Carabelle, FL

When we got to Carabelle, Florida and plugged in, we immediately lost DC power. Mark spent some time trouble shooting, borrowed some tools from the neighbors, and tried to figure out what the problem was. In the mean time, I tried to keep the kids out of his way. They read some books and then we went to chat with the neighbors over a bon fire. By the time we got back, Mark had gotten things working again and I was able to make dinner.

After dinner, though, it cut out again. We couldn't use our lights and the refrigerator didn't work. For most of our time here, that kept happening. Mark would get it to work for awhile, but then it would cut out again. But we were hooked up to a 50 amp power source, and we just have a 30 amp, so we chalked it up to that and decided it would work itself out at the next place.

So the next day we headed to Bald Point State Park. It was beautiful! First we followed a trail into a marsh area where we saw hundreds of teeny tiny crabs. It was hard to get a picture of one, but if you look really closely, you can see one under that clump of dirt. 

So we walked...

And looked at the little crabs.

Then we hit the beach. We mad so many awesome beach discoveries on this outing. 

We saw pelicans.

And a ton of these fleshy looking mounds, which my aunt Kate later told me were a type of sponge.

Judah dug around in the sand bar.

And we met a crab.

Judah found some crab pinchers for his collection.

And Mark showed him the shell of a horseshoe crab.

We discovered some washed up coral.

And the dismembered body of a horseshoe crab being eaten by birds right next to its shell. It was a little disturbing.

Then a few feet down the beach, we saw another upside down horseshoe crab, but this one was kicking its legs. "It's alive," I shouted and sprinted over to it. Luckily, I was holding Judah's poking stick, so I used it to flip the crab over. Dude was heavy, so it took a few tries.

As soon as I got him flipped, he scampered off into the ocean. Then I cried and talked about how that was one of the most meaningful experiences of my life. "That could have been him," I sobbed, pointing at the corpse down the beach. I have a hard time accepting the circle of life.

After my act of heroism, we decided that it was time for lunch. We walked a lush and beautiful path back to the car to grab our supplies....

and then set up at a nearby picnic table.

After our exciting day, we figured the kids would fall asleep on the car ride home. They didn't. Nor did they buy the "it''s time for a nap" speech when we got home. So we gave up and played, and when my legs got sore from playing we went out.

We stopped at the grocery store for some ice cream treats and then ate them on our way to a nearby playground. It was a really cool playground. 

We all took turns going down the blue slide. The kids caught air every time.

This has got to be one of my favorite picture of Beans. Look at that little imp face.

That night, the boys all worked on the RV.

Then Judah helped Beans wash his hands and we got ready for bed.

The next day we headed out, crossing our fingers that our lights and refrigerator would work at the next place.