groundspeed

Beach Discovery: Lightning Whelk Egg Cases

Thursday was my nieces last full day with us so we declared it "skip day" and headed to the beach. (No, Kevin didn't just not show up for work. He'd already arranged for the day off.)

We went to Bathtub Beach in Stuart/Hutchinson Island which is newly open again after more sand drudging and other construction. The beach looks great and the boys had a blast on the new sand walls (not sure if those are going to stay - especially doubt is as they are taking away over half the parking.) 

Mostly the boys just ran up and down the sand, but we also attempted some boogie board sledding.

Didn't work.

"Too much friction," said my engineer-brained husband.

But he tried again pulling just Toby.

"Bye-eye. Seeyalater."

This worked decently, but when I asked Toby if he wanted to do it again he said, "No. All done board." And that was the end of that.

Later, when we were already discussing leaving, this washed up on the beach right in front of our stuff.

It's an octopus arm! (Blue)

It's a sea snake! (Kaden)

It's a... (we were out of guesses)

So... we decided to pack up and take this guy/gal/thing over to the Florida Oceanographic Society and ask them. In the bucket it went.

Apparently it's a Lightning Whelk Egg Casing

(I went ahead and signed Blue up for a week of summer camp while we were there. Next time he'll just be our marine science expert.)

And it needed to be returned to the ocean so those suckers could hatch and fill the ocean with new baby lightning whelks.

Over to Stuart Beach we went where I first told everyone I saw what it was and told them to leave it alone should it wash ashore again...

Whew. Beach discoveries are a lot of work. (Well, when you're as naturally curious as our group tends to be.)

This morning we said goodbye to the nieces as they headed back to Tennessee.

The boys loved the attention and I loved the girl time.

Miss them already!

A Dog and a Tree

I could get rid of every toy in our house but Kaden and Blue would be happy because they'd still have their dog and their tree. (Toby would only be ok if I also kept a few of his favorite DVDs.)

Our only backyard tree

sees a lot of use.

And our only pet

gets a lot of "love."

Doesn't Gus looked thrilled?

More so when Toby decides to throw sand on his head.


Sure I've got their Easter Baskets already filled and ready to go. They've got toys in their rooms and an entire play area with all their stuff (And people wonder why I say no presents at parties!), but "the simple things" (also see yesterday's post about sprinkler fun) have their hearts.

I have boys who can play outside for hours either in the backyard with their tree and their dog or in the front on their bikes and with the basketball net.

That saying?

Boy = noise with dirt on it.

Yes, exactly.

Florida Snow Day Play Date

There was a day over Christmas break where we were on a bike ride/walk, and Blue asked, "Mom, is it winter?" I could see how being outside in shorts, tees and flip flops and sweating under the blaring sun in December could confuse a kindergartner who is learning about the seasons and has homework assignments such as, "Write three words that rhyme with snow."

I preceded to teach him the Florida seasons: Summer, Hurricane Season and Love bug Season. 

That is all.

But this conversation got in my head that we should still have a snow day this year. I even considered surprising the boys one morning with snowflakes all over the house and announcing it was a snow day and they could skip school. Except they're off so dang much as it is... and when I realized that they were getting off both Friday and Monday for MLK we picked today for our snow day and made it our play date theme.

We had four friends join us for snowman picture making, snowman snack making, and a Florida snowball fight. (Shaving cream)

But back up to last night. First we tried a little Borax snowflake experiment. You mix borax with boiling water and leave a snowflake shaped pipe cleaner dipped in. Let it sit over night, and...

We made four and hung them on cabinet knobs.

Then I tried to rope Kaden and Blue into helping me make some snowflakes. Blue made 0. Kaden made about 8. I proceeded to stay up and watched a movie and managed to make 60. 68 snowflakes wasn't quite the winter wonderland I'd hoped for, but I needed to go to bed. My archways still looked pretty.



And then after we made our snowmen, they added to the decor.

For the snowmen, we just used a circle punch and then I threw paper scraps, markers, and glue sticks on the table and they went at it.

Oh, and while they created, I had these powdered donut snowman faces for a snack.

