Aug
31
sea life
confession time:
i typically forget to be thankful. its not my go-to emotion, prayer, etc. in fact, i despise writing Thank You notes, and chances are, if you know me personally, i probably owe you one for something or other…and i’ve probably written it about 10 times in my head, but have never translated it onto my pretty stationary to send your way. wow…that sounds bad to actually type that out! but its unfortunately true.
however, living where we live has given me a new desire for thankfulness. based off what i’ve just confessed to you above, you know that that cannot be out of my own ability or desire. its just that this place reminds me every flippin’ minute how crazy it is that we get to live here, how BIG God is, and how much He demonstrates His love for me, an ungrateful child, who doesn’t deserve it.
its almost impossible to not be reminded of God’s Goodness, and without having to think about it want to thank Him, when this is what i see when i walk in my front door:
remember when we moved in here, we had plans to stay for around 7 months or so? well…we are now here for the foreseeable future, and we couldn’t be more happy about it!
living here has taught us a whole heck of alot. WAY more about God’s Provision and Grace than anything else.
we followed these tracks as they moved up out of the ocean and wound around along the beach:
until they moved up to the dunes:
where we found a brand new nest!
see how that wing sticking out of the water looking oh-so-much like a Great White fin might’ve freaked you out too??
but its also taught us quite a bit about His Creation…and just how awesome and unique sea life was created to be! i’ve mentioned many times before about my fam’s fascination with all things sea life. i meant to post about this a while back, but you know how that goes!
so backtracking a tad…
a large part of our summer was spent tracking sea turtles and waiting for eggs to be laid and nests to hatch. the crazies would talk incessantly to whomever would listen about their beloved sea turtles. we checked out every single book we could find from the kids section of our library on the subject…here’s just a sampling:
(is it only me, or do library books just disappear at your house too?? i had to go just yesterday to our library to remove the block on my library card cause its seems as if “Tammy Turtle: A Tale of Saving Sea Turtles” is still in our midst. but i’ve turned this small little place upside-down looking for it, and its no where to be found. how does that happen?)
(is it only me, or do library books just disappear at your house too?? i had to go just yesterday to our library to remove the block on my library card cause its seems as if “Tammy Turtle: A Tale of Saving Sea Turtles” is still in our midst. but i’ve turned this small little place upside-down looking for it, and its no where to be found. how does that happen?)i digress…
our fridge was covered with pictures of the different beaches around here and their turtles and turtle nests:
so this is where things got really exciting for us…
so this is where things got really exciting for us…one morning, the Bug and I went out for an early morning walk, and happened upon this:
we followed these tracks as they moved up out of the ocean and wound around along the beach:
until they moved up to the dunes:
where we found a brand new nest!
in this next picture, you can see the track of the momma sea turtle up from the ocean, and then back down to the water after she laid her eggs:
(the tracks running horizontally are those of the Turtle Patrol’s 4 Wheeler. every morning, as the sun rises, a group of people called the Turtle Patrol drive up and down our beach in search of these turtle tracks. they then follow them until they find the nest, and rope off the nest as a form of protection for the next few months until they hatch. i think it would be WAY fun to be a Turtle Patrol-Woman one day…maybe when i’m “retired” ha!)
of course, we were all fascinated, and since we track the nests’ progress anyway, we decided we would adopt one!
our very own turtle nest:
we checked on it everyday and i would often wake up in the morning to find the Boy standing on the couch on our porch watching our nest from out our back windows. we counted the months until the time when it was supposed to hatch. they baby turtles hatch at night or early in the morning, and although really hard to time right because you never really know the date they’ll hatch, you can sometimes see tons of baby turtles hatching and making their way to the great big sea.
our very own turtle nest:
we checked on it everyday and i would often wake up in the morning to find the Boy standing on the couch on our porch watching our nest from out our back windows. we counted the months until the time when it was supposed to hatch. they baby turtles hatch at night or early in the morning, and although really hard to time right because you never really know the date they’ll hatch, you can sometimes see tons of baby turtles hatching and making their way to the great big sea.
our nest hatched one night when i was in Costa Rica, and i got a tearful call the next day from my Boy, devastated that we missed it and that our beloved nest could no longer be seen out our back windows.
a few weeks ago, we did get to see a nest that had just hatched the night before. you know its hatched when you see the indention in the sand:
and the little baby turtle tracks as they made their way to the sea:
those sea turtles brought lots of learning experiences for us this summer, and we are already looking forward to the spring when the nests will start all over again!
and the little baby turtle tracks as they made their way to the sea:
those sea turtles brought lots of learning experiences for us this summer, and we are already looking forward to the spring when the nests will start all over again!we tried to fit in some beach days the week before school started, to end our summer with a bang. we were surprised once again at what we happened upon in the ocean.
the Hubs and the Boy were out surfing one afternoon, when i spotted this just a few yards away:
the Bug and I frantically yelled and screamed and motioned for them to come in quickly, cause i knew that we weren’t just looking at a dolphin, and the first glance i got of that fin told me that whatever was under the surface was B-I-G!
the Bug and I frantically yelled and screamed and motioned for them to come in quickly, cause i knew that we weren’t just looking at a dolphin, and the first glance i got of that fin told me that whatever was under the surface was B-I-G!and then i saw 2 fins, swimming in a circle, and only one thing registered in my mind: “Shark Feeding Time!”
we stood on shore with a group of people that had gathered, and watched that thing flail around all over the place, before finally coming to the conclusion that it was NOT in fact a shark, but a Manta Ray with a wingspan of about 15 feet!!! the problem was that when its wing scratched the surface of the water, it looked JUST LIKE a huge shark fin, causing unnecessary panic from the mommas on the shoreline with kiddos in the water. the good news though, is that manta rays cannot harm said kiddos in the water, so that made me feel better (but not “better” enough to let them back out that day!)
could not get a full pic of that creature that hung around in that same spot of our ocean right outside our back door for the next 3 days, until the hurricane waters pushed him away. but to give you an idea, here is a google image of what we were seeing:
we stood on shore with a group of people that had gathered, and watched that thing flail around all over the place, before finally coming to the conclusion that it was NOT in fact a shark, but a Manta Ray with a wingspan of about 15 feet!!! the problem was that when its wing scratched the surface of the water, it looked JUST LIKE a huge shark fin, causing unnecessary panic from the mommas on the shoreline with kiddos in the water. the good news though, is that manta rays cannot harm said kiddos in the water, so that made me feel better (but not “better” enough to let them back out that day!)
could not get a full pic of that creature that hung around in that same spot of our ocean right outside our back door for the next 3 days, until the hurricane waters pushed him away. but to give you an idea, here is a google image of what we were seeing:
see how that wing sticking out of the water looking oh-so-much like a Great White fin might’ve freaked you out too??and if that wasn’t enough action, just a few days before, the kiddos and some friends were out in the ocean, same spot, when a man comes running down our beach saying to get the kids out of the water…a 7 foot croc was swimming our way. WHAT THE??? yep…a 7 ft crocodile (or alligator…i don’t know which one) came baralling down the shoreline, swimming right where our kiddos were just surfing.
i only had my trusty IPhone Cam, so this is all i was able to capture…just enough to prove to you that i’m not lying!!
phew! i forget that the ocean is alive with activity and life! its good to be reminded…
phew! i forget that the ocean is alive with activity and life! its good to be reminded…however, i kinda like to think of it as this…just a perfect backdrop for a morning sunrise!
that’s about all the excitement i’ve got for you today!
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