As I was thinking about other travel topics to write about, I naturally went to my favorite places to visit, especially because it can easily follow the list format of the last post. I have had the privilege to travel to many different countries in the world thanks to parents who encouraged and instilled a love of travel from an early age, so I decided to start my series of "favorite places" posts with one about my favorite countries. I narrowed my list down to the top 4, so here they are starting with number four... 4. Norway I had the opportunity to visit Norway all the way back in 2006 on a cruise in the Baltic Sea. I was immediately impressed by the amazing scenery, and of course the Viking stuff. Everything was so green, and the fjords heading into Oslo were some of the most beautiful waterways I have ever witnessed. Let's be honest though, the real appeal for me in Norway was the history. Vikings are pretty cool, and a visit to the Viking museum in Oslo resulted in some amazing views of actual Longships. 3. Greece I struggled a bit with where to put Greece on this list because I have visited multiple times (college study trip, honeymoon, family cruise), and every time it is amazing. The people are friendly, the food is fantastic, and the ruins, oh, the ruins, make my heart leap for joy and my legs outpace all of my traveling companions. Greece has a vibrant culture, so many romantic spots, and my all time favorite international cuisine (Fun fact: gyros in Greece are made with pork instead of lamb meat, and they are extra delicious. Also, they stuff the gyros with fries. Enough said). 2. Peru When my family first discussed taking a trip to Peru together, I was excited for Machu Picchu, but I did not know much more. Thankfully, Peru did not disappoint, and in fact blew past all of my expectations and even surpassed expectations I didn't even know were possible. There was something magical about the whole country that I cannot quite express, but we were able to experience coastal country, mountainous jungle, and dry desert all in one trip, and each location had its own distinct history and flair, while still remaining Peruvian. I was able to try so many new foods in Peru (guinea pig, alpaca, ceviche, to name a few), and everything was unique and flavorful. And of course, Peru has some ancient history, which is enough to endear me to any location (just in case you missed that trend in the last two locations). I cannot recommend a trip to Peru enough. 1. Italy In what should come as a surprise to no one, Italy is my most favorite country to visit in the world (for now, at least). Besides the fact that I have spend the majority of my adult life studying the history of this country, the clearest evidence for me is that I continue to visit Italy almost every other year, and even visit the same spots, and it never gets old. There is always something new to see or experience, especially when it comes to recent excavations and Roman ruins (yes, every single location on this list has some sort of ancient history connection; it's basically a prerequisite to even make this list). Italian food is wonderful and Italian gelato even better, and you cannot find better Margherita pizza than in Naples. Everything in Italy is a winning combination. Any other favorite countries out there? Where have you visited and loved?
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Today would have marked the first day of the 2021 Parkway Italy Trip and another round of great times and great experiences for both teachers and students. As a result, I have been feeling the loss of travel over the past year extra hard. Thankfully, travel memories are some of the most vivid and memorable experiences in life, and I have been reminiscing about some of my favorite travel memories to help ease the loss. I even felt inspired to fill the void with a series of travel-related posts on this site, mainly to remind myself of all the reasons I love to travel, but also perhaps to inspire memories in others. First up, I want to share a list of some of my top travel "moments." I wish I could give a scientific reason for why I chose these moments, but the best criteria I can give you are that they impacted me on a deep emotional, intellectual, or spiritual level. For some of these moments I have pictures, but many of them happened before the advent of digital photography. Hopefully I can paint the picture well enough to help recreate the experience. This is not a ranking; rather, I am presenting this list in chronological order throughout my life. 1. Riding the