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I am sure that most of my readers have at least heard something of Mardi Gras. Perhaps you might know of the celebration that takes place every year in the United States most popularly in New Orleans. But it is not exclusively celebrated in New Orleans. In fact, it was not even celebrated originally in New Orleans. In 1702, when French Catholic settlers founded the original capital of Louisiana which is now Mobile, Alabama , they began the first tradition of Mardi Gras in the United States a tradition that they brought over from Europe where it had been celebrated long before. Once the capital of Louisiana was moved to New Orleans in 1723, the major celebration was moved there and was then celebrated by most citizens of the city beyond the French Catholics. The celebration has been spread to many communities in the neighboring states of Alabama and Mississippi, as well as along the Mississippi river going as far as here in St. Louis. Soulard is historically a French neighborhood in St

Today Chris, the boys, and I went to The Loop on Delmar Boulevard to check out the Ice Carnival that was going on. When we got there it looked like the 5k and 10k which started at 10 AM was just ending and the stores were starting to setup some carnival games in front of their shops. Many of the shops had ice sculptures in front of them of something themed based on that shop. For example, Moonrise Hotel had a moon ice sculpture and a tattoo shop nearby had an eagle that was reminiscent of one someone might get tattooed on their body. Here are a few more of them we saw: Eventually we got hungry and ate at the Eclipse restaurant which resides in the lobby of the Moonrise. Following our meal, we made our way to the roof where a skate party was going on. [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7c5Zvz0GIZQ&w=490&h=279] Jupiter played a few of the carnival games on the sidewalk as we walked along too. He won a few stuffed animals. There was much more to do there, but the boys were

Today Jupiter, Tsunami, and I went to the Missouri Botanical Garden with the membership that we received from Antijen and Uncle Tom for the holiday. I asked Jupiter to choose between going back for another round at the Sculpture Park or the garden. When he choose the garden, I was skeptical that we would have any fun and tried to convince him to go to Sculpture Park again since it is January and I suspected nothing much would be in bloom, but I think he actually had the right idea. The Missouri Botanical Garden was actually much bigger than I had thought from looking at it from the outside. I had been there before to go in the Climatron, but there was still much to see outside even though flowers are not in bloom. Lots of interesting trees and other plants, plenty of peaceful walking paths, and flowing creeks were all over the place. Jupiter had to make sure to try out a bunch of rocks that were just off the path to see which ones were good for sitting and which ones were not. Tsunam

We went to the Laumeier Sculpture Park a few days ago. It was pretty neat. I don't know exactly what I was expecting, but it was pretty interesting and a lot of fun. We only got about a third of the way through before the kids started getting tired. There is Jupiter and Chris getting looked at by Eye by Tony Tasset. That is me and Tsunami hanging out on Pool Complex: Orchard Valley by Mary Miss which was built made on an abandoned pool site in the park. This is Chris and Jupiter wandering under The Way by Alexander Liberman. There is a lot of hiking paths and cool sculptures in the park. I cannot wait to go back.

Since moving here, to the St. Louis area, I have probably had pizza for about 50% of the meals I have eaten. Not all of these times have been pizza in the St. Louis style, but many have. St. Louis style is super thin yeast free crust and the use of Provel cheese, then cut into squares instead of slices. Provel is a fusion of provolone, Swiss, and white Cheddar cheeses that was developed by a St. Louis firm called Costa Grocery in the 1950s. In my humble opinion, it is the best cheese anyone could put on a pizza. It is a little more stringy than mozzarella that is typically used on pizza. It is not widely available outside the St. Louis area. The thin crust is cracker like in consistency which reminds me of a lavash. I have enjoyed St. Louis pizza several sources. The frozen pizza option comes from Dogtown Pizza and tastes really great for a frozen pizza. For delivery, I have been enjoying Imo's Pizza . Several sit down restaurants I have visited have offered St. Louis style pizza.

Say your kids keep trying to escape from the lovely home that you provide for them. What are some reasonable ways to prevent this from happening? You could provide the sort of home that the kids would be happy to stay in. For example, a home that is large enough for the eight people who live in it. A home where the animal feces are picked up once in a while. A home where the urine smell is kept to a minimum. We cannot all afford a luxurious option such as this though, so let's look at some alternatives. A home in North Platte, NE has their own solution : [The officer] said the child's mother put her 3-year-old and 5-year-old children in the kennel because she says they tried to climb out of the house at night. Now this is certainly an effective solution. It is low maintenance. You do not need to worry about keeping your eye on the kids. You know exactly where they are at all times. As long as you take them out of the trailer house on their leash and walk them a few times a day

The following is also posted at examiner.com . I occasionally write articles for Examiner under the title of Lincoln Early Childhood Parenting Examiner. If you are interested in more articles under that theme, I recommend subscribing to my content there. Pumpkin season is here and there are plenty of places to get pumpkins for pies, decorations, carving, and whatever else you might like to do with a pumpkin. The expedient option of finding one in a grocery or discount store bin exists. This involves all the fun of selecting one from a variety at the top of a bin in the main isle of the store while you are out tackling that always growing shopping list. Some families might find it more fun, however, to go out to a farm and select their pumpkins out of a patch. There are a couple of great places to go for this activity which include many other family fun activities as well. Roca Scary Farm In Roca, NE there is a  Berry Farm  which turns into a "Scary Farm" as Halloween nears.