Tybee Day 3

After breakfast and dorm inspection, we were finished at the 4H center.  So, Eric and I drove back to the beach that we had gone to the first night.

Eric and I had the best time playing in the waves.  The waves were so strong!!!  The wind was crazy.  You wouldn't have wanted to stay on the beach itself.  The wind pelted us with tiny pieces of sand every time we stepped out of the water.  Our items were covered with sand from the wind.  

Here is my fella playing in the waves.  You can hear how crazy hard the wind was.  

Next time we hit the beach, I want to get him a body board to let him ride the waves on.  He would love that!  

Me and my boy.  I am so blessed that God chose me to be his mother.  He is my whole heart in one little package.  

We stayed out there about 2 1/2 hours.  Then we headed to Huca Poos.  It is a local pizza place that one of the teachers at the center recommended.  

We then headed off Tybee and went to Cockspur Island.  This is where we did the Maritime Forest class.  It is also where Fort Pulaski is located.  I wanted to learn about Fort Pulaski, and they had a Jr Ranger program that Eric could do.  

This is one of the coolest places I have ever been to.  We learned so much, and it was a neat place to explore.  This fort was built after the War of 1812 to help protect the coast.  It was amazingly constructed, and still has no cracks from settling after 150 years.  The brick walls are 7 and a half feet thick.  And there was no way anyone could come through the front due to all the defenses there.  At the time it was built, it was impenetrable.  

When the South split from the U.S., Georgia claimed the fort for itself.  During the war, the North settled on Tybee Island and set up multiple batteries along the island.  The fort was not worried, because no weapon known to them could get through.  However, the North had a new weapon, the rifled cannon.  This weapon made the walls of the fort useless.  

This place was beautiful, and so stinkin cool!

During the Civil War, 600 confederate men were kept as prisoners in this tiny section of the fort. 

The Army had built the fort.  So, the North knew the layout of the interior.  They knew if they could penetrate the southeast corner of the fort, they could shoot through it and have direct access to the gunpowder magazine in the opposite corner.  5,275 shots and shells were fired, but they did it.  They tore a large hole in the SE corner with their rifles and then shot through it toward this room.  

The shot below hit the outer edge of the room.  At this point, the South surrendered the fort.  

The above picture is of the southeast corner.  The newer colored bricks are where the fort was repaired.  

After over 150 years, there are still shots left in the wall.  This was by far the coolest thing ever! 

Eric found this stick/branch shaped like a spear.  

Being sworn in as a new Junior Ranger of this national park.  

Well, that is the end of our amazing trip to Tybee.  We headed home after the fort.  

Tybee Day 2 Part 2

One thing I really liked about this experience is that it reminded me a lot of what camp is like.  Eric has never been to camp, and he was quite surprised to learn that all the people share a dorm/cabin.  We lucked out in our sleeping arrangements.  We shared a dorm with two other moms and their two almost 8 year old boys.  The dorms were arranged with a large room with 4 bunk beds, and a small room with two beds.  There was a large bathroom off the main room with two showers and two toilets.  And there was a small bathroom off the small room.  Since the other moms and boys were friends, we ended up in the smaller room with our own bathroom.  It was perfect!  E was quite happy about that arrangement.  E also got to experience his first lunchroom tray meals.  Going through the line, getting a tray, and then having a few things on a bar outside the kitchen that you could add to it.  The first time was interesting to watch, because the fella had no clue.  Another thing camp-like was KP.  Each group had to do KP for one meal.  I always enjoyed having Kitchen Patrol at camp.  In fact, one summer, I worked it at almost every meal.  I know.  Crazy, right?

Supper the second night was our KP night.

Then we had two more classes.  I was so exhausted this day.  Between the heat, sunburn, and amount of information thrown my way, I was mentally checked out.  The fellas and ladies in our dorm were not going to do the night classes and headed to the beach.  We debated joining them, but E wanted to do the classes.  

So, time for another dissection.  

These squid were again juveniles.  They were freshly caught, so no preservatives.  They are by-catch, meaning they were caught in shrimping boats' nets by mistake and then sold to the 4H center for research purposes.  Since they had not been preserved, we were completely hands on.  EW!  My hands smelled like squid for 24 hours.  

If you rubbed the mantle with your fingernail, you could activate the chromatophores, making them appear to get darker and blend together.  

Pulling out the beak. 

If you pulled the beak just right, you could get the esophagus.  Way to go, E!

(you  may notice some of the kids in the background wearing gloves.  Our entire table, except for E, insisted on wearing gloves.  E thought about it, but they did not really want us to, so we didn't)

Separating the mantle from the head.  

Eyes.  Yuck.  There was so much yucky juice around these.  I failed to mention in my previous post that the eyes of the shark were the hardest part for me.  So gross.  This wasn't as bad.  

Inside the squid.  Ours was a boy.  (so was our shark.  I think I failed to mention that too) 

Writing his initials with the ink from the ink sac.  Ours didn't have much ink, so we borrowed a little from another girl at the table.  

