Rec Night

Owen is playing flag football this year.  So far, everything is going well with that.  To show support for the local rec programs, the high school football team invited all rec football players and cheerleaders to participate in the warm-up at one of the home ballgames.  All rec participants and their coaches got in for free (and thanks to a lady at the gate who had an extra ticket so did I).  Owen's team got to sit on the side of the field while the high school players warmed up.  When it came time to stretch, Owen and his team got to go on the field and stretch too.  Then, the high school players gave the younger boys high fives on their way to the locker room.

When it was time for the high school players to break through the banner, the rec players got to follow them through the banner and onto the field.  The band was playing and everyone was cheering.  Owen really liked this. This was the first time I've been to a high school ballgame in about a decade (and Owen's first time).  We had a good night of watching football and eating popcorn.  We only stayed until the end of the first quarter, but the Bears were winning when we left and ended up winning the game.

Timber!

 Daddy is having some of the timber near our house cut down.  He is going to turn this land into a field. We have all been accustomed to seeing this area as a forest for so long that it is going to look weird seeing it without trees.  Hannah and I decided to go take some pictures of this land before all the trees are gone.  The kids wanted to go too, and were interested to see all of the logging equipment.  Below are some of the better pictures.

This Train is Rolling Out

 After 41 years at the railroad, my dad has retired!  I don't know if I can even express how happy I am about this.  Now both of my parents can get a well-deserved break.  Daddy's last week was bitter-sweet.  Of course he was glad to be going, but it is hard to let go of things that have been such a integral part of your life for so long.  On the last night of Daddy's work, my mom and all my siblings (except Cassie- who we facetimed) loaded up in the van and drove over to CSX.  We went in and took some pictures and Daddy at his last night on the job.  All of Daddy's co-workers wished him well.  You could tell that they really thought a lot of Daddy and were happy for him.  Before leaving, we watched Daddy clock out for the last time.  Funny enough- Daddy's last day was Tuesday, and on Wednesday my brother Sam got a call from the railroad- he had been hired!  Looks like CSX just can't run properly without a Sam Walker around.  My brother joked that he was going to show up on his first day and say "You can't get rid of Sam Walker".

So what's next?  Well, the day after these photos were taken, Mama and Daddy loaded up in the van to go eat lobster in Maine with my Aunt Connie and Uncle Mike.  They have been talking about doing this for a long time, so we're all thrilled that it has been made a reality.  I hope that there will be many fun trips like this in my parents' future.

Fall Back into Running

The weather has cooled off significantly, and so we have been hitting the road.  A few weekends ago, a few of us girls drove to the Clover Run 5k in Jesup.  They have changed up the course a bit and we ended up running the perimeter of two parking lots- not loving that.  Nevertheless, we all did well and scored a lot of bling.  I placed first in my age group with a time of 25.04.  That's not too bad for this time of the year.




The following weekend Quincy and I completed our first half marathon of the fall- The Jacksonville Marine Corps Half.  This is one of my favorite courses, even though it has been really hot and humid for the past two years.  There is always a great military presence at this event, and the swag is usually top-notch.  Q and I both improved our time over last year (2.06.53 for me). I love running with my sissy!

Grandparents Luncheon

 The kids' school recently hosted a grandparent's luncheon.  The kindergarten luncheon was on a Monday, and the luncheon for first grade was held the following day.  That means that these lucky grandparents got to eat two days worth of school food (hooray).  Olivia and Owen were so excited to have Granny Mel, Gigi, and Papa join them- it was the first thing that they told me about when they got off the bus.  These kids are so lucky to have such great grands!

Atlanta Symphony Orchestra String Quartet

The Okefenokee Heritage Center in conjunction with the Smithsonian Institute has brought the New Harmonies:  Celebrating American Roots Music Exhibit to Waycross. This exhibit brings the humanities to different regions of the state.  One thing that is happening as part of New Harmonies program is that various concerts are being given in our area. These concerts feature different genres of music like gospel, blues, country, folk, and rock.

