Closely related to the elephant, the manatee is Florida’s state marine mammal. “Gentle giants,” as they are called…

The Florida manatee is an endangered species. But this post is not about that. It’s about going to Blue Springs State Park to see this amazing, gentle, huge and slow creature up close and personal. As a surprise on Saturday, Chris woke the family up to do just that. Commune with nature.

It was cool! Not only is Blue Springs State Park a beautiful and well-kept state park, it’s bustling with activity–of all varieties.

Florida manatees spend their days floating down the St. John’s river. The conditions (except for those boaters) are just right. Except in the winter. According to Eco Florida Mag:

Manatees thrive in warm water. At temperatures below 68 degrees F, manatees stop eating, suffer cold stress and oftentimes die. This is why they migrate to the coastal areas, rivers, canals and estuaries in Florida and southern Georgia during winter. They especially prefer the slow-moving rivers and shallow coves and bays where there are warm springs and lush sea grass beds.

This is how hundreds of manatees end up at Blue Springs every Jan. and Feb. They truly are gentle giants. Such boring, yet interesting creatures!

We had such a great day. The weather was cool, but not uncomfortable. The location was beautiful. The boys were well-behaved not horrible. I would have to give Chris kudos for this idea, and highly recommend Blue Springs State Park to anyone living in central Florida.

For the slideshow below, move your mouse across the top black bar for slidehow controls; move your mouse across the bottom black bar for thumbnails. And enjoy! 🙂

Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.

This post was generously brought to you by wall fountains. I wonder if I’ll ever have a house where I could even consider having one. 😉

Jonah

Jonah is getting bigger everyday. He started to do the Frankenstein walk–hands straight out and all stiff-legged. He gets about 5 or 6 steps then drops back down to his hands and knees. And why wouldn’t he? He moves like the speed of light on all fours! He’s sneaky, too. You’ve got to worry when you can’t hear him–he’s like a ninja. Much of his time is spent:

• trying to keep mommy from working;
• making his big brother laugh;
• climbing on, in, or over, anything in his path.

Right now his vocabulary consists of turtle, uh-oh, cracker, cookie, pretty and juice. These are the words I know he understands and speaks back. He definitely mimics and jabbers incessantly (he has to, to get a word in edgewise with this family.
Zachary

Zachary continues to be his wonderful 4-year-old self. His vocabulary never ceases to amaze me and we’re working on his “sight” words. He has twelve words he knows and can read (STAR WARS not included) and we’re adding more every week. It is the most amazing thing to see your child begin to read.

Zach has started at the pre-school program offered by the elementary school he might be attending in the fall. Of course I’m biased, but I think he’s way ahead of the other kids. We may be sending him to private school with his cousins Amanda and Megan–it’s sad that private school is one of the only alternatives to a good education in this country.

As you can see from the pictures, it’s not all schoolwork for Zach. He has become quite the little builder with daddy. Over the last month they’ve built a rocket and an “earth mover” from tinker toys, and a real birdhouse in the garage. Mom is even working in the garage, refinishing an old dresser.

Wildlife

With spring approaching it’s not unusual to see a variety of wildlife out my office window. The lizards are always in abundance and entertaining, but lately we’ve had some furry friends explore our yard as well. With the cat that chases birds on the roof of our garage, the raccoons that are out in the afternoon, the owl that hoots as loudly as possible at night, and a myriad of other wildlife, our yard has become quite the hot spot!

Chris’s Birthday

Chris celebrated his 38th birthday (I know, can you believe it’s 38 years??) over last weekend and this one. Last weekend Mary was in town and we had a great dinner at Vincent’s with Mary, Pam, Dave, Ivonne, Amanda, Megan, the boys and me. Tonight we’re going on a dinner cruise on the St. John’s River. I’m really looking forward to it. It should be a nice night. The weather’s cleared up nicely.
Heading into March

As we head into March, Zachary continues to love T-ball. We had opening ceremonies this morning, but they were shortened due to rain and his first game was postponed. That’s not a bad thing–the beginning teams need all the practice they can get!

Work is still keeping me and Chris busy. Thank you eCollege–I love my job!

That’s about it for the first two months of the year. Look for updates after Zachary’s first T-ball game.

Love to you all!

“Here is a test to find out whether your mission in life is complete. If you’re alive, it isn’t.” – Richard Bach