They had a canteen with snacks and souvenirs.  Eric bought this shark's tooth necklace with his money.  You could get an artificial one, or for $2 more, one with a real shark's tooth.  So, here is E with his real shark's tooth necklace. 

At this point, I could tell E was exhausted also, but he wanted to do the next class.  He said it was a once in a lifetime opportunity.  Oh, that fella.  So, on to reptiles.

We learned all about snakes, turtles, alligators, lizards.  And then we got to hold some.  Oh joy!

Can you see the joy on my face?  Cause it's there, people.  It's there.  

Then I got to be first to hold this beauty.  Oh the things we do for our children. 

Then this lovely massive thing came out.  He was a big old fella.  And my sweet, precious son filmed me holding it.  Can you sense the joy, friends?  I was even singing to it.  

Notice the women laugh at the end.  Yeah, none of them held a snake.  Just sayin.  

We got to pet the young American Alligator.  And yes, I did that too.  But it wasn't nearly as exciting as the snakes.  

This little turtle was a fast fella.  

But so pretty.  Aren't his colors interesting?

Another video from redstone dragon 23.  He's my favorite!

Loved this sea turtle.  I wanted to take her home with  me. 

Unfortunately she is a bit too big for us.  

Day 2 is done.  Whew!  We were so tired.  If you couldn't see the crazy setting in in those pictures, then you missed something.  But it was so worth it.  What a great day!

Jumping machine

We got him a new rope, so he has been having fun with it.

Sheri is retiring today from his swim team.  She has been such an amazing coach.  I am heartbroken.  But, we are so grateful for all she has done.  

Tybee Day 2

Our second morning started with a class on Maritime Forest Ecology.  We then hopped on a bus and rode to Cockspur Island to explore the forest there.

He warned us there would be bugs.  We sprayed.  There was no stopping the mosquitos in this forest.  They reminded me of the ones in Galveston, just not quite as big.  But every bit as relentless.  It made the hike through the forest not nearly as fun.

Each child had two cards to look for as we hiked.  We never found one of Eric's - the loblolly pine.  But, we also were trying to book it through the forest as quickly as possible.  The mosquitos were awful!  

We made it to an old pier, and the breeze was fantastic coming off the ocean.  The mosquitos weren't really present on the pier either, so we got some much needed relief.  

Notice the massive bulge in my right pocket?  Bug spray.  I pulled it out of my backpack and literally sprayed it on every few minutes through the forest. 

We saw thousands of fiddler crabs during the trip to Tybee.  Here is a video Eric made. 

He wants his own you tube channel.  His user name would be redstone dragon 23.  So, he has started making videos with that name.  

Our homeschool group was broken up into two groups - the Jellyfish (ages 11 and up, so us) and the Oysters.  We rarely had classes together.  Sometimes we would take the bus together, and then separate when we arrived.  Below is Eric reading his card on Battery Hambright.  You can see the younger children playing on the battery behind him.  

Our entire group of kiddos.  There was also a 5th grade group from a school in GA.  I think 5th grade was a great age for this field trip.  

Our second class for the day was right after lunch - beach ecology.  It was originally scheduled for the previous evening, but the rain messed that up.  

We drove to the north beach and observed what we had just discussed.  E collected several seashells in the berm on the way down to the ocean.  Then the fella in the hat discovered a large shark's tooth in the sand.  Oh my!  All the attention of all the kids went to finding a shark's tooth.  We all spent the next hour looking.  

Five children managed to find them.  We did not.  Eric so wanted to, though.  

A big problem occurred for me because of this hunt.  I had covered us in sunscreen - except for the back of my neck.  First, I had just gotten a haircut two days before, and I think I forgot that my hair was short.  Second, I had no idea we would spend an entire hour looking down.  It was bad, really bad.  Still is.  I have never had a sunburn quite like this one.  My back has a large swollen hump on it.  I look like the hunchback of notre dame.  It's ridiculous.  Here is my burn from that night.  It actually looks tame here compared to the past couple of days.  I am pretty miserable.  Thankfully the backpack straps helped cover some of the neck.  

But, moving on from that.  

If you look carefully in the distance in this picture, you can see Hilton Head, SC.  I thought that was so cool!

We explored the tide pools behind the jetty.  Eric and I found a hermit crab. 

Letting it go.  

Our next class was on Invertebrates.  

We worked on classification. 

Here is the snail Eric had found at the marsh the day before. 

Then the kids teamed up to work at stations around the room.  They were classifying different animals they found.  

Then we headed to the dock, where the kids scraped the underside to see what they could find.  They primarily found sea squirts.  

Eric only found two sea squirts.  

What is a sea squirt?  Well here are some.  They are filter feeders, feeding on plankton.  They can squirt as a defense, but can also be squeezed to squirt water.  The kids thought this was big fun.  They looked a lot like squishy grapes. 

Then we moved inside to observe some indoor tanks they had.  

Large snail.

Here we are with a sea star.  (they are no longer called star fish, because they are not fish)

Okay, that is part of day 2.  I will have to finish later.