The latest concert to be held was a classical music performance given by the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra String Quartet. The kids and I decided to check it out.  The theme of the evening was American roots music and featured works by American composers.   The musicians played for about an hour and a half, and were superb.  We sat on the second row, so the kids had a great view of the performance.  They enjoyed the concert and were very well behaved (which earned them an ice cream after the event).  It was really nice to have this type of event be presented so close to home.

Georgia Sea Turtle Center

At the entrance

Over Labor Day weekend, the kids and I visited the Georgia Sea Turtle Center on Jekyll Island.  The barrier islands of Georgia are a popular nesting spot for several different types of sea turtles.  The Georgia Sea Turtle Center patrols these nests, educates the public, and rehabilitates sick or injured turtles.  There are always a lot of activities going on at this center including day camps, beach clean-up efforts, and turtle walks (during nesting season).  I've been wanting to visit this place ever since it opened in 2007, but we've just never gotten around to it.  The trip was definitely worth the drive, and has left me wanting to smack myself for not having visited before.  I was just amazed by the great work being done here.

Stamping her bookmark

The visitor center is pretty small, but has neat and well-laid-out exhibits.  After paying a very reasonable entrance fee, we were all given bookmarks.  We took the bookmarks to different stations and used the stamp machines to fill in five blank spaces on our bookmarks.  These stamps told us what "fate" we would have if we were turtles.  Owen had the best luck of any of us- he was a male turtle who migrated to the Caribbean, had barnacles growing on him, and lived to be a sub-adult.  I had leeches and died as a juvenile- boo.  Another neat exhibit showed various items- like cans, rubber boots, glass bottles- and told us how long it would take these things to decompose in sea water.  I thought this was a very effective way to deter littering.

This little fellow was hanging out in a tank in the visitor's area.  He was the first turtle we saw, and he got the kids' attention fast.

 After learning all about sea turtles, we walked next door to the hospital.

In the hospital, large tanks on both sides of the room contained wounded or sick sea turtles.  In front of the tanks were little cards that told visitors the name of the turtle, why they were being treated, and detailed information about there treatment plan.  The most common reason for treatment were boat wounds and debilitation- although one turtle was there because it had been bitten a couple of times by a shark.  We hung out in the hospital for a little while so that we could hear the presentation given by one of the workers.  It was really very informative.
 

There was no shortage of turtles in the hospital.  Here were two of the loggerhead turtles- Tiburon and Shirley.  They were enormous.  Tiburon was the only full adult turtle present, and he weighed in the neighborhood of 150+lbs.  

 Tiburon was definitely a favorite.

 As we were walking back through the visitor's center to leave, some of the doctors brought Shirley into the examination room.  (There is a glass panel in the visitor's center so that you can see medical procedures being performed).  Someone was stationed on our side of the window to explain to us what was going on.  Shirley was getting her pre-release examination.

Carrying the turtles down to the beach

After our visit, we returned home where I raved about our trip to everyone and "liked" the Sea Turtle Center on Facebook.  Well, the very next day I see a notification on FB saying that they were going to release Shirley and Tiburon (the big one) on Friday afternoon.  So, the kids and I headed back to Jekyll on Friday afternoon for the release.  It was amazing.  There were so many people there, and everyone was cheering for these two turtles.

Waiting for the big moment

 Shirley was the first to be released.  Since there were so many spectators present, the staff walked her around a little so that all of the well-wishers could see her properly.  Once they started heading toward the water, we walked down to try and get a better look.  We had to take our shoes off and roll up our pants, but we had a pretty good view of the events.

There goes Shirley

 After Shirley was on her merry way, it was time for Tiburon to be released.

Tiburon seemed to struggle to get to the water more than Shirley- probably because he is so big.  When he finally made it, there were many cheers and whistles.

Seeing these turtles released was such a neat experience.  The kids and I are now enamored by sea turtles.  I am going to keep my ears open so that we can participate in future sea turtle programs.