A Trip to the Everglades

A happy Tuesday to you, friends!

Last week, on Feb. 10th, we took a field trip to the Everglades. What an amazing time we had! After waiting for about an hour for everyone to arrive, we finally got in line and were able to step into the air boat fairly quickly after that.  Here's a video I took while we were speeding along on the water. 

 

This is the air boat we rode on.

 

If you look real closely, you can see an alligator resting on the left side of the bank.

 Here he is. He's appropriately named Scar because one of his front legs is missing.

 These birds are called Purple Gallinules. Our air boat driver called and coaxed him to come over to the boat. He even held one of these birds on his arm. 

These beautiful yellow flowers were easy to pull out of the water. The drive showed us how to make a necklace out of them.  We learned that one of the biggest problems in the Everglades are the pythons. A 6 ft. python can kill a 10 ft. gator. But the gators can be just as dangerous. We heard this true story from someone else who rode in a different air boat. 

There was a man (the grinch who stole Christmas presents lol) who used to steal presents from houses at Christmastime. One night he stole presents and was being chased by the police. He  escaped from them, but ended up running onto the Everglades property and was eaten by a huge mother alligator. The gator was killed after that.

 After the air boat ride, we listened to a presentation about the alligators by a lady who had worked with reptiles about 13 years.

 After the presentation, we had a picnic lunch.  There was a herd of about 6-8 Peacocks under the ramp, and a few of them wandered up the ramp. It was quite interesting to watch the wild Peacocks roam around the picnic tables. One of the Peacocks pecked sunflower seeds out of Deborah's hand.

After a long drive (and being stuck in traffic) we made it home. Mommy made Taco Soup and Sarah made egg rolls. A friend and her daughter, who had gone on the field trip with us, came over for supper and we had a delightful time with them. We set up our tent and the daughter camped out with us. In the early morning, the temperature was 40 something degrees. Last time we camped out it was on one of the coldest days as well.  :) 

So there you have it. Hope you enjoyed hearing about our interesting and informative field trip. Until next time...

Walk with the King!
~Ashley

Proverbs15:13

A merry heart maketh a cheerful countenance: but by sorrow of the heart the spirit is broken.