Beach- 9/28/2010

After our ruined plans for a picnic on the beach, we ate at Freedom Park.  The sky had cleared up, so we headed back to the beach.  It was beautiful.  Almost breathtaking.  It was perfect. . . not a lot of people, cooler temperature, wet sand and wildlife.

 We watched three dolphins race along the shore.  Brent got this nice picture of their fins.

 We saw several flocks of pelicans.  They are so huge and fun to watch.

 Kara-boo.

 What a pretty sunset.



Freedom Park

We had planned to go to the beach on Brent's day off of school.  We knew Tropical Storm Nicole (I was hoping to become a hurricane) was rolling in, but we made plans for a picnic anyway.  By the time we got to the beach it was down pouring.  So we back tracked a little and found this park with a covered place to eat.  By the time we ate, the rain had stopped for a minute. 

 Here the kids and Brent are enjoying their "beach picnic" under a covered patio.  At least there was no sand in our sandwiches!

 Erin and Kara are silly girls.

 Ashleigh and Janiel eating dinner.

 Smile, Wes!

 Freedom Park has miles of boardwalk and other trails to walk on.  It is beautiful.  It is right in the middle of town.  We don't have to drive far to find beauty.  The following are some pictures we took along the trail.

Missionaries for Dinner

One of the benefits of living outside of Utah, is that you get to meet and feed the missionaries more than once a year.  We have a set of missionaries assigned to our branch.  We see them every week at church.  We have the honor of feeding them every other month or so.  The kids like it when the missionaries come for dinner.  Kara, Ashleigh and Erin were especially excited and were waiting at the door until they came. 

Crafty Girls

The girls love to draw and create.  Ashleigh is displaying some of her art on a balloon.

 Kara tries really hard to keep up with the other two.  Here is a drawing of a "girl".

 Erin drew this bear.

Janiel loves to draw too.

 We had to take Wesley to scouts because Brent had finals.  The "church" school is 30 minutes away.  So by the time I would drop him off, I would have to turn around and pick him up.  So we just stayed and entertained ourselves in the "primary room".  They colored pictures and drew on the white board.  They also read books and played tag outside.  I also brought a movie to watch in the car.  Now Brent has a class until 8 on Wednesdays.  So we have made arrangements for Wesley to ride with some really kind friends.  (Thank you, Melanie!!!)

 I bought the girls some small scissors.  They practiced using them and made these little birds.  They did a really good job.

 Our favorite place to create is the Library.  We go every Wednesday morning.  The story time has books, activities, songs and a craft.  They love it and beg to go every week. 



Caught without an Umbrella

It was a nice cooler afternoon, so I decided that we would walk to pick Janiel up from the bus stop.  It felt wonderful.  The three little girls were so glad to be on their bikes.  But I knew we were in trouble when we got to the clubhouse and this is what the sky looked like.  Sure enough when the bus pulled up it started the down pour.  A kind lady drove me home to get the car while the girls waited in the club house.  It rained for the rest of the day!  



More Creatures. . .

I'm not sure that I would take so many pictures of bugs in Utah.  Maybe because they seem so common to us there.  Or maybe, there are just a lot of bugs and creepy crawly things in Florida.  Or maybe because they are so large!  They kids are amazed and love to find and watch new creatures.  They aren't so fond though of spiders or ants.  Me neither!  This stick thing often comes on the screen after a good rain.  I found out that this is called a Two-lined Walkingstick or Muskmare.  I also learned that it shoots a substance out that smells and can cause temporary vision problems.  Glad we didn't touch or bother it!!!!!

 Ashleigh found this caterpillar on our front bushes.  We watched it for about 5 days.  We didn't ever see it move, but we could see its path of destruction.  Whole stems would be cleared of leaves.  We wondered what it was.  We did a little research and found that it is a "hornworm" or a tomato worm.  Then it wasn't so glamorous.  This particular caterpillar buries itself to become a moth.  So we didn't ever get to see the cocoon or what it became.  But here is an internet picture of the waved sphinx moth.

 This huge grasshopper was spotted on a walk along a nature trail.  Its body was probably three inches long.

 The three little girls found this orange spider in a parking lot.  Yuck.