Field Trip - Part 2

These are the rest of the pictures from Kaelyn's field trip to the Environmental Learning Center.

 

There was a small shark in this tank that everyone is gathered around here.

 

Showing the kids how to hold the different creatures from the touch tanks.

 

 

 

 

Kaelyn holding a water porcupine - just kidding!  :-)   I think it was actually one of the pencil urchins.  I looked at the picture and the sea urchin in her hand reminded me of a miniature porcupine.  Obviously, those aren't quills though and it didn't hurt to hold it.  :-)

 

 

 

 

 

 

The spider crabs were the weirdest feeling things to hold.  They do not pinch (obviously since they were in the tanks for the kids to hold) but they did feel kind of funny when they moved on your hand.  I tried and tried to get Kaelyn to hold one but she wouldn't have anything to do with them at first.  I held one first to try to show her that they woudn't hurt her.  Mrs. Wakefield and I finally talked her into it and she kept it in her hand just long enough for both of us to get quick pictures of her holding it.

 

This is Joey.  No, it wasn't the woman that was named Joey if you were worried.  It's the alligator that she is holding.  :-)

 

 

Sergio, Kaelyn, and Manny looking at Joey.

 

 

I don't remember the sea turtle's name, or if he even had a name for that matter but he LOVED raw squid - can I get an "EEEWWW!!!" from someone, like Mama maybe?  ;-)  The guide went and got pieces of raw squid to feed to the turtle.  As she threw the pieces in the water, it would find them instantly and chomp down on them quite forcefully.  Let's just say that I would hate for one of those guys to mistake my finger for something edible.  She had the kids stand with their hands behind their backs while she was feeding it.  It was really cool to watch though.

 

 

After we finished at the environmental center, we went to a park at a beach in Stuart for lunch.  The kids got to play for a bit after lunch and then we went down to the beach.  They were each given a small bag so they could pick up pretty shells or other [natural] things.

 

When you're seven, most shells are pretty enough to pick up and keep.

 

 

Kaelyn rode with me most of the time on the bus to and from the different places but on the way home she asked me if it would be okay if she sat with Ross.  :-)  It looked like they fell asleep on the way back to the school but I'm not sure if they did.  They were ALL so worn out by the time we got back!

Field Trip Fun

The house is straightened, laundry mostly done, homework done and I have a little bit of time before I need to go work on supper.  So... that means I can sit down and blog pictures that I have had in a folder for a bit while I listen to a Christmas CD.  (You go ahead and laugh or be aghast that I'm listening to Christmas music but it's going to sneak up on you and be here before you know it and then you aren't going to be in the Christmas spirit and be ready for it.)  :-)

At the end of September, Kaelyn's class went on a field trip to the Environmental Studies Center in Jensen Beach.  Every time Kaelyn has gone on a field trip and there have been 2 or 3 other moms that have gone along as volunteers, Kaelyn has told me later that she wishes I could go with them.  So I filled out the paper work and did the background check in order to be able to volunteer (and mostly, so that I could go on her field trip).  For the first time in years, I rode on a hot, noisy school bus.  Actually, it was [mostly] fun and I was glad that I was able to go along.

 

 

We all went into one of the classrooms first and learned a little lesson and then the kids got to walk around and look at and touch the various items on display.  There were a ton of stuffed animals, animal skulls, live animals in tanks and a couple of guessing games around the room.

 

Kaelyn and her teacher, Mrs. Primus, looking at something together.

 

 

Kay with a turtle shell.

 

We went across the street to the Indian River next.  I couldn't resist taking a picture of all these birds.  It was such a pretty sight in the early morning sun.

 

The goal of our being on the beach by the river was to catch worms and a particular kind of insect to feed the various kinds of fish back at the environmental center. Our ?hostess? for the field trip, put down a special trap to catch the bugs but the kids had to dig in the sand for the worms. I happily took pictures and didn't get involved in digging in the sand OR catching worms. ;-)

Ross (in the foreground) and Kaelyn digging away.

 

 

Kaelyn and Jack

 

Kaelyn REALLY wanted to put a worm in the bucket that her teacher was holding.  She also REALLY didn't want to touch a worm.  :-)  She had dropped a couple off her "shovel" already in her efforts to carry them over to the bucket without having to actually hold one.  She finally got one onto the shovel and over to the bucket.  This is one of her other teachers (a full-time aide), Mrs. Cooper.

 

 

 

Manny and Kaelyn carrying the crate of shovels back to the buildings.

 

 

 

We went into the part of the center where they had lots of aquariums and "touch tanks".  The fish were all very thankful for our worm-digging, bug-catching efforts.  They didn't actually say so but I determined that to be the case from the way they devoured the creepy, crawlies as she put them in the tanks.  :-)

 

 

And this was probably my favorite thing that we saw/did that day.  Our guide... (Okay, I really don't know what to call her.  For all practical purposes, she was a teacher but so as not to be confused with Kaelyn's regular teachers, I'll keep using random terms to describe her.)... used a net to catch a puffer fish from one of the tanks.  I'm pretty sure that I would not have known what it was just from seeing it swimming around under the water because it just looked like a typical fish to me.  Once she caught it, she held it in her hand and rubbed its belly a certain way to get it to puff up.  It was the funniest thing ever but also so cool.  I've seen lots of pictures and heard these described but I'm not sure that I have ever seen one go from looking like a normal fish to puffing up like this.

(The student that you can see just to the right of her was so amused by this!  He just kept giggling and giggling and was having a little bit of trouble controlling himself.  He just wanted to reach out and touch it and they weren't supposed to be touching it.)  :-D

The fish started to go back to normal as soon as she put it back down into the water but after a few seconds, it started to puff up again on its own.  She said it was probably because it was still afraid because of everyone being around the tank still.

