I have lived on the Gulf Coast for almost fifteen years but didn’t hear about this Gulf Coast phenomenon called the Jubilee until recently. Once I did a little research on it, it promptly moved up my list of things that I want to see while I live on the Gulf Coast.
The Jubilee is a natural phenomenon that usually occurs early in the morning before sunrise. The water loses its oxygen forcing the sealife to push its way to more oxygenated waters. They push their way shore and become lethargic making it easy for fishing for flounder, crab, shrimp, etc. Once the water begins to mix the oxygen will level out again and the bottom-dwellers will head back into the ocean.
Apparently it is a sight to see and those who have grown up in the Mobile area describe how they can sense a Jubilee is going to occur. There are a few things according to several articles I read that said that it usually occurs during a rising tide and will stop when the tide falls, the wind is usually coming from the east, and they usually occur in the summer (August and September being the most likely months according to one article).
I can only hope that the oil slick will not affect this and that maybe sometime this summer we should make reservations at a hotel on the Mobile Bay and take our chances to see a Jubilee in all its glory!
To see pictures of a Jubilee, visit this site. For more information about the Jubilee, see Wikipedia and this article in the Clanton advertiser. To read a wonderful narrative from a local who spent many summers on Mobile Bay, visit here.
Stop by Mother of All Trips to see what others are dreaming of today!
Today I am dreaming about summer vacation. My son has NINE days of school left. Count ‘em with me…Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday…NINE. Nine days of Kindergarten left. The first school year will be tucked tightly under his belt and we will have survived having to get into a routine, a daily schedule that forced me to realize my children are getting older.
In nine short days, Big S will be off of school for two months. Yesterday we took a little day trip to Gulf Shores, Alabama and as we were driving around I realized that we were going to be able to do much more of this over the next two months. We are very lucky to have several road trips planned this summer: Tennessee, two separate trips to Virginia, and a trip to Orlando. There are a few other trips in the works if we can save up the funds and we will be taking plenty of day trips in and around Pensacola.
We won’t be flying on any of these trips but if you will be, check out the Bing price Predictor Summer Forecast before you purchase. We have been eyeing the Price Predictor for the past few weeks because we are about to make a ticket purchase for an anniversary trip in October!
Before you plan your summer vacation, stop by Trekaroo to learn about family friendly activities, hotels and restaurants. Trekaroo is one of my favorite review sites (kind of like a Trip Advisor except for families) and we have found so many great activities that we might have missed otherwise. You can check out all the reviews, see my reviews and their Summer of Travel Contest that is currently running.
I wrote this blog post while participating in the Bing Travel and Trekaroo summer vacation spotlight for a chance to win a $500 gift card. For more information on how you can participate, click here.
Poseidon is angry.
Whenever I see the ocean looking grumpy like this, it always makes me think of my favorite piece of literature, The Odyssey. In the Odyssey, Odysseus maims Polyphemos, the cyclop and son of Poseidon. This angers Poseidon and he makes Odysseus’ return home a long and difficult journey. These waves might not look like much compared to other parts of the world, but these waves are a sign that Poseidon is angry.
We spent Sunday afternoon at Pensacola Beach cleaning up trash, debris and large shell pieces along with hundreds of other people. It was amazing to me how many people were at the beach on an awful day like Sunday. The wind was blowing and there were so many clouds in the sky that they formed one big cloud cover. The mood was heavy as people picked up trash and debris with their trash bags whipping around them in the wind. Families were snapping pictures of toes in the sand and the water crashing behind them. The seafood restaurants had lines out the door all day long. Everyone wanting to eat that last Gulf caught meal…just in case.
Big S, who just finished an Earth Day unit in school, announced that we were doing a good thing for the “Erf” and Little S was fascinated with all of the pieces of driftwood and large shell pieces.
We collected a bag of trash and a bag of shell pieces. Some of the debris was probably still leftover from Hurricane Ivan over five years ago. As my children ran around innocent of what was going to happen in the next few days, my heart was breaking.
My kids love the beach. The sand, the water, the seafood whisper my children’s names like some pied piper. We can be grocery shopping or doing something else completely different from a day at the beach and suddenly one child will ask when we will return to the beach. Is it warm enough, mom? We don’t even have to go in the water, mom. Can we just go for a walk on the sand, mom? Do you remember when we saw all those fiddler crabs, mom? As I watched my children run around, pick up trash and shells, all I could think about was whether or not we took full advantage of living near these beautiful beaches and the fact that there is a chance that we will not be spending the summer traveling to and from the beach as I had thought.
