More Vacation Pics

Our fearless captain calling the gators.















The million dollar swamp tour picture.















And this is just so amazing, this little turtle with those huge elephant ears in the background.















We did get a couple pics of the Fort on Ship Island. Almost forgot about these.















Standing in one of the windows where they fired the cannons. You can see the scorch marks on the wall.















Our favorite pastime was putting on sunblock.

Vacation Day 7

Today we drove over to Slidell, LA to go on the Honey Island Swamp Tour. If you ever have a chance, I highly recommend. Our cajun tour guide, Pirate Jack, actually... Captain Jack took us up and down the West Pearl River to show us how people lived and some of the highlights of the wildlife found there.

So this is the swamp. Just what you would expect, but I love those Cypress "knees".
















The had a few stow aways.
















This big tree in the middle of the picture was the oldest tree in the swamp. Captain Jack is guess about 500 years old.




















We all got front row seating.
















Tom and our little prince enjoying some redneck air conditioning.
















There were 4 turtles on this limb, but I was fast enough only to catch a pic of the bravest one.
















The swamp gets its name because the indians use to collect honey from the bees in the trees of this swamp. The dark spot on the bottom "Y" branch is the entrance to this hive. I had to use binoculars, but I could see the bees going in and out.




















The environment is constantly changing down there. I just needed this pic of a huge fallen tree that had floated down during the wet season to find a new home on the cypress knees, where it will be forever.




















This is a blue herron fishing carefully next to the shore.
















I can't believe I actually caught this picture. This was a white heron that watched us carefully come up the river. We didn't get very close before she spooked and flew off. Her wingspan is 6ft.




















I just love these birds. They look so statuesque. And they were everywhere.















And there was no shortage of gators. This little 5 footer was not interested in any marshmellows Captain Jack offered.















This was Captian Jack's favorite alligator. She was a 200lb, 13 ft, 50 year old female. In retrospect, I should have videoed this, but I was so excited I just took as many pictures as I could.















She came RIGHT up to the boat. The best part... WE GOT TO PET HER!!!!
















Here is Captain Jack picking up her foot to show off her claws.
















Let's not kid ourselves. It was all about the hot dogs.
















And pretty soon we had other smaller gators wanting in on the action.

Vacation Day 6 Part 2

It rained again today, just kind of off and on. So we drove around Pass Christian and Gulf Port just to check out the area. While we were driving through, there are several trees that fell victim to Hurricane Katrina. The city hired an artist to make the stumps into artwork. So we took pictures of the kids with these monuments.

The dolphins.




















The eagles.

Vacation Day 6

Most people sleep in on vacation. NOT US!!! At 8am this morning we were out walking the beach. It was a good thing too. We discovered stingray heaven.






The downside, the kids are scared to get in the water now. A bird pooped on Rena and she didn't want to get close enough to the water to wash it off. After I walked out to about knee high and didn't drop dead the decided it was safe enough to get their feet wet. Then we discovered we could catch jellyfish. This one had pretty little red edges.
















This one had tentacles.
















And if we can catch jellyfish, why not real fish? To my surprise, THEY DID!































Crab castle. I didn't get the best pic of this, but this crab actually built up a wall on one side of his hole.
















And some footage of one of the many schools of fish hanging out in the waves.

Vacation Day 5

At 7:30am I got up and made his highness' favorite breakfast, pancakes. At 9:30 I made sandwiches for lunch because they were starving and then we were off to the Lynn Meadows Discovery Center.




















I highly recommend this facility. It wasn't as large as the Children's Museum in Indianapolis, but it was spectacular. We spent the whole day and if they served food, we might not have left. I tried my best to keep up with the kids, but I went through 2 memory cards and almost lost battery power in my cell phone. Here is what I did get.

The outdoor exhibits were fantastic. There were several tree houses of different layouts for the kids to explore.






















































There was the bubble station.
















The submarine where they both banged their heads against the ceiling of the ship. I think we realized that we are getting a little too big for some rides. NAH.
















Let's not forget the outdoor Pelican Cafe where the kids got to cook for the onlooking parents. I am going to try this at home now that I know the kids think I would eat it.



The inside of the museum made creative use of the space available. Of course there was a climbing tower from one level to the next. And a tea room fit for a princess.
















The news room where the princess ran the show.
















The green room where his majesty showed us how to row a canoe.
















The train station.




















The shrimp boat.



































The construction zone.




















The Winn Dixie where I did at least 8 weeks worth of shopping here. Her favorite station was the seafood counter.







































The art center we created some masterpieces using sand.

































































The body discovery center.