TGV high speed train between Paris and London I could not tell you what age or grade I was when this happened, other than it was during elementary school, but I can describe for you exactly what I remember while staring out the window as the French countryside went speeding by at a velocity I only imagined in my toy train sets. I tried following the trees as we sped by, but it quickly became impossible. I could also tell you how much smoother the ride was in France compared to the terrible rails once we arrived in England (that one is for my French friends). For a young boy, who was as much into trains as most young boys are, the experience of riding the fastest train in the world at the time was as close to dreams coming true as I could imagine at the time. 2. Spider shower in rural Mexico The summer before entering 7th grade I attended a mission trip to a small church camp in the desert outside Juarez, Mexico. The goal of the trip was to do some construction work on some new buildings at the camp. I think we worked for a total of 3 days at the camp and slept in sleeping bags on the floor of a small church nearby. The moment that is seared into my memory, however, is the first night we had to use the showers at the church. I was filthy from a day's worth of dust and sweat, but I refused to enter that shower. There was no curtain, a bucket of water, dribbles instead of a stream, and spiders crawling out of the shower head. My mom was one of the chaperones on the trip, and if not for her forcing me while holding a towel up as a shower curtain, I would never have stepped foot in there. In short, this was the first time I experienced culture shock, and at my age it profoundly impacted me, so much so that I almost refused to ever take a trip like that again. While not a flowers and sunshine kind of moment, I do not know whether I would be the same person I am today without the cultural experiences from this trip. 3. Mycenae and the Iliad In college I had the privileged experience of spending two weeks in Italy and Greece for class credit. At the time, I was also starting to get into Greek and Roman history even more and decided it was time to read the Iliad in full. I took my copy on the trip for the long bus rides and spent my free moments eating up the Iliad for the first time. On one of these bus rides to the site of ancient Mycenae I was engaged in reading the Iliad when I looked up and there in front of me was the Lion's Gate at the entrance to Mycenae. It was one of those moments where people say that the pages come to life. The characters I was reading about were suddenly real to me in a tangible way. I often credit that moment to my life taking a turn to pursuing Greek and Roman culture as a career. 4. Sunset dinner on Mykonos In one of those classic romantic honeymoon kind of stories, one of the highlights of our honeymoon in Greece was a sunset dinner right on the water on the island of Mykonos. Fresh seafood, live musicians, a sunset over the Aegean Sea, and the romance of a honeymoon all came together for a fantastic travel moment. There were definitely a lot of moments on this trip, but this dinner lives in my memory as a moment of beauty, love, and joy. Also, when else can you get away with wearing linen pants.... 5. Hiking Machu Picchu
Our family trip to Peru in 2012 is one of the highlights of my life, but we can save more on that for a future post. For this post, there are very few travel moments that beat sitting at the top of Machu Picchu and taking in the amazing view with my favorite person. Also, what a perfect excuse to bust out my Indiana Jones garb! I felt every bit the part as I traipsed around the ruins. The beauty, historical significance, and amazing location of Machu Picchu all came together for an unforgettable moment. Highlight of my life for sure! Coming soon: Top Places I have visited! Back in June I posted about all the books I read for the first half of the year, and since we are now into a new year, it is time to follow up with the back half of the year. Last January I made a goal to read 23 books this year. I had slowly been making my way back to pre-children reading levels when I read 30-40 books a year, so I thought 23 was a reasonable goal. Then, the pandemic hit, and I blew that goal out of the water with a total of 35 books read in 2020. I actually delayed this post until today, hoping that I could finish one of the two books I was reading, but neither came to fruition. Nevertheless, I am ecstatic that I was able to finish so many books this year and work and parent full time.
