Healthy Eating While Traveling

While on vacation many of us let go of our good eating habits simply because we view the vacation as a time to escape from the stresses of life.
However, when we indulge ourselves to fast food, over-eating, and other unhealthy habits, we are not allowing our bodies to escape from anything. This type of diet-abuse can actually be a breeding grounds for feeling ill or getting sick with something. I know that has happened to me before.
My advice to you is to definitely get out there and enjoy the world, but don’t forget about the importance of healthy eating at these crucial times. By nature, traveling usually takes a toll on the body, and is perhaps one of the most important times when the body should be supported with high-quality nourishment.
Ultimately eating can be made as easy and healthy as you choose to make it, regardless of where you are and what is available to you.

Please visit a great site about living a healthy life: http://mywell-beingjourney.blogspot.com/

ITALY, CROATIA, & GREECE

w/ CJ in May 2011

Venice, Italy - Recently Army traveled to Italy & Greece with the President & CEO of Morris Murdock, Brian Hollien, and his lovely wife Jerrine. This was a very ritzy cruise, and only the Who's Who of Worldwide Travel were invited. We got to go, because I am the worlds most well-traveled Armadillo, or course. Here I am with Brian taking a boat ride in Venice, Italy on the Grand Canal, and let me tell you something - it really is Grand!

Dubrovnik, Croatia - Here I am getting a few directions from some birds in Dubrovnik, Croatia. Dubrovnik is one of the few cities to rival Venice during the Middle Ages, and has been nicknamed "Pearl of the Adriatic".

Greece - In the original Olympic Games, athletes used to compete...well...in their "Birthday Suits". This is where the athletes would warm up, the pillars were placed to give them some privacy. Every Olympic Games begins here, with a lighting ceremony, and when I say here, I really mean in this little stone rectangle that is roped off. An interesting fact is that the Olympic flame DOES get extinguished, and then restarted again before every Olympics. Here is the first Olympic Oval. Women were not allowed, and the competition wasn't necessarily who was fastest, but who looked the best while doing it. Remember every participants outfit was the same...not a pretty picture.

Venice, Italy - Back on the Grand Canal, this picture really does not do any justice to the picturesque scenary. Everything was beautifully breath taking. The other picture is of The Doge' Palace. This palace/prison is located against the Venetian Lagoon, and Pizzaetta, and is the birthplace of the food we call PIZZA. People would flood St. Marks Square to shop and dine, and the pizza that went uneaten was given to the prisoners of Doge's Palace. Okay the whole Pizza bit is actually fiction. I just made it up, sorry for the brief moment of deception. I appologize.

The Happiest Place On Earth

Here i am with Stephanie, her little neighbor friend and Mr. Incredible himself.  Stephanie tried to get date with Mr. Incredible...but he is married.

Here we are on riverboat with the AD from Weber State and his 2 boys.  (Weber State, Weber State, Great-Great-Great...Go Wildcats!)

Stephanie tried really hard to find a famous person to get my picture taken with...this was the closest that we came (Since sister Amy would not let Stephanie bug Jon Stewart or Abraham Benrubi)

This hand is famous for something...I want to say lotion commericals or something like that.  At least that is what the lady told us.

Here we are with Snow White...what a lovely girl she is.

The Mad Hatter said this was the first time he had his picture taken with an armadillo.  That made me very happy and excited.  The Mad Hatter is funny!

We got to have dinner one at Goofy's Kitchen...wasn't that nice that he let us eat there!

Okinawa, Japan March 2011

We left Thursday Feb 28^th for Okinawa Japan. A very long flight with layovers in San Francisco and Tokyo. From the time we left our home until we arrived at the home of Martin and Marie it was 25 hours.After some much needed sleep the first thing on the agenda was a birthday party for 8 yr old Ruth. What a bunch of screaming kids. Grandma Jennifer decorated the cake-in pink of course. The following day was Sunday and that afternoon we headed to the beach for Ruth’sbaptism. While there we saw a warning sign for poisonous snakes. Army took note. If you are bitten by this snake you must leave the island as a 2^nd bite is fatal.

We met Dan Brock(counselor in Branch Presidency) & his wife Sarah

(Primary Pres) They know Philip Todd and his wife. Of course we have the Brocks sending a big hello with Army in hand.

Army was able to have his picture taken with 2 snakes inside a bottle of sake. It’s for good luck. He was just glad to be at the side of the sake and not in the bottle.

We visited the Shurijo Castle and then stopped for dinner at McDonald’s at the cost of $45.00 with Martin, Marie, Paul and

Jennifer & the 3 kids. Menu does not include as much as here. Big Mac’s were OK. Chicken Nuggets and fries are always the same. Everyone was happy but Paul’s pocketbook.

Army was able to spend an hour at gymnastics class with Ruth.

The staff at the Pineapple park really liked Army and were so excited to have a picture taken with him.

We visited Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium. Best Aquarium I have ever been to. Army along with Jennifer are seen inside a shark’s jaw. Must have been a huge shark to eat these two. We then spent the night at Okuma- a recreational

facility for military people and families. Paul and Marie did the buggy bike with Leah on the front seat. There is a golf course, put-put golf, all kinds of water activities. You can also rent cabins, tents, camping equipment etc depending on your needs and wants. We stayed in rooms with beds and showers.

Over all we had a great week celebrating with friends and seeing a part of the world we never thought we would see. Army did not look forward to the long flight home but was thankful (along with Paul and Jennifer) to make it home about 48 hours before the earthquake and not be stuck for who knows how long or where.. It is easy to see how missionaries fall in love with the people they serve. After 10 days we fell in love with Japan.