Disclaimer: I took the time to cut nice pointy cantaloupe noses this morning, but then when I went to make the faces my noses were gone, presumably stolen and consumed by a certain three or six year old. So... these noses were much more quickly done and not as nice as the first batch.

Then we cleared the table and readied for the next mess: marshmallows, chocolate chips, and pretzel sticks which we gave to the kids and told 'em to put together and make a snowman. I demonstrated how to use the preztles as rods to hold the marshmallows together and then just let 'em play with their food.

Hey look - that's Daddy's head. (Kevin took the day off to finish the landscaping on our other house which will go on the market next week. He was gone all morning by once the snack came out he showed up. Nice, suspicious timing there, Dad.)

And then... for the grand finale the "Snow Ball" Fight.

Here were the only ones game:


Ready... Set... GO!

Toby decided to join in too! As for Gus... well, it wasn't his decision.

Is that shaving cream yummy, Gus?

I guess Blue was the funnest target, because after their cans were emptied, it was Blue who was the biggest mess!

So that's how we do snow days here in sunny south Florida. The weather even complied. We woke up to a 50 degree morning and it was probably only in the mid-60's as we played. Brrrrr! 

Meeting Winter

My kids are fans of the movie Dolphin Tale. I finally watched it with them earlier this summer and as soon as the movie ended I got online to find out where Winter, the dolphin the movie was about, lived. I was happily surprised to learn that she lived in Clearwater, near enough to where my in-laws live in Tampa. 

This weekend we traveled to Tampa for our belated anniversary date, but the kids didn't have school today so Kevin took a day off work to make it a long weekend and we visited the Clearwater Marine Aquarium  before driving home this afternoon.

Hi, Winter!

This is Winter, swimming in her tank without her prosthetic tale. Apparently she only wears it about 4 hours a day. She can do more with it on, and it reinforces how she's supposed to swim, but it's heavy and gives her a workout. I never saw her with it on while we were there, but she got around just fine. What a fighter!

CMA also houses sea turtles, rays, sharks, otters, and more. For the most part it's a rescue site that works to rehabilitate sea animals to return them to the wild or become their new home if they can't be returned to the wild (as in Winter's case).

The boys in front of the shark tank.

It looks like Toby is trying to give the sting rays a high five.

Playing around.



Toby in the turtle crawl.

Nicholas playing around.

After spending time at the aquarium we took the ferry shuttle (included in the price but doesn't run as often as the trolley) to the Dolphin Tale Museum (also part of the entry fee).

Blue. Oh Blue. When we got on the ferry we let the boys have a snack. Blue asked if he could eat his lunch (we'd packed pb and j's) and I said, "No, I'm not even sure if we're supposed to be eating on the ferry." So before we take off the captain gives his spiel and then asks if there's any questions. One hand shoots up. Yes, Blue's. What's his question? "Can we eat on the ferry?" The captain answers yes, just don't make a mess, so guess who then turned to me... THAT KID.

The museum is filled with movie props, a hurricane simulation, screens showing clips from the movie, and movie stills.

Then we took the trolley back to the aquarium.

Toby looked very confused. I wondered if he wondered why he wasn't in a car seat, but he got over it and started singing The Wheels on the Bus.

THAT kid. Too cute.

Back at the CMA.

Toby had moments of high maintenence, but overall it was a fun way to spend the day and the boys loved seeing the site they'd seen in the movie so many times and now Kevin even wants to watch the movie, so I guess our next movie night is planned.

Love These Birds

Sandhill Crane sightings are more and more common these days. It used to be we could go a week with seeing one of these birds. Now we see them every day, multiple times a day. Does Port St Lucie have better bugs? Is it all the rain (Holy sogginess. Will it EVER stop?) we've been getting causing more creepy crawly things to come out so with food in more abundance their numbers are in more abundance?

I don't know. I just love seeing them. Usually they are in pairs. Ever so often you'll see a group of three or four, but the other day we saw TEN by the playground.

It makes me happy every time I see them. EVERY time.

Blah

I like to write blog posts about good things worth celebrating, things I think will be helpful to other moms, or things that are just truly terrible that I can make funny.

