Our Summer Vacation

Travel Log: Day 4

(Wed. June 18, 2008)

We spent day 4 of our vacation at the beach (Coronado). The Herrera Family was so nice in letting us use their beach condo. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!

Jared, Grandpa Flores, & Daniel setting out to explore the tide pool

I just love Jared's smile!

Daniel, Sara, Aimeè in the tide pool

Sara just LOVED being left to float with her life jacket

Daniel all geared up for snorkeling


Our little family in the tide pool

Our little family on the beach

Daniel & Jared playing in a fresh water stream where it meets the ocean



The boys & Bryan playing in the freshwater stream



Sara taking a little snooze in Coronado pool
For the record, she did her very best to keep up with her brothers but at the end of the day, she was just plain tuckered out!




Uncle Kevin, Aunt Melissa, Michael (Uncle Kevin's friend), Daniel, Bryan, Jared hanging out in the pool after playing in the ocean




Grandma Kemp, Sara, Grandma Flores

Our Summer Vacation

Travel Log: Day 3

(Tues. June 17, 2008)

Bryan, the boys, and Grandpa Flores enjoyed a little fishing in Gatún Lake. The had a wonderful time. After they had their fill of fishing the guide took them to Monkey Island to feed the monkeys. What fun!

While the men-folk did their thing, the women-folk went shopping! Grandma Kemp took us to her favorite place to pick out some beautiful handmade linens. The workmanship was just so beautiful!!

Daniel & Grandpa Flores ready for a morning of fishing

(the guide is in the background)

Daniel & Jared

(notice the big boat behind Jared)

Daniel, Bryan, & Jared ready to go!

Time to feed some monkeys!

Daniel & Jared eating the bananas meant for the monkeys. Yum!

Enjoying a swim in the lake after fishing & feeding monkeys!

A little about Gatún Lake....

The lake is situated in the valley of the Chagres River. It was formed, and the river widened and deepened, by the construction of the Gatun Dam about 10 km (6 miles) from the river's mouth in the Caribbean Sea in 1907–1913. The geography of the area was ideal for the creation of a large lake here; the hills bordering the valley of the Chagres open up widely around the area of the lake, but come together to form a gap just over 2 km (1.4 miles) wide at the location of the dam. The damming of the river flooded the originally wooded valley; almost a century later, the stumps of old mahogany trees can still be seen rising from the water, and submerged snags form a hazard for any small vessels that wander off the marked channels. Gatun Lake has an area of 425 km² (164 square miles) at its normal level of 26 m (85 ft) above sea level; it stores 5.2 cubic kilometres (183,000,000,000 ft³) of water, which is about as much as the Chagres River brings down in an average year. With the creation of the lake many hilltops became islands. The biggest and best known of them is Barro Colorado Island, home of the world famous Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI). The lake has given its name to the Gatun structure, which may be an eroded impact crater. http://www.answers.com/topic/gatun-lake

Our Summer Vacation

Travel Log: Day 2

(Mon. June 16, 2008)

We took the kids and my folks to the Miraflores Visitor Center. Wow! The visitor center sure has changed since our last visit. It was nice to see all the improvements. The kids really had a lot of fun learning about how the locks work and getting to watch a couple of ships make their way through the locks.

Click here to take a virtual tour of the Miraflores Visitor Center

Checking out the view from the new observation deck

Bryan, Jared, & Daniel with a ship passing through the locks.

Grandpa Flores is trying to get a shot of the passing ship.

Bryan, Sara, Jared, Daniel on the observation deck.

Jared & Daniel getting the sillies out

Being silly with the HAZ mat suit on display

Our little family just outside the entrance to the Visitor Center

What? No elevators!

A little about the Miraflores Locks...

This is the first set of locks situated on the Pacific entrance of the Panama Canal. The locomotives maneuver the ships through the locks prior to being raised or lowered 27 feet per chamber. Twenty six million gallons of water is transferred in only 7 minutes and all done by gravity. Your bath tub doesn't drain that fast. There are three sets of locks in the Panama Canal. On the Pacific entrance are Miraflores, with two chambers, and Pedro Miquel with one chamber. On the Atlantic is one set of locks with 3 chambers, the Gatun Locks. Ships are raised a total of 87 feet above sea level into Gatun Lake and then lowered at the end of their transit into the other ocean. A common misconception is that one ocean is higher that the other, but they are both at sea level. Panama receives as much as 200 inches of rain per year. This was a determining factor in placing the canal there since 52 million gallons of fresh water is lost to the ocean on each transit. http://sunnyfortuna.com/fortunacam/showcams/panama/miraflores.htm

Click here for a very cool video of the locks in action.

In the evening we went with my parents to work on the Panama Temple. It was still very much under construction and having it ready for the open house was somewhat of a miracle! (The electricians strike really set things back.) My folks and I worked on the lockers in the womens dressing room while Bryan went to work figuring out the wiring for the washing machines in the lodging area for the temple missionaries and patrons. It was a very cool experience for us!

Thanks Raquel for taking care of our kiddos!

Here's a look at the publicity photos for the Panama City Temple.

Our Summer Vacation

Travel Log: Day 1

(Sun. June 15, 2008)

We woke up to a perfectly clear day. We attended the Cardenas ward and enjoyed a very uplifting ward conference followed by a delicious pot luck. Man, I wish we could have pot lucks after every ward conference in the states, to be both spiritually and physically feed. Yum! Although, I think the pot luck was really because it was Father's Day.

