After a breakfast of French Toast we slathered on some sunscreen and headed south on A1A to Gumbo Limbo Park.

The park employees gave the kids a scavenger hunt that they thoroughly enjoyed and kept them engaged throughout the park.

We learned Gumbo Limbo Park was named after the Gumbo Limbo Tree which they also call the Tourist Tree because its red bark peels at times much like tourists who come to Florida, get red sunburnt skin, and then peel a few days later. This puffer fish seemed to enjoy getting his picture taken, we have several angles in multiple directions.  The volunteers and staff at the park were very friendly and willing to share information.

They were growing baby Mangrove Trees in this area.  The Mangroves are disappearing due to homeowners preferring beach front property versus trees.  However, they have discovered that the trees are pivotal in protecting the shoreline from erosion and hurricanes.

There is a green Morey Eel hiding in the tank and he came out to say hello for a few seconds.  Scott worked for a while to get the perfect shot of the kids and I across the tank in another window.  Cody was refusing to participate so he’s sort of in the next picture.

The turtle in the last picture was harmed by the propeller of a boat and his buoyancy suffered.  The park put a lead weight on his shell to help with his buoyancy.

Scott was busy taking a picture of the complex and didn’t realize there was a bird standing tall on the fence behind him, watching him.  The park had a turtle rehabilitation center.  They picked up injured turtles and nursed them back to health.  They also took care of turtles that didn’t quite make it into the ocean after they had hatched.  The park would give them a few weeks to get bigger and then release them into an area that would help increase their chance of survival.

After finishing the scavenger hunt the kids were given the chance to choose a shell.  The challenge: how to choose just one shell when you are used to spending hours gathering hundreds.  We went for a hike on their boardwalk next.

The boardwalk has views of some incredible spiders and their webs.  It was hard to capture their intricacy and beauty with the camera.

The boardwalk took us to a view of the water and some elegant homes.  Cody found some leaves and told me about them.  He does a great job of recognizing plants.

So I may have been busted eating a frozen chocolate chip cookie.  They were good, and I needed the extra calories for keeping up with the kids on our next outing.

Boynton Beach – paddle boarding!

It was hard to catch him in action, but Cody was a “Hose-Pedo” all afternoon.  He kept launching himself off the paddleboard and trying to crash into our board and us.

At one point the boys took our board and paddle and then we were on a mission to get ours back, but the hose-pedo kept sneaking on our board and tipping us.

Cody couldn’t flip us at one point so he resorted to trying to pull my foot off.  In between both kids having their own agendas while on the paddle boards, the waves kept carrying us into a pier and every now and then swallowing the salt water or getting some in your eyes set you back a bit.  One minute the kids would want to paddle and the next they would just want to jump off and be silly sending the board and paddle in opposite directions.

Scott had originally investigated having the boards for half a day.  We were both glad he decided to only go with two hours. We had a ton of fun in two hours and were well worn out.

The two hours were up and the kids were still going at 110% and decided to go check out another beach next door to the park we were at.  I took the moment to appreciate the quiet and lack of movement.  I probably could have napped there had no one been looking for the board.  This was a perfect outing for the kids.  I look forward to our next hose-pedo adventures.