(Martin Hansen worked here at Missionary Medical. He fell in love with Marin-France while they were both attending LDS Business College. Marie grew up in France. When Jennifer started working at Missionary Medical, Marie was working in England. Martin would ask how to say things in French and Paul would help him. This started a friendship that has lasted. Martin and Marie are both converts, served missions (Martin in Japan & Marie in France, and their families do not show interest in their Mormon religion. They adopted us as their Mormon Grandparents for the kids.)

San Diego, California

Army recently visited San Diego with Dave and his little family. Their trip included Sea World, San Diego Zoo, The Mormon Battalion Museum, and a quick stop at the beach. Please enjoy the following fun facts about San Diego's main tourist attractions.

Mormon Battalion Museum: Their march of 2,000 miles from Council Bluffs, Iowa to California is one of the longest military marches in history.Battalion members took cash in lieu of uniforms, using the money to support their families and their church during a very hard period.

Consequently, they did not wear uniforms. The uniform collection shown here is in a private collection. It shows

the uniforms that the battalion would have worn had they been issued.

Sea World: Opened in 1964 (thats older than everyone here).

The park occupies 189 Acres, which our little family walked every square inches of. The original investment on the property was $1.5 Million by a group of investors out of UCLA looking to open a Resturant with a small marine show. It now is the home to 5,700 fish from 434 species. One funny story was when I was taking the picture below with the seals, one of the Sea World employees came running up to me wondering why I was putting my animal so close to the exhibit. I assured her that the animal was not real by picking him up by the purse straps. She quickly apologized.

San Diego Zoo: The Zoo holds more than 4,000 animals from over 800 species, none of which were Armadillo. The Zoo got its start when animals were abandoned after the 1915 Panama-California Exposition, but didn't officially become a zoo until 1921. A few pictures of Army were taken in the Zoo, but they didn't turn out very good. Sorry, we can just pretend that the picture to the left was taken at the Zoo.

Penn State Tour

Recently our very own Penn State Steph went back to Pennsylvania for Homecoming at her Alma Mater, Penn State. Army was privileged enough to get his picture taken with the Nittany Lion Mascot (who doesn't have a name), and attend Penn States homecoming in the biggest football stadium in the nation. Beaver Stadium, named after a former Pennsylvania Governor James A. Beaver, holds 107,282 and is Pennsylvania's third largest city, just beating out Allentown by 32 people. The largest crowd on hand at Beaver Stadium has been 110,753. That is larger than a capacity crowd at both BYU and Utah combined (109,062).

Prince Edward Island & Nova Scotia

Friday Oct 15 - We headed out from Salt Lake City and flew east over the USA and just happened to find ourselves over the town where Jennifer was born – Battle Creek, Michigan. Jennifer has not been there since she was a little girl so it was exciting to see. We arrived in Quebec, Canada and met up with the group. The Hills were on a different flight. A day of travel is very exhausting, anyone know why? I don’t but it is. We had dinner that evening at St Hubert BBQ – a flash from the past for Paul. They did give us eating utensils but back in his younger days you had to eat BBQ with your fingers if you ate at St Huberts.

Sat Oct 16 - I loved Quebec. We walked through the “Old City”. I found myself being a leaf peeper. Can you find me looking for you? I loved the architecture found in the old part of the city and the government buildings. Many of the

roofs are made of copper and so are green. I really liked the angel mime holding his globe.

Sun Oct 17 - We had a day at sea with a cruise through the Saguenay Fjord. This fjord is the only area you can see Beluga whales other than Antarctica. We didn’t see any.

Tues Oct 19 - Our first stop was at the SMALL sleepy fishing village of Sept-Ils (set eel) meaning seven islands. It is the largest town on the North shore of the St Lawrence River and founded in 1531. The main industry is fishing and lumberjacks. It was not a very interesting stop and was very cold and windy but I did have my picture taken with the group out in front of a “Dive” that sells crab cakes. I don”t think the big lobster pot we are standing in front of is really used to cook lobsters. I did try finding some new friends by looking in the lobster traps.

I am so excited about the day. We get to eat lobster for lunch and go the “Green Gables”. The ship docked in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. Paul had a hard time letting me eat some of his lobster but I got a good close look. Green Gables was a place that felt like you just wanted to stroll down “lovers lane” or walk through the “haunted forest” of just sit and watch the people. We were told that Ann is very popular around the world, especially in Japan where her stories are required reading and many Japanese people come here to get married or vacation. It was just a pleasant, enjoyable place to be.

Wed Oct 20

Another day at sea

Thurs Oct 21

Our port today is Halifax, Nova Scotia. We took a very delightful tour to Luenberg on the south shore. This small fishing and boat building town was a must for Paul. Back in the 1930’s his father happened to be on the Blue Nose I during a race. He worked for the

CBC in Canada and they were testing to seeing how well they could broadcast out at sea for radio. The Blue Nose I was used for fishing and in off season was used for racing. It never lost a race and is so important to the Canadians it is on their dime. We hoped to see the Blue Nose II but it is not sea worthy and so they are in the process of building the Blue Nose III. We did enjoy the fall colors and the rugged coast line. We got some good pictures here. As the message on the back of the bus says, Yes, we are having a good time. Can you tell”

Fri Oct 22

Here we are in Portland, Maine. The best fall colors for the entire trip were found here. The ship docked right in town. Had a great bus tour and stopped at a light house. What fun. We were happy to have a couple hours in town

to shop, take pictures and just enjoy the place before having to be back on board and off to Boston and home.

We have no idea how many miles we traveled this trip.

Army & Jennifer