Our first week back.......

We've been home one week now and I would love to be back at the beach. It's been raining pretty much all week. There's so much to do at home. At the beach, we played and relaxed. It was a wonderful time and I'm thankful we were able to enjoy it. I guess it's time to move on.

This week we got back to school. Monday was a very hard day. No one wanted to read or work math problems, including me. Madison had cheer practice Monday night. While we were on vacation, the team learned the second half of the routine and Madison did a fantastic job picking it up! I'm so proud and relived that she was able to get it quickly.

Schoolwork on Tuesday was a bit better and Wednesday, Andrew went to his first homeschool enrichment class. His class is a one hour class with other preschoolers, that I'm teaching. We all had a lot of fun. After class, the kids got to play with friends and I got to chat with some mommy friends. Thursday was more school and Andrew's gymnastics class. He did a great job after being gone a while.

On Friday, the kids had some friends over to play in the afternoon. Then, we had company for dinner. We had a great time catching up with our friends. Saturday morning, Madison had cheer practice at 9am. I really didn't want to wake up for that!! After practice, Madison was invited to play at a friend's house. So, I took her over there and then picked her up on the way to take all the kids to Granny and Papa's house to spend the night. Jason had to work, so I was home all by myself. I don't really enjoy being home by myself, but I did my best to enjoy my time.

I got some sewing in this week as well, Andrew has a new outfit for Fall!! Until next time........

Eco Kayak Tour on the Bay

Jason convinced me to go on a 4 hour kayak tour on the bay. Cape San Blas is a peninsula. On one side is the Gulf of Mexico. On the other side is the same water, but it's protected by land on 3 sides, so it's called a bay. There's no fresh water running into it. It's calm and pretty shallow, but it has all the same animals in it that the ocean does. We had 2 kayaks for us and the tour guide had one for himself. Grady and I had a tandem kayak and Jason and Madison had a tandem with a middle seat added for Andrew. It was fun and didn't seem like 4 hours to me. I am glad I went.

We got up at 7, to be at the kayak place by 8. The kids all have their own beds, but prefer to sleep together most nights on the sofa bed. So cute :)

Hey, look what I found!!

One island we stopped at to look for some specimens.

lots of grass

following the tour guide

tube worm egg sac
There were a lot of these all around. Kind of like a ball of mucus, pretty gross, but the kids liked to pick them up.

hermit crab in Grady's hand

conch in Andrew's hand

pelican

fiddler crab in Madison's hand

all done!

Madison

beach time at sunset

Pretty Sunset

Best time to play at the beach, not too hot and no sunscreen needed!!

My wish for everyone that I randomly drew in the sand while watching my children play.

Having fun with his new net

Florida Caverns State Park

Last week, we took a 2 hour trip to Marianna, FL. They have a state park there with a cave tour. We have always wanted to go, but we never felt like driving the 4 hours. We are so glad we had the opportunity this time. The cave is awesome. Grady was fascinated and now wants to tour other caves. This cave was discovered by a CCC worker, during the Great Depression. The CCC workers hand dug out the ground of the cave so that the public could tour it. It took about 5 years to do this. Each room of the cave has a different name according to the formations in the room. There's a wedding room, a fracture room a circle room and many more. It's pretty cool and I'd recommend it to anyone in the area.

After the tour, I snapped this pic of the happy and hot foursome.

all white and smooth calcite

The drapery formation, my favorite.

Stalactites and stalagmites

Column where the stalactites and stalagmites joined.

Walking down the stairs into the cave.

Geocaching in St. George Island

Today, we decided to eat lunch out and then do some geocaching. We ate in Applachicola and then headed to St. George Island. The pictures are in reverse order, but I'll explain them :)

We tried our hand at using the timer on the camera. We didn't realize the pic was taken after the light went off. This was the better one! We'll try again.

View of the bay at St. George State Park.

We are looking at a cache under a boardwalk here.

Oyster boat at state park. We found another cache here.

Wonderful park by the lighthouse on St. George Island.

Another cache found near the lighthouse.

St. George Island Lighthouse

Cache behind St. George welcome sign.

Our first stop was in Applach. These are several oyster boats out in the bay fishing. We found our first cache here. Actually, Jason found it and we watched. It was hidden pretty well in the woods.