shell island ROCKS!

Unless you've been here, you probably have NO idea what shell island is....so I'm going to tell you " ) Shell island is just what you would assume it to be....an island full of shells! Well, for the most part it is.....It is actually a long slender island that runs for probably 3-5 miles. On the island you will see lots of tall palm trees, dunes, small "ponds", and an occassional shell here and there.
If you remember my Mann'ee post, you may remember me talking about Shell Island...that is where we were headed before being playfully attacked by the great mannitees. We have attempted the travel to Shell Island a couple times now....the second time we actually made it over there. To our surprise we were welcomed by thousands of little crabs. It wasn't very pretty and the sand was icky and mucky. Although it was a bit of a biology adventure seeing the various species of crab, it still left lots to be desired.
So today I thought we might try Shell Island again, but we would go to a better spot. So we packed up Mann'ee in the back of the Bronco and headed to the Hanzel and Gretel beach (our little nick name for the beach). From this beach you can see the most Eastern tip of the island. From our side of the water, the beach looks beautiful and white and is surrounded by a gorgeous blue shoreline. It also doesn't look too far away " )
So we packed up the kids and a cooler on dependable ole Mann'ee (remember this is what we named our paddleboat) and headed across the bay..........it was a tiring trip for Jim and I, but we made it even though our legs felt like rubber by the time we got there " ) As soon as we did get there we noticed some other people on the island that had just caught a rather large fish (remember, I grew up in Michigan and I only fished out of lakes, so anything bigger than 18 inches is big to me " ) As soon as we docked Mann'ee I walked over to ask the couple what it was that they had caught (they had released it before we could see what it was). To my surprise they tell us it was a shark! "That is incredible!", I think to myself. All of a sudden a little further down the shore another guy fishing starts to get a tug on his line. Well, the nosey family that we are, we walked down to snoop on what's going on....sure enough, he pulls out another shark!! His shark is only about 2 1/2 feet long, but it's a shark still - teeth and all!
After our shark excitement we decided that we would walk the island and scope out shells. It was a typical beach walking experience for us. We came across some very unique shells and more sand dollars. And we even saw a sand stingray! For my Grand Rapids friends and family, these are the sting rays that you can see and "pet" at the John Ball Zoo. The one that we saw was much bigger than the ones you will see at the zoo, though. I would say he was about four or more feet long from his nose to the end of his tail. I was just surprised at how close to the shore he was. I saw him while walking in the sand....I mean he was that close!
I think I'm going to start a new tradition.....I am going to sign out of each of these type of blogs as, "The National Geographic Family". lol I think we are much better at sighting wildlife in Florida than I am at my stories!! If you've made it this far into the blog...God Bless you and thank for staying awake!

~The National Geographic Family

back to normal?

Our lives are back to normal.......somewhat. Our summer has been great and it's officially over now. Our vacation back home is done. Our visit with our friends is done. And school has started. Jim is back to working his normal hours (well, just about) and me, well, I'm still in school.
We had such an eventful summer so far, it's hard to watch it float further and further away. I WANT MORE EXCITEMENT lol Ok, I have to remember to be careful of what I wish for now, don't I? Next thing I know, I'll be riding on the back of a whale the way things have gone lately for us " )
I began the last week of my psychology course today...one more week to go! I will then start my Paradigms of Health on Tuesday next week...no break for me this time. I am going to look into taking some ground courses around here, too. I want this degree in my hands so bad I can taste it!
Well, that's about it for this blog.......... I am leaving you with a picture of a pretty flower among lilly pads that I took when in Michigan. I figure you have to be tired of seeing the beautiful beaches by now.......right? " )

what a week!

BOAT TRIP.....



What a FUN day this was! Friday we rented a pontoon for a day of adventures. It was SO much fun!


