Yesterday was my fifth grade class field trip to Galveston Texas to visit the NOAA Sea Turtle Hatchery and have our end of the year bash at the beach.
The Hatchery used to be open to the public but they closed down due to staffing issues to work the tours and the National Security issues. Nate teaches aquatic science and used to take his class there each year and was able to link me with the department head and she arranged a private tour for my students. They loved it!
The lady who gave the tour was very informative and the kids soaked up all the information. The doors had signs on them about not to stick fingers in the tanks the turtles would think they were squid. This is a working lab so it isn't beautiful like an aquaruim but it was a teaching environment for the kiddos to see.
The turtle hatchery hatches and raises all five speices that live in the Gulf of Mexico. They had just released 500 kemp ridley turtles in Flordia so the only turltes we saw were Logger Head Turtles. They also have on site a rehabilitation center which is for wild turtles that are hurt. A vet from the Houston Zoo comes and works pro bono on them.
We also learned that a sea turlte nests at the same beach she was hatched and lays 100 eggs per nest and 4-5 nests a breeding season. But sea turtles don't bred every season. Out of the 500 eggs about 200 will make in the wild. A sea turtle doesn't reach maturity also till 25 yrs old.
This poor guy was alone away from the rest because he was sick :(
This guy was also sick- but all the sea turtles thought we were there to feed them so this one sat at the top with his mouth open!! Hilarious
This cutie had his flippers perfectly over his shell just chilling at the top! The kids had a great time at the beach too!
After the field trip I came home and helped Nate empty all the book shelves and move them to the garage. Than I scoured the floor (since the cat litter used to be in there) and mopped and wet vac it since it is a wood floor.
Looking into room- long and narrow (estimated it is 13*9)
Looks like Nate forgot some boxes of books!!I really wish I had a before picture because it has come a long way already- but there is so much to do still. This is the only room not to have been painted. The baseboards need to be done, ceiling and walls. Love the black window sile right.. not!! Also notice the closet has no door.. hmm. So I am going to re hang the rod I had up there and make new curtains for it. It will look something similar to this closet from Young House love once I work my magic!
In addition to painting the closet and adding curtains. I want to add wicker baskets to the top shelf for storage and there is a nitch in the closet on the side that I want build shelves up for additional storage. I haven't decided if I want to paint the closet a different color than the rest of the room like Baby Clara's first room on YHL.
So since all the baby items we have collected from friends and family (who so lovingly donated) have been stored in our guest room. We can now move them into the baby room so that Nate's mom and stepdad have somewhere to sleep! Horray!
So tonight after work I will move the baby stuff from the guest room to the third room.. maybe Nate's Mom will paint for me while she is here. She loves painting and this is the last project. We'll keep the bedroom door shut until we are preggo one because I can't handle seeing it all but two because I want the room to be pet free!
Hopefully soon I will have good news to share with yall and we can open that room up to a baby!
In other news I just tested my kiddos over State Geography. I covered the map in class with this-
Updates on the room to come.. Happy Hump Day.
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