The impending doom is much like it was during Hurricane Ivan. How bad will it be? Who and what will be affected? As I write this, no one is exactly certain how this area with be affected.
If you would like to help, there are several ways. Continue to pick up trash and debris from the beach before the oil slick reaches us. BRACE, United Way and First Call are organizing volunteers for cleanup after the oil reaches the shores. There is more information on how to volunteer here and here.
Stop by Mara’s at Mother of All Trips to see what others are dreaming of.
Today I am dreaming of the Type-A Mom Conference, a blogging conference where men and women join together to learn more about the business of blogging and all that goes into it. This will be my first conference and I am very excited to attend. It is a smaller conference than some of the others available so I think it will be a good place to start. I am hoping to expand this blog a bit and even more so with my Pensacola with Kids blog. I am excited about all of the things that I will learn. I am most looking forward to meeting some of the amazing men and women who I look up to in the blogging world.
I am also thrilled that this conference is held in Asheville, North Carolina. We spent a long weekend in Asheville about 6 years ago. It was the last glorious weekend that my husband and I spent together on our very own. About a month later we discovered that we were going to be parents! 
We have fond memories of hiking Whiteside Mountain, exploring the many waterfalls, and sampling the wine at the Biltmore.
For now, Type-A Mom will be the blogging conference I am dreaming of. I had hoped to attend TBEX and Blogher as well, but they are off the table due to the timing and the fact that we have had a transmission blow up in a less than 3yo car, a water heater die a slow painful death, and a significant shortage in our escrow account all in the same month. YUCK! I am also looking into attending the The Travel Bloggers Show and The Trade Show in Orlando two weeks before Type-A Mom if it works out. The registration is cheap (only $25!) and it is less than a day to drive to Orlando from my house.
Are you attending a conference in the near future? Which one? Why did you pick it?
This post is part of Monday Dreaming with Mara at Mother of all Trips. Stop by to see what others are dreaming of today!
Posted in Sharing on February 28, 2010
As I posted last week, we love photo cutouts. My family will drop everything and demand to have their picture taken if they see a photo cutout. By your comments (which I appreciate so much!), I have found that we are not the only family! I would love for you to share your photo cutouts with me! If you are willing to share, email me (jennifer at twokidsandamap dot com) the picture, where it was taken, and permission to put the photo on my site, www.twokidsandamap.com. I am thinking there might need to be some sort of contest involved!! I will let you know if I come up with some details! If you would like to sponsor the contest with a fabulous prize, please let me know! 
So today, I am dreaming of those playful moments when my kids find a silly cutout…whether it be an astronaut at the Air and Space Museum, Mozart in Salzburg, the Mannequin Pis in Brussels, or the mermaid at the Nauticus. Those silly moments and pictures to remember them remind me why I travel with my kids.
Stop by Mara’s at Mother of All Trips to see what everyone else is dreaming about today.
If you visit this blog regularly, you will know that I have dreams of New Orleans often! My husband and I honeymooned for a week in New Orleans and we love to return any chance we get both without and with the kids! It is just a few hours away so it makes for a great place to take an overnight trip or even a very long day trip. This week, the reason I am dreaming of New Orleans is because it is Mardi Gras time and for the first time in several years I am not in the South for it where we really know how to celebrate Mardi Gras!! We have only been to Mardi Gras in New Orleans a few times, but my hometown has a huge Mardi Gras celebration that we try to attend. I am having a blast in Virginia so I wouldn’t change a thing but I was looking at some friends’ pictures of Mardi Gras and was reminded of Mardi Gras celebrations from the past!
Head over to Travel Mamas to see my guest post, Family Friendly New Orleans on a Budget. We have gotten our New Orleans budget down to about 300-350 dollars for a weekend and that even include gas and hotel!
Follow My Mardi Gras Experience to read what other bloggers are saying about Mardi Gras 2010.
Shannon Hurst Lane lives in Louisiana and blogs about New Orleans often.
I really loved reading Guy and Girl Travels take on New Orleans.
Here are some of my other New Orleans posts:
See what other travelers are dreaming about over at Mother Of All Trips!
Today, for Monday Dreaming, I am dreaming of a fabulous giveaway. I have had some luck with blog giveaways…I have won a stay in a new hotel in Washington DC, a book, and a sheet set! But this giveaway, unfortunately I cannot win because I am a relative of Pensacola with Kids! At my other blog, where we share our adventures while exploring Pensacola with our kids, I am doing a fabulous giveaway. My dear friends have started a socially responsible organization called The Gracious Basket, and they have donated a fantastic Valentine’s basket.
