“The best part is when they finally get it, and tell you sorry for being such pain in the ass during those (teenage) years. My son told me he now understands everything I was trying to convey to his logic blocked brain back then…”
Oh man, I can relate.
I was pretty certain that at least one of my envelope-pushing teens would flee the nest — i-Pod at full volume and a certain finger in the air — never looking back or speaking to me… CONTINUE READING >>
A reader wrote:
“The best part is when they finally get it, and tell you sorry for being such pain in the ass during those (teenage) years. My son told me he now understands everything I was trying to convey to his logic blocked brain back then…”
Oh man, I can relate.
I was pretty certain that at least one of my envelope-pushing teens would flee the nest — iPod at full volume and a certain finger in the air — never looking back or speaking to me again.
Hating my guts forever.
Let’s face it. Part of the growing up process is envelope-pushing. Our job as parents was to keep the envelope intact.
Simple science: All that pushing and pulling is bound to cause some friction. Where there’s friction, things get heated.
It was like the terrible twos all over again.
Only this time we were dealing with bigger, smarter, wilier entities. Entities that were convinced we were out to ruin their lives. No matter how many times we tried to explain that our decisions were made with their best interest at heart, it didn’t seem to sink into their hard little heads.
Teenagers feel that every party is the after-party at The Academy Awards, every game is the Super Bowl, and every day is their last day on Earth — so denying them anything is the end of the world to them.
Basic stuff like “No, you can’t go to a party at someone’s house if their parents aren’t home” became The 100 Years War. Or at least an all night battle.
“No, you can’t use the car tonight, I need it, but I’ll be glad to drop you off” somehow sounds just like “I hate your guts and want to destroy your very soul” to the ears of an adolescent.
It was like we didn’t even speak the same language.
I’m not sure how this happened. It seemed like they understood English a few years back, but then again, the first word they learned was NO!, closely followed by Why? And once again that’s all we seemed to hear.
The battles raged on, but luckily we were still able to see the big picture…well, for the most part. For this was a war of attrition. That’s not to say I didn’t think we might lose (have them leave and never speak to us again) but we would never surrender, never give in, never say die.
I held on to the hope that they would see things the way Mark Twain did:
“When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in seven years.”
Well it paid off – even before The Spawn hit twenty-one!
After just one semester of college our oldest, The Piglet, told us, “thank you for caring enough to keep me in line.”
It’s way up in the top ten best moments of my parenthood experiences.
Who knew how much a simple “Thank you for loving me” could touch a parent’s heart – for me it was like Christmas, Fourth of July and Arbor Day all rolled into one. A veritable smorgasbord of warm fuzzyishiness.
The armistice is signed and peace reigns throughout the kingdom.
A visit to Queensland, Australia without getting underwater on the Great Barrier Reef would be unthinkable!
As soon as Lady Elliot Island, a highly protected coral cay only accessible by air, came into view, we knew we were about to embark on an unforgettable adventure of a lifetime.
Because the southern tip of the reef is outside the tropics, the cooler water temperatures have kept the coral… CONTINUE READING >>
A visit to Queensland, Australia without seeing the Great Barrier Reef would be like a morning without coffee, unthinkable!
So bright and early, and with “cuppa” Joe in hand (how’s that for mixing hemispheric slang?), we met a van to take us along with a few other lucky adventurers to the Gold Coast airport for a flight out to Lady Elliot Island.
That door-to-door convenience is all part of the service that is included in a trip to the island.
As a protected part of The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, no one is allowed to visit except by booking through the Lady Elliot Island Eco Resort.
Seair Pacific handles the flying duties for the trip, and the flight was a sightseeing adventure unto itself, with amazing vistas out our windows all the way.
We flew past the incredible skyline of high-rises along Gold Coast,
then up the shoreline to Fraser Island and out across the Coral Sea.
When we approached the southern end of the world’s largest reef, Lady Elliot Island came into view.
The tiny cay is formed from the coral itself. The ocean currents have deposited enough broken up coral remnants on top of the reef to create a small landmass, so even though it is dry land it is actually a part of the reef.
As we descended, it became apparent just how small the landmass is, barely big enough to fit the landing strip.
It is not often that we have experienced air travel sans pavement, but the rustic grass runway is the only link to the mainland.
Primitive as it might have seemed, we hardly noticed in our excitement to be on The Great Barrier Reef, and it’s not like we had a choice of transportation options.
There are no ferries to the mainland since the reef around the island is too shallow and treacherous for anything but small boats.
David’s swimmers courtesy of Billabong
One of those small boats would just so happen to be where we would begin our day of exploration.
After being issued our snorkeling gear, we made our way to the broken coral beach by the lighthouse, where we met a glass bottom boat that would take us to a prime spot for viewing the reef ecosystem.
Through the glass we had a shark encounter as we passed directly over a reef shark – the best kind of shark – the kind where he’s in the water and we’re not.
But sharks or no sharks we were going in, which was very brave of us considering the extreme lack of any danger to humans from reef sharks.
