MSC Summer Camp Day 1: That's In Seine!

We kicked off the week with a day that was just packed with all kinds of activity, and it all started pretty early with the Marine Science Center Summer Camp that we signed Madison up for.  It was such a great day for her! 

Here she is to start out with.  The day started out at the Marine Science Center, as you can see above. Madison and her new friends got their orange camp shirts, and to begin with, there was a tour and studies at the facility itself.  You can see her above, looking at some of the jaws of various sharks and other marine life.

There are a few counselors there to lead and guide the kids from exhibit to exhibit, talking about the different kinds of fish and crustaceans there at the center, and yes, some of it was hands-on as well!

Madison even got to feed the sting ray in the big tank as well.

 

So they spent a good deal of time at the center with the different tanks there.  But they also got to see some of the specialists dealing with the sea turtles being taken care of.  There are all sorts of different ailments and injuries, some more serious than others.  Madison and the others went through the 'turtle hospital' and saw some of them being treated.

And that was just part of her day, and only the first day at that.  They had their lunch, and later on they were out in the water not far off, using a seine net to collect samples and things from the water there.  Each of the kids were paired up with another, and the two attempted to haul up some finds from the water.

Here's Madison having a great time sifting the bottom and looking for goodies and creatures.  Don't worry - she got to do the net as well.

She had a great time, and in fact she and her friend there caught the biggest thing of the day, a really large crab.  This was kept, and brought back to the Marine Science Center, where it was fed to one of the sea turtles.  Madison didn't watch it happen, but she was told it was good food for one of the turtles.

Anyway, as you can tell, she had a great day today.  She spent a great deal of time talking about it afterwards.  She loved it!

Meanwhile, the rest of the family went up the road to Daytona Beach.  There was a "boardwalk area" up there that we hadn't been to yet in our multiple visits.  Finally, we thought to try it out together.  It was a bit disappointing to be honest.  Here above is the family standing on the pier, by the way.  And here's Mommy below, looking lovely as always:

So, when is a boardwalk not a boardwalk?  When it's not a boardwalk.  Seriously, there were no boards.  Just a walk.  It was a cement walk, in fact.  The only boardwalk was the pier there.  The thing along the beach was a cement walk.  Sure, it was faintly colored.  But it was still cement.  So the more accurate description of the Daytona Boardwalk is that it is in fact a Daytona Cementwalk.  

There was an amusement park there, but apparently it was too hot to be open?  I'm not sure.  It sort of looked pretty carny, which is a great word by the way.  It didn't look permanent, even though I think it's supposed to be.  That's probably a better way of saying it.  There was an arcade or two, plus the obligatory t-shirt shop or three.  But that was about it.

For lack of anything else to do, and for escape from the heat, we went to Joe's Crab Shack on the pier there.  It was good food, although the atmosphere at Joe's has changed considerably.  It's not the crazy fun place it used to be.  The food was good, and it's right there on the ocean.  But it's a funny thing about the view now:  we literally can get that view at home.  Seriously, we go to Nana and Ba-Ba's house, and there's the view.  In fact, as I type this, I have that view.  It's beautiful, the ocean.

Anyway, we all stopped over at Cow Lick's tonight, once Madison was done with camp.  That's a tasty ice cream place that we'll have to officially recommend.  It's good stuff.  The family went over there and probably overdid it when it comes to what we ordered.  But, oh, it's delicious.

A storm blew in tonight, another one.  This one is also pounding the beaches north of us, and looks so dramatic.  To accompany this drama, a full moon is rising over the ocean to the southeast - it's full and bright, so much that you can walk along the beach without aid of flashlights.  It's a big beautiful thing, hanging low on the horizon with a long, rippling reflection in the ocean water.  It's quite the stunning sight to behold.

So off to bed tonight.  We're reading from the Superflix Devotional, and a new book called "The Gauntlet," which is an Iron Man adventure.  So far so good.  Madison's into it.  Day One has been a good, full day.  But tomorrow is going to be just as full, so the best strategy is to get some rest.  After all, we have to get up early!