Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Georgia Aquarium

Here are many pictures of the world’s largest aquarium, located in Atlanta. We (my parents, sister and I) went there while we were visiting my sister. Read about the rest of our adventure here.

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Some freshwater fishy:DSCI0049

Yes, that is an albino alligator!DSCI0046

Not the best picture…but these crabs were called Spider Crabs (b/c of their longer legs) and were huge!! About 3-5 feet from side to side!DSCI0052

The coolest part was visiting the Ocean Voyage section that had a tank that was 6.2 million gallons! I loved the tunnel and seeing the fish and sharks swim over!DSCI0064DSCI0066DSCI0068     DSCI0073

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Shark!!!DSCI0086DSCI0077DSCI0087

To put into perspective just HOW HUGE this place was…this picture is of a whale shark – the largest shark in the world. And they have 4 of them in this tank! They were brought over to the U.S. in big containers (like what are put on tanker ships) that are 40 feet long…one per container!DSCI0101

A ginormous potato grouper:DSCI0078DSCI0088

Tropical fish:
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And one of my favorite pictures because of its vastness:DSCI0093

Back from Georgia...

...and we had a great time visiting Miss Em and celebrating her 21st!

She is in Atlanta, Georgia this summer for an internship with a landscape design firm. I flew in and met up with my parents and we took the MARTA (subway or train) to close to wear Emily lives. She then took us on a tour of all the properties that she has been working on. They are very nice places. And things grow everywhere!


On Saturday, we headed to downtown Atlanta. Here is Papa in the MARTA station (I know taking pictures are illegal in these...but no one else was there!) This was on the way to the Georgia Aquarium - largest in the world! I will have to do a separate post on thate because I have SO many pictures.
After visiting the aquarium, we did some touring around the downtown area. Surprisingly, it wasn't too hot!
Olympic Park



Since it was Em's 21 birthday, she decided she wanted to wait until midnight to purchase some alcohol. I was worried that nothing would be open, but we decided to wait. And, unfortunately for Em's sake, I was right. We check Wal-Mart, two convenience stores and another place and finally ended up at Dunkin Donuts at 1 a.m. for donuts and iced tea! It was quite the adventure. But she got her glass of wine the next day for lunch.

We went to the cutest, Southern Church on Sunday and I wished I'd have taken a picture, but I thought that might not be appropriate. We enjoyed hanging out with Miss Em and then had to leave around 4:30 in the afternoon to head back to the airport.

God was definitely watching out for my parents and I! Georgia's airport is the largest in the U.S. Mom and I had scheduled for both my flight and theirs to leave around the same time that way we could go to the airport together. We were excited to just be in the same terminal, then discovered that we were in the same concourse and our flight gates were right next to eachother! It was so amazing to not have to sit at the gate by myself. When it was time to get on our flights (which left 7 minutes apart), both of our seats were on the wing and we were facing eachother! I had to explain to the lady next to me that my parents were on the other plane and I wasn't just a crazy person waving at the other plane! It was definitely a God thing. Thank you, Lord, for making our trip back less crazy and for giving me more time with my parents!

Friday, June 25, 2010

Heading down to Georgia...

...looking for a soul to steal -- or just one to hug!

I'm leaving this morning for Georgia to see (and hug!) my little sis and help her celebrate her 21st birthday!!

She is in Georgia for the summer on an internship with a landscape design firm, Chatham.  She says it's hot down there...so I'm sure I will be able to verify that here in a few hours! 
Have a great weekend and I will report back about all of our adventures!

Thursday, June 24, 2010

Rain makes corn...

Since working for the Corn Board....anything with the word "corn" in it sticks out to me. But in the phrase from this recently popular song, "rain" stands out in Nebraska. I received some data today from an automated weather station at the ARDC that was really amazing to me (data nerd, I know...my weather nerd friend, Shelley, should be proud).

Since the beginning of June, 20 out of 23 days we have received rain here in Nebraska inching toward one of its wettest Junes on record. Good for my planter garden as well as not having to run our yard sprinkler system! But unfortunately, not good for many of the farmers from across the state that may have received greater amounts of rainfall causing flooding.

As of Wednesday, 10.14 inches of rain had fallen for the month (National Weather Service). That makes it the sixth wettest June on record (normal precip in June is 3.51 inches).

Here are the top 10:
•1967, 12.93 inches
•1908, 11.24 inches
•1965 and 1914, 10.71 inches
•1947, 10.20 inches
•2010, 10.14 inches
•1951, 9.76 inches
•1902, 8.83 inches
•2008, 8.59 inches
•1964, 8.56 inches

I also read yesterday in the Lincoln Journal-Star that flood and hail damage from just one recent storm caused $25 million in damage. The wet weather is forcing farmers to adjust their weed-control and nitrogen work as well as washing several fields out.

Here are some pictures of the recent flooding (thanks to Brownfield Ag News and Lincoln Journal-Star).
 

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Father's Day...

As Sunday was Father's Day, I was blessed enough to spend it with my daddy, so I didn't blog about it then! But just wanted to share how blessed I am to have an amazing father. Thank you Dad for everything you've done for me, everything you've shown me how to do, every great example you've been and everything you have yet to teach me.
  

I also have a pretty amazing father-in-law and this is my first Father's Day to tell him so! Thanks Ron for being so supportive and a great example as well! (He's the normal looking one on the left. :) This was from his recent trip to South Africa )

Sunday, June 13, 2010

Randy Travis…

DSCI0118I’m a little behind in getting these pictures up after Cattlemen’s Ball last weekend, but here are a few close-up pics of Randy. I didn’t even have to walk up front to take them! We were fortunate enough to get to sit with Trent and Kelli Loos next to the stage for dinner (Trent was the em-cee for the evening), which meant great dinner company and great seats to see Randy!

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Saturday, June 5, 2010

I just love Cattlemen...

Today, I'm representing the Corn Board at the Annual Cattlemen's Ball in Kearney, Nebraska. It's a hot, muggy day, but I'm glad I'm in the shade under the tent! I get to talk to cattlemen all day, and then eat some beef tonight and hear Randy Travis perform!

The Cattlemen's Ball is a benefit event established to promote beef in a healthy diet, to showcase rural Nebraska and to raises money for cancer research. You may remember from a previous post that my favorite cattleman, my Gramps, lost his fight with cancer two years ago...so events like this are special for me to remember him and support further research to fight cancer.

Here is my booth promoting Nebraska Corn and Corn-Fed Beef...

I also have some samples of Dried Distillers Grains (corn co-product made from ethanol production)...

And right next to me is the Nebraska Cattlemen's booth...

My booth is in the General Store area where you can find lots of these...

And crazy Husker things...

And these. I'm going to send my husband over to this booth when he arrives. :)