On the road home - Day 9 and back at home

Well, it was a sad morning.  I woke up early again for my last sunrise and I had a few extra visitors.

We had to do our final packing and say our good byes to Cappy and Nana.  We had such a wonderful time with them it was really hard to leave.  I didn't cry until we were down the road.

The plan was to stop in Lubbock and spend the night and finish the drive tomorrow but Dad decided he wanted to get home so we drove straight through.  We left Padre at 8:30 AM and arrived home at 4 AM.  We had to stop for gas, potty breaks, and food.  We only had 2 extra stops for the Border Patrol and for the nice policeman in Texas.  Luckily, we didn't get a ticket - just a warning to slow down.

The kids had stayed awake until 11 PM which was good because we didn't want them waking up as soon as we got home.  We got everyone into bed and then Dad and I crashed.  Andrew had me back up at 8 AM but that was fine - I had a lot of work to do.  I had to unpack, do laundry and repack for our Girl Scout overnight trip.  We leave on Monday at 1 PM.

Beach Day - Day 8

Today was our last day on the beach.  I woke up early to watch the sunrise.  Andrew found me on the balcony and came outside and sat with me quietly.  I tried to talk him into walking the beach with me but he was content to sit quietly and enjoy the scenery.

Then off to the beach after breakfast.  I sent the kids and Dad down first so I could do some packing and laundry.  No reason for them to be hanging out while I do the boring stuff.

When I came down I brought some more food for the birds.

 Andrew quickly grew bored with the birds and played with Dad and climbed the sand castle.

 Cairn took a shower in the morning and didn't want to have to take another one so she came down to the beach but didn't want to get wet.

 That didn't last long.

 After her clothes were wet it didn't matter anymore.

Our last day and last full moon.

We spent the day at the beach, ate in the hotel as we finished up the food that we didn't want to drive back home.  Then we went out to for dessert.  We had to have our last key lime pies.

Dad and I loaded up the car while Cappy and Nana took the kids to the pool.  Everyone was in bed a little early.  Long drive tomorrow.

Dolphin Watch - Day 7

Today, we woke up ready for our Dolphin Watch trip.  Everyone was excited but it wasn't until the afternoon so what did we do?  We headed to the beach.

We fed the birds, which is one of my most favorite beach pastimes.

 We headed in after a couple hours to clean up, eat lunch and head down to the pier.  While we were there we saw my 2nd favorite bird - the pelican.  Aren't they pretty?

Out on the water it was windy again and once again by the end of the trip the hats were in my purse which doesn't really help keep the sun off your face.  I need to find some better hats!!

 It wasn't long before we started seeing the dolphins.  The crew said they were very playful today and wanted us to make a lot of noise anytime we saw a dolphin.  I don't know if that was true or not because they seemed to come around anytime they wanted to.  It didn't have anything to do with us.

 When the boat left the dock they put out a net to drag the bottom so they could catch some items to put in the tank to show us.  There were several starfish.

 We also caught a female crab.  The red pouch on her belly is full of eggs and she will lay them at the next full moon.

 After the tank we headed out to the Gulf to Dolphin Point.

We saw a few more dolphins.  Everyone had a good time on the boat.

After the Dolphin Watch we were going to drive around for a bit but Andrew was looking pretty sleepy and we didn't want him falling asleep so late in the day.  So we stopped for a photo op.

Then we headed back to the hotel for dinner, and some TV time.  Everyone is starting to feel the full days, a little grouchiness here and there - kids just aren't getting enough sleep since they are so excited about everyday.

Birding Center and the beach - Day 6

Today we set off the Birding Center.  I had read wonderful things about this center.  It was right next door to the Sea Turtle Inc.  We paid our fees, got our scavenger hunt and started off in the museum.  In the museum, we learned about the different types of birds in the area, different types of crabs and fish.  We headed up to the lookout and then out to the boardwalks

It was very very windy.  We all almost lost our hats a few times and there would have been no retrieving them.  