I will follow the same format as my June post, with one or two sentences about what impacted me from each read. Feel free to use the comments to further the discussion about any of the books that stood out to you or you also enjoyed. Without further rambling, here is my reading list from July 1, 2020 to December 31, 2020. Children of Virtue and Vengeance by Tomi Adeyemi
Thanks for sticking around to the end, and I hope that there might be something on this list worth checking out in 2021! I decided to be reasonable and keep my goal at one higher than last year (24 books), since we have a new baby coming this year, so check back at the end of June for the midyear update! The fun of the holiday season is coming to an end, but I wanted to take a few minutes to share one of my favorite traditions that started many years ago and continues to grow every year. The video above was a brief tour of my very own nerdy Christmas tree, filled only with ornaments that have generally no relation to the holidays, but rather represent all of my various nerdy interests. The story of this tree actually goes back to the Christmas before my wife and I were married in December of 2004. Melissa found a fake Christmas tree at Target marked down to $5. She obviously snagged that deal, and it became our tree after we were married the next May. The story actually starts even further in the past, however, to the year 1996. That year Hallmark released their first ever Star Wars ornament, a Millennium Falcon that plugs into a light socket so the engines and cockpit light up. I was thrilled that Star Wars ornaments were now a thing and had to have the Millennium Falcon. So began a 24-years and counting journey. The very next year, Hallmark started expanding their Star Wars line and offered their first in a still ongoing series of Star Wars character ornaments. The first character was none other than Luke Skywalker, specifically in his Bespin fatigues outfit. Since 1997, I have either been gifted or bought every single character in the series, except for the 2018 Boba Fett because I already had a Boba Fett not in the official series line. I would be lying if I said that I do not regret that choice. I am a completionist when it comes to collecting, and that one little decision will continue to mildly irk me. Back to the story of the tree. By the time Melissa and I were starting our own Christmas traditions and decorating our own place, I had eight years worth of Star Wars ornaments that I brought into the relationship. Let's just say that Star Wars ornaments do not make for the most festive tree decorations, but Melissa was incredibly generous in allowing them to grace the branches of our humble little tree. Many Christmases came and went, and along with them came post-Christmas trips to Hallmark for 50% off Star Wars ornaments. Needless to say, I was building a pretty extensive collection that kind of dominated our tree. When we moved to the St. Louis area in 2011, we finally had enough money to buy a new tree, and I got the long wished for (by both of us, if we are honest) full control of the old Christmas tree. There was enough Christmas cheer in that pivotal moment to fill all of my holiday dreams in 2011, so I went all out. I bought some silver garland to match the intergalactic theme, and the next year I received some Yoda string lights as a Christmas gift to further enhance the overall look. Last year I added another set of themed string lights to the tree with a purchase of some lightsaber lights at Star Wars Celebration Chicago. A Santa Yoda tree topper was the crowning piece. Of course, I am not only into Star Wars (shocker, I know). I have other ornaments from several different sci-fi and fantasy franchises. Perhaps those can be featured next year in a separate post. I do, however, have a couple to highlight here that change up the sea of Star Wars decor. I have several different Indiana Jones ornaments throughout the tree, but the picture below includes a couple of my favorites. In a deep cut, I even have a few Tintin ornaments from a Black Friday promo at World Market several years ago. Kudos to you if you even know who Tintin is! Finally, some of my favorite additions to the tree from this year include the Mandalorian and the Child in his pram, as well as the limited edition, convention-exclusive Ahsoka and matching Clone trooper helmet. The most popular Star Wars ornaments are more and more likely to sell out these days as ornament collecting has grown as a hobby, so I am not always able to pick up the ones I most want at a decent price. I still, however, make the yearly post-Christmas trip to Hallmark to see what I can snag at 50% off and continue to grow one of my favorite holiday traditions. For those who have followed this page for a while, I posted several months ago about rewatching Star Wars Rebels and inviting my 6 and 4-year old kids to watch it for the first time. You can go back and check out that post here. In that post I promised to come back after we had finished watching the show and post some wrap up thoughts from both myself and my kids.
