Blue Moon Hike | Gable Rogers State Park

On Friday night, Taft and I went to Gamble Rogers State Park to watch the watch the blue moon rise.  Ranger Tony was giving the program and a lot of people, of all ages, showed up.
The first part of the program was to learn a little about the moon and the blue moon.  We also talked about Neil Armstrong's passing and how his family requested that people look at the moon and give him a little wink.
Once we got on the beach, it took awhile for the moon to start to rise over the clouds.  So we found a few other things to talk about and look at.

 And then the moon came up.  It was very fast so Taft didn't mind sitting there and looking at it. And even let me take a few photos of him with the feathers that he found.

 And as it was getting dark, the ghost crabs started to come out to look around.  Taft was really not a fan of them at all.

 And of course, Taft loved hanging out with Ranger Tony who was nice enough to take a little extra time to talk and walk with him.

 And it was pretty dark by the time we left to come home and the moon was big enough and high enough that could see it all the way home.

Kid's Wonders of the Beach Program

Yesterday, Taft and I went to another great program at Gamble Rogers Memorial Recreation Area at Flagler Beach.  Of course Taft didn't care what the program was about, he was just thrilled to Ranger Lauren.
The first park of the program was at the pavilion.  She had skulls from birds, sea turtles, and a dolphin.  The kids got to guess what they were from.  She also had a great project set up to show the kids how beach erosion happens.  She had sand and water with little plants on the "beach" and then each person got to take turns using a sponge to make "waves".  It showed them why they should not play on the dunes and pick plants there.

 Taft enjoyed getting to listen to the "ocean" in a conch shell.

The second part of the program was on the beach itself.  The first stop was one of the sea turtle nests on the beach.  Ranger Lauren told them how the sea turtles lay lots of eggs during the night and the Ranger's have to be on the beach very early each morning to look for new nests to mark in order to keep them safe.
They dug for clams and then they all looked around for things for a little show and tell by Ranger Lauren.

 A nice local fisherman brought over some live sand flees and clams that he used for bait.  The kids loved seeing those sand flees moving around.

 They also loved hearing Ranger Lauren tell them about the items that they found.  I was pretty impressed with Taft.  I was helping him look and completely walked past what I thought was just trash.  He picked it up anyway and it turned out to be mangrove seeds.  He also found a nice piece of drift wood that he brought home.

It was another great day with Ranger Lauren.  I also found out the that charter school we have looked into for Taft goes on field trips there.  I am sure that he would love that.

Full Moon Beach Hike

Last night, Taft and I were lucky enough to go on a full moon beach hike at the Gamble Rogers State Park.  They have them for every full moon but we just found out about them in the last month.

A little backstory - Taft and I went to the library for a crab program for kids.  The park ranger from Gamble Rogers came and she brought crabs that she caught with her.  Taft loved Ranger Lauren.  Before we left he told her thank you for coming and she told him that he should come to her park sometime.  Taft took that as a personal invitation for him.

So - we drove out to the park and pulled in the parking lot.  He saw Ranger Lauren right away.  She was talking to all the people that were there to go on the hike.  We were the youngest and Taft was the only child.  He went running to Ranger Lauren to give her a hug.  And she was so sweet to him for the entire night.

Once the hike started, Taft had a little trouble walking on the dry sand wearing sneakers.  He was very worried about keeping up with the Rangers.  Our first stop was the first sea turtle nest of the year.  We talked about what to do if we see a turtle or turtle tracks and also who to call so that the nest can be marked and taken care of.

As we started to leave the nest and walk back down the beach, he wanted to be with Ranger Lauren.  He started yelling, "Park Ranger, wait on me!!".  Of course the older people laughed and Ranger Tony told me that I had lost my child for the night.  Ranger Lauren asked him to find five shells.  He started to look while they kept walking.  He was in such a hurry because he didn't want her to leave him.

Here he is with her as she told everyone little facts about the shells.  And of course we brought a few of those home. 

The rest of the night, he walked with Ranger Lauren and held her hand.  He wants to go back and see her soon.  She told us about a kids hike that is coming up so we are going to make plans to attend.

Here are a few photos of some of the things that we saw and learned about.

 And of course the full moon.  Tonight is the official full moon.  Also - it will be the biggest full moon of the year and will appear about 15% bigger than normal.  A super moon as they are called.  The moon rises at about 11:30 tonight, so I am not sure that we will be up to see it.

April Update

I can't believe how behind I have gotten on blogging.  There are many reasons for it though.  We have been busy here.  Busy with work, school, and I have taken a extra job with Macaroni Kid.  I won't go into the new job a lot since you can read more about it on the link above, but I do still have my full time day job.  MK is a night and weekend kinda thing that I have taken on.  This am marked my 3rd week and newsletter.  So far, so good.

On March 30, Taft got another Gran Box in the mail.  It was a big one!  He got lots of clothes.  Shorts and shirts.  He also got Play Dough, Toy Story figures, Toy Story pencil case (it will be great for crayons in the car), sunglasses, and snacks.  We do love Gran Boxes.
Yesterday, Taft and I went to get his hair cut.  It was much needed.  He did great.  For the first time ever, he voiced no complaints.  Right before his turn, he saw Miss Meaghan from his school.  She had just gotten her cut and color from the same girl that was going to cut Taft's hair.  He was pretty excited about it.  He ran to her to give her a hug and kiss.  He loves Meaghan!


Before.  Waiting for the cut to begin.

After.  Safe in the car with Bunny and some juice.

Then it was off to Kohl's to look for shirts to match some of the shorts that Gran sent.  She sent a brown pair and navy pair but was unable to find shirts.  Taft and I had no trouble finding shirts at Kohl's.  I. love. Kohl's.  The Jumping Beans line is great for him.  It has not let me down yet.  Plus - they are almost always on sale.  We got the two we went for and then found one on sale for $3.90 and had to get it too.  Where else can you get 3 great shirts for under $15?



His shirts to match his new brown and navy shorts.



The "extra" shirt Taft got for being a good boy at his haircut.  He likes clothes as much as toys.






After the shopping was over, and Taft had paid for and carried out his clothes, we went to Wendy's for a fast lunch.  We got it to go and came home for a nap.



He really likes fries.

Today - Shane and I took Taft to the beach to fly his kite.  We went to eat at one of the places on the water a few weeks ago and he saw a boy with a kite.  He has told us since that he wanted one too.  I saw some at Dollar Tree on Friday and picked one up for him.  He was amazed at how it would fly but there was not a lot of wind today.  It did fairly well but he was ready to come home. 

We stopped by Publix, aka The Cookie Store, on the way home and got him a cupcake.  After he played with it and got it everywhere ate it, he took a nap.  Now we just have to get ready for school and work tomorrow.