Whale Watching off Victoria Island, BC

This small island had many, many seals and eagles on it. Binoculars provided us with a much better view of them.


Very windy and kind of cold out on the water. Great fun though!


This Orca got pretty close to the boat. One, in fact, actually swam under our boat. Exciting! Dad has awesome pics of the whales coming out of the water. They each have a white marking on their backs, behind the dorsal fin. These markings are like our finger prints and this is how the scientist tell them apart.

OK, this is a dorsal fin of an Orca whale [Killer whale]. They are about 6ft. tall and the whales can bend them as desired. I think the fin helps guide them in the direction they want to go.

Passed a Light House on our way. Note the huge cruise liner in the background. They're like a small city within themselves!

On our way out to sea. Gorgeous day for whale watching.

Getting ready to depart from the docks to go whale watching with 5 Star Whales Co. We went through the Strait of Victoria Port Angeles.

Our Victoria Island, CanadaTrip - 6/09

This is the House of Parliament on Victoria Island, B.C. It's one of the main attraction for tourists.

This is the British Columbia embelm of honour.

Beautiful stained glass windows inside the House.

The well-known Empress Hotel where anyone who's anybody stays. We didn't! haha But we did walk through it and "everything" was ridiculously expensive.

Dad walking around the front of the Hotel "just looking". Very Impressive! Look at the trees. The trunk grows up but the branches grow down...very strange looking.

This is the cruise liner we traveled on to get to Victoria Island from Seattle, WA. It took us 3 1/2 hours.

The view from the dock when we landed on the Island. It was not at all what I expected. Victoria Island was a "city". In fact, it is the capital city of British Columbia.

I thought this was very English looking...the horse-drawn carriage moving slowly in front of the House of Parliment.

The Empress Hotel from the docks. Over a hundred years old. Look at the ivy growing over the front of the Hotel.

Robinson's visit Omaha 5-09

Here we are back at the Omaha Zoo with Tara, Tim & Emma Mae on their recent visit. This is the Cat Complex. We went in the afternoon during nap time for the animals. They were all pretty laid back. This white tiger was magnificent, although sleeping. Huge!

I couldn't resist taking this pic of Emma's hair. Unbelievable....like little Miss Shirley Temple!

A Grizzly in Bear Country....sleeping too. Get a load of his claws.

WOW, look at this buff guy! Obviously a young one at that.

A young Chimpanzee playing around. : }

This guy was pretty scary being so massive. The gorilla's are outside and we are inside [opposite the norm at a zoo]. Emma got pretty close and they just stared at one another with only the "thick" glass between them. She was very curious and didn't seem afraid.

This elderly Baboon was walking very slowly and close to the glass. I could see that he was losing his back hair.

Here he is snoozing. Take a look at that face....WOW.

Emma wanting to get an up close and personal look at the Peacocks that were almost as tall as she is. Dad kept close reigns on her.

Family pic outside the Desert Dome.

Emma, looks what's behind you!! Taking a break sitting on the window sill in the Aquarium. I think he wants some of your snacks.

This purple "thing" is a Rock Fish. Very poisonous if stepped on. Dad and I know about this guy through our diving experiences. Very hard to see in the ocean.

Oh, this is a Dragon Sea-Horse. He hooks himself onto a plant and you "really" have to look hard to find him.

Look at all the Jelly Fish. This tank was awesome. Jelly Fish of all sizes. We just stood there mesmerized.

The Butter Fly House. This one is pretty big.

Now, would you have known these are Malayan Tapirs? I had to read the post about them.

Dad, Tara and Emma just coming out of the Lied Jungle where we saw monkeys, miniature Hippo's, birds, waterfalls, rope bridges, cave tunnels, HUGE fish and more.

OK, back at home working on the computer. Tara found an awesome website for interactive play/learning for Emma at http://www.sesamestreet.com/ Emma loves it and is learning how to use the laptop.

Ohhhhh a grand daughter after my own heart. Emma found my shoes hahaha and of course saw a pair she just had to try on.

Tara brought out a surprise for Emma, a Tutu, that she would have nothing to do with.....

so dad tried it on and still she wouldn't take it. What a great dad. Tim will be the kind of dad who will allow his daughter to try her skills at painting his nails : }

Even Ms. Annie tried it on for her and still no go

Eventually, she did try on the matching head band and loved it. Here she is eating lunch with it on. Adorable!

Spring in Omaha 5-09

Noah got to take a ride with his dad in Papa's "Sally" [the little blue Porsche' in the movie Cars]. He was thrilled! Would you have said, "Oh a Peccary!"

Noey in the Dessert Dome at the Omaha Henry Doorley Zoo. Sorry about the pic angle.

Stopping for a moment for a family pic!

These fish swim in a circle ALL day long. They'd do it even if they weren't in a circular tank.

Here we are in the Aquarium where we are surrounded on 3 sides with water and EVERYTHING in it. You can see the tail of a stingray in front of that shark.

Multiple stingray's were in the huge tank along with sharks of many kinds, eels, large and small fish of different types. I can't begin to name everything here.

Oh the Penguins were so cute. The zoo keeps their water around 38 degrees and it even snows off and on in there.

Beautiful parrots. I was only able to catch 2 of them sitting still.

Will was so cute. He picked a tulip and handed it to me! AWWWW : }

Will loved helping his Noni plant Spring flowers. He is such a good digger!

Adam came up to lay mulch for us all around the house. He did it in one afternoon and evening. Great job!