Since our first kayaking
adventure got all rained on we decided we would try again today since there seemed to be little chance of rain all day. We, once again, left Javan with Grandma and took the girls to JB Fish Camp to try kayaking. This time the skies, though a bit overcast, had a lot of promising blue in them and were pretty inviting. We got in our kayaks and took off. We went against the current so the return to the launch wouldn't be as hard. It didn't take too long for Peter's and my arms to get tired but we persevered
and went almost a mile out against the pretty strong wind today. We were hoping to see some manatees but there didn't seem to be any about. We did see a lot of pelicans and cool fish that jumped straight up out of the water and fell back in. I told Bresa if one jumped in our boat we could cook it for dinner. I also told Abbi if she put her feet in the water maybe the fish would think her toes were food and she could pull up the fish that bit on. She said, "can I take my flip-flops off first?" Silly girl, I didn't think she would be willing. We went around a large marsh bank and got stuck in shallow water a couple times but nothing that we couldn't overcome without getting out of the kayaks. After we rounded the marsh we headed back to the launch area, paid, and went to the condo. Grandma and Javan were inside just hanging out.
Peter and I decided that we were going to take the kids to the Ponce de Leon Inlet Lighthouse Museum and Grandma wanted to get away to the beach all by herself. After some lunch we headed to the inlet to explore. All the children were very excited about the lighthouse. We purchased admission and had the lighthouse plus 14 other building museums to choose from to start and the kids wanted to go up the lighthouse first.
In the end it turned out to be the right choice because we probably wouldn't have had enough energy after we went through all the museums to climb up 203 stairs to the top of it. The Ponce de Leon Lighthouse is the largest lighthouse in FL and one of the largest in the nation. The girls were eager to climb up and Javan climbed quite a bit but Daddy ended up carrying him the rest of the way.
I didn't mind climbing but after each flight I grew more and more tired. After what seemed like forever we finally reached the top. Poor Daddy was tired from not only climbing up also carrying Javan so we took our time at the top before heading back down. The climbing reminded me of our trip to Italy and how we went to Vatican City and climbed to the top of St. Peter's Cathedral.
I was pregnant with Abbi then and there were no other children but I wouldn't say that climb was any easier. We looked from all sides to see all the views and took a few photos of the kids and us all together. Climbing down was easier for me but still very tiring and hot. Peter carried Javan all the way down and was pretty beat when we hit the bottom. We took a few more lighthouse shots before going through the museums
to learn all about it. Everything was very interesting and we all learned a lot about the lighthouse and it's origin and construction. Peter's favorite part was the house which held all the lamps from various lighthouses and explained how they worked and what they were for. He also liked seeing how the light shown through and was redirected by the prism glass that made up the outside of the lamps. After we had exhausted all the museums we headed back through the giftshop
and let all the children pick out a souvenir. They all ended up with different necklaces and I found something for our friend Lisa who is watching our house and taking care of Lucy Goose while we are away.
wanted to go see it. I told him we would see the van after lunch. We had a nice meal and break from the normal craziness of work days and then I asked Javan if he wanted to see "Police car". Of course he was all for it so we went and I introduced him to Buster (which I really thought he already knew but I guess not). He climbed right up in the front seat and told Daddy, "bye bye!". I tried to explain that he was still going home with Daddy but we could sit in Buster for a little bit. Javan wanted to touch everything as usual and go for a ride but we told him that he had to go with Daddy to go find his sisters. Once Daddy mentioned going to school and picking up Brye Brye and Abbi Javan got right down and said "Bye bye Buster." On the way out of the parking lot I turned my overhead light bar on which Javan thought was pretty cool. Too cute. When I got home today Javan greeted me at the door with, "I see Buster?" I guess he had been thinking about him all day.
