Wild Times With the Wild Bunch

     We have a gaggle of grandchildren here and it is wonderful and wild.  Technology is our friend a they find games and stories (and even schoolwork) on their ipads.  It is especially critical to have something quiet for early morning entertainment.  Bennett sneaks silently into my bed and plays games for an hour until Kellen wakes up.  Then both boys play Minecraft until Carter and Stella get up.  The grandmas drink coffee and watch the sun rise on the ocean and some ducks swimming in the pool.

    Then the games and the chaos begins.  Lots of space outside for running and toys in the storage locker.  The condo owner has grandchildren too.  We had a slow morning because Stella was dehydrated and feeling sick.   We got her to drink lots of water, milk and juice until she was raring to go again so we took off for a visit to the Ding Darling National Wildlife Center.  About a third of the acreage of the island is protected wetland area.  Hundreds of species of birds, alligators, racoons, and bobcats can be seen in this area.  

     The boys really liked the exhibits that they could touch and the many buttons to push in the displays in the nature center.  It was lunchtime before we got out of there and so we skipped the wildlife drive for the day in favor of going to a huge, shaded playground.  We had a good picnic lunch and lots of running off steam.  The island traffic is horrible during this busy Easter week, so we have been staying on the backs roads and doing a lot of biking.

     Everyone had big naps again and then we were back in the swimming pool.  The water is just the perfect temperature for the kids to have a great time.  They are all wearing life jackets in the water so we don't have to worry so much as we watch them swim.  I am enjoying the many new birds that I am identifying here including a beautiful hawk that likes to stand on the sandbar and look for fish - a Swainson's hawk.

     The parents took their bikes for a ride to dinner and left grandparents and grandchildren relaxing at the condo with pizza.  Amanda told me to order big so I got an 18" pizza for the four little kids and they gobbled most of it down.  They ate more than the grandparents who had the very loaded "Island Special."   Putting the very tired kids to bed was no problem - in fact Stella asked to go to bed.  The parents brought back some key lime pie for our desert.  Fantastic until the heartburn hit at 2 am.  Yikes!