Remember how it was perfectly clear before church? Well, after the pot luck as we prepared to head back to the apartment, we were meet with a torrential downpour. Yikes! There are only 2 seasons in Panama; dry aka summer and wet aka winter. Well, it was June and that is winter in Panama so a rain storm or two shouldn't seem out of the ordinary, right?

Boy oh boy did it rain!! I've never seen rain like that, it was so warm yet incredibly refreshing but driving in that rain was a little on the scary side. Bryan is amazing!! Driving in that crazy rain didn't faze him one bit. Wow!! I'm still quite amazed at the very cool drainage system Panama has. One minute the streets appear totally flooded and the next minute all the water is flowing out into the oceans. Simply amazing!!

Of course, Sara couldn't wait to get out and play in the rain. Jared opted to hang out with Grandpa Flores, Daniel was more interested in playing chess with Adriana, but Sara & Bryan had a blast playing in the rain!

(Adriana is the Lamb's daughter. Her dad, Brent was Bryan's seminary teacher and her mom, Maureen, was my sisters-in-law's young women leader. Brent's now the stake president and Maureen with their older children were very involved with the preparations for the cultural celebration that would accompany the dedication of the Panama temple. Adriana wasn't interested in watching another rehearsal so she opted to go home with us.)

Daniel & Adriana playing chess

The last time we were in Panama Daniel & Adriana were just little tikes and played together rather well. It was so nice to seem them getting along just like before.

Father & daughter out for a Sunday stroll

Sara was more interested in playin' than picture takin'

Sara loved playing in Panama rain

Daniel, Jared, and Grandpa Flores

Aimeè's totally random side note, just to show how small the world really is...

While we were sitting in church I noticed a lady playing the piano. Her mannerisms were very familiar to me, there was something about this lady. I had to meet her. After the meetings I couldn't find her. The next week in church I looked for her again, introduced myself, and explained that she totally reminds me of a gal I used to know. Could she be this gal's mother? YES!!! What are the odds?!

Years ago while in the missionary training center I served along side a great gal! She left a lasting impression. We did the Christmas card thing for a while but I eventually lost track of her. What are the chances that I'd run into her mother while on vacation in a foreign country? Crazy!! Hna. Whetten's parents were recently called to serve as temple missionaries in the Panama Temple.

Our Summer Vacation

Travel Log: Getting there
(Sat. June 14, 2008)

It was such a blessing that we enjoyed a good flight schedule. We flew out at "oh dark early" and the kids were so excited! Seriously, the boys acted like we were heading out on some kind of covert mission. They got themselves up and dressed with their gear on (travel backpacks) without turning on any lights!! We flew from TUS to IAH to PTY. Our layover at IAH was just perfect, long enough to grab a bite to eat but with plenty of time to go exploring and wear the kids out!! We arrived in Panama just a few hours before Grandma & Grandpa Flores. We had plenty of time to pick up our rental car and grab a midnight snack for our starving kiddos. Once my folks arrived we all drove out together to Grandma Kemp's apartment. (Grandma Kemp arrived a few days before us and Grandpa Kemp would arrive a couple days after us. For those of you familiar with the area, the Kemp's apartment is in Clayton.) Friendly reminder, for anyone flying abroad and planning on using their credit card, don't forget to call the cc company and let them know!! If you forget to call, it can make for a very long wait at a car rental counter.

Our cute little guys! Yes, I'm one of those mothers who dress her children in identical outfits for traveling. It's easier to keep track of them that way. At least this time around they didn't have to wear their crazy lime green shirts!!

Working out their sillies before boarding the next flight.
Sara's not in any of the shots because she was totally fascinated with the moving walkways.

*Thanks Trevor for sacrificing your sleep to take us to the airport! We appreciate you!!

Our Summer Vacation

It's a little late in coming but better late than never right?

(Beware, lots of pictures are coming in the next few posts!)

As the story goes....

Way back when, Grandpa Kemp accepted a 2 year assignment that turned into 20 years (at least that's how Grandma Kemp describes it). Thanks to that "2" year assignment, Bryan was privileged enough to be born and raised in the beautiful land of Panama. It is a magical place full of wonderful childhood memories and experiences for Bryan. So, every few years (after saving our pennies & frequent flier miles) we head to Panama so our children can get a sampling of the beautiful place where their dad grew up. If you ever get the chance to visit Panama, DO IT!! It's a great place!!

Now for the geography lesson...

Panama is the southernmost of the Central American nations, it is south of Costa Rica and north of Colombia. The Panama Canal bisects the isthmus at its narrowest and lowest point, allowing passage from the Caribbean Sea to the Pacific Ocean. Panama is slightly smaller than South Carolina. It is marked by a chain of mountains in the west, moderate hills in the interior, and a low range on the east coast. There are extensive forests in the fertile Caribbean area.

The travel log begins...

Our little family enjoyed 10 fabulous days in Panama this past summer (June 14-24, 2008). We went to the beach, got stung by jelly fish, worked in the temple, played in the rain, did lake fishing & deep sea fishing, fed monkeys, took a tour of the locks, stopped by the zoo, took a tour of Old Panama, went shopping, renewed old friendships, made new friends, and had just a jolly 'ol time!! We feel so blessed to have enjoyed our vacation with both sets of grandparents. The kids LOVED spending time with Grandma & Grandpa Flores and Grandma & Grandpa Kemp!!

Stay tuned for more details!