Our only casualty of the day would be me losing my hat to the ocean bay. Thankfully our skilled anglers were able to retrieve it with a net......lol

Here is Captain Jim...... he had to take a boaters test and prove to the Bonita Bay guys that he knew his stuff prior to letting us take the boat out on our own. I think we did pretty good for getting that all done in a matter of days....thank goodness time allowed for Jim to do all of that before Friday! lol

Yes, that would be MY hand touching the WILD dolphin! Ok, I didn't actually touch him, he was wanting food and evertime I put my hand under his mouth, he moved it as if to catch something that he hoped I was dropping. I was afraid he'd bite me or something...I'm such a wimp. This was the highlight of the day... oh, besides me jumping in the water with him! This guy was so friendly and kept coming back to our boat that we decided just to name him.....we came up with Gizmo.

The boys had school this day and, unfortunately, did not get to experience the dolphins and Shell Island, but they still had a great time!

snake by the beach

Ok, so I found out that the snake picture I posted recently is, in fact, a Cottonmouth Moccasin! It is different than the first cottonmouth that we saw at Jim's flight line site, but the professionals tell me that there is no question that the snake seen in that picture is a cottonmouth. These are venomous snakes! And we stood just 2-3 feet above it on the boardwalk. Talk about scary! First the sharks....then a venomous snake? I still can't get over all of the "wildlife" that is living so close to me here. It's crazy! (But I'm loving it!)

beach shots

Enjoying the beach......

I'm not really taller than Jim..... if you'll notice, the shore slopes! lol

Amazing scenery!

SHARKS! SHARKS!

I can't believe all of the awesome things we have come across in these last couple of weeks. The sight we witnessed last night was UNBELIEVABLE! The title of this post says it all........

Our friends came to the base last night to go with us to one of the most beautiful beaches we've found yet. Actually, this is the sand dollar beach that we rave about. Bill and Nae wanted to go "shelling" and find some beautiful shells and sand dollars.

The water wasn't very calm and since Bill and Nae were sunburned from their earlier excursion to the beaches that day, we decided that swimming was pretty much out of the question. Although the kids were interested in the water, we told them that the water was too rough for them to go out further than their mid-calves. Since we immediately began our venture down the beach in search for sand dollars the kids weren't really in the water any ways.

Well, on our way back to our "spot" on the beach, with buckets of shells in hand, I look out into the water and notice fins. I stopped...kept looking in amazement as I realize what it is that I am looking at. I grab Nae's arm and ask her, "Are those sharks?". Sure enough! Two sharks are feeding on the bait fish only TEN FEET off shore! Seriously, this is how far I would let the kids go out!! This water is so shallow that the fins of these sharks never go underwater! So I start to yell, "Shark! Shark!" (Secretly, I think I've always wanted to yell that because it felt so good to yell something so serious like that - mostly because I was OUT of the water and not in immediate danger) We tried to get pictures, but by the time we grabbed the camera (I say we, but we had Tyler run and grab it) the sharks were gone. As you would guess, sharks were all we could think and talk about the rest of the night. These sharks were almost thrashing in the water trying to eat these little fish. The sharks were about 4-5 feet in length......I am still in shock!

Because we saw families swimming in these very waters we figured we had to tell them about our shark sighting. When we told them, they almost looked at us like we were freaks (probably because of our obvious excitement versus just plain fear) - but none of them went further than five feet into the water! Hey, if someone saw a shark swimming anywhere near where I was, I'd want to know! Right?

Seriously.....Manatee? Sharks? All in a matter of two weeks? OMG!!


Apparently we are like the flipping National Geographic family or something.... because Tyler noticed a snake on our way back to the car! Here's a picture of what we saw (I tried to identify the snake with some online research, but no luck.....I sent this picture into a "professional" to try to get more information on it). This little beauty was about 3 feet long...not too big, but not small!

I'm loving (and scared as hell of) Florida!

the Yeakel's

Bill and Ranae Yeakel are a couple I met while living in Wichita Falls, Texas. Actually, Bill used to be my boss when I worked for the WF Rustlers hockey team. I became great friends with his wife Ranae and she also has a little girl just a couple months younger than Addison - although she looks about 2 years older than Addison now! As it turns out, our friends Bill and Ranae come to Panama City Beach often for their family vacation. I was so thrilled that she thought of us during their vacation this year!
It's been great spending girl time with Ranae and hanging out at the beach with our families. Their vacation isn't over yet and we have a day packed with deep sea fishing, boating, shelling, and sun bathing still waiting for us......stay tuned.......I can't WAIT until Friday!!

