Swimming, Tubing, and Purple Martins
8/10/2008
Ahhh, nothing like the lake on a hot summer day. And nothing like having relatives that have a lake house and boat, on a hot summer day. We are always happy to take my aunt and uncle up on their gracious offer to enjoy the fruits of their labor. That's what family is for, right?Last Friday we did just that. We packed a few things and took the boys to Lake Murray to join our family for a nice summer afternoon. The little guys love being in the water. (yes, those are pink Little Mermaid swimmies. Who knew swimmies were gender specific?)
Luke, who is not much of a risk taker decided to try something new, tubing. He is out there with his great-aunt giving the thumbs down - meaning SLOWER PLEASE!
Hey, don't let the pontoon boat fool ya, that thing went plenty fast when hanging on an intertube. At least for me. Luke ended up loving it, especially when he and his cousin, Gavin The Daredevil, were out there together. 
After a little swimming, tubing, and eating we all boarded the pontoon to make our way to one particular island on the lake. An island that, for reasons we do not know, is the largest bird sanctuary in the country. And three weeks every August there is a spectacular show;Purple Martin's come from every conceivable direction to roost on this island. The setting sun is their indication to head home for the night, so we set out to reach the island by dusk. The ride itself was part of the fun. And I don't think any one enjoyed it more than Timothy.
After a little swimming, tubing, and eating we all boarded the pontoon to make our way to one particular island on the lake. An island that, for reasons we do not know, is the largest bird sanctuary in the country. And three weeks every August there is a spectacular show;Purple Martin's come from every conceivable direction to roost on this island. The setting sun is their indication to head home for the night, so we set out to reach the island by dusk. The ride itself was part of the fun. And I don't think any one enjoyed it more than Timothy.He absolutely loved feeling the wind in his face. He also liked throwing things overboard.
See those shoes on his feet? I love them. They are hand-me-downs from a friend of Luke's. Luke wore them, and now Wil and Timothy are wearing them. Well, were wearing them. Timothy threw one of them overboard! A valiant effort was made to retrieve the shoe but to no avail. Turning a pontoon boat around is not fast or easy. But we had our sites on it. I was sure we would get the shoe back. James was poised to go in after it. Then, a motor boat went roaring by and the shoe disappeared from our sites. Sigh.
The kids really enjoyed the ride over and we got to see a beautiful sun set to boot. 
Anyway, onto the birds. The pictures don't do justice to the experience. They were literally covering the sky, coming in from every direction, and circling the island. 
It was actually pretty eerie. Think The Birds.
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4 comments:
That's a lot of birds! Reminds me of the bat house at UF. Get your keyboard unstuck?
No_my_keypad_isn't_and_won't_be_fixed.Which_is_why_I_using_the_underscore_key_to_seperate_words.Annoying.I_made_the_last_post_from_James's_computer.And_I_am_on_the_hunt_for_a_new_one.And,yes,I_also_thought_of_the_bathouse_at_UF.
Wasn't_this_fun_to_read!?:)
And-now-the-darn-puter-is-deleting-random-portions-of-my-posts.Sorry-the-last-comment-didn't-make-sense.
your title caught my attention and I was excited to hear about the purple martinis that you consumed.
then I realized, purple martins. Ah. they look cool. def eerie.
teena
p.s. hope you get a new spacebar soon.
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