Turtles and Dolphins

A few words about turtle nests, and special thanks to our model, Madison, who is standing behind the turtle nest area and not within it.  As a reminder, you cannot go inside this area, as it will be a serious risk to baby turtles.  

Walking along the beach today, Madison noted another risk:  someone had left a huge hole in the beach.  This was probably the deepest we'd ever seen.  It took a considerable time and effort to fill it in, but she was determined and therefore, we were too!  We filled in that hole, and now if a turtle should come in from the ocean, we won't have to worry about it falling into that hole and becoming trapped.

Anyway, back to the image above!  The pink color ribbon indicates the month - you'll see different colors, and each one signifies a different month.  In this case, the month is May.  The number you see at the top shows the order in which this nest was discovered, which in this case was sixteenth.  Next, below that you see another number, and that's the date.  I believe this was May 21st.  Finally, the yellow flag on one post tells us that this nest could hatch any day now.  There are about three in this area to be on the look out for.

As you might suspect, we're back to the beach today!

We had considerable favor on our journey south, and got here with plenty of time to spare for a quick bite to eat, and a walk along the beach.  This was ideal, as at least we had something pleasant and romantic to do on our anniversary!

Yes, it was our anniversary today - seventeen years!  That's how long Mommy and Daddy have been married, and today was a Saturday, no less.  It was a Saturday seventeen years ago that we got married at Free Chapel, and then soon were off to our honeymoon on Maui:  another beach, another time.  But someday we'll go back!

As mentioned earlier, we did have great favor coming down.  It was probably the quickest trip to Daytona that we've ever had, in fact.  As it was Saturday, we tried going through Atlanta and Macon - you can see above one of those things Madison loves to stick her head through above.  She and Daddy are antebellum folks, posed at a rest stop.  

On the way down, we were listening to Perry Stone in Israel, and also a lot of Riders on the Radio, listening to some fun podcasts delivered like an old time radio serial.  It really helps the journey down go quicker.

We got here in Daytona a little after six, which was great considering we left somewhere around ten.  And just in time, Madison got to meet some family members she had not met before:  her Uncle George and his family.  That's Mommy's brother.  They're all here, and this is the first time we're all together with Madison as well.  It's her first time meeting Uncle George.

And it's also our first time seeing dolphins out in the ocean from the condo!

There were about four or five of them, playing a bit and looking or fish we think.  We're used to seeing the pelicans, or maybe a surfer or a fisherman out there.  But the dolphins surprised us - they hung out there right in front of our condo for the whole day, according to the rest of the family.  It was nice of them to stay long enough for us to see them too.

Anyway, it was a good day today, and a full one obviously.  We stopped for orange juice, as was our custom at the Florida Welcome Center.  But there was one other rest stop and a stop for gas, and that was it.  We drove straight down without incident, and were given lots of favor to get here.

The walk along the beach was a wonderful one, with the temperature just right. We saw a rainbow towards the south, as a raincloud pushed east out to sea, and right there on the horizon was the full moon, rising upwards.  It was a beautiful evening tonight, and the start of a lovely week.