Sea Turtles

 

When we arrived at the beach we were very excited to find out that there was an actual loggerhead turtle nest right in front of our hotel. This is a picture of it. We also found out that the eggs would hatch sometime during our stay. How lucky is that. Summers parents are both marine biologists and neither one of them have ever seen a next hatch. We watched every night and waited. We knew that the turtles would come out and go to the water and swim away. Well, that is what is supposed to happen. Around 10 one night we heard someone say, 'the turtles are coming!' We all ran to the beach and sure enough there was a hole at the top of the nest. We didn't know if it would be 10 minutes or several hours before they came out. They (team sent from the aquarium to protect the eggs)told us that we could not take pictures or use regular flashlights. Also we were not to touch the turtles when they came out. Well, about an hour later the sand looked like it started to boil and all of the little turtles were trying to come out at the same time. The problem began then. The moon was not very large that night and even though they shown the flash lights in the direction of the water, the baby turtles saw the lights on the hotel and started going the wrong direction. There were at least 20 people standing around and no one wanted to touch them because they had told us not to. It became evident in a matter of a minute that we were going to have to round up the turtles or they would be lost or eaten by the ghost crabs. I tried to pick them up and put them back in the right direction but they just kept coming at me. There were at least 20 of them coming over the top. I finally held out my T-shirt and put in very carefully as many as I could carry and took them down to the edge of the water. It was so cool to put them in a wave and watch them swim away. We continued to find babies on our walk back to the hotel. Summers stayed out for a couple of hours trying to catch ghost crabs and rescued a few more. Later in the week the group came back and dug up the nest to do the research that was required and then very carefully covered everything up. The nests are protected by the law in NC, you can not mess with them. I tried to explain to Zander and Esy how amazing what we had just seen was, but they didn't understand. I hope that they remember it later and realize how lucky we all were.

Kid's Carnival

How do I get drug into these things? They always sound like so much fun. Today Zander and I went to the Kid's Carnival at the Greensboro Coliseum. I thought if we arrived when it opened that there wouldn't be many people there and the lines wouldn't be long. Wrong!!! It is only 39 degrees and the wind is blowing like crazy. There was such a long line that we had to stand out in the freezing cold for about 10 minutes while they let people in.
Once inside, I look around and instantly saw that this was an event for 5-12 year olds. Now, they had marketed the event as a whole family event so I was disappointed. I saw 4 rides that Zander could ride. He did not want to ride the merry-go-round, so we went over to the dinosaurs. I put him in and to my horror, it went up in the air and around very fast. Thank heavens that when he gets on a ride, he turns into "stone boy". He doesn't move and he puts on this very serious face. (Pictures to come later) When he got off I was afraid that he wouldn't want to ride anything else.
Next, he saw the helicopter rides. We stood in line for about 10 minutes. When it was our turn the man that was running the rides tapes up a homemade sign that says "No one over 150 lbs." I was horrified! What do I do? I obviously can't get on and Zander is not getting on this ride by himself. Well, the woman in front of me said, "I guess my daughter will be riding by herself." She let the man put her on the ride. Well I decided that I was getting on that ride. When we got to the man, he looked at me and said, "he is too short for this ride". I said, "there are other children on the ride that are shorter than he is and you didn't measure any of them." I held my breathe as he began to speak, he said, "Well, you are too tall for the ride". Was I going to push the issue and make him tell me in front of everyone that I was too fat for the ride? While I was deciding, the lady in front of us asked Zander if he wanted to ride with her little girl. He decided that he did not want to ride if Mommy couldn't ride. I was saved. We got out of line and went to the next disappointment.
We then went to one of the many jumping things. He wanted to get in which surprised me because he had a bad experience at a birthday party on one with some big kids and usually doesn't want to get in. He got in and climbed over the first hump. As I was encouraging him to go over the next rock wall type hump, I realized that he wasn't going to be tall enough to get through the next section and guess what?!! No one over 150 lbs. is allowed in again. You have got to be kidding me. Why did I pay for a ticket? I can't do anything. So, when he got close enough to me, I grabbed him and pulled him out.
He was able to ride the train and a dog. Next, we went outside to the pony rides. He rode a pony named Andy and had a ball. Then we bought some carrots and fed the goats and Camels. He loved that. He really wants a baby goat. I would get one for the backyard, but I am afraid that our neighbors would eat it. All in all, it was a fun day. We were really cold so we decided to go home.
We did also go by the local hardware store to view the chicks and ducks that were dyed colors. That was Zander's favorite part of the day. They are so cute. I had to resist the urge to bring home baby ducks. I have done that and will not do it again. Happy Easter!