Okefenokee Field Trip

Last week Olivia's pre-k class went to the Okefenokee Swamp Park for their last field trip of the year. Olivia was excited to have Gigi as her chaperone. The kids (and chaperones) had a great time at the park. They took a train ride, saw the exhibits, and got to touch a snake and a gator. When I picked Olivia up later in the day, she was super excited about the fun day that she had had. She was also excited about the alligator stuffed animal that Gigi had bought for her at the park. Not only has my child touched a gator more times than I can count, but she now sleeps with a stuffed alligator in her bed. I hope she's not on the way to being a "swamp person".

Easter Morning

The kids awoke on Easter morning to discover that they had had a visit from the Easter Bunny. The bunny had filled their baskets with candy, DVDs, a puzzle, and bubbles. The kids were thrilled. After checking out the loot, they each took their baskets to their rooms to search for the eggs that the Easter Bunny had hidden for them. After finding all of the eggs, the kids began getting ready for Sunday school and church. As expected, their was a large crowd in attendance. The kids were excited to have a "guest" (Granny Mel) in their Sunday school class. Gigi is one of the Pre-K Sunday school teachers, so both Grandmothers ended up being in the kids' class. After church we went to the front to get our picture made by the cross, which is always decorated so nicely on Easter. Not to call any names, but some people (cough cough- Daddy, Sam, Quincy- cough cough) left instead of coming to the front after the service, and so not everyone appears in this year's Easter pictures.

Easter Eggs

The kids had a lot of fun dyeing and hunting for Easter eggs this year. We colored some eggs for the Easter Bunny to hide, and then there were two egg hunts with plastic eggs at Granny Buie's house. There were plenty of prize eggs, so all of the kids were able to find one. Here are some eggcellent pictures (sorry- had to do it).

Swampfest

Every year, the city of Waycross has a two day celebration called "Swampfest". The days are filled with competitions, demonstrations, and vendors. During the evenings, there are live bands. For the Saturday night grand finale, the festival-goers are treated to fireworks and an outdoor concert given by the Swingin' Medallions (our favorite). Since Swampfest usually falls during the week of Spring Break, we rarely get to go (because we are usually out of town). This year, however, we were in town and able to attend. It was so much fun! Granny Mel was visiting, so she and I took the kids. It didn't take long for us to spot my dad, brother, and two of my sisters. My brother Sam was working the door as a bouncer at KDs. We stopped to say a little something to him, and daddy went inside for a moment. Seeing how uncle Sam was at the door and Papa was going in, Owen thought that he should go in, too. He tried, and he got bounced- by his own uncle! What's that about? Getting bounced didn't hurt Owen's self esteem, though. It wasn't long before both and Olivia were cutting a rug on the "dancefloor". The kids had such a good time. We stayed for one entire set by the band and for the fireworks that followed. It was lots of fun.

Spring at the Zoo

The kids and I took a trip to the Jacksonville Zoo during Spring Break last week. We haven't been to the zoo in about two years, and I must admit that I am impressed with the improvements that continue to be made. It is really becoming a great place. Since our last visit, the zoo has added several new attractions and exhibits- including a magellenic penguin exhibit with an underwater viewing area just for kids. The zoo itself is arranged in "loops"- most named for the different continents. My favorite loop is "South America". The jaguar exhibit is fantastic (kind of has to be since the jaguar is the mascot of Jacksonville football team).






















I always enjoy seeing which animals the kids are the most interested in. It changes with each trip. On this particular day, the kids were most impressed by the penguins, reptiles (all), and gorillas. The silverback was probably the favorite animal of the day because when we walked up he had his butt straight up in the air and pointed at the viewing glass. The kids thougt this was hilarious, and insisted that we see "the gorilla with his booty in the air" from several different viewing platforms and angles. I'm actually glad that we did because that gave us more time on the "Great Apes" loop. It was great to be in this part of the zoo on this particular day because the siamangs were going crazy. I did not know that they could be so loud- and I learned that they have little puffy things (like a frog) on their chins that puff out when they shreik. It seemed like everyone visiting the zoo was crowded around this exhibit because their noise and antics were simply amazing. I felt like I was in a jungle in Africa with wild, crazy monkeys all around me.




Before leaving the zoo, we visited the kids water-play area. We didn't bring bathing suites, but the kids still wanted to get in and splash a little. I said that it would be okay, but told them not to get too wet because we didn't have extra clothes. My advice was totally ignored. Thank goodness it was sunny enough to dry out their clothes before we left the zoo.

Silver Springs

This past week was our school system's Spring Break (hooray!). I kept the kids home with me all week and we had several "adventures". Our first adventure was to Silver Springs Park in Ocala, Florida. This is a nature park where the main attraction is- as the name suggests- a natural spring. According to our tour guide, the water that "springs" out of the ground here is 98% pure. I believe it- you could see straight to the bottom. There were several things to do at the park. The kids' favorite was the glass bottom boat tour of the springs. Their eyes were glued to the glass window for the duration of the tour. They would get so excited whenever they spotted fish or turtles. The weather was beautiful during our visit, and so there were several people kayaking in the springs.

Silver Springs offers a variety of activities including a jeep safari ride. For this activity, we loaded into a little trailer pulled by a jeep and ventured into "wild" florida to see various animals. The animals weren't that great, but the jeep ride was fun. The road was good and bumpy, and the kids liked getting bounced around in their seats. After the safari, we visited some of the other animal exhibits. We walked up to the giraffe pen during a designated snack time, and Owen was able to feed some crackers to the giraffe. Olivia wouldn't go near the giraffe. We also were able to see the alligator show. At the end of the show, the kids were able to touch an small alligator.

A Lesson in Life at the Easter Egg Hunt

This past Saturday was the Easter egg hunt at our church. It had been raining off and on all morning on Saturday, and I was afraid that the hunt was going to be cancelled. Thankfully, the skies cleared up for about three hours in the afternoon- just long enough for us to hunt for eggs outside. Although the weather did not cause the event to be cancelled, it did effect attendance. Still, the kids had a great time. The "hunters" were divided into two groups. Since neither of my kids are in Kindergarten, they were both in the younger group. Olivia was actually the oldest kid in the younger group, so she had no trouble getting a lot of eggs into her basket. She found the most eggs in the group, and she found one of the four "prize" eggs. Owen didn't find the most eggs nor did he find a prize egg. This event turned out to be a "learning opportunity" for Owen. If he looks like he's crying in the pictures below, that's because he is. He got upset first because he didn't find a prize egg. Olivia gave him hers so that he wouldn't be upset. This seemed to cheer him up a bit- that is until Olivia won the big chocolate bunny for having the most eggs. Owen then started crying again because he didn't get the grand prize. What Owen got instead were two lectures from Mama about sportsmanship (just what he wanted, I'm sure). Hopefully, he understood what I said and took it to heart. We still have one more egg hunt to go, and I'm hoping that we won't have this issue again.