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.

Kid's Nature Hike With Park Ranger Lauren

It is no secret that Taft is in love with Ranger Lauren.  All I have to do is mention her name and he lights up.  I registered us for the Nature Hike weeks ago but I knew better than to mention it since he has no sense of time.  He was thrilled when I told him this morning that we were going today.  So lets take a hike, shall we?

I decided to divide our hike into parts.  Part 1 is photos of Ranger Lauren and the kids.  She takes so much time with them and makes them feel so smart while she is teaching them new things.  And she can hold their attention forever.

 Here she is showing Taft and our new friend, Lucas, how to spray the spider webs with water to get them to show up.  Notice those patches on Ranger Lauren's backpack?  Take note because they are very important.  And that photographer in the back is from the Daytona News Journal Palm Coast Edition.  It seems that Taft is going to be in the newspaper again.  We just seem to be in the right place at the right time.

 Taft got to hold Ranger Lauren's spider stick on a little water break.  It made his day.

 She taught them how to use their five senses to learn more about the world around them.  Here they are touching different types of trees.

 Notice my boy trying to get as close to the front of the line as possible.

 Here they are getting ready to close their eyes and she how many different sounds they can hear.

 They spotted a gofer turtle out for a walk.  She also showed them where he lives.

 And let Taft touch a "bug's shell".

 And gave him a piece of snake skin.

 After the hike was over, she said that the boys could come back up to the office and see her snakes and turtle.  Taft didn't want to drive with his daddy, he wanted to walk with Ranger Lauren, so he did.

 Here is Ranger Lauren's turtle, Ethel.

And one of her snakes.

Part 2 is photos of the things we saw on the trail.

And Part 3 is very special.  Taft loves to be like Ranger Lauren.  I noticed that her backpack had those great patches on it.  Taft and I always carry our backpack too.  The Ranger Station had park patches for sale so I showed Taft that we would get one and put on our backpack to be just like her.  He was pretty happy.  Then he saw that his backpack was on the way, he had a name tag, but not a badge.  Poor Taft right?  That would be a no.  Ranger Lauren told him that he can't have one just like hers since you have to go to school and work really hard to be a ranger, but she had something she thought he would like.  She gave him a Junior Ranger Pin!!  It was like watching him be knighted by the Queen.  He could not have been happier!

Here is Ranger Lauren showing him what it is and getting him pined up.  Just look at that cheesy grin in the last photo.  He wouldn't even take his eyes off her for the photo.  

And those patches on her backpack?  We now have one all sewn on.  I'll do anything for my sweet boy, even it ends in sore fingers for me.

And we already looking forward to the Kid's Wonders of the Beach Program next month.  I think Ranger Lauren has a stalker.  

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.