Vacation Re-cap Part 1

So, we began our journey on a good note, as I mentioned last week. I had one complaint, regarding the microwave problem, but we quickly moved past that after a good nights sleep.

Our first night was a little rocky because my daughter fell out of the bed in the middle of the night. In the dark we could not see what was clear to us the next morning. Her inconsolable crying was more reasonable than we thought in the night.

Although it is a little difficult to see in this picture, it will be quite clear as the week progresses. My daughter had a black eye. In the night, she hit the corner of the table next to the bed. We felt awful for trying to quiet her and not comfort her more than we did.

Our next adventure led us to Busch Gardens in Tampa, Fl. If you didn't read my post regarding our bird adventure, you can see why we do not feed the birds here. Our visit to Busch Gardens was great!! We enjoyed it thoroughly. The kids always love to see the Flamingos and luckily that Ibis didn't ruin it for them!! Actually, this morning JB was telling us the story of the bird taking his lunch and he was laughing. Maybe he is recovering from the trauma!! YEAH.

We followed that by watching a play in the Land of the Dragons. The kids loved it. Well, HC did - she was thrilled to take a picture with a "real life princess". My view is HC was the prettier princess!

We followed up with several rides within the Land of the Dragons. There were tons of things to do!! All the rides were specifically for the wee ones. No big kids. They had net bridges and towers and rides and a jumper, a sand box, a little water splash area and a cool tree house. I didn't want to bore you with ALL the pics! The kids were worn out and thrilled with this 'Game Park' as HC called it.

Our last adventure at Busch Gardens was a caricature of the kids. How do you think they look? I have to remind myself that it is an exaggerated drawing when I look at JB's. She was also kind enough to NOT draw in the black eye of HC.

Do NOT feed the birds!!

We've all seen this sign:

And, we probably think 'Awe, aren't they cute - just one crumb won't hurt.'

And, maybe we aren't bothered by the occasional swoop of this guy.

But we found out the bad side of feeding any bird on our trip to Busch Gardens in Tampa. My husband was busy with meetings so it was me and the kiddos. We decided to grab some lunch before viewing the park, you know spend a million dollars on a hamburger and hot dogs. The fun of vacations! haha

Anywho, we were eating and a bird started getting closer and closer to us. I told HC, I said 'Look at the bird HC.' Thinking we were in no harm. Boy was I wrong!! Before I knew what happened, the bird jumped on my chair as I was shooing it away it, with NO luck. That white bird was coming at us (by the way, it looks huge with wings spread and flying towards your head)! It grabbed my cheeseburger and flew down on the ground to gobble it up. I was in shock and my kids were wailing!! They were terrified to say the least. I felt helpless - I couldn't get the bird to leave. It came back for more, jumping on JB's chair. I scooped him up and grabbed his lunch bucket and used the bucket to shoo the bird away. A park worker came by and shooed the bird for good but the damage was done - two terrified kids and now I had to be given another burger. I had to sit there with the kids b/c if I didn't eat - I would not be up for the day's activities. It was awful!! So what did this bird look like? Here ya go - imagine this flying at you with a determined look in it's eyes: I didn't get a picture b/c we were so distressed and ready to get out of there - but here is a pic I found on the WWW. It is an Ibis:

This is what an Ibis is supposed to do/eat:
The Ibis is a medium-sized wading bird, resembling the Great Blue Heron in shape. They prefer to feed in marshes, cypress swamps, salt marshes and mangrove swamps while nesting in inland lakes, barriers and marshes. Typical food includes crustaceans and insects, swallowing them whole after first cleaning off any mud their prey may be covered in.

The problem is once these birds are fed our food - they are addicted. Kind of like us and blogging. heehee

But they will attack humans for food and become lazy at chasing their prey. That forces man to kill them because they are now a danger to us. This is sad to me. This bird was fine until some idiot decided it would be cute if they fed it. I have never experienced anything like this. The problem now is my kids are terrified of any bird now. My son used to chase them in hopes of getting a closer look - now he is horrified if a bird flies near us. Even if it is a sparrow. I hope he will outgrow this!! I wasn't sure how badly he was affected until last night (our first night home) after I rocked him and was putting him in bed, he whispered "I no like those birds mama, I scared". My heart broke!

The birds I took pics of were hovering around our table at the hotel or other eateries in Fla. This leads me to believe - they are being fed or eating what's left. Our hotel had staff constantly walking the grounds to pick up any food/drinks left on tables or by the pool. They were actually so attentive, I guess that leads me to think the guests are at fault. Sparrows and black birds repeatedly hopped on the tables. I am used to seagulls or pelicans hovering and flying around but I have never experienced so many birds come so close to me in my life.

