Earth Day and Smokey the Bear

Happy Earth Day!!!!!

It started with Anthony asking if PS kids were having school today because its Earth Day! Silly boy, he should know that even if public school is out that we probably aren't. We ran out to Goodwill to see if we could get any ideas about costumes for the play the boys are in. On the way there we saw Smokey the Bear at CVS pharmacy. So we run home, finish up school, grab the camera and head back to CVS. Anthony didn't want to see Smokey so he stayed home and wrote a report about Earth Day and how he can help. Smokey had a Forest Ranger with him and she told the boys what her job was about. They told her what they wrote in their reports, things they can do to help the Earth. They also were giving out free Dogwood trees. They are very small so we are trying to figure out were we should put them.

Here is Anthony's Report....

Even though today is Earth Day, I can help protect Earth every day. For starters I musn't litter or pick up litter if I see any. I wouldn't want to litter ay way because its bad and have to pay a hefty fine if you get caught.

Being wasteful is something I cannot do. Being wasteful like wasting electricity can cause high bills at the end of the month. Elecricity usually takes burning coal, so wasting electricity burns more coal polluting the air. There is only so much fresh wateer on the planet so we need to save some. Wasting water is really unnecessary.

Recycling is another thing that will help. Instead of throwing something away, keep it and use it for another purpose. Or take it to the recycling facility to be made into something else. Recycling cuts down on trash which can leave land for something else.

I haven't gone over it with him yet but I wanted to get it posted today.

Castillo de San Marcos

Today we went to St. Augustine, its the oldest European settlement in the USA. We saw the fort Castillo de San Marcos. It was very interestingly shaped. The boys earned earned Junior Ranger badges there too. The most interesting thing I thought was that the fort is made of coquina, a type of rock made from sea shells that bonded together. It is a soft rock so when ships would fire cannons at the fort it would absorb the impact and do very little damage.

After the Castillo we stopped by and visited with a friend who lives close to Orlando. My guys went swimming with her kids. Jacob and Jeffery caught frogs and lizards and we even saw an alligator in a pond behind their house! My guys were in heaven!

Canaveral National Seashore....

This is my third post tonight, I am trying to catch up. I wouldn't even be doing the blogging this trip except that Jacob asked me too. He said things were awesome today and he was pretty much right. So tonight I am blogging for Jake. And it has been kind of theraputic for me. My dad was all about the outdoors and I had kind of forgotten that.

We found the right enterance today for Canaveral National Seashore. The boys worked on getting Junior Ranger badges. We saw the Turtle Mound which turned out to be about a 40 foot high mountain of discarded oyster shells from the Native Americans who use to live here. It is huge, at the top we were higher than the trees!!

The boys picked up trash along some of the banks of the inlet and found lots of treasures. Jacob found a horseshoe crab shell that the crab had outgrown. Michael found lots of shells with barnacles on them to take home. Some to trade at the Cincinnati Museum Center and some to keep. Anthony found some wierd trash to pick up, it included a timing belt from a car!

We left the park and had lunch at a seafood place on a lagoon. We ate outside and while we were waiting for our food I took the boys for a walk on the dock. Boy am I glad we ate outside, because we would not have gotten to see the dolphin in we hadn't. It was so amazing, I had never seenone in real life. It swam right in front of were we were standing and turned over under the water. We all tried aligator and everyone except me tried steamed clams. No one really liked them but Jake and Michael thought they were great toys.

After lunch we headed back to the park to get the boys J. R. badges. On the trail there we saw an armadillo!! It was so cool, their heads are very small compared to the rest of their bodies.

Then before we left we stopped by the beach at the park. While there Anthony remembered that we had been there before with my dad. We didn't put on swim suits and I told the boys not to get wet but we were at the ocean with very nice waves today.

Merritt Island Wildlife Reserve

We took the boys by accident to the Merritt Island Wildlife Reserve. We were lookin for Canaveral National Seashore and found this instead. It was a beautiful place but the only wildlife we saw there was an Egret eating a fish. Even the lizards were in hiding because it was a little chilly.

Unplanned trip to Florida.....

We had some really sad news last Thursday. My Dad passed away. He moved to Florida about 7 years ago and he wanted to be buried there in Edgewater. We were trying to get here before he died but we didn't make it. He had lung problems for a long time and he got pneumonia and couldn't get rid of it.

While we waited for everything to be taken care of we took the boys to the Marine Science Center in Ponce Inlet. There were tons of lizards out and running around which pleased Jacob enormously. He kept saying, "I am going lizarding." It was all catch and release though, no lizards are coming home with us. The Marine Center was small but very nice. We got to see the turtles they are rehabilitating. We walked a trail and found a geocache.

My Dads funeral was yesterday. All the boys did well during all the things that o along with funerals. I really do have good kids....most of the time :)