Man'ee

So Jim gives me a call yesterday morning and tells me a guy in his squadron has a paddleboat for sale. I think, "Sweet!", it's a great way to exercise - with the kids - get sun, enjoy the ocean, and be outdoors altogether! It was a steal, too....only $100 - and it seats all 5 of us!

I was so excited and eager to get the boat out on the water last night after it was delivered; so, after dinner I thought it'd be a good idea to take her out for a "spin". Jim and the kids agreed and we packed her up (put her in the back of the Bronco) and drove down to the marnina where we began our adventure. Now mind you it isn't a glorious Florida day here, it was a bit hazy and the water was choppy. Getting out of the channel of the marina was a bit of a challenge as we were working against the current/waves. After we got out of the channel of the marina and out into the open water (a.k.a. the Bay) it was much easier to paddle the boat and actually get somewhere.

It was the funniest/scariest/freakiest thing......after we made it out into the open waters........ all of a sudden I hear the kids scream and freak out yelling, "What's that?!!?". I turn my head and see this HUGE whale-type creature swimming TWO SHORT FEET behind us!! Ok, as a mom I probably did the wrong thing....but I was freaked! As we turned the boat and headed back into the marina I kept looking back at this thing and wondering just how little it would have to hit our boat to overturn us. When I was thinking about that, my mind was trying to figure out just how to keep the kids safe. We eventually made it close to the jettys, close enough that this creature would (hopefully) no be able to continue to swim behind us. Jim was the calmest, telling us that it's just a manatee. Just a manatee????!!! Did he see how large that thing was? I mean, seriously! In the end we were all fine, but a bit shocked still.

As soon as we made it back home I jumped online to figure out what it actually was that we saw in the water....... and sure enough it was a manatee! Actually, there were two of them trying to play with us. Here is what they say about this creature.......

FLORIDA MANATEE

Status: Endangered.

Description: Gray-brown walrus-shaped sea cow. Two small front flippers with three to four nails each are used for steering or crawling on the ocean floor. The flat, horizontal tail pumps up and down to move them along. Small eyes, no ears on the outside and nostrils at the tip of their prickly muzzles. Almost all manatees have scars on their tails and backs from collision with boats and barges. Scientists use these scar patterns to identify them. I can only describe these things as SCARY when you are out on a small boat and they are traveling so closely behind you that you could reach out and TOUCH them!

Size: Length: up to 13 feet. Weight: up to 3,000 pounds. The ones we saw were at LEAST 13 feet, and fat as could be!

Range:Live in Florida's coastal waters during winter and migrate either as far north as North or South Carolina or as far west as Louisiana during summer months. Apparently, there were news stories recently about these gentle creatures discussing how it's rare for them to be here.

Food Source: Manatees are herbivores and eat marine and freshwater plants. Ok, so they weren't interested in eating us.......

Behavior: Gentle, slow-moving, graceful swimmers. Rest and feed often; no defense system. Body surf or barrel roll when playing. Squeal underwater to communicate fear, stress or excitement to one another. Sailors once thought manatees were the mythical sirens, or mermaids, because of their shape and squeals. Surface every ten minutes to breathe. Manatees can hold their breath underwater for up to 20 minutes. Ok, again, we didn't know they wouldn't EAT us! I guess they just wanted to play........ thankfully!

Because of this experience, we've decided to name our boat "Man'ee" - it's fitting, don't you think?

first day of school

Summer is officially over here in Florida. The boys started their 2006/07 school year yesterday and I am couldn't be happier! Jayce on the other hand.........


It seems as if the summer was a short one, indeed, but after playing referee all summer long I am more than happy to get them back into school. Tyler was the most excited between the two, but I think that Jayce ended up having a good day after all.