Think Pink Contest

All things Pink here! Take a look at the items available for the taking: Go to Pinks and Blues Girls blog for more details!! Go check it out! Go now!! Click the highlighted link above - you just might win. They will announce a winner on Monday, June 11th.

Wordless Wednesday

Sand Angels are not always the best idea! For more Wordless Wednesday, click here.

Word Filled Wednesday

For more Word FILLED Wednesday, go here. Amy is busy welcoming home her newest addition so she may not have an updated WFW. You may enjoy just looking at her past WFW posts. Many blessings.

Wednesday Hero

This Weeks Soldiers Were Suggested By Mary Ann

Col. David Sutherland(Left)
45 Years Old From Toledo, Ohio
Commander, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division


Since being deployed to the Diyala province of Iraq in November 2006, Col. David Sutherland, along with brigade Chaplain Maj. Charlie Fenton, pictured on the right, has made it a point to visit every wounded soldier and say goodbye to each and everyone of his men who've lost their life. Four of his soldiers died on one day in April 2007 and the bad news arrived at his office in waves -- a knock on the door, a note handed in by an aide, heads bowed, knowing glances exchanged. Aides say Sutherland walks to the mortuary affairs tent at his base and embraces the dead bodies of his men. "I hug all my fallen soldiers", said Sutherland. "They are my own". Diyala province is one of the worst places in Iraq. Public beheadings of Iraqi police, tribal wars, sectarian wars and al-Qaida. "I didn't come here thinking it'd be easy. No one told me, 'You're gonna get 9 hours of sleep a night and you're not gonna lose soldiers'. But I believe this is the place for me.""As a soldier, I want to be here on the ground," he said. "As an American, I want it to end."

For more information about Col. Sutherland, visit this page.
These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.

We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died, We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived.

This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. To find out more about Wednesday Hero, you can go here.

Playing in Sand and listening to the ocean!!

Just wanted you to know I am out of town this week. We are at the beach and so my blog may not be updated as often. Please bear with me. I will try to touch base when I can. I will be back full force later this week but for sure by Monday.

We arrived this afternoon so there isn't much to share yet. This was our best road trip to date. We left at 4am and I think the kids got a kick out of us waking them up and scooping them into the van. We really had very little quarrelling and the kids even asked to turn off the DVD player several times so they could look out of the window. I have expressed concern here that they would not want to do anything other than watch DVD's on road trips, if I didn't try to wean them. This time they seemed to be interested in other things too. Maybe it is there age. I am just glad they are not having problems turning off the DVD. Thank God. I do not want video junkies, so this was a HUGE relief to me. :o)

We arrived in time for the kids to get their swimsuits on and run and play on the beach. We are staying in a resort (we are on a work trip with my husband) and this is my first time, I think, staying at a resort. Maybe not - I don't know. I am disappointed a little with the room. The bathroom is tee tiny and there is NO MICROWAVE!!!! HOW CAN A HOTEL NOT HAVE A MICROWAVE IN 2007???? How am I to warm up their milk in the morning and before bed? This is sooooo inconvenient. They have also JAMMED the fridge FULL of junk to sell us. We cannot find room for the things we brought. I guess I am not used to the resort life. I like a little more room for me when I go places. Oh well, I guess I shouldn't complain since this trip is on the company. So I will grin and bear it as we walk down to the restaurant and ask them "Will you heat this cup of milk, again?". My kids have always taken warm milk. It usually has to be hotter than any restaurant wants to heat it - sometimes my peculiar children won't drink it if not warm enough. I guess this comes from breastfeeding them??? Do you breastfeeding moms have a similar issue with milk once your kids are older? Oh well, we shall have a fun time anyway 'cause WE'RE AT THE BEACH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Have a super great week and I wish you many blessings!

The Belle and the Man

I have to say, I just love my little Southern Belle! She is beginning to speak with an occasional Southern draw. My husband and I do not speak with a Southern accent, so this is strictly from our living in this particular neck of the woods. Doesn't she look so precious. This was taken at PawPaw and Mimi's house.

My son is athletic, but he loves to sing and play a tune or two too! As you can see from his wet hair, this was taken after playing outside and getting all sweaty. I love it that he is tough. He plays tough, he talks tough but he is also my sweet little man! He is gentle too. He is just tough enough.

Word Filled Wednesday

Today is a day of celebration. The creator of Word Filled Wednesdays just had her baby boy. Congrats to you and your family!!