Cheap Entertainent for Marcus- Balloons

This really isn't a long blog and it isn't meant to be one.  It is mainly an idea on a way to have a good and inexpensive time.  Marcus LOVES balloons.  I know that all kids like balloons but after seeing the hot air balloons last month this obsession has grown quite a bit.  So one day I decided to find out where to get inexpensive helium balloons- who would have known-  the Dollar Store. Every few weeks we head over to the Dollar Store and Marcus picks up a few balloons and he LOVES it.  It is a really inexpensive toy- I just wish I would have thought of it sooner.

Easter Eggs

This is really the first year that Marcus gets the whole Easter thing.  Last year he was a bit too little although he had a lot of fun looking for eggs at Great Grandma Warner's house.  This year he has it figured out and he knows who the Easter Bunny is and he is started to get excited about it.

The other day we did our first Easter activity- we colored Easter Eggs and he LOVED it!

A few days later we went back and added some stickers to the eggs...

The Manatees and a visit to the Tampa Aquarium

Out and About on a Tuesday

On Tuesday morning we all got and headed out the door pretty early.  We had big plans and ways to drive to see them.  Here was our plan for the day.

1. Drive to Tampa- This was about 80 miles each way.

2. Visit the Manatee Viewing Center at Tampa Electric

3.  Find some yummy Cuban Food for lunch-  I love plantains

4.  Head to downtown Tampa and check out the Tampa Aquarium

5. Drive home and spend some time in the pool

This seemed pretty ambitious but we were excited to see it all. 

We made it to the Manatee Viewing Center at almost exactly 10:00 AM (so right when it opened) and we weren't sure what to expect.  Luke's parents had been to a similar one in Fort Myers and that was a bust but were were hopeful....... and it was AWESOME!

I love Manatees and hate cameras!

Going up the stairs to see the Manatees

When we got to the parking lot it was still fairly empty but you could tell it was filling up pretty quickly.  It even had a few school buses full of kids.

We got out of the car and headed over to the visitors center and the elevated deck.  The visitor center is on the opposite side of the estuary from the actual Tampa electric site but we got a great view of it and it was pretty neat looking.

Look at the things that appear to be bubbles in the water, they are not- they are actually Manatees!

When we got to the top of the platform we looked out into the estuary and saw a ton of manatees- I think that there had to be at least 100 of them.  This is one of the coolest tings that I have ever seen.  Marcus though that the "sea cows" were pretty fun to watch as they lazed around in the water.

Hungry Hungry Manatee

When we finally finished looking at the manatees we checked out the rest of the area.  They had a visitor center, a butterfly garden, and a long walk down the estuary.

Mommy and baby Manatee

Pretty Flowers

It was a really neat place to visit and I would recommend it to anyone.  We probably spent a little over an hour here (that is max Marcus time for most things) and enjoyed it immensely.  

When we left the next stop was Cuban food and Luke found some and I thought it was pretty darn good!

When lunch was over we headed out for our next big adventure of the day.  We decided to visit the Tampa Aquarium.  Marcus has been to A LOT of aquariums in his time (The Shed (Chicago), ECHO (Burlington, VT), The Boston Aquarium, The Mote Aquarium (Sarasota, FL), and Sea Life at the MAO) so it is always fun to check out another one.

This is a pretty neat aquarium.  There is a lot to see and it is pretty big.  I loved the exhibit on the mangroves and the fish that live the roots.    Marcus just loved running around and checking everything out.  Here are a few pictures of our visit.

When you get to the aquarium it has you start at the top and you slowing wind your way down to the bottom.  The path is pretty much one really long ramp (which Marcus LOVED running up and down).  There was all kinds of varieties of fish and sea life to check out.  When you get to the bottom there is a large children's play area.  Marcus LOVED the water guns- especially after Daddy and Grandma showed him how to use them.

Overall a very successful day.  Marcus was so pooped out that he feel asleep on the way back to the house.  That's OK-  it gave me enough energy for some pool time later that night!

More Balloons

Still Obsessed a month later

Last month my dad and I went with Marcus and watched the Hot Air Balloons in Wisconsin and he has been obsessed with them since.  Last week we went and got a few helium balloons from the dollar store and totally got our value out of the the balloons.  He has been in playing with them all week.

He also has a great imagination and keeps pretending his blankets are a hot air balloon- last night he told me to make one.  I put my thinking cap on thought of how I could make a hot air balloon.  I picked up some wire lawn fence last week to make a different project and thought that might work for my needs.  

