun, but let me give you fair warning: Whoever was responsible for setting up this exhibit, had a bit of a mean streak in them. Boys, if the player on the screen goes over to the left to shoot, you probably should crouch low and protect your own pair of hockey pucks.

Once I finished demonstrating my athletic prowess to my children (except for maybe the skating challenge, where I got my butt handed to me) we headed outside to try Dino Quest. In the area underneath the giant cube, the science center has built a dinosaur boneyard, and as researchers, you are on the hunt for fossils. You are given "research transmitters" (aka Harry Potter wands) and a card with a list of fossils for you to find. When you find one you are looking for, you wave your wand (err...research transmitter) at it and it records your find. Once you've completed your card, you can return to the research office and get a prize. Depending on what kind of admission you bought, there may be a small surcharge to do Dino Quest, but it was a lot of fun, and probably worth the few bucks just to walk around yelling "Expelliarmus!!" at anybody else who looks like they might have seen the Harry Potter movies.

We actually ran out of time at the Discovery Science Center before we ran out of things to do. That's OK because it gives us a reason to go back. The Boeing rocket lab wasn't even open when we visited, and the simulated rocket launch looks like it would be fascinating. Our ticket included a showing in the Discovery Theater, but my kids found the movie a little young for them, although they did appreciate a chance to sit in a comfy chair for a little bit.

As a change of pace from all the theme parks in Southern California, the Discovery Science Center is a great place to spend a day. The fact that there was never any "Can we go back to Disneyland?" requests should show that the exhibits kept my kids intrigued throughout our visit. The only problem I have with the science center is that it promotes learning about science at every turn. If my kids develop an interest in science, one of us is going to have to help them with their homework. I guess I'll just have to make sure I'm the first one they ask.

My Wife's Obsession with Captain Jack Sparrow

I blame the Beach Boys. They wrote a song for the movie Cocktail called Kokomo, about how great the island lifestyle is, and it hit home with me. Of course, I think it was meant to be a generic lyric and not a strict instruction book, but I've been known to be a bit too literal at times. When it came time to book our honeymoon, I started at the beginning of the song:

Aruba, Jamaica ooo I wanna take ya 
Bermuda, Bahama come on pretty mama 

I first tried to book us in to Aruba, but there were no reward flights available when we needed them, so we moved on to Jamaica and had our honeymoon there (yes, if Jamaica had been unavailable, Bermuda was next on the list).

I'm not entirely sure why I was so insistent on a Caribbean destination. Something about the beach and the ocean breeze, combined with a total lack of urgency to do anything, seemed to make it a perfect destination for two people starting out together. Which it was. Lori and I quickly settled in to the island lifestyle of being free, not worrying about anything, and never being late no matter what time we showed up. It was a fantastic week, despite my wife's refusal to swim in an ocean full of fish (I had to push her around on an air mattress), but after our time was up we returned home and launched in to our married life of work and having kids. The only reference to our Caribbean experience was an occasional "No problem mon!"

Until 2003. The beginning of the Pirates of the Caribbean series brought the character of Captain Jack Sparrow in to our lives, and boy did he make himself at home in our house. In particular, he involved himself in every conversation, internet search, and from what I heard, about 50% of my wife's dreams (although "Steve" and "Jack" probably sound very similar when mumbled while you're asleep...yeah, let's go with that).

Now while I can be a tad protective, I'm not an unreasonably jealous man, especially when it comes to fictional characters. Johnny Depp had been around long enough (and played enough strange roles) to assure me that my wife's infatuation wasn't directed towards him, but the problem with competing against a fictional character is that they don't have to abide by the same rules. If I was a womanizing, rum drinking, unemployed scoundrel, my wife wouldn't have given me a second look. Apparently those traits are a major draw when applied to a fictional pirate.

I can live with the double standard though. I lived through having to be silent every time a commercial for a Pirates movie came on, and I've survived having our tv tied up for two and a half hours whenever one of the networks decided to air a Pirates film (and a half day once when stupid TBS ran a marathon). I've ignored the buying of Captain Jack Sparrow posters under the pretense of putting them up in our girls rooms, only to "find out" that our girls prefer puppies and kitties on their walls. I've even managed to resist asking why all five of us have to have each of the Pirates movies on our iPads at all times (I suspect that at some point Lori's going to line the iPads up and try to watch all four movies simultaneously.). There's only one thing that bothers me about my wife's crush on Jack, and it drives me nuts because it's not the way it's supposed to be.

I really like the guy. I'm supposed to groan and mock my wife for her celebrity crushes, but I can't because Jack is awesome! To be honest I'm not entirely sure what it is about him that appeals to women, but the guy lives a life every man should envy. I mean other than having a hundred people and a few ghosts chasing you everywhere trying to kill you. Put that aside. Focus on the freedom, the life of adventure, the absolute lack of fear, and the charisma....oh the charisma. I can't explain it, but boy what I wouldn't give to have it. (Ummm...just in a "win friends and influence people" kind of way. I'm not talking about the "woman in every port" part of it.)