Now if I can just get Addison into school! She is on a waiting list for PreK at the moment. I am praying we don't have to wait til the end of the year to get her in (like we did for Tyler). As anxious as I am to have all three kids in school, I know that one day I will cry and wish they were small again.

beware of jellyfish

The funniest thing happened this past weekend while at the beach.......Jim got stung by a jellyfish! Ok, so it's not so funny....but I couldn't contain my laughter as Jim grabbed hold of his chest, squinted his eyes, and yelled out a couple four letter words when it happened! At first I didn't know what was going on, but when I saw the jellyfish "swimming" in the water by us, I realized what had just happened. So what is the first thing I ask Jim? "Do you want me to pee on it?" We have all seen the "Friends" jellyfish sting episode, right?? Turns out we could see three exact spots where he was stung and they welt up just slightly and the skin around those spots was red. It didn't look bad at all....but apparently it hurt like hell and continuted to hurt for two straight days.

I am pretty sure we will all be a little more careful of where we are swimming, or what we are swimming WITH, the next time we are at the beach!

friends and family

As most of you know already, my mom was a great help to us during our vacation. Without her, I'm not sure we would have had clean clothes (she took our laundry home almost every day), let alone a trailer to sleep in! Mom also had sleepovers with the kids pretty much every night we were home - her pop-up trailer was right next to our site. Thank you for EVERYTHING mom!




I was really bad about taking pictures of Jim's family this vacation. I think it's because we spent so much time with them I just figured I would take pics of them later - I don't know...that's a lame excuse, huh? I'll take the blame..... Here is a pic of Ashley and Liv & Ally, Addison and I, Kris and Kammie, and Carol.

Again, Libby Lu's ROCKS!







Jan and I just before our night out. We had so much fun catching up on life...and then there was the pub crawl.....I definately miss downtown GR and all there is to do there.






These next group of photos were taken at Wahlfield Park in Comstock Park. Jim's parents put together an awesome picinic and invited all of our friends and family. This was supposed to alliviate us from traveling place to place to see everyone....well, that didn't work out exactly as planned but it was probably the best we spent back home AND we saw people we probably would not have seen otherwise. Thank you Eckert family!!








Jim and his high school track buddy, Eric.










Um, yeah....this trio is definately trouble! Brian (long time friend of the Eckert family - they go waaay back to diaper days), Jim, and Terry (Jim's brother).









My high school friend, Tracy and I. We used to get into lots of trouble together....just kidding! No, seriously..... " ) I think at least two or three people at the picinic thought she was my sister. Must be the freckles! As beautiful as Tracy is, I took it as a compliment!





Here is Jim with his old "Peidmont" pals. Mark and Christine, with their spouses, Mark and Christine (crazy, right? I know). Mark told Jim he'd hire him on the spot if he could...apparently they just can't get good help in Michigan " ) Jim was flattered by the offer, but we are afraid the Air Force has dibs on Jim for the next few years.




This is just a fun picture of all of the kids playing in the spicket, filling up water balloons and having a ball getting wet and keeping cool (it was like 95 that day.....not a norm for Michigan). It's funny because we are used to the heat and now the humidity that comes along with it. We had to laugh everytime we heard a complaint about the heat. What's the big deal?? " )





Here is Jim's mom and dad at the campsite. Daisy (our dog) was rarely found outside of Gale's arms. It's funny to see such a tiny pip-squeek of a dog in the arms of such a big guy. This picture was taken about an hour prior to the funnel cloud forming RIGHT OVER OUR HEADS! We had no idea there was a storm brewing and when the cold air came barrelling through the only thing we could think of was having to pack everyone into the trailer to eat!



Here's Terry and Cora...Cora is expecting baby #2 on Christmas Day! Terry and Cora were gracious enough to let us stay at thier house on many occasions during our visit home. To express our thanks to them for their awesome hospitatlity we took them out for lunch at my favorite restaraunt, Friday's....and then we did some fun shopping (wink wink)








Here is my awesome grandmother of 99 years, Lida Johnson. Grandma Great has 4 great grandchildren and 5 great great grandchildren. Grandma always tells me about my heritage when I see her. During this visit I was reminded that I am related to one of the past Harrison presidents (she doesn't remember which one, though). Grandma wasn't sure who we were when we first got there, but when she did figure it out, she sure was glad to see us! We haven't seen grandma in about three years. I still can't believe she is 99 years old! Tell me she doesn't look good for 99!!









There's still more pics to be shown! But for some reason it's taking a long time to upload them... so I'll be back at it another day!