Obviously we could only see a tiny portion of the over one thousand miles included in the reef system, but the part we saw was phenomenal.
There were so many different varieties of coral, over four hundred are found in the reef, and they are much more colorful than we had ever seen in the Caribbean.
Because this southern tip of the reef is outside the tropics, the cooler water temperatures have kept the coral healthy.
Further north heat is causing serious bleaching to much of the reef and, along with pollution from shipping and agricultural runoff, is a great threat to this natural wonder.
The Great Barrier Reef is also a habitat for countless species of sea creatures.
On our first dive we saw many of the fifteen hundred different types of fish that live along the reef, and something completely new and unexpected, a vivid blue starfish known as Linckia laevigata.
We think the guy on the bottom right is the leader and he’s up to no good.
Watch: Veronica makes a new sea turtle friend who shows her all the hotspots of his reef and introduces her to his friends (including “Nemo”)!
Veronica’s swimsuit courtesy of 2Chillies
With the end of our first dive it was time for some sustenance to prepare for the afternoon.
Our lunch buffet was dominated by some of the thousands of birds that migrate to Lady Elliot Island every year.
Unbelievable numbers of black noddys filled the trees and were not shy about coming up to us for a closer look.
Preserving this nesting ground for the noddy, and dozens of other seabirds, is a big part of the mission of the Lady Elliot Island Eco Resort.
They have strived to have as little impact as possible on the habitat, and have been instrumental in the revegetation of the island by reintroducing native plants brought in from nearby islands.
After chomping on shrimp, oops, I mean prawns, we were chomping at the bit to get back underwater.
This time we walked right off the beach in front restaurant into the lagoon.
The water around this part of the island is a favorite spot for some of the three types of sea turtles common to Lady Elliot, and it didn’t take long for us to find that to be true. See this guy come to life – watch the video!
We have encountered sea turtles on several occasions while swimming in the Caribbean and Galapagos Islands, but these seemed to be the least concerned by our presence of any we’d seen.
In the past the turtles would generally swim away once they noticed us, or if we got very close, but these guys not only didn’t flee, they seemed glad to hang around.
In fact, one of the resident marine experts told us that they like to have the algae scraped off of their shells and will allow humans to perform the honors.
Sure enough, if we approached very slowly, they were happy to have us give them a little back scratching.
As hard as it was to tear ourselves away from the turtles, there was one more section of the island that we wanted to explore, the Coral Gardens.
As we said, Lady Elliot is a tiny cay, so we easily walked about halfway around and waded back out into the sea.
The gardens definitely lived up to their name, we were immediately in awe at the vast array of diverse coral species.
Then we spotted something on the ocean floor. It was trying to hide in the sand, but we thought we saw one of the guys that give the island the nickname “Home of the Manta Ray.”
Moving in for a closer look it became clear that we had the wrong ray, this was a stingray. We hung around hoping to see him swim off, but we didn’t want to instigate any ray reactions because we were fully convinced that we would come out on the wrong side of any close encounter.
With time growing short until our return flight departure, we reluctantly made our way back to terra firma one last time.
But before leaving this incredible place we wanted to check out the accommodations for the lucky visitors that get to spend more than a day.
Manager Andreas Supper agreed to show us around and share some of the green aspects of the Lady Elliot Island Eco Resort.
First among these is the hybrid power station, which has cut fuel consumption by two-thirds by using solar panels. Plans are to add wind turbines, and to be fossil fuel-free in five years.
Water conservation and recycling programs are also in place, with waste water treated then used for irrigation, and recyclables flown back to the mainland.
The footprint is almost nonexistent, but by far the main attraction to the resort is the location. We could only imagine waking up and stepping outside in the morning.
Veronica makes a new sea turtle friend who shows her all the hotspots of his native Coral Gardens, and introduces her to his friends – including “Nemo,” a manta ray, parrotfish, angelfish and colorful giant clams! Click to see our full adventure! or enlarge video >>
Veronica makes a new sea turtle friend who shows her all the hotspots of his native Coral Gardens, and introduces her to his friends – including “Nemo,” a manta ray, parrotfish, angelfish and colorful giant clams!
We could only see a tiny portion of the over one thousand miles included in the Great Barrier Reef, but the part we saw was phenomenal.
There were so many different varieties of coral, over four hundred are found in the reef, and they are much more colorful than we had ever seen in the Caribbean.
Because this southern tip of the reef is outside the tropics, the cooler water temperatures have kept the coral healthy.
Further north heat is causing serious bleaching to much of the reef and, along with pollution from shipping and agricultural runoff, is a great threat to this natural wonder.
The Great Barrier Reef is also a habitat for countless species of sea creatures.
We saw many of the fifteen hundred different types of fish that live along the reef, and something completely new and unexpected, a vivid blue starfish known as Linckia laevigata.
We think the guy on the bottom right is the leader and he’s up to no good.
Every once in a while, we are hit over the head by a ton of bricks. While this would normally be cause for concern, this particular brickload is one of gratitude.