I grabbed the fencing and created a balloon like structure and let Marcus pick some material from the quilting materials.  He picked stars.  Once the balloon was completed I figured I needed to add a basket at the bottom.  Once again I used the lawn fence wire and that turned out pretty good.  To give it the look of a basics we grabbed some green ribbon and wrapped it around.  Marcus LOVED it and wanted to me to make more.....

Ever since it was done he has dragged in around the house with him and even brought it to Grandma and Grandpas for his overnight.

Learning a thing or two about woodwork

I am not sure if I am ever going to consider myself a "real" woodworker.  I am not that talented and everything I make is a bit of a struggle because I don't exactly feel like I know what I am doing but I am not going to stop because I really enjoy it.

• I love building useful items and seeing them in my house all of the time.  It makes me a feel a bit proud.
• I love the physical aspect of working with the materials and really love working with my hands.
• I love creating things from wood
• I love thinking about the projects and figuring out how design what I want that will fit our home.

But here is the honest moment, I am really not that good at it.  This takes time and there is so much to learn.  I am impressed by what guys with experience can do.  When I was younger I never had a much respect for woodworkers and what they really do-  now I am a bit blown away.

Anyway the babbling is over now-  If yo follow me you know that I have been working on the bunk bed I designed for Marcus for a bit of time.  It is actually really getting close to done now.  I have been working on building the hard part (or at least I think it is)- adding the side rails for the bed. It has been really hard to figure out how to get these on straight- we have a ton of clamps but none big enough to get the side rails in place.

When I was at Home Depot the other day the guy recommended a right angle clamp and when I got home I looked it up.  It looked like this was the perfect tool for the job and even better it didn't look that difficult to make one.  I grabbed some scrap wood from the bunk bed project and started sawing-  I ended up using the compound miter saw, the band saw, and and drill bit.  It was pretty awesome and only took about 15 minutes!

Here are some pictures of me using it to get the boards in place-  it totally worked and I was amazed and so happy!  With their help the bunk bed will be finished in no time at all!

Do you need some of these for your woodshop?

Here are the directions I used to make them.

Right Angle Brace Directions

A day at at the beach

Just a normal Monday in Florida

---warning--- this is a long post.... we did a lot on Monday!

After our pretty low key and restful Sunday we woke up ready for some adventure on Monday.  We started the day by going to a place that Grandpa and Grandma Fiedler love.  It is actually the local public library-  It is a place that a lot of birds hang out and wait for people to show up with food.

Grandma planned ahead and we brought along two pieces of bread to eat but to be honest, Marcus really likes bread and he ate some of it too......

It turns out that the birds were also pretty big fans of old french fries....

 We hung out for awhile- well at least until we were completely out of food for the birds.

What a fun start to the day.

The park also had another one of Marcus's favorite things... A WATERFALL.....

After we left the parking lot we headed to another site that Don and Jackie liked-  it was the Venice Area Rookery

"The rookery - the Venice Area Audubon Rookery - is an island centered in the middle of a small lake. About 70% of the lake is surrounded by vegetation and native plant growth. The remaining area is open to viewing, and has a well worn path, obviously trod by many feet in an effort to view this wonderful spectacle."

For more information check out their website: Venica Area Rookery

I didn't get a lot of great pictures hear but we did see a ton of pretty birds.  There were also volunteers who had a scope that people could look through to get a close up of the birds.  They told us that at certain times of the day the place is packed with people hanging out looking at the birds.

Now I am sure it seems like we already did a lot this day but it actually just barely started.  We still had a big day ahead of us of visiting the beaches.  

The first beach stop of the day was at Venice Beach - the park was called Humphries Park.  We walked out along the sea wall and saw lots of birds and fisherman.  This was actually Presidents day so it was a pretty busy day at the park.  We didn't stay that long but it was a pretty cute place.  Watching the fisherman and the birds was pretty neat.  We even got to see a few of the birds fighting over fish and eating them.

After leaving Venice we decided to spend some time driving down Manasota Way to check out a few of the beaches.  This is a super pretty drive.

"The name "Manasota Key" refers to an 11-mile-long (18 km) peninsula (transformed into a barrier island by the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway) that continues north into Sarasota County. The community of Englewood Beach occupies the Charlotte County portion of the key, while the Sarasota County part of the peninsula contains the community of Manasota Beach. The key continues north as Caspersen Beach, extending as far as the Venice city limits."

During the afternoon we stopped by two different beach and Marcus LOVED them.  It took him awhile to get the hang of wading into the water but he figured it out.  We played in the sand and dug holes and built castles.  It was a beautiful day in the sun.

We ended the day by taking a small boat out to Palm Island to catch an early dinner-  it was a special and boy was it special---- not so much!  But the ride and the view were both beautiful.

 

All in all it was a beautiful day to visit the beach!