Lately I've just felt a little blah. Blah doesn't fall into any of those categories.

This time last year Blue was winding down his 9 month long defiant peeing / destructive behaviors spree and I was still VERY ON EDGE ALL THE TIME because of that mess. 

None of that is going on anymore.

I have friends who have gone through/are going through terrible hardships this year. Not us.

Three years ago the month before this blog started we had a helluva start to fall - Blue had surgery because his thumb got smashed and we hadn't legally adopted him yet so we had a CPS investigation right before his adoption trial. Woo-hoo! That was also the month Kevin, with Blue in the car, got hit by a drunk driver. On a Friday MORNING! Car was totalled so thank goodness for friends who loaned him a car for a whole month while insurance junk got figured out and we knew how much money we had to put down on a new car. That was a high drama time. 

The drama these days is the 3rd grade homework load.

We ended up buying Kevin a NEW car (usually we're used car folks) and NEXT month we make our FINAL payment. That's something to celebrate.

I recognize that. I also recognize that 3rd grade homework being our current highest drama is pretty awesome too.

I wrote more things to be thankful for in a bible time journal this morning *our neighbor's cut their grass! *I think we're at three days in a row without rain! *last night's jog *a bag full of coins my Dad handed off to me, that once I rolled 'em and deposited 'em, is enough to pay for an upcoming date night AND a new outfit!

I feel like moment by moment I'm celebrating the little things but then at the end of the day I just feel blah. Blah doesn't translate into wanting to blog.

Ok, there are a few over-arching things that have lent to the "blah" (in addition to the nightly homework battle):

I can't lose weight. Sept 6th Kevin and I started a cleanse. A strict, strict, designed for serious weight loss cleanse. Fiber drinks and protein shakes... The first week I lost four pounds. Yay! Weeks 2 and 3? Um, it would appear I've already hit a plateau. Excuse me? Kinda depressing. The summer was so hit or miss for exercises. In July I logged a whopping 7.92 miles jogged over 4 jogs. In August 0 miles. 0 jogs. But here in September now that structure has resumed and weight loss is a goal, 15.81 miles over 8 runs - I know that averages out to some short, short runs, but like tonight, I didn't hit the pavement till 7:30pm and I was already pretty much out of daylight when I started so I just ran a hard 1.5 and came on back. This also doesn't factor in our daytime walks. Bottom line. Exercise! Healthiness! But all I can think is... four measly pounds.

And it does get me down how hard schoolwork comes to Kaden. Not one "A" on his progress report. :-( 

Also, I've started taking Kaden on jogs. The first time I was proud of him, but overall I'm discouraged by how whiny he is about it. He acts like I'm killing him! But then mid-jog he'll casually hop up and swat a basketball net he's passing, or, at the end, when he should be spent and I say let's race to our stopping point, he's suddenly got all this energy and leaves me in the dust right away. I don't get it.

And even though Toby has been doing fantastic. I mean really great, using sentences, being so, so funny, snuggling, very little hitting and scratching which were such big issues just a month ago... We're in the process of transitioning him AGAIN to the special needs preschool (instead of just ST and OT appointments) and I know it's a good thing, but then part of me is like really, MORE change for him? 

And a few other things regarding friendships that I don't really want to bring up on a public blog. ;-)

And this whole election time. That's depressing too. I happen to like the first family and I hate it when people say ugly, untrue things about them online. Especially when the tone is anger and the source is a "Christian." Also drives me nuts when people assume I feel a certain way because I am a Christian and will think I will agree with them that the president has been the worst for Christianity because of things like his stance on gay marriage. I believe in CIVIL RIGHTS for ALL people and my faith leads me to that compassionate conclusion. Clear?

Whew. Where did that soapbox come from?

I am pleased with how the Gators are playing. And I've got a party in the works for the FL/GA game that I'm quite excited about. That's good.

