Cumberland Island Pictures

Pictures of Day 1

Snakes and Reptiles!!! Oh My!

We have now arrived at Day 3 of the Great Adventure and it was our final morning at camp.

Our last class was about reptiles and snakes. This was one of the coolest experience of the whole trip in my opinion. We got to pet baby alligators and see various kinds of turtles in the natural habitat, not just behind the glass.

However, the most exciting part was when we went into the snake room. Now, let me tell ya'll that I am NOT a lover of snakes. We have had two snakes in the yard this year and it just completely freaks me out. But something came over me when I entered this snake room! :) Kayla and I both got to hold our first snake. Not just pet it, hold it! I think it was a king snake, but I'm not sure. I cannot even begin to explain how it feels to hold these creatures. It takes both hands to hold them and they just coil themselves around your hands and arms just as if they are coiling around a tree branch. The snake that they guide was holding actually managed to get it's tail through the belt loop on her shorts and then down into her pocket. It was crazy! I can't explain it, but it was just a really neat experience. Pictures to come soon for those of you who haven't already seen them on facebook.

That was the end of our great adventure. It was a great trip and I am so glad that I got to go with Kayla. She had a blast hanging out with all of her friends (and her mom too)!

Cumberland Island

Day 2 of our field trip began with a very early morning breakfast and then about an hour drive to the place where we would get on the ferry to head over to Cumberland Island. The ferry drive lasted about 45 minutes and then we finally arrived. Ya'll - this island was beautiful. The island is full of these live oak trees that just make a canopy over the island - it reminded me of the rain forest.

This was a really long day and we were all exhausted by the time we got back to the ferry dock. We walked about 4 1/2 miles and saw a lot of stuff including several different kinds of crabs that I had never seen and many wild horses. Fortunately we did not see any of the snakes that they talked about or alligators or anything like that!

We started off by walking to the beach and dredging the ocean floor to see what kind of creatures we could come up with. That was just a very cool experience to see all of these kids out in the ocean with this huge net working together to bring up any treasure they could find. It turns out that the coolest "treasure" that we found was caught in a bucket closer to shore by one of the other moms. It was a moonshell crab that had been taken over by a hermit crab with two sea anenomes on it and in between the sea anenomes was the tiniest baby crab I have ever seen. Very cool. I had no idea that there were so many different types of crabs... ghost crabs, huge horseshoe crabs, moonshell crabs... you name it - it was crazy! I have never seen a ghost crab before and guess what? They are white and blend in with the sand, like ghosts. Hahaha!

So, from there we walked and walked and walked down the beach looking for washed up treasure and shells. I have to tell you that we didn't find too much, but there were a ton of horsehoe crabs in various stages of death and decay. We walked over the sand dunes until we got to Dungeness. I think that is how you spell it. There was a ton of history involved in that house and the outlying buildings. Since I am not much of a history buff I will just tell you that if you want to know more about all of this, ask Kayla. She is my history girl! Once we got to the house, and I use that term lightly - mansion would be a far better word, there were wild horses all over the yard area. It was amazing how close you could get to these creatures. Apparently, the Carnegies were the last family to live there and it was in Mrs. Carnegie's Will that upon her death the horse should be let go to roam the island freely.

All in all it was a good day, but very long and tiring. We got back to camp that night and after dinner we did the fireside circle. The guides that did this little program were hilarious. They told funny stories to the kids and sang crazy songs. The kids loved it! Ask Kayla to sing you the song about the moose and to tell you about... The Boyscouts of America....

Up next... Day 3 and the snakes!

FINALLY

Okay, so I really have been wanting to post about Kayla and I's great Field Trip Adventure, but I have been swamped! However, I am making time today because I'm afraid if I don't get it posted I'll forget what we did! :) I happen to be having an incredibly slow and boring day at work sooooo, today it is! You'll have to wait on pictures though until I can upload those from home.

So, day 1...

Kayla and I were able to drive ourselves so it provided for some great mother and daughter time. We had an uneventful trip until we got on the island. We had finally caught up with the bus in Statesboro and so we followed them from Statesboro to St. Simons Island thinking they knew where they were going. However, that was not the case! We ended up following the bus and about 8 or 10 other parents around the island for probably 45 minutes. So, by the time that we got to Driftwood Education Center, we were very late and they were rushing us to lunch so we could get on with our afternoon activities. The first activity that we did was about the marsh. It was an enlightening discussion of how the marsh works - it really was very interesting. From there we went down into the marsh and the guide let the girls dig mud up from the bottom of the marsh area to do mud facials. Apparently all of the decaying junk at the bottom of the marsh provides for some very nutrient rich mud that is great for your skin! I opted out of that one because I wasn't sure when we were going to be able to wash it off. Had I known that we would leave the marsh to go to the water hose, I would have given myself a facial too!
From the marsh we went trawling! This was extremely fun! We went out on a boat and they put the nets down to see what kind of marine life we could come up with. Kayla and I both held live shrimp, we saw a tongue fish, an anchovie, and some other fish that I don't remember the names of.
After that, we were finally able to unpack our stuff and get into our cabins and have some dinner. That night after dinner, we all did squid dissections. It was kind of cool, but I have to tell ya'll that the smell was awful. I mean really awful!!!! Kayla loved this class - she popped out eyeballs and checked out the "goods" of the squid and finally ended with puncturing the ink sack and giving her dear old mom an ink tatoo!
So, obviously by this point, you know that we are completely exhausted. It's probably about 9:00 p.m. and all of the girls and room moms have to have showers. Nine people, one shower - you do the math. Not to mention that we had to be up and ready for breakfast by about 6:00-6:30 the following morning. It was a late night - the girls were wild and wound up, but eventually I think they all did finally go to sleep.

