Martin Luther King's day

For the Martin Luther King holiday, we decided to go to the beach. I like to go to the beach by the Indian river, near us, because it has many of the benefits of going to the oceanside, without the dangerous waves. Since I usually have to take the kids on my own, I like the no wave part. It means I get to relax too. So we drove around for awhile to find a place by the river that allowed dogs, since we would like to get Baby socialized to different environments as part of her training. We finally came to a place near one of the causeways, near the museum and aquarium that we took Sage and her family to. We had so much fun. The kids built sandcastles, sandforts, moats, little Islands, minipools, you name it, they built,or dug it. Of course Baby had to help. We saw many boats, and even a pod of dolphins. I think there were maybe 6 or 7 dolphins among the pod. I tried to take a picture of them, but they were too far away and too fast for my camera for me to get any decent pictures. Hopefully I painted a good enough image in your minds to make up for it. It was so much fun, and we could have been there through the night. But all good things have to come to an end. Right?!

Sweet Baby Cloud

Sage drew our family's name for Christmas this year. We had told her we wanted to buy one of her puppies as a Christmas present for the kids, but the puppy ended up becoming a Christmas present for the whole family from Sage's family. What a great gift this little puppy has been.

We were able to see them when she was really little with her brothers and sisters. I can't tell which one is her in these two pictures, but I know she is in there.

Now she is about twice, if not three times as big when we first saw her. I think since we got her for Christmas she has even grown. Here Little Corby is teaching her some new tricks. In the one below she is resting from all the fun.

Our new time out spot for when the kids are naughty....just kidding. This is the puppy's crate to help house train her. It has been a life saver, and the kids love playing in it too.

A few Close ups.

Brenna's little Baby. Interesting story. After we first received the puppy we had no idea what to name her. Little Corby first came up with the name "Cloudy" but we just couldn't make it stick. Then came the names "Cotton Candy", "Alpine", and so on. Nothing really stuck until one night I was out with Brenna and the little puppy. Brenna tripped and I went up to her saying "Are you OK baby?" Immediately after I said that Brenna jumped up, started patting her legs with her hands and calling to the puppy "Baby, Baby!" That is when I knew that my little 1 1/2 year old just did what no one else could. Brenna came up with the perfect name. "Baby". Officially her name is "Sweet Baby Cloud" to help incorporate all of our ideas. But "Baby" is what we call her. Good job Brenna!!!!

Thank you Sage for a wonderful little Christmas gift.

For the Christmas break, Sage and her children came down to visit with us, as well as deliver our Christmas present, a puppy. While they were down here we decided to show them a few fun things to do here in Fort Pierce. First we went to the local Aquarium to check out the cool fish and touch tank.

The person in charge of the Aquarium while we were there was kind enough to give all the kids free pinwheels, to their delight.!!

Here are some pretty pictures of fish, see if you can spot them in the pictures.

Do you see the seahorse in the picture above? Or the Hermit crab below?

In this tank they had a few fish characters from the movie "Finding Nemo". Above is the cleaner shrimp, and below is a clown fish. They used to have a blue Tang, to represent Dori, but I think it must have passed away. :(

These are not real birds but part of a scene of natural Florida section.

Here Brenna and Aurelia are showing off the glowing Jellyfish called "Aurelia...." The ... is in there because I don't remember the rest of the proper name for the Jellies. That's what happens when I don't post the pictures for so long after I take them.... Oh well. I still thought it was neat that they had her name.

Here is the explorer part of the center. If you can't look through the microscope very well, like me, then you can look at the specimen on screen. I thought it was pretty cool.

Corby,Stephen, and Mary are cute playing with the puzzles while Brenna and Conner colors a pretty picture.

Above, the lion fish, is said that if you were to touch the spiky fins, you can die, they are so poisonous. Below are some really cool sea anemones.

Above is another Seahorse, can you see it? Below are some more fish.

The next six pictures are example of what you get to touch in the touch tank.

Sea Urchin

Hermit Crab

Conch

Sea Cucumber

Starfish, a.k.a. Sea Star

David showing you how it is done.

Of course you have to visit the gift shop.