This Man

This father helps bath children, brush teeth, tuck in, and he prays.

He heads to his father's house to care for him all through the night- at every call for help.

He honors his father and the Bible says, now his days will be long. I say, now he is honorable.

He wakes a final time in wee morning hours to prepare his father's breakfast and lunch for the day before heading back home to his family.

Us.

We missed him and how glad I am to wake hearing the front door being unlocked. It is him, he is back to care for us now.

The morning still dim, sleep eyes still shut. He prepares another breakfast. For us. We wake to the smell of maple before heading out to the wetlands for an adventure with this man, this father.

Our pancakes.

In the car, each of us served a brown paper sack while being buckled quietly in.

Children know that this man teaches you how to live by living.

The Florida Swamps & Northern Everglades...Our Day

Florida Cypress Trees in the chain of water ways off the Kissimmee River.

They are the only tree that will survive out in water without drowning. Those roots that look like new tree shoots sticking out of the water are called Cypress knees. They are the roots that grow upward instead of downward only when water levels rise to survive.
We floated on air... literally through these two trees Twice... making my heart skip a bit.
Loving the gliding feeling that an air boat give... even when turning sharply.

Young Gator... maybe a year old.

A mama gator's well planned nest. Larger than needed as to confuse prey from finding her scentless eggs. Depending on how hot or cool our weather has been determines the gender of her babies. They will either be all boys or all girls... all meaning, 35 -75 eggs.

I was waiting for a 'Lake Placid' moment here... and I even asked our Captain Carl if gators ever attack these cattle and he jokingly laughed and said, "we love our gators so much that we feed 'em steak!"

A true swamp... the marsh was a little to the right, and in need of rain.
(That cow crossed right behind our boat here)

We saw more gators than I cared to keep counting... guessing close to 30.

Gators.

They can live up to 3-4 months without food. They can go underwater for up to an hour without breath. They can sit idle with just the tip of nostrils breaking waters surface for days without moving a muscle. They have changed very little if at all from when they roamed with the dinosaurs. They are untrainable with practically no brain at all. Once they are feed by human... it is the 'kiss of death'. They will then seize the next opportunity to dine on/by a human without hesitation and will most likely be put to death.

little gator

Wild Turkeys!

Mr. Walt Disney himself is party to blame for much of the destruction of Florida's wetlands. After he came and bought land (that used to look just like this) he paved the way, essentially showing every rancher in Florida how to drain, dredge, & fill up the wetland....61% was lost after he built WDW.

We could travel on this water without ever touching land until we reached the 10,000 Islands and the Atlantic ocean. Amazing how the ecosystem is inter-connected. The recent Gulf oil spill brings this grave reality close to home for our statesmen.

stunning banana lily... part of marsh life

Birds of Florida will attract even those uninterested in nature.

We are second only to Alaska in Bald Eagle population.

Starting our "two hour tour... two hour tour" (Gilligan Island song!) Notice this will be the last picture you see Ella in a life jacket.... quickly after putting her in it, I realized what a bad idea that was. This was Dan and the kids first air boat ride. Our very own Captn Carl turned controls over to Captn Dan just before heading home. I believe he is what we called 'hooked'! Captn Carl declared Ella to be the youngest air boat traveler in this part of the Everglades in all his many years of swampin'.

Ben was a bit worried about how loud the boat could get at start up, but he was non-stop talking about how fun it was after leaving. And he is already 'planning' our next trip on the air boat. He said he liked it better than Dr. Hackett's ski boat.

Ella & Ali never even check up. They were air boat lovers from the time they laid eyes on it until we stepped back on the dock.

A quick snooze during the mid morning nap hour for Ella and then she was back in the action.

Ben was begging to get out of the boat and into the water... which surprised me since he was seeing gators.

My Haven

Exploring more of Circle B Preserve today.

Gator

This preserve used to be a huge cattle ranch... the windmill was used to pump water into that concrete area for a water hole. This is one of my favorite pictures.

This is the Lakeland Plateau... years & years ago, this would have been beach front property and still sugar white sand for a good 20 feet down.

Watching a storm forming.

My favorite thing about the hot summer here in the semi-tropics is the rainy season. There are some of the most beautiful storms that roll through our skies -sometimes on a daily basis this time of year. From a steaming, unbreathable heat, to a cool breeze and darkening skies in mere moments. We are the lightening capital and the Lakeland plateau gets more lightening than any other place in the U.S. Thunder that shakes your walls gives you such a since of smallness, and even safeness in the world.

Beautiful marshes. So full of life and intrigue.

The famous Spanish Moss that covers all of our trees. Contrary to popular belief the moss does no harm to the tree. Long ago this was used to stuff mattresses and also where the saying 'don't let the bed bugs bite' comes from as those little red bugs find home here.

Henry Ford used spanish moss to stuff the seat cushions of the Model T.

We took a tram tour through part of the preserve on Father's Day. We saw wild hog nests, gopher holes, and an eagle nest. An eagle mates for life and builds its nest the size of a queen size mattress, weighing a ton!

A majestic oak canopy.

More stormy skies.

Spending time here makes compartmentalized apartment living bearable. How I long to wake and walk out a door into wilds... even in a simplistic yard of my own. I am too grateful for a life such as mine to spend it wishing on better - as there is need, there is provision and I tell you God provides.

He fills me up in such places so that I can pour Him out in others. As I seek the wilds, I am seeking His filling.

I love the land, as I am made of it's soil. I love the Maker, as I am crafted by His hands.

Summer Happenings

Left Ella with Ben to play together. When I came back he had accessorized her... and she loved it. I guess they have the same tastes. ;)

So many lazy lake days & pools days to count. This time of year that is almost a necessity!

Ali went tubing with me for the first time and Ben loved the 'weally fast boat'... white knuckled grasp and all.

A new favorite book complete with craft done with dad.

A few really fun nights out with the girls & even one sleep over! I can't remember the last time I've been to a sleep over sans babies. I dashed home at 8pm to feed Ella & put her to bed, then dashed back home before breakfast for her morning meal. She didn't even know I was gone. We watched Anne of Green Gables.... and if Heaven were ever close to earth, I would have to think it to be Green Gables.

Even though I was sleep deprived next day, it was refreshing.

Some ridiculous Wii dance moves.

Watching the grounds keepers re-level & re-seed the fields. A boy & a tractor could go together for hours.

A glimpse of our summer nature table. The white glob is a most interestingly textured shell.

In other news, our hermit crab is still surviving and well liked. I thought death or lack of interest would have parted our ways by now. Also, we have successfully grown our tadpoles into full frogs and they are due to be released this week. I really like that tradition. The metamorphosis from water breather to air breather fascinates me.