So here we are, on Thanksgiving night, two months removed from actually finishing the show, and ready to fire off some thoughts about all four seasons of Star Wars Rebels. Disclaimers: 1) There will be spoilers for events at the end of the show in this post. Stop now and go watch the show before you continue further. 2) If you are one of those Star Wars fans who rides their high and mighty horse of only wanting Star Wars that is dark, gritty, cynical, and adult, step down off that high horse and go watch this show, or any kid-friendly show for that matter. It will do your heart some good. On to Star Wars Rebels. When we first finished the show, I had three questions for both of my kids: What did you think? Who were your favorite characters? What story arc did you like best? I worded that last one slightly differently for them, but that was the gist. 6-year-old son's response: It was good. I liked it. Ezra, Chopper, and Zeb. The one where Ezra goes on a mission. 4-year-old daughter's response: It was good. I liked it (she likes to parrot her brother). The girls. When the one girl flies her ship. Honestly, I was hoping for a little more to go on than the answers they gave, and I would probably say I was a little disappointed by their answers. I was hoping for something really cool or blogworthy to come out of their mouths, but the above answers were all I got. Disappointed, I moved on to whatever they wanted to do next, but the back of my mind kept chewing on their answers. Later that evening, it hit me. Their answers perfectly reflected the success and power of the show. My 6-year-old son, who is very 6-year-old boy right now, latched onto the characters who were aimed at young boys. Fart jokes, slapstick humor, and cheap laughs. My daughter latched onto the female characters, who were clearly aimed toward the female audience of the show and were written to be strong, independent and well-rounded women. I would be proud for my daughter to claim Sabine or Hera as a role model. Thank you to the creators of Rebels for two excellent female characters! The simple answers that my kids nonchalantly tossed out helped me realize the simple premise of the show and why it works. The Ghost crew contains characters who represent all ages, genders, and phases of life and connects with them at their level. My kids are not going to grasp the bigger themes of the show, but they know the characters are entertaining and fun to watch and maybe even a little like them sometimes. Which leads me to my own final thoughts. Perhaps my initial disappointment with my kids' answers came from my hope that they would have a deep connection to the themes and the mythology of the show, just as I do. This rewatch experience solidified what the show really means to me. Rebels is about family. Perhaps no character better illustrates that for me than the Jedi Kanan Jarrus. When I first watched the show as it aired, I had lost three of my grandparents in the span of three years and Kanan's death near the end of Season 4 hit me hard. I remember sitting in the basement of my house and bawling over the death of an animated character, yet knowing it was somehow connected to the grief of losing my grandparents. This time around, the same scene hit me no less hard but in a different way. As I watched Kanan sacrifice himself again, my thoughts turned to my own role as a more experienced father who would do anything for my children and the tears started to flow again. Same scene, two different times, two different family-based reactions. I don't know how this show could connect with me any more directly. It took me a few words to get there, but I think I'm ready to answer my own questions about Star Wars Rebels: I loved it and will always love it. Kanan. The one where Kanan dies, even though it hurts me every time. Remember Micro Machines? Of course you do, if you were a kid in the late 80s and early 90s. I had a pretty massive collection and some pretty amazing playsets that I often set up with my HO train set (we can just ignore the obvious scale issues there). How about Star Wars Micro Machines? Remember those? For a while, I was relentlessly visiting Walmart and Toys R Us to find the latest vehicle set, or even better, saving some money for one of the convertible helmets or character heads that would turn into a scene from one of the movies. Kind of like this old commercial. I also still remember how I would set up the different locations based on which movie they were in, and I would display the little figurines in mid scene on my nicely manicured bedroom shelves. Then, I went to college and got married, and all of my Micro Machine sets were relegated to a box in my parents basement until they finally handed them over and essentially said "we're done, these are your problem now." They were never really a problem, though. I mean, a storage problem maybe, but I kept them because I loved those Star Wars Micro Machines perhaps more than any other toys I owned. Countless hours of my childhood can be attributed to those tiny starships and the even tinier figures that went with them. I did not keep those toys just because I loved them, however. Somewhere in the back of my mind I was thinking about the future and how one day I would have children of my own who would maybe, probably, really love playing with these toys too. Enter my own children. Within the past year or so, I have busted all of the Star Wars Micro Machines out of their dusty storage bin and lugged them up to my son's room. He was thrilled. Actually, thrilled might be an understatement. The kid was doing dances around our storage room and shouting "yippee" like a young Anakin Skywalker. And he has loved those Micro Machines (as has our dog, unfortunately...). In fact, my son, and now my daughter too, have loved these toys so much that they get pulled in and out of their storage drawer multiple times a week, with the result that the collection now sits haphazardly throughout their rooms or in a drawer. Kind of like the picture below. Here begins, however, a disconnect that my pre-children, young adult brain never even conceived. My son and daughter don't play with my Micro Machines like I played with them. How dare they, right? How dare my son pile all of these playsets and vehicles and figures in a random disrespectful heap? Are you telling me that Endor Leia on a Speeder Bike is flying around the Dune Sea near Jabba's Palace? Never! Please don't tell me that some of the sets have broken or lost pieces or are completely irreparable? Sorry friend, it's true and it hurts.