 

So I was worried that this post would be boring but as I look at the various pictures again, I realize it might not be as boring to you all as I thought so I think I will go ahead and post the last half of the pictures also.  Hopefully sooner than later.

Sailin' and Eatin'... and Stalling

We decided to make our first "real" voyage by boat to go have dinner at a restaurant down in Jupiter last Friday night.  By car, it is a fifteen to twenty minute drive.  By boat - our really slow boat - it took about an hour and fifteen minutes.  Not that I'm complaining, I thoroughly enjoyed the ride down and back.  We had a couple mechanical mishaps - once when we arrived at the restaurant and then again when we arrived back home at 12:15 in the morning.  When Rod went to cut the engine as we got close to the docks both times, the engine stalled and the boat wouldn't restart.  It was quite an adventure.  Let's just say it's a good thing Rod had thought to throw an oar into the boat.  I really wish I had pictures of Rod rowing this huge old boat over to their dock.  It wasn't nearly as embarrassing though, as the first time we stalled and a little fishing boat had to help tow us up to the dock at the restaurant.  That was AFTER we about drifted into the side of this giant yacht that was docked nearby.  We were an oar away from scraping up against the side as Kevin bravely kept us a mere few inches away by holding the oar up against the yacht.  You know how helpful I am in stressful situations since I laugh when I am nervous, embarrassed, etc.  I snapped right into action and started giggling (I was mostly hiding my [nervous] giggles. By the time it happened again when we all got back home, we were all so tired that we were laughing, not to mention someone singing, "Row, row, row your boat".  I knew at the time that we would find the whole incident hilarious someday and I am laughing right now just thinking about the whole thing.  I think a second battery should take care of the issue if I understood Rod correctly.  Anyway, mishaps aside, it was an awesome time!  Beautiful weather, great dinner, and lovely scenery.

 

Kaelyn and Megan playing on the ride down.

 

Kevin and Rod

 

Zach, Betty, Jess, and myself.  Andrea had a friend from school with her and they were up top.

 

Kaelyn was thrilled to find a net on board and happily pretended to capture her pals for a good part

of the time.  :-)

 

Jess checking out the menu at Bubba Gump's.  Notice the Jupiter lighthouse in the background.

 

 

Loved this place!  Right on the water, great view of the lighthouse, and delicious seafood.

 

Our view from where we sat to eat.

 

My food - had to get a picture of my "volcano" of food.  It was cajun mahi mahi and shrimp and mashed potatoes.  The things sticking up were the potato stick thingys (not sure what they are actually called and too lazy to google it).

 

 

We walked around and took some pictures before we attempted to start the boat to go home.  It started right up and all went smoothly up until the very end when we got back to our canal.

B.O.A.T

Hi!  Do ya'll remember me - and this little blog called "The Mosenthins"?  :-)  I was threatened by my mother to be grounded from Facebook (or some such thing) until I posted a new blog post.  :-)  As you can tell, her threat scared me right into action and... TA-DA!  Here I am.  :-D

So... we have a new bo-at (pronounced bow-at).  In one of our favorite shows, Phineas and Ferb, the evil Dr. Doofenshmirtz invents the bo-at, which he explains is an acronym for Buoyancy Operated Aquatic Transport.  His evil scheme (which is always goofy and never works out right) is to flood the city and then everyone will have to buy one of his B.O.A.T.s and then he will be rich and take over the city.  :-)

A couple weeks ago we got a super good opportunity to buy a super cheap boat.  We split the cost with the Browns and were able to pay cash for it.  It's an older boat, older than Kevin and I as a matter of fact but it has a newer engine.  Rod had to buy a new battery for it to get it running but other than that it is in running condition - most of the time (more on that at a later time).  There is a lot of work to be done on it but things we can do gradually over time.  The following pictures are from the first evening we got a chance to take it out for a little bit.  We couldn't be out after dark too much because we didn't have proper/working lights at the time but we do now.  Last night, we all went on the boat down to Jupiter for dinner.  It was awesome and I will post more pictures of that next but for now, I'll just post a few from the first time out.  They were mostly all taken on my cell phone so they are not the best quality but you will still get the general idea.

 

These first few pictures are ones that Kevin took when he and Rod went up to look at the boat the first time.

 

There is a small cabin underneath.  Right now it needs quite a bit of work but I still think it's cool that it has the inside area.

 

 

Can you tell how happy and proud he is to be a co-boat owner?  :-)

 

There is no bench across the back right now but we plan on trying to make one as opposed to buying an overpriced one.

 

Love this picture of Kaelyn.  She's such a cutie!  :-)

 

This picture cracks me up.  Izzy LOVES going out on the boat with us and she even has her own life jacket as you can see.

 

 

I have to say, there aren't many better places to be during a Florida sunset then out on the water like this.  It's relaxing yet invigorating and inspiring for sure!!

My favorite place to be is up on the front of the boat where you can feel the wind and see everything in front of you.

 

Kevin is learning how to pilot a boat.

 

 

I'm not gonna' lie, I would have chuckled if he would have lost his balance since he knows how to swim well and would have been fine - just wet.  :-)

 

Kaelyn was telling her teachers at school about the boat the day after this.  Her one teacher told me that she told them, "I just laid back, and relaxed, and enjoyed the nice weather." 

:-)  And she did too.  She was hooked after this first ride and was so disappointed when she saw us heading back into our canal.  She was hoping we would go up as far as Georgia because she knows that the Intercoastal goes all the way up to New England.  :-) (Never mind the boat's max speed is 15 mph)

 

Notice the way the water looks as if it has a purple hue from the setting sun.

 

My favorite picture of the night!