I've read some fantastic novels recently. I've been cooking (some stuff just for the boys and then I go eat my salad with vinegar dressing - sigh) a lot and considered a few food themed posts. Toby and I stay busy and I've considering talking about some of our at-home learning fun. Like today I gave him some money to put in his piggy bank to work on fine motor. He played me so well. Kept asking for "more pennies" and I gave him at least a buck more than I was planning to. (Once it goes in, it can't be taken out - that's just wrong!) We've also had a lot of fun with home-made tub paints and going swimming at a friend's house. Less fun, but still productive has been our letter work and writing practice times. 

I've thought about posting about how Blue's doing with kindergarten (exceeding expectations in that we only average about one bad report per week).

I considered a post about packing healthy school lunches and maintaining variety. Eh. Don't feel like it.

Kevin started some earth boxes.Yay! Fresh herbs. Potential for fresh veggies! Nope... don't really feel like blogging about that either.

That's it. That's what's going on. Glad you're up to speed? Want pictures of the kids? Um, I haven't taken many since Labor Day weekend...

Blue "swinging." (At least once a week we go to the playground before school in the gap between Kaden's drop off and his.)

Toby painting.

And Kaden... I don't have any of Kaden really. Here's his hand and a giant caterpillar.

See you back here... eventually. 

Chimp Sanctuary

There is a chimp sanctuary, the largest chimpanzee sanctuary in the world actually, just 25 minutes away from us. I didn't even know it was there until about 6 months ago when Kevin, who had flown over it that day, showed me a picture he'd snapped. Knowing it was there didn't mean I got to go see it. It's a sanctuary, not a zoo.

But I've been curious about it ever since. 

Then this summer, a family friend, sent me an email about a member event and asked if I wanted to go. Um... Yes!!!

I'm not a member, but she is and she arranged and paid for me to attend as her guest and I chose to take Kaden. Not knowing what to expect, I only wanted one of my own monkeys with me to keep track of. Well, Kaden ended up having baseball practice (it's that time of year again) so Blue became my default date.

He was pretty good. I just had to keep shushing him so I could hear our tour guide. When I could hear her over his ramblings, she provided us with an insightful morning.

The sanctuary is on a converted orange grove. I say converted because they have built twelve different islands to house the various chimp "families." They can have up to 300 chimps in all. Right now they have 260-something. They provide a permanent home for chimps rescued from research labratories, the entertainment industry (The chimp from the Babe movie lives there.) and the pet trade.

Each island is connected to a chimp house where they get their meals and can also hang out. Some of them, whose previous lives where confined to small cages, stay in the house part for years before they get their chimp toes in the grass. It's just too overwhelming for them at first.
 

The US is the only country that still allows chimps to be used for research. It's also legal for these social, intelligent creature to be kept alone in cages. How can that even be?

Thank goodness, these chimps now know a better life.

They are so considerate of the chimps that they have a mobile veterinarian unit so that when they need to do a procedure on a chimp they do it in view of its "family." This way their family member doesn't just seem to mysteriously disappear. 

Of course, with such an impressive non-profit so close by, it makes you consider what you can do to help. Unfortunately my stay at home mom pay is still 0$ an hour and Kevin's monthly support totals are still about 20% shy of what MFI recommends as his salary. Considering that and the fact that we tithe, and give what else we can to other missionaries, Haiti, and Fragile X research... that doesn't leave anything for the chimps.

But.

I was encouraged to learn that there are things we can give that wouldn't cost us anything - like paper towel rolls and empty peanut butter jars. They also needs things that, if occasionally slipped into the shopping cart, wouldn't kill the monthly budget, like raisins and pasta and other wish list items. 

They can also use old magazines, kids board books, and toys. Hmmmmm. We could maybe find those things around here. 

This would be a great group to collect for at one of the boys birthday parties (since we pick a charity instead of doing presents) or I could even do a chimp themed play date where I asked people to bring these things. On their volunteer page they even suggest "making decorations." This would be the play date activity! See? It's all coming together. :-)

Now I have the contents of my goody bag to read and their website to further explore.

You can too: savethechimps.org

And start setting aside your magazines, paper towel rolls, and empty creamy peanut butter jars... I'm going to be collecting them soon!

Tigers and Bears and Waves! Oh My!

