Gohimsl Family » Travel

Walt Disney World Resort in 3D

Chad — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 19:43:05 +0000

“Walt Disney World® Resort in 3D” is an interactive, virtual resort completely recreated on Google Earth. The revolutionary project features 3D models of the resort’s four theme parks and over 20 resort hotels. Incredible in scope — containing more than 1,500 3D models — Walt Disney World® Resort in 3D is the most detailed 3D rendering undertaken on Google Earth™ to date.

This new digital adventure will also reinvent how Guests reserve vacations. Guests enter a virtual Earth from their computer and skydive into the resort. They click on attractions and hotels – all in 3D – and with the click of a mouse, connect directly to DisneyWorld.com to purchase tickets, make reservations and map out their vacation. It’s the next best thing to being there!

Check it out here at http://www.disneyworld.com/3dparks

Somewhere Over the Rainbow

Chad — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 23:01:11 +0000

The song writer must have been thinking about Maui when he wrote this song. We couldn’t believe how many rainbows we saw every day. Sometimes two at the same time. The video below is a version of the song made famous by a former Hawaiian native. There are approximately only 1500 full-blooded Hawaiians left in the world. This singer passed away, but his song lives on and has been featured in several movies. We decided to make it our featured video for a while too. Note the sound of ukulele.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The ukulele always brings the islands to my mind, so when I saw one in a music shop in Maui, I just had to have one. Incidentally, I’ve gotten in the habit of collecting unique musical instruments on my travels. Some of my favorites are:

Er Hu (Chinese violin I picked up in Hong Kong)
Music Box (made by aborigines in Australia)
Musical Vibes (a gift from my parents – I believe it’s from Malaysia)
Bongo Drums (from Bali)
Mexican flute (from Tijuana)
Flute from California (modeling the flute used by Sheperd boys in Israel)

I hope to have my own recording studio in my house someday where I can both play and display all of the instruments I’ve collected.

Maui Sunset

Susanna — Sat, 13 Oct 2007 20:35:49 +0000

One thing Maui is known for is it’s beautiful sunsets. We saw the sunset at Kamaole Beach right across from our condo the first day we arrived. It took our breath away. Then we went to the top of Haleakala Crater (the site of a once active volcano) at 10, 023 ft to see the renowned sunset. It was freezing cold but the magnificent view was worth the trip. We were high above the clouds and we could see the sun setting in the horizon. It’s also the place to see sunrise. Unfortunately, not being morning people, we ruled that out right away. We also saw sunset at the Old Lahaina Luau. It was awesome!

Kamaole Beach Sunset

Haleakala Crater – Right Before Sunset

Haleakala Crater – Sunset

Old Lahaina Luau – Sunset

1st Family Vacation

Susanna — Sat, 13 Oct 2007 02:00:46 +0000

We just came back from a week vacation to Maui, Hawaii. It’s our 1st time on the plane with Elisha. What an adventure!

We were prepared. We bought the “Baby B’Air flight safety vest” and we also got the “Ultimate Car Seat Travel Bag” as we’ve heard stories of car seats being damaged when you checked them in. Just before we took off, we started to feed Elisha his milk. This was to help ease the pressure he felt in his ears during take-off and landing. Soon after he fell asleep, but not after much crying coz’ of the sensation of being in the air. We were relieved. Unfortunately, that didn’t last … an hour later, he was awake again. Thankfully, we had other parents on board with kids and we were not the only ones facing difficulty. There were also other passengers sitting next to us who love children and so they helped us entertain Elisha for a while. In the end, we did not even use the flight safety vest. So much for that! But the car seat travel bag was useful and helped to protect our car seat.

We learned very quickly on this trip that there are some things you can’t do with kids. We tried going on a sunset dinner cruise with Elisha but we found that we spent most of our time watching him rather than the view. It was tough enough holding onto him on a rocking boat much less trying to eat dinner. We also went scuba diving too. Of course, we had to take turns baby-sitting while the other person dives. And that was quite a challenge as well … it was crazy trying to calm a fussy baby under the hot sun, out on a beach all on my own. It was insane! What were we thinking??!!

Well, there were good moments too! Like when we went to the Old Lahaina Luau and the hula girls were going ga-ga over baby. And of course, daddy was happy that he was getting all the attention as he was the one carrying him. When we were at Haleakala National Park, Elisha enjoyed the hike and the beautiful scenery. He seems to appreciate nature and is fascinated with the ocean as long as he’s not in it.

I’m glad to say that our flight home was much easier as Elisha fell asleep right away and slept 3 out of the 5 hours journey home.