Stay tuned for Day 2... Cumberland Island

The Great Adventure

Tomorrow morning, bright and early, Kayla and I will leave town to go on our great adventure! The field trip has arrived! We will be leaving to go to an Education Center for three days. We will be exploring ocean life, nightime animal habits, mud holes, squid, etc. I was slightly horrified when I first started thinking about all of this. My idea of camping is a very nice Hyatt Place or Hilton Garden Inn. I've done the tent camping and while it can be very relaxing, I'd much rather be at a real hotel! This is camping in a very glorified setting. There are no tents or blow up air beds that go flat on you in the night. There is a cinder block dorm with bunk beds! And get this, I really thought we would be eating at cement picnic tables, but instead we will be dining in a dining room with TABLE CLOTHS!!!! Whoohoo! The only things that freak me out a little are the mud hole that we will be exploring, the night time hike really creeps me out. A couple of the things that I read on the web site started off by saying, "get out of your comfort zone". Nice. I LIKE my comfort zone!

Anyway, my attitude is much improved from what it was. I am really getting excited about the fun that Kayla and I will have and all the memories that we will be making! We are driving down just the two of us instead of riding the bus, and I think that will provide some great mom and daughter time. Past that who knows what the next few days have in store for us. I will be sure to take lots of pictures to post when I get back.

What I'm Learning About Life

Well, well, it has been quite a while since I updated. I have thought about updating many times, does that count? I had a friend tell me that she doesn't check my blog much any more because I don't ever update. Ouch! :)

We have been trying desperately to settle in to our new routine of having two children in school and me working more than six hours a week! It has been an adjustment period for sure, but it gets a little easier every week. I have learned one very big thing... I used to think that my life was busy and what I have learned is that I was a big baby. I had no idea what busy was. Some days life is just overwhelming to me and I want to crawl in a hole and never come out again. Totally depressing, huh? Yea well, that's where I've been and if I'm being honest, I'm probably still there a little bit. I'm learning all about what a selfish individual I am. Not a pretty picture at all.

I'm also learning that my daughter is at age where I have to start letting go a little bit and start letting her make her own mistakes instead of trying to control her whole life. We have had more homework battles than I care to count. These usually end with me being angry and her crying and being frustrated. So, I have made up my mind that it is not a battle I wish to face anymore. I will help her if she asks and check her work if she asks, otherwise, she is on her own. She is sooo smart, but also very lazy when it comes to school work. We are in a very interesting state with Kayla. On one hand, it is so much fun because we can do lots together. We spent the whole afternoon out running errands yesterday, just her and I, and we had a blast. She is funny and wants to joke around with you. I see so much of Craig in her. She was telling me yesterday that her Sunday School teacher had told them to ask their parents what kind of people we thought they were. I could honestly say that she is one of the kindest, most compassionate children that I know. She is an awesome teacher and is so easy going for a girl. She has Craig's sense of humor and my Type B personality! hehehe! Okay, maybe Craig's Type B personality, because if you know me, you know I am an ANAL A! So, I say all of that to say, that we are in the midst of highs and lows with Kayla.

I have learned that Kindergarten and five year old boys make for some serious temper tantrums in the late afternoon. These can come in the form of jumping up and down over not getting the kind of fruit snacks that they want, or it can come in the form of crying over not getting to wear a certain shirt, or basically anything. He is doing so well in school and his teachers LOVE him, even his P.E. teachers told me they love him. We started out the year with him being so wild when he got home that it would just make us crazy. Now we have resorted to temper tantrums and fits of crying. But I am glad that he is being good at school. He has just started receiving homework every night so now we have two homework battles to engage in. Fun stuff! He was so excited to be getting homework though - how long will that last do you suppose?

I have also learned that I have the most amazing husband in the entire world. He has pitched in in so many ways. I hate to ask for help, but am quickly getting better at it! He has ironed, cooked, helped with homework, folded clothes, helped clean, whatever I need. Sometimes he just comes out to the kitchen and wants to know what he can do to help. He is wonderful! I love you babe! As a clarifying statement, he would have done any of this stuff before I starting working, but he never really had to and I never had to ask, so basically what I am saying is that he has always been amazing, not just in the last couple of months. I have even gotten flowers just because I'm doing a good job at handling things and not having a nervous breakdown! Hehehe! Enough bragging, but seriously, I love that man!

So, that is what I am learning! I have more to post about, but I need to close this and get back to work. Look for another post SOON! No, really, I mean soon! Maybe this afternoon!