Month: May 2010

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A Limo for Grandma and Grandpa



I’ve been a busy bird lately, living the highlife while driving around in a stretch limousine. My family rented it to celebrate Grandma and Grandpa’s 60th wedding anniversary.

We took Grandma and Grandpa to visit wineries in the Niagara Escarpment. Because us kids couldn’t sip wine, we got to have sodas, cheese and chocolates. There were also many gardens to explore…one even had a toad pond!

I must say, my favourite part was the limousine. Once upon a time, only rich and famous people like movie stars got to drive in this type of car. Now people can rent them for special occasions. There’s nothing like arriving in a limo if you want to make a big entrance.

A limousine is usually a stretched sedan or saloon car. Ten people fit into the one we rented. Limos usually have a partition between the passengers and the chauffer (driver).

Our family doesn’t usually drive in limos, but for Grandma and Grandpa’s 60th, we wanted to do something really special. And it was.

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Birds Eye View of the Eiffel Tower


Think of Paris, France and most people think of the Eiffel Tower.

In 1885 the French were planning the Great Exposition to mark the 100th Anniversary of the French Revolution. They wanted a monument and they wanted to build the world’s tallest building.

Many Parisians hated the idea because they worried that it would ruin the look of the Paris skyline.

Despite complaints, French officials announced a competition for the best design of an iron tower in the Champs de Mars (a French park). The main rules were that the tower had to make enough money from ticket sales to pay for its construction and it had to be temporary and easily taken down at the end of the Exposition.

There were some weird entries into the competition. One person designed a large guillotine shaped tower. Another proposed a 1000 ft sprinkler that could water all of Paris when it got really dry.

Alexandre-Gustave Eiffel got the job. The government agree to keep the tower up for 20 years if he paid for most of the construction. He also got to keep the ticket sale money for those first 20 years. The tower didn’t take long to pay for itself and Mr. Eiffel made more than just chicken feed from his project.

It took only two years to build the tower.

Bring a compass with you when you visit the tower and you’ll see that its legs point exactly north, south, east and west.

It’s a bummer but during busy periods, you can wait for hours to get into the tower.

My favourite thing to do is to pack a picnic, go in the evening, sit in the Champs de Mars and watch all the lights on the tower sparkle for ten minutes, every hour. It’s magical.

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Rubber Chicken visits Hanauma Bay, Hawaii


Here I am on the island of Oahu in Hawaii, overlooking the beautiful Hanauma Bay. Hawaiians pronounce it ha-na-OO-ma Bay.

The bay is a marine wildlife preservation where you can swim with thousands of beautiful fish and sea creatures in their natural habitat. You must watch a 12 minute film before exploring this living reef within a sunken volcano. If you forget your snorkelling equipment, you can rent some there.

Over 1,000,000 people visit a year so go early if you don’t want to stand in line. In this case, the early bird catches the worm…or should I say fish.

The following are some rules to keep both you and the fish safe. I added a rule of my own as well:

Hanauma Bay Rules to Live by:
1. Don’t feed the fish.
2. Don’t touch or disturb the marine life. That includes the coral.
3. Never turn your back on the ocean.
4. Snorkel with a buddy.
5. Don’t step on the reef.
6. Don’t stick your hands or body into holes in the reef.
7. Never give an eel mouth to mouth resuscitation

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$50.00 Reward for Finding my Twin Brother


Has anyone seen a rubber chicken that looks exactly like me?

I’ve searched the internet and asked my friends, but no one has seen him.

My missing brother is the only one that can help me with all my travel obligations. The Hubert family would give him a good home. Mom even said she would pay $50.00 for my identical twin.

To find a description and my measurements, check out my February 26th post.

Send me a comment if you have a twin or know where I can find one.

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Art and the Rubber Chicken


I had a fun time at the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto.

I saw all kinds of cool artwork from classic to quirky.

Mom loved the Rembrandt, Pissarro and Tom Thompson paintings. She also spent a lot of time looking at a Degas ballerina statue.

When we go to art galleries, Mom always gives me a page with ten pictures on it. I then need to find the pictures in the gallery. It’s like a treasure hunt!

My favourite sculpture was the one I’m pictured with. For some reason, I really relate to it.