Day at the Bay

We spent the morning at the Bay Park in Fairhope. The kids played , fed the birds and fished. My girl was the fishing champion, landing three - two little croakers and a bitsy saltwater catfish.
Here she is holding one right before she tossed him back in.

The boy would rather just cast around. Waiting for something to happen is not his forte.

Feeding the birds was a whole lot of fun, for about 45 seconds. It is amazing though how they can catch a froot loop while hovering over your head.

The bay park was pretty much empty when we arrived. No people, no boats, no nuthin. They do charge an $8.00 gate fee per car, but so worth it. It is free to fish off the piers, but you do have to have a marine fishing license, which you can get online.

There are oil booms out.......but so far the only evidence we have seen of the oil is in the decreased number of people around. Traffic has been easy, and waits at restaurants have been short. The children have been having a great time, and have maybe learned just a little along the way!

Gulf Coast Adventures

Today we delivered all the supplies collected in North MS to the Biloxi Wildlife Care and Rehab in Ocean Springs.

Ms. Alison was prepared and had strong male volunteers to unload the stuff.

As a special ( and unexpected ) treat, she showed us a few of the animals in the rehab program. This is a gopher tortoise who was attacked by a German shepherd and had both front legs injured. The white stuff is silvadene cream which helps with healing.

A very special guest at the center is this little sea turtle. It is a rare species, a Kemp's
Ridley Sea Turtle. It was found beached with a fish hook injury. The marks on the top of her neck are from barnacles. She is recovering her strength in a pool until she can be released safely.

The sea turtle smelled distinctly of fish, which made my little ninja back off...

What a face!

Here's another little gopher tortoise. We interrupted his dinner.

Lastly, we took a look at a baby alligator. He was small, but fiesty!

I am so hoping that the kids take away a little bit of why we came here this weekend. It really wasn't about playing in the sand and eating seafood. Maybe they will remember that we did a little something to make a difference in the outcome of even just a few of these animals.

Rock Around the Clock

It was good, y'all. For a bunch of little 6 and 7 year olds, these ladies did a great job!

Regular classes and competitions are over for the summer, but dance camp starts in a couple of weeks!

Military Mix

I finally got to look at the picture CD that I got from the last dance competition, and I think there are a lot of GREAT pictures on it! I know, y'all are sick of kid dance pictures, but I just had to show you a few . This number was called "Military Mix" and they won quite a few trophies and ribbons for it this year. I don't know how this many 5-6 year olds can do anything together, but these girls could!

This Friday

Hello friends!

Thanks for hanging in with me on this little blog. I know I have been remiss and have not kept it up for a while, but a lot has been going on! We have had dance competitions and recitals, activities at work, and now we are taking a trip to the Gulf Coast to deliver a LOAD of supplies to the Biloxi Wildlife Care Center so that they can rehab the oiled birds that they are sure to be getting in the near future.

While the wildlife involvement at this point hasn't been as bad as it was with the Exxon spill, there still will be lots of birds, mammals and other sea life affected.

Our plan is to leave Friday am and drive down to the Biloxi Center and drop off all that we have collected. Our friends, family, clients, and collegues have been so wonderful in providing the things needed on the Center's " wish list." Thanks to them, many of the oiled animals will survive!

While I can't do much, I can do this , and hopefully this one thing will make a difference to someone.

My New BFF

I think I have found my new best friend. Her name is Kindle and she carries my books around for me.

My family got the hint ( finally) and got me this little beauty for Mother's day. Little did they know that now they will have to fend for themselves for a lot of dinners because now all I want to do is come home from work and read. ( I know....you though I came home every day and played on the internet anyway, so what difference would it make?)

The beauty of this thing is that it can hold 1000 books. That is 100 books a year for 10 years. I don't think even I will read that much! Down side, you have to buy the books. Granted, there are a lot of free ones offered, and the list changes daily. For the most part, Kindle books are discounted off the price of the "real" books. It is light and easy to handle, fits in a purse and the screen looks JUST LIKE a page in a book. There is no glare in the sunshine like there is when you take your laptop outside.

I have yet to get something like a cookbook to see how that works....not sure about the "searchability" on those. Any of you know?

Thank you family for giving me something I can really use and enjoy ...now go do something while I read!

Yay!

Finally! Starbuck's has come up with a solution for those of us who had the heartbreaking loss of their local Starbuck's drive through. I , for one, don't make Starbuck's coffee at home because I rarely finish the whole pot and I just can't abide with pouring out a half pot of MONEY!

Anyway, this tastes pretty great for instant. It certainly would be better if I could add a buncha sugar and cream and chocolate or vanilla , but I can't so I make do with a little splenda and some half and half. Go get some and let me know what you think!

Tragic weekend

After two days of horrific storms, the front is starting to move out of our area. This photo was taken ( I am not sure by whom) in Millington, TN. A levy was breached near the Navy base there and some 3000 people were evacuated. A personal friend of mine lost her home in the flood and a couple of her pet birds in the effort to get out.
At our house, nothing was damaged. We are just a little sleep deprived from staying awake watching the radar and running outside to check the clouds.

We will be keeping all affected by these storms in our thoughts and prayers.