Stop by Pensacola with Kids and enter for a chance to win a great candy basket just in time for Valentine’s Day from The Gracious Basket!
After that, be sure to stop by Mother of All Trips to see what others are dreaming of today!
Today, for Monday Dreaming, I am dreaming of free admission to children’s science centers and museums. We do not live in a city full of amazing children’s museums. We have a few small museums that we enjoy and the Naval Aviation Museum, but sometimes I wish we had a large children’s museum dedicated to science and technology. The Gulf Coast Exploreum sits about 45 minutes away from us in Mobile, Alabama. It is not a difficult drive and there is a fabulous shopping center a little over halfway between me and the Exploreum. My kids love the Exploreum. However, like most things in life, there is a price…and it is not that cheap. It costs about 50 dollars to take my family of four to the Exploreum. They do offer a year long membership for 100 dollars. If I take my family twice, it would at least pay for itself. I imagine spending some of the summer at the Exploreum, but then I wonder…will I really get in the car and drive 45 minutes one way more than once or twice? And the membership doesn’t cover the admission price for special exhibits (like the Dinosaur Downtown going on right now).
Upon further research of the Exploreum Membership, I found that they are a member of the Association of Science-Technology Centers (ASTC) Passport Program. Next month I am heading to Virginia where I will be nearby three other science centers that participate in the ASTC Passport Program. This seems like it would be a cost effective purchase. I asked around to see if anyone had ever used this passport program and got no response. So, I am asking you…
What is your experience with the ASTC Passport Program? Have you found that it was cost effective? Have you ever had trouble using the passport at other participating museums?
Any information would be much appreciated!
Stop by Mother of All Trips to see what she is dreaming about…but be prepared to be green with envy!
In a few weeks, we are taking a quick trip to Orlando to join Grandma, who will be there on business. It is going to be short…down there Friday, back Sunday and Daddy J is staying home. We are excited about the trip and seeing Mickey, however this time we will be doing Disney on a budget. AKA – no 99 dollar Disney tickets. We are not going to go to any of the theme parks but are instead going to explore Downtown Disney and other more cost effective spots. We can’t avoid Disney all together because my son will know…then he will tell his sister and I will have to listen to them the whole way home! I am also probably more excited about a trip to my favorite store in the whole world…well, maybe not favorite, but pretty darn close…IKEA!!! Yes, that is right. I am driving six hours to go to an Ikea. I have a list of items that we need and have been perusing the 2010 catalog for hours…probably closer to days. This time, I might even leave the kids in the play center!
What are you dreaming about this week? Stop by Mother of All Trips where she is dreaming about Ireland.
A few weeks ago, I wrote about some of my daughter’s favorite souvenirs. We love to pick up all different kinds of souvenirs when we travel. Today, I am still dreaming about putting up my Christmas tree. I love to collect ornaments when we travel and this morning I spent the morning going through different closets locating all the different ornaments that we collected throughout the year. Next week, when the tree is up I will post pictures of our favorite ornaments!
For now, here are some of the souvenirs that we have laying around the house right now!
I look for pieces of street art that catch my eye. I am ashamed to admit that I purchaed this in December of last year and I need to get it framed! I bought this from the artist in front of the Goldenes Dachl in Innsbrook, Austria. I like this piece of art because there is a little bit of gold leafing that was used for the golden roof.
This is a print of the front of the Hofbrauhaus in Munich. My husband and I got to have a nice date sans children here!
Paula Deen’s Cheese Biscuit Mix reminds me of when we stood in line for 1.5 hours just to say we tried Paula Deen’s restaurant. This is the last of the mixes that we bought.
These are three bottles of wine that we brought home from the Biltmore Mansion, the Matterhorn in Switzerland, and Deep Creek Winery in Maryland back when you could bring wine home on the plane!
This beer (3L) commemorated my husband’s Father’s Day. When my dad moved back to the states, he surprised my husband by bringing the bottle back for us! Maybe we should use it as a bank.
We gravitate towards different glasses when we travel as well! The beer stein is from Frankfurt, Germany. The Kwak glass is from Brussels, Belgium. The Heinekin glass is from our tour of the Heinekin brewery in Amsterdam. The pint glass is from the Pyramid Ale Brewery in San Francisco, California and the small mug held our gluhwein at the Christmaskindlemarkt in Garmisch, Germany.
This is my Rosetta Stone paper weight!!
What sorts of souvenirs do you like to pick up when you travel?
Stop by Mother of All Trips to see what she is dreaming about!
