Indianapolis Trip 2018: As Told by Stan, Rex, and Oscar

Rex: We're back! In case you've forgotten who we are--

Stan: How is that possible?

Rex: I'm Rex the brachiosaurus, this is Oscar the orca, and the loudmouth is Stan the T-Rex.

Stan: Hey!

Oscar: We're here to tell you about the trip our family took last week to Indianapolis, Indiana.

Stan: It was a short trip because Dad had to work Monday, and Mom had to work on Friday, but it was still a lot of fun.

Rex: Thanks again to Dad's cousin Alvin for letting us stay with him!

Oscar: I knew this town really liked whales when I saw this mural.

Rex: After a late lunch, we walked along the canal to see a memorial. The humans got wet, but at least we stayed dry.

Stan: Get to the good part, guys!

Rex: The highlight of the trip was The Children's Museum of Indianapolis. They have brachiosaurses peeking in!

Stan: Even better, I got to meet the T-Rex I was named for! He didn't say much to me, but I think he was impressed.

Oscar: I was more impressed that we got to visit the paleo lab.

Stan: Don't forget how we became terracotta warriors! And the street named for T-Rexes!

Rex: Hey, Oscar, don't you still owe us a root beer for that fight in the Coliseum?

Stan: Well, I'm still waiting for Stan to pour us tea.

Stan: No fair picking on the short-armed guy!

Oscar: Um, Rex, change the subject....

Rex: Unfortunately, the humans didn't take us for a paddleboat trip. They were worried we might get wet.

Oscar: I would have been just fine in salt water, but no, it was fresh water.

Stan: They also went to the Eiteljorg Museum and the Indiana War Memorial Museum without us.

Rex: And the kid went to a coin shop too.

Stan: You don't think he'd sell us, do you?

Oscar: Don't worry, Stan. Mom won't let him.

Rex: So, if you like dinosaurs and orcas, Indianapolis is your kind of town.

Oscar: See you soon!

Stan: Rahhhhrrrr!

Jurassic World: Fallen Kindom--Review by Stan, Rex, and Oscar

Stan: Hi, I'm Stan, the T-Rex. I was named after an actual T-Rex fossil.

Rex: I'm Rex the brachiosaurus. Don't confuse me with Stan. I was actually named after Captain Rex from The Clone Wars.

Oscar: And I'm Oscar the Orca. I'm the oldest, and I wasn't named after anybody.

Stan: So, last week, our family took us to see Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. It was awesome! There were T-rexes and raptors and...

Rex: ...and not enough sauropods. (sniffs) How could they leave the sauropods behind? So tragic....

Oscar: They didn't have enough room on the boats for such big creatures, Rex. And Stan, you know the people only wanted the carnivores to make money from them.

Stan: Well, you know what I want from humans, Oscar? Lunch!

Oscar: Yeah, there was a whole lot of lunching going on, though I think it would be more accurate to say midnight snacking.

Stan: There were people running everywhere, afraid of us!

Rex: And there were a whole lot of dinos and other animals on the island...

Oscar: But really, it was just like all the other movies in this franchise. Sure, they threw in a couple of twists at the end, but they didn't discuss them in detail.

Stan: This is an action movie, Oscar, not a thinking movie!

Oscar: Well, next time, can we see a thinking movie?

Rex: I think it's usually what the kid wants to see, Oscar. So we'll probably go see this again and again while it's in the theater.

Oscar: Sigh.

Stan: T-Rex wins! T-Rex always wins! Rrrrarrrhhhrrr!

Dozing with Dinos--and Porgs

Saturday night was our third Dozing with the Dinos event at the Field Museum. I don't think I blogged about it last year, but this year we brought Porgs in addition to Stan (the T-Rex), Rex (the brachiosaurus named after clone trooper Captain Rex), and Oscar (the stuffed orca we adopted on our honeymoon). The original trio may be a bit jealous of the porg, but surprisingly they all behaved when we got to visit the Fossil Prep area and the dinosaur storage area. (The first three pictures are from the fossil prep area outside the Evolving Planet exhibit, and the porg is checking out dinosaur eggs in the storage area.) They also checked out some other exhibits, as you'll see below.

Studying porgs' relationship to other birds.













I think the porg were a little too curious when they examined this cast of a T-rex skull.

 The boys check out Sue's new digs.

















The boys try to offer the porg to the Egyptian dead.
















Did the Egyptians have a porg-headed god?

 Off to all go exploring together!

Saint Louis and Cahokia

Our family took a short getaway to the Saint Louis area last week. We visited Meramec Caverns...

 and the Science Center, which had a special exhibit with replicas of King Tut's treasures.

 
The City Museum had so many things for kids to do, along with surreal art, that Alex wanted to stay there all day. (We only saw part of it.)

The main reason we went down to Saint Louis was to see Cahokia, the site of a Native American city. About all you can see today are the mounds they created for their ceremonial buildings and a recreation of Woodhenge, which helped the residents identify the first day of each season.

Of course, no trip to Saint Louis would be complete without a visit to the Arch. We also saw the Old Courthouse where Dred and Harriet Scott sued for their freedom.

 On the way home, we stopped in Springfield to visit Lincoln's tomb. For some reason, my photos haven't uploaded to Google yet.

We had a misadventure with our stuffed animals Stan, Rex, and Oscar Friday evening when their traveling satchel was left behind at a restaurant. We had to make a 40-minute round trip to get it, but luckily "the boys" were still there.

We spent a lot of time in the car on this vacation, but I read several books during the trip and nearly caught up with my Goodreads reading challenge. I also finished my second pass-through of Summon the Seasons on the Kindle, but I still have to update the text before I send it out to beta readers.

Fifth Season--Cover Reveal with Special Guest Commentary

With today being the official last day of summer, it seems like a good time to welcome fall with a cover reveal for Fifth Season, Book Four of the Season Avatars. Each book in the series has a different point-of-view character, and in this book, it's the turn of Ysabel, the Fall Avatar. As with the other books in this series, Maria Zannini of Book Cover Diva did the cover. Thanks, Maria, for taking my ideas and combining them so quickly into a cover! This is the eBook version; I'm not done with layout for the print book yet, so she'll complete the back later. Enough suspense-building; here's the cover:

Since there's a T-rex skull on the cover, I had to bring in some special guests to get their opinion on the cover. If you know me on Facebook, you may have seen pictures of my son's stuffed animals: Stan (the T-rex), Rex (the Apatosaurus, who's named for Captain Rex from Star Wars: The Clone Wars), and Oscar (the orca). We bring them with us on trips so they can share funny lines and photos. Here's what they had to say about Maria's latest cover:

Stan: I'm in the book! I'm in Mom's book!
Rex: Uh, Stan, that's some other T-rex.
Oscar: A dead T-rex, Stan.
Stan: I don't care! It's me! (tries covering ears and fails)
Rex: Anyway, Mom wanted us to point out that this is her first cover to feature a brown-skinned woman.
Oscar: You mean, woman of color. Ysabel belongs to two different ethnic groups and has brown skin.
Rex: Isn't that what I said?
Oscar (ignoring him): But the most important part of the cover is the black-and-white cat she's holding. Ysabel obviously has fine taste in color combinations--
Stan: BUY THAT BOOK! BUY ALL OF MOM'S BOOKS!
Rex and Oscar: STAN! CALM DOWN!

This is why I don't put the boys in charge of book promotion, though how can I go wrong with an endorsement from them? Anyway, pre-orders should be ready by next week; more information and buy links will be posted soon, so keep reading this blog.