Yesterday, we spent the day at the nature center and the beach. Relaxing and spending time in nature. My Mom also spent the day with us...that made it even more special. We toured our hands on nature center and visited the new creatures there. The kids love the sea turtle...now there is a baby hatchling there too! Also a baby puffer fish we got a kick out of. Our alligator has grown by leaps and bounds! Turning 2 years old in September, we started out with the alligator being so small and the staff having to find him and get him out to show us. Now he is almost aggressive. It's interesting having been able to watch him grow the past 2 years. The staff informed me he is getting too big and he will be transferred to a bigger facility. Then our nature center will again receive another baby alligator.
After the nature center, we headed down to the beach. It was a hot day. The ocean was calm, almost no waves, some swells. It made for a great day. My son is so anxious to find a treasure at the beach!! We started digging in the sand. It's been a while since I was digging on the beach....the kids usually do that with friends. I was committed to my son's goal - to find something today! So we all sat around a hole we made digging in the sand. No luck. We finally got hot and went into the water. Since there were no waves we easily slid our hands along the ocean floor and by the day's end found sand dollars, a hermit crab, and a few unidentified sea creatures....we believe they are some type of snail. We put them in a bucket with some ocean water and studied them. The kids (and adults) were fascinated! They just loved watching our new found friends. The day ended and we sent our friends back home to the ocean. I love days like this.....great company, surroundings, weather and treasures! A day of spending time together discovering nature.