We are nearing the end of our one year Palm Beach Zoo pass. I always try to have a pass to something, but I rotate what that something is. Last year it was the Treasure Coast Children's Museum, this year the zoo, next up? Not sure yet. I'll be thinking about that.

But the zoo...

Usually we go when it opens, but this time I got on-line and checked out the schedule and decided I wanted to hold off a few hours so we'd catch some of the afternoon feeding times.

Such a smart move.

Why hello there, Mr. Bear. I've never once seen you move before and now here you come. (Every time we've gone he and his brother have been asleep in the corner.)

Oh the things he will do for an afternoon snack of grapes and dog food. (The dog food is because these particular bears turn their noses up to meat!)

Toby just wanted to pet him.

This was particularly exciting because Toby has lately had this thing where he has introduced a bear onto Old McDonald's farm. As in the song. As in we sing, Old McDonald had a farm... And on his farm he had a bear... With a Grrrr, Grrrrr here and a Grrrr, Grrrrr there...

The most hysterical thing though is that the very first time Toby introduced the bear to the farm (yes, it was his idea) he was singing by himself in the car and I heard him go, "Old McDonald had a farm... and on his farm he had a bear. A bear? A bear-air!" I'm not sure if he was quoting something or if he just surprised himself with the idea of a bear on a farm or what. But he made me laugh so hard.

Right before we left for the zoo he didn't want to go to the car but then I told him that we were going to see bears and just like that, he turned around and ran to the van. 

Seeing the bears all close and eating and swimming and playing... I thought Toby might jump out of his skin.

And then we turned the corner and the otters were all showy-offy!

But we've been to this zoo many times and I've posted many pictures, so now I'm going to skip to the end... It was almost 3pm and Toby, Blue and Daddy were done, so I sent them on to the van, but Kaden and I skipped on to hear the Tiger Talk. The cubs we watched play one year ago as four month olds were now 16 months and about 50 pounds shy of being fully grown!  

I liked hearing them talked about, but my favorite is hearing them "talk."

In-credible.

Oh, one last thing. Saturday was the first game day of college football, so of course the boys were decked out in their Gator gear. It was also the first time all year Daddy came to the zoo with us, so at the gator exhibit we stopped for a little Gator Chomp action. (Yes, Toby does it too.)

That was our Saturday kick-off for Labor Day weekend.

Sunday afternoon looked more like this:

More beach action planned for today.

Squeezing out every last drop of summer.

Every. Last. Drop. 

Gator Bait

"If you ain't a Gator, you must be Gator bait!"

Poor Blue, he's a Gator (that's a requirement in this household) but he still ended up as Gator bait.

Way back when we went to the Fort Fisher Aquarium when we were in Wilmington Kaden posed for this silly picture:

After I took this pic, I was walking away but Blue went up to do it, and then the next thing I know Blue's crying because he bumped his head. I didn't think much off it until later when I took this picture:

I noticed that bump by Blue's eye and that it was bleeding. I asked him if he'd scratched open a moquito bite, but no, he told me that's where he hit the gator.

It took me awhile before I stopped laughing.

Bit by a stuffed gator.

Only Blue.

Catching a Catfish

We spent Saturday with some friends who have a lake house and I've been delayed in posting because I lost the cable I use to hook up my camera and computer.  Oh how I long for this to all be wireless... but I think that will mean updating both my computer AND my camera and that won't be happening anytime soon.

So about that lake day...

A few times throughout the day the boys picked up poles (like these bamboo poles here) and then quickly got bored. But in the evening our friends usually feed the fish in the lake and this is when it's easy to give the kids a first-catch experience. Between our family of five, our friends and their dog, and a neighbor's dog, we were a noisy bunch and even with a cup full of dog food around our baited hooks we weren't having much luck.

Until Blue got a bite. But, uh, that fish would've pulled our boy in, so he had a little help getting his fish reeled in. Partners:

Ugh... So heavy!

Blue was excited. The dogs were excited. (And did a lot of barking at the fish.) 

We'd already eaten, so he was just a catch and release.

 

A beautiful day at the lake...

... that even us beach bums could appreciate.