We have been blessed with amazing accolades from amazing folks! We have done really fun interviews and have been included in some pretty prestigious publications. We are truly honored. Click in to see why...CONTINUE READING >>
Every once in a while, we are hit over the head by a ton of bricks. While this would normally be cause for concern, this particular brickload is one of gratitude.
We have been blessed with amazing accolades from amazing folks! We have done really fun interviews and have been included in some pretty prestigious publications. We are truly honored. Click in to see why...CONTINUE READING >>
Join us as we remember those who are resting here, learn stories of their lives and the circumstances behind their final burial place… CONTINUE READING >>
Halifax has a deep connection to the sea, including history’s worst maritime tragedy, the sinking of The Titanic.
When news of the disaster reached the mainland, three ships were sent out from to recover as many of the victims as possible.
It’s impossible to describe our feelings. So many headstones bearing the same date; April 15, 1912.
It is not certain that each victim died on April 15th, it is assumed that due to the freezing temperatures no one could have survived that kind of exposure to the elements. Therefore, each marker bears that date.
Mr. Elliot was a member of the crew, a coal trimmer. His epitaph reads “Each man stood at his post while all the weaker ones went by and showed one more to all the world how Englishmen should die.”
In all, three hundred and twenty-eight bodies were found, and of those, two hundred and nine were brought to Halifax to be claimed by relatives, or buried should no one come forward.
Three quarters of those were never spoken for and are buried in three of the city’s cemeteries, most in Fairview Lawn.
The company that owned the Titanic, The White Star Line, had land surveyor F.W. Christie design the full plot to fit into the slope of the hill.
John Law Hume, violinist in the orchestra that played as Titanic sank. All eight band members died, yet heroically continued their music until the end. Mr. Hume was 21 years old at the time of his death and was survived by his fiancée and his unborn baby.
With somber hearts we walked through the Fairview Lawn Cemetery to the gravesites of the one-hundred-twenty-one casualties and paid our respects.
Many of the headstones are marked only by numbers, as the identities of the victims remain unknown.
Ms. Henriksson was from Sweden, and was traveling with her cousin Ellen Petterson, who also perished.
If a person’s identity was discovered later their name was engraved on the side of the stone, rather than the top.
Jenny Lovisa Henriksson was simply “Number 3” until 1991. Then, through deduction and the careful notes taken at the time of the disaster, the initials on her clothing led investigators to match her name with the remaining unknown victims list.
Perhaps the most poignant was the unknown grave of a two-year-old child brought back aboard The MacKay-Bennett, one of ships sent out from Halifax to retrieve the deceased from the site of the disaster.
Just recently the boy was identified through DNA samples, but his family prefers that his gravestone remain nameless as a remembrance for all of the other unknown victims. Instead, a plaque was placed at the foot of little Sidney’s stone.
Mr. Freeman was a chief deck steward and a secretary to White Star chairman Bruce Ismay. He was survived by his wife and daughter. His epitaph reads “He remained at his post of duty, seeking to save others. Regardless of his own life and went down with the ship.”Mrs. Paulson and her four children were traveling to unite with their husband and father, Nils, in Chicago. Mr. Paulson worked as a tram conductor and had saved for two years to bring his family over to join him.Mr. King was from Ireland and served as a clerk on the Titanic.Mr. Franklin, from England, was a saloon steward aboard the ship. He married his wife, Blanche, the year before the sinking. They had a son, Alan, and their daughter was born was a few months after Mr. Franklin’s death.
Back in 1999, two friends, Janine Licare and Aislin Livingstone, got the idea to raise money for a project to “save the rainforest,” so they set about selling papier-mâché bottles and painted rock paperweights from a “crazy cute” roadside stand.
They were shocked to discover that the money they raised was not enough to buy and save the entire forest, they were only nine after all, so they started small by making monkey bridges.
Monkey bridges provide a safe way for monkeys to get across the road. Much better than power lines, which have a nasty tendency to electrocute a crossing primate from time to time.
Hearing their story had us excited to see what became of the project after fifteen years, so we headed into the forest to check it out.
Quite an operation has grown from those humble beginnings, placing bridges (over one hundred and thirty so far) in areas where monkeys often travel is still a big part of it, and those efforts have paid off big time.
Since beginning the program the population of the once-endangered squirrel monkey has more doubled.
The bridges were just the beginning; they have worked with Costa Rica’s National Park Service and schools to plant nearly seven thousand rainforest trees, and the Wildlife Rescue Center and Sanctuary is now in full swing.
To date they have saved hundreds of monkeys, also in addition to marmosets, tamarins, kinkajou, sloths, porcupines, parrots, and parakeets.
Our first stop at Kids Saving the Rainforest in Costa Rica was the hospital, where an orphaned three-toed sloth baby was getting a snack of hibiscus flowers. Isn’t she adorable?
then up the shoreline to Fraser Island and out across the Coral Sea.
As hard as it was to tear ourselves away from the turtles, there was one more section of the island that we wanted to explore, the Coral Gardens.