To me though, the best part of being Captain Jack Sparrow would be the vagabond lifestyle. The freedom to pick up and go any time I want. One day Cuba, the next day St. Lucia, the next day whatever island catches my fancy, all the while battling the forces of good/evil (Did we ever figure out which side Jack was on anyways?). The ultimate life of adventure, and if it came with heroic battles, beautiful women, and a great high tempo soundtrack, then all the better.

The actual boat used for filming Pirates 4, sailing off the shores of Hanauma Bay in Oahu.

I guess Jack is the guy they mean when the phrase "Women want him and men want to be him" is tossed around. It probably wouldn't be fair of me to hold my wife to a higher standard when I'm carrying my own man-crush for Jack around with me. I guess for now I'm going to have to live with the posters on the wall and the 10GB of space blocked out on my iPad. It's my own fault for insisting on a Caribbean honeymoon. Somehow though, I doubt that if we'd spent our honeymoon in France, I'd be writing this same post about Gerard Depardieu.

My Kids Five Favorite Hotel Pools

It's pretty hard to catch me sitting around a pool. On the list of places that I like to spend time, poolside ranks neatly between doing housework and excavating sewer pipes. This is despite the fact that my rock hard abs and chiseled body sometimes get me mistaken for one of the Jersey Shore hardbodies (although more frequently it's my grammar that has people making that assumption).  Fortunately for me, my wife (or as I like to call her, "L-Wow") has the same aversion to the pool, so when we travel together it's a simple matter of remembering to pack our swimsuits, and then never placing ourselves in a situation where we have to use them.

When we travel with our kids though, it's not always an option to keep my Speedo in my suitcase. Outside of the hotel mini-bar, a pool is one of the main attractions for my kids when it comes to choosing a place to spend a few nights. Actually if a hotel only has one pool, it's odds of meeting my children's approval are pretty slim. It seems to take multiple pools, at least one waterslide, and attendants who can keep the smoothies coming faster than we can drink them. With that criteria in mind, here are five of my kids favorite hotel pools:

#5) Rio Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas, Nevada

Please note that the title of this post was "Kids Favorite" not "Kid Friendly". Look, I know that people don't come to Las Vegas to hang around a bunch of unruly children. I fully believe in keeping my kids out of the path of the people who come to Las Vegas to party, but in all fairness, none of the party people are up before noon.  We spend the morning enjoying the five pools which are all set to different temperatures, and the sandy beach area that runs between them. This is the only pool on the list that doesn't have a waterslide, but it's also the only one that has a poolside Starbucks. Sounds like a fair trade-off to me.

#4) Hyatt Grand Cypress, Orlando, Florida

This could be the most impressive of all the pool layouts, as there are four or five pools that are all connected by a channel that runs through a cave type area, which also houses the hot tubs. Swimming between the pools is lots of fun, but this pool is so overrun by a party crowd that it's really hard to relax and not worry about what kind of things your kids are going to see. At one point I was swimming with my son, and we saw a eight or nine year old boy climb to the outside of the rope bridge and get ready to jump into the pool, which was nowhere near deep enough to ensure safety. While he was preparing to jump, a lady came by and yelled at him to get back on the bridge and asked where his mother was. I commented to my son that it was a good thing an adult showed up in time to stop the boy, and only after my son looked at me blankly for a couple of minutes did I realize that I'm a so-called adult, and I probably should have said something.

#3) Hilton Hawaiian Village, Honolulu, Hawaii

This may be my one exception to the pool > ocean rule. There's a few pools at the Hilton, but the kid's pools (aka the pools with the waterslides) are pretty small and get very crowded. Meanwhile there's a giant lagoon about a hundred yards away from the pool that's actually warmer than the pool itself. The only downside is that the wi-fi is much stronger at the pool than the lagoon. Because that's what's really important when you're on a beach in Hawaii.

#2) Hyatt Regency at Gainey Ranch, Scottsdale, Arizona

2.5 acres of pools. That's a lot of water. The nice part is that all the pools are together, so the parents can just stake out a spot and supervise the entire area without having to move around. They also have a very well organized pool program here, with coordinated activities going on throughout the day. Of course my kids favorite place is the three story waterslide where they will clock you with a radar gun to let you know how fast you came down. You'd figure this would be a great kids activity, but what it really leads to is all the Dads trying to outdo each other, and some serious tsunami waves at the bottom of the slide.

#1) Fairmont Scottsdale Princess, Scottsdale, Arizona

This place has so many pools that we didn't even find the best one until the last day. We were using the pool closest to the casitas where we were staying, which was almost always empty and constantly had jack rabbits coming up to the fence just in case anyone had brought a pocketful of carrots to the pool with them. We thought we'd found the big pool when we went for the dive-in movie one night (kudos to the Fairmont for having a great setup for the movies by the pool) but on the last day we wandered a little further and found another pool with dueling waterslides. Completing the trifecta, this pool had lightning quick food service and the best smoothies I've ever tasted. They should have had a radar gun to tell me how fast I was downing those things.