I tried for a while. I tried to keep things in their proper spot or keep sets thematically together, or any number of ridiculous and futile attempts to micromanage my kids with my own preferences. Eventually, I had to give up. What is the purpose of sharing something I love with my children if I am just going to tell them how to love it? I so badly wanted to manage their play and to relive the way I liked to have everything neatly and thematically displayed that I ignored their joy for far too long. And what happened the moment I let go? Joy for me too. Joy at watching both of the kids use their imagination to create new scenes and new stories. Just the other day, I was playing with them on the Stormtrooper set that transforms into the trash compactor scene on the Death Star. Who showed up to save Luke, Leia, and Han from certain doom? Young Lando Calrissian of course! Not only do I get the joy of watching my kids create their own stories, but I also now experience the joy of claiming something I loved as their own, without my stuffy rules or micromanaged scenarios. In the end, we all play happier, and I have a healthier attitude about parenting and micromanaging beyond the micro machines. I admit that I do still cringe every time I open that drawer though... Any self-respecting parent knows what a wasteland the world of children's television programming is. If you do not have some sort of Disney Jr. theme song running through your head at any given moment, you are probably not a parent. I can only take a few seconds of Cocomelon on Youtube or Morphle on Netflix before I run out of the room with rumblings of pure disgust threatening to overtake my good health.
Enter Star Wars Rebels. Rebels is not a new show so I am not breaking any new ground. It ran four seasons back in the mid-2010s and is easily accessible on Disney+ now. I watched the show as it aired and enjoyed it a lot. So, why bother talking about it now? There are a couple reasons I decided to pull up Rebels for a rewatch. First, the Star Wars Podcast I listen to (Jabba the Pod from Syfy Wire) is doing a rewatch and discussing the episodes every week. It does not take a lot of pressure to encourage me to watch anything Star Wars, so this was the only real reason I needed. Second, however, my kids are 6 and 4 years old, and now felt like the right time to watch a whole show together. I tried Clone Wars before, but there are too many episodes and it turns violent pretty quickly, whereas Rebels is a short four seasons and stays pretty kid-friendly throughout. We have now watched the first season and a couple episodes into the second season, and I am seriously enjoying the (re)ride. My son has seen all of the original movies, plus Episodes 1 and 2, but this show has brought out more excitement in him than most of the movies. He already knows the full names of the main cast of characters and is actively making predictions and asking questions during the show that reflect full engagement in the content. His engagement got me thinking about why this show works regardless of age (him-6, me-37), and here are a few reasons I think it works so well:
Whether you are 6 or 56, Star Wars Rebels is a compelling show with great characters and great storytelling. After we finish the whole show, I will come back with a new post and some of both of my kids' thoughts about the whole story. For right now, I am just enjoying the shared experience of something I love and something new and exciting for them. I love to read. When businesses started opening up again (for the context of this comment, look up the year 2020 in your history book someday), I was most concerned about when I could get to the library. I have the Goodreads app on my phone and regularly keep track of all the books I read throughout the year, set reading goals, and put together lists of books that I need to read. Occasionally I will even write a review for a book on Goodreads, but more often than not, I give it a star rating and move on to the next.