 

We saw lots of neat birds but we ended up taking more pictures of each other than of the birds.  By the end of the boardwalk all the hats were stuffed in my purse, and the sunscreen was sweating off.  The breeze was nice but still super hot.  We saw a Great Blue Heron, a Willet, a White Ibis, a Great Egret, and a Little Blue Heron.

After the boardwalk we went inside to get our smashed pennies and visit the gift shop.  While inside the gift shop, Andrew spied something he wanted - a toy of some sort.  I asked him if he had brought his money and he said no it was back at the hotel.  Then he came up with the idea that he could take the toy and then bring the money back later.  I told him he was welcome to ask the man behind the counter.  So he did.  Since Andrew is still a little difficult to understand so I helped translate for the man.  "He said, is it okay if he takes this toy to his hotel and then he will bring you back the money later?"

"Sure." the man says.  I looked at him incredulously and then turned to Andrew and said, "no you can't do that - that would be stealing."  I was floored that he would say that - he must not have any kids and not get the lesson that he just screwed up.

Anyway, we were able to get out of the store without the store which was really pretty easy since the kids know we don't buy toys for them in the gift shop.  We buy books and postcards.  Then we were off to lunch, we tried a couple different places and they were either closing for the afternoon or not open yet so we ended up heading back to the hotel to eat.  Then off to the beach, then in for a later dinner since we had a late lunch and then a late bed.  Another fantastic, relaxing day at the beach.

Sea Turtles - Day 5

Today, we were up and out the door so we could see the Sea Turtle rehabilitation and hospital.

It is a small place with tanks everywhere and tons of staff around willing to answer any questions - probably the same questions over and over.

The most famous resident of Sea Turtle Inc is Allison, a green sea turtle.  She has only 1 flipper after being attacked by a shark as a young turtle and she now wears a prosthesis.  If she didn't wear one she would drown because she couldn't get to the surface to get air.  Sea turtles have to breath air - they don't have gills.  Allison also has a babysitter/lifeguard staff person that keeps an eye on her while she is in her exercise tank with her prosthesis on.  There is always the possibility that her prosthesis could fall off and she could drown.  Her current prosthesis is her 5th one.  We bought the book that one of the staff members wrote about Allison.  It is titled, Allison: the mostly true story of a one flippered sea turtle.

We even had it signed by the author, David Cromwell.  He was also our speaker during our tour.

We also met Fred, the loggerhead turtle with 3 flippers, Boudreaux the green sea turtle with 2 flippers, Merry Christmas with 3 flippers.  The hospital works to release as many turtles as possible back to the wild but if a turtle has less than 75% of his flippers than they can't be released because they can't swim fast enough.  Some of the turtles will be sent to zoos or aquariums while some will stay at the hospital.  The turtles can lose their flippers from almost being eaten by predators or more often by trash or fishing line.  Water pollution is a huge problem for turtles - they eat a lot of trash because they think it looks like their food source.  Hawkbills eat sponges, leatherbacks eat jellyfish, loggerheads eat crunchy food like crabs and green sea turtles eat seagrass.  Since a turtles brain is not very large they don't learn that the plastic trash bag floating upside down is not a jellyfish or that piece of balloon floating in the water is not a sponge.  Why are Sea turtles important?  Sea Turtle Inc, says it best  A common question we are asked at Sea Turtle, Inc. is “why are sea turtles important?”  This is a question with many answers. Sea turtles are important to ocean ecosystems. They maintain marine habitats, help cycle nutrients, and are part of a balanced food web. As they decline, it affects the health of the world’s ocean. It is up to us, as human beings, to be stewards of the environment and work towards conserving our oceans and stabilizing sea turtle populations.

After we met all the turtles, heard their stories and bought many things in the gift shop we headed back to the condo for lunch, some quiet time and schoolwork and a dip in the ocean.

After dinner we rode our bikes to another dessert place but ended up at Dolce Roma again because the other restaurant was closed for 2 weeks after the summer rush.  Everyone enjoyed the nice bike ride though.  After dessert, we headed back for bed and everyone fell asleep quickly.