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!!