Recently inspired by a couple of my cousins who shared their reading lists on social media, I thought this blog might be a good platform to start a tradition of checking in twice a year with the books I read and how each book impacted me. I do not intend for this to be a review of the book or whether it was good or bad. Rather, I intend to use this space to share how the book impacted me on a personal level. If you want to see my rankings of books, let's be friends on Goodreads! Maybe this can even be a space where everyone can share some other great recommendations of how books make their life better. In chronological order and no more than two sentences (mostly), here are the books I read for the first half of 2020. Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker: The Visual Dictionary by Pablo Hidalgo
If you made it this far, have you read any of these books? What did you think? What have you read this year? Anything that impacted you in some way? Let's share in the comments! With everyone staying at home more these days, and my last post also on the topic of board games, it seemed a fair time to share some of my favorite games to play. Whether you are looking for something new for your family to play or need something for your next game night once gatherings are OK again, I hope you can find something that appeals to you and your family.
7 Wonders - This game has been around for a long time and, rightfully, is a classic. The base structure of 7 Wonders is a deck building game where you attempt to gain the most points through a variety of different strategies. The game works best with 4-7 players, and the gameplay is fast but full of depth. Typically, it takes about 1-2 games to get the hang of it, but after that, games go quickly and offer great repeated gameplay. Bonus: 7 Wonders Duel, a two player version of the game with slightly different rules. Pandemic - Although this game might be a little controversial during our current world situation, it still is a fantastic example of a challenging and incredibly fun cooperative game. All players work together to eradicate diseases from the world, while playing as different themed roles (e.g. medic, researcher). The game is tense, challenging, and fun. All the qualities you want in a good game. Bonus: Any other version of Pandemic, my personal favorite is the Rome Barbarian Invasion version where you try to hold off the invading hordes and save Rome. Parks - There are two national parks games out right now, and this is the more recent one and is just called Parks. I have heard good things about the other one (Trekking the National Parks) also, but I have not played it. Parks is great for a variety of reasons. The artwork for each of the national parks on the cards is fantastic, the gameplay is easily teachable and offers good replayability and different experiences, and there is a great balance of strategy and chance. There is also a solo player mode for those who do not have many gamers in their household (like me). Bonus: Any version of Ticket to Ride, while not the same style of game as Parks, these games will scratch your geography/travel itch in a similar way. Disney Villainous - This game is different from any other game on this list because it is asymmetrical. In the gaming world this just means that every player has different winning conditions based on their chosen character. Players take on the role of a classic Disney animated villain and compete against other villains to achieve their personal objective. For example, Captain Hook has to defeat Peter Pan on the Jolly Roger to win versus Jafar, who has to control the genie at the Sultan's Palace. The learning curve is a little higher on this game, but it is worth the effort Bonus: All of the Villainous expansions, just get them all, each one adds three new villains with unique play styles. The Quest for El Dorado - El Dorado is a very easy to learn deck builder with an exploration theme. The premise of the game is exploring jungles to find the legendary lost city of El Dorado by gathering a deck of cards that allows you to traverse areas of the jungle faster than your opponents. Simple gameplay and endless possibilities for setting up the path make this one of my recent favorites to play and teach. Bonus: The Adventurers, this game might be hard to find and it weighs a little too heavily on the luck side, but it is a fun push-your-luck style starter game with decent miniatures as well. I could easily add another five games, but these all hit the perfect sweet spot of not being too inaccessible and fun for the whole family to play. What has your family been playing? I am always interested in new game recommendations. Leave some suggestions in the comments! As the world is experiencing a weird new normal for the foreseeable future, I am figuring out how to manage teaching online, taking care of my young kids, and taking care of myself. I had been thinking for a while about writing a post about board games and young children, and the current conditions have brought it to the forefront. I am still learning how to best introduce board games to my kids in a way that will not turn them off from the hobby, but I want to share some of my recent experiences and open the floor for suggestions or experiences others have had.
Finally, I started teaching my son X-Wing miniatures last year. This could take an entire post, but there are plenty of others on the internet if you search a little. So far, we have only practiced with movement, actions, and combat. He is definitely not ready to learn upgrades, critical hits, and squad building yet, but we will get there. My four year old daughter has also expressed a little interest in games, so I have her started on some basic memory games, dominoes, and Pretty, Pretty Princess. What kind of games do you play with your young children? Any suggestions of good games to start advancing their game experience? Share your suggestions in the comments! |
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