Red, White, and Blue

This coming weekend will bring a fun holiday in the US--the Fourth of July. On this day, people in the US celebrate the independence of the country, which comes from winning a war against Great Britain. This happened way back in 1776, and today the US and Great Britain are good friends.

Do you know how people celebrate the Fourth of July holiday?

Shooting fireworks. Lots of fun.

Seeing friends at grill parties.Also lots of fun.

What are some holidays that Poles celebrate and Americans don't?

Laguna beach palms

I look forward to all of our family standing here and looking at this view together.

Laguna beach flowers 2

Laguna beach flowers 1

Park

Handsome public restrooms.

A park above the beach

Laguna art museum

This museum has a small but wonderful collection of CA paintings.

Laguna beach 5

Nice big cactus.

Laguna beach 4

Also looking north.

Laguna beach 3

Looking north.

Laguna beach 2

Laguna beach 1

Looks nice

Breakfast

Here is a pic of the hotel courtyard, where I am having breakfast.

Magic Mountain

Remember this, boys? What fun with you two.

Sitting

I am siting in a large conference hall with 100 other people. I am listening to someone tall about how people use technology. Did you know that youtube is only 5 years old? And that videos on youtube are viewed 700 billion times a day? That is a big number. There are only 300 million people living in the US.

Summertime is here!

Today is June 21, also known as the first day of summer or the summer solstice. Why is this the first day of summer? This means that the north-south axis of the Earth tilts today, so that the northern part of the world is closer to the sun than at any other time of the year. So, if you're in the Northern Hemisphere (Europe, North America), this is the longest day of the year--in the sense that you'll have more sunlight today than at any other time.

CP was down!

When I first heard the news from SSpideRR I couldn't believe it--CP was not available because the Disney company forgot to renew the domain name. How could this happen? I searched Google news for confirmation of this and very many newspapers and websites reported on the problem. Here's an excerpt from one report:

Disney was willing to pay up to $700 million for Club Penguin, but apparently forgot to renew its domain. Parents can’t be happy.

If you go to Club Penguin—like my daughter did—you get an odd looking Network Solutions page. It’s the page you get when you haven’t renewed a domain name. The page has been down for a good chunk of the day. CBS News reported that Club Penguin returned about noon, but a lot of folks still can’t get to the site. The outage has been widely reported on Club Penguin blogs such as the Club Penguin Insider.

“The domain name has expired, but has been restored, but everything is getting back to normal,” said a Disney spokeswoman. Some players can’t log on, but most of the service has been restored.

Magic Mountain

I was fortunate to spend yesterday visiting Magic Mountain amusement park with 2 very cool boys. We did many fun things, including riding in an elevator to the top of a big red tower that dominates the landscape of our town. The boys also rode on roller coasters, played games, and won prizes. To get an idea of what Magic Mountain looks like, you can watch a short, fun video by clicking here. (Turn on your speakers really loud if you want to rock the house!)

Baseball

I'm adding to the list of favorite summertime activities one more--playing baseball in the backyard with the kids. What a perfect summer game. Hitting, throwing, batting, and run, run, running.

If you'd like to see some amazing baseball plays, take a look at the videos here. Enjoy, and think about what fun you can have playing baseball with your kids.

Having a cold

Is there amything worse than having a cold during the summer? Outside the day is beautiful, inviting a noy to run, play ball, swim. And I am stuck inside with a cold.

CP po polsku

Wondering what information exists about CP in other languages? Take a look at this page "unofficial" CP website in Polish. Click here.

Zamek in Szczecin

"Zamek" in Polish means "castle" in English.  Szczecin is a Polish town near the ocean. To see some pictures of the castle, or zamek, click here.