Celebrated annually on the last Monday of May, Memorial Day is a multifaceted holiday. First and foremost, Memorial Day is a time for remembering the men and women who have given their lives while serving for the United States military. However, the holiday also marks the beginning of summer vacation, whereas Labor Day marks the end. Memorial Day was established as a federal holiday in 1967 after being informally celebrated since the Civil War. Did you know that Americans didn’t call it Memorial Day originally? Not until after World War II did the holiday earn the title of Memorial Day.

Several countries around the world observe April Fools’ Day as a day of fun, light-hearted pranks and practical jokes. In ancient Rome, citizens set aside March 25th to celebrate the festival of Hilaria. People throughout Europe celebrated the Medieval Feast of Fools with pranks and practical jokes. The date varies from the last week of December to the first week of January. Iranians play jokes on one another on the 13th day of the New Year in accordance with the Persian calendar. The day usually coincides with April 1st or 2nd on the Western calendar. This festive day is called Sizdah Bedar. Historians believe that this ritual began around 536 B.C. and is the origin of the worldwide humorous tradition. The earliest known specific reference to April 1st as a day for frivolity and pranks is Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales published in 1392.

Pope Gregory the Great decreed that Christian holy days should incorporate pagan symbols whenever possible. A festival for the goddess Eostre coincided with Easter. One of her symbols was the egg.

The traditional game on Easter is egg rolling. Different nations have their own version. In the United States, the game is typically in the form of a race. Participants use long-handled spoons to guide decorated hard-boiled eggs along a predetermined course. One well-known egg rolling event is the one hosted by the President and First Lady of the United States.

Dinner cruises are one of the most popular types of expeditions for people who desire panoramic sight seeing, cocktails, and chef prepared dishes. If you can not wait till dinner, why not take a two hour adventure on a luncheon sightseeing cruise? If you are in the Tampa Bay area and desire to experience the clear waters and unique marine wild life, then the Majesty Luncheon Sightseeing Cruise by StarLite Cruises is the best the industry has to offer.

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Home to the largest science center in the South Eastern United States, Tampa’s Museum of Science and Industry combines fun and learning for people of all ages. Visiting MOSI is an experience unlike any other and far from your typical “hands off” approach associated with many museums.

Four Reasons MOSI is a Fun Place to Be:

Learn While Having Fun
Explore the numerous exhibits and displays that make up 40,000 square feet of the Children’s Science Center. As the largest Children’s Science Center in the United States, there is never a void of activity. Covering a wide spectrum of science and health related matters, children are encouraged to design, create, build, construct, observe and play.

A visit to St. Augustine Florida is like stepping back in time. Cobblestone streets and waterfront fortresses provide the backdrop for an unexpected Victorian delight known as the St. Augustine Lightner Museum.

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the Lightner Museum building began its life back in 1887 as the Hotel Alcazar. Built to provide opulent shelter to the period’s most wealthy visitors, the architects who also designed the New York Public Library created an elegant structure rich in Spanish Renaissance influence. Visitors will delight to explore rooms originally designed to pamper the elite while exploring Victorian-age treasures.

No, you don’t have to run away.  It’s not going to be a column like it sounds.  It is more about the miracle of raising successful children.

Today’s world for children, at least from my perspective, has pretty much been turned on its head.  It is hard for me to even relate to the challenges of growing up to be a successful, well-adjusted adult in today’s land-mine-strewn environment.

It’s true that some people just couldn’t take Earth Day seriously, at least not when it was first proposed by Senator Gaylord Nelson. It smacked of the counterculture, of hippies, tree huggers and other disreputable types. But 42 years after its founding, Earth Day is still with us. Now, with the crisis of global warming, it no longer seems so frivolous.The creation of Earth Day may seem extraordinary to people living today, but one of the hallmarks of the late 60s and early 70s was that many people believed anything could be done, if they just thought of it and persevered.