I'll give an honorable mention to the Grand Californian Hotel in Anaheim (because it's really cool to be swimming while looking at Disneyland), the Paris Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas (because I kind of feel like we owe them), and the Fantasyland Hotel in Edmonton (technically it's not their pool, it's a waterpark attached to the mall, but my kids were too young to remember it anyways). I'll also promise a future first place ranking to any pool that actually does confuse me with a member of the Jersey Shore.

I Wonder About These 7 Wonders

I wonder if I should have been disqualified. After all, if you're going to vote on the world's seven wonders of nature, shouldn't you have seen at least one of the nominees? I make it a point every Oscar season to see all of the best picture nominees before deciding which one I think should win, and I don't even get a vote for those. In the choosing of the new 7 Wonders of Nature, my vote actually counted, although apparently not for much.

For the last four years, people around the world have been voting on their favorite natural wonders of the world. That's most people. I only found out about it a couple of weeks ago (Thanks GoneWithTheFamily). It doesn't matter if you vote early or late though, your vote still counts the same, so I sorted through the 28 nominees and selected my favorites.

Let me explain my thought process behind each of the votes that I cast:

Amazon - Of my seven choices, this seems like the least likely one that I'd ever visit. Too many bugs. Still you can't live in North America and not hear all about the rainforest. Combine that with the fact I'm pretty sure this is where Tarzan is from, and the Amazon gets my first vote. I will confess that I almost didn't vote for them, as I once got really bad service at a Rainforest Cafe.

Bay of Fundy - How sad is it that I live in Canada, yet didn't know where the Bay of Fundy is? Having never seen it, I'm not sure that merely having the highest tides in the world should qualify a place for being one of the seven wonders of nature, however, since I don't like snow, can't play lacrosse, and prefer Starbucks to Tim Hortons, a vote for Canada's lone representative seemed like the least I could do.

Photo via New7Wonders.com

Cliffs of Moher - I didn't know that the Cliffs of Moher existed until about two months ago. Up until then I thought it was just people misspelling Cliffs of Dover (which I only know from the Guitar Hero song). I was set straight when I read a post by Hecktic Travels about their visit to the Cliffs of Moher, and their pictures really impressed me, except for the one where she dangles her foot over the side. That one just makes me queasy.

Dead Sea - I've heard stories of the Dead Sea from Lori's parents, who visited it a few years ago. They told me about how it's almost impossible to sink and that no matter what you do, you'll find yourself floating on top of the water. For someone like me, whose buoyancy level is something akin to a boulder, this sounds appealing.

Grand Canyon - It's kind of a makeup vote as we've made the drive from Las Vegas to Phoenix at least a dozen times, and despite my wife's frequent requests, we've yet to take the detour to see the canyon in person. It is the closest that we've been to a nominee though, as we did fly over it once.

Photo via nps.gov

Great Barrier Reef - At least I knew this one existed. I went back and forth between the reef and Uluru, but in the end it came down to one thing: turtles. I think sea turtles are pretty cool, and there's tons of them at the Great Barrier Reef. Apparently there's fewer of them at Uluru.

Maldives - I think I knew less about this destination than any of the others (which is really sad when you consider I thought the Cliffs of Moher was something I could download from iTunes). What I did know about the Maldives was that it's a top destination for frequent flyers to redeem their air and hotel miles for. The whole "over the water bungalow" thing really looks pretty cool too. I wonder if they have sea turtles?

So how did my choices do? Well here's the list of winners, announced two days ago after the initial counting of the votes:

Amazon - Nailed it!

Halong Bay - A neat bay in Vietnam with lots of hollow islands and limestone. Probably no turtles though.

Iguazu Falls - Massive waterfalls in the middle of the rainforest. I'm sure there won't be any bugs there.

Photo via New7Wonders.com

Jeju Island - A volcanic island in South Korea that looks exactly like the 14th green at the Coeur D'alene golf course.

Komodo - A huge national park in Indonesia. Dragon's are cool. So are those robes that the Japanese people wear. I'm not sure which one this park is named after.

Puerto Princesa Underground River - It's listed as the PP Underground River. Seriously? Were five year olds allowed to vote?

Table Mountain - Mountains are supposed to have peaks. Ask any kindergartner to draw you one and you'll see (if they're not busy laughing about voting for the PP river).

Obviously I won't be starting a career as a natural wonder odds setter in Vegas any time soon. On the other hand, this vote was taken by online voting, with people allowed to vote multiple times, and thus should be taken with about the same amount of seriousness that you accredit to American Idol results. The best singer/natural wonder very rarely wins, but almost all of the finalists receive enough exposure to make the competition worth their while.

I'd love to hear the opinion of somebody who's actually had a chance to visit all 28 of the finalists. That would certainly carry more weight with me than the "get out the vote" competition that the tourism boards responsible for each of the nominees had to wage. Of course, I probably shouldn't be complaining about the results considering the expertise that I used to make my choices. Not much I can do about it now though I guess, except turn my attention to the next four year long competition to name the New 7 Wonders Cities of the world. If we all start voting now, I'm pretty sure we can get Spunky Puddle, Ohio on the ballot.