Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone! I heard you were all getting burried in ice and snow. Sounds like it was a white Christmas in Maine. Not here though. We had a warm Christmas. Actually, it got down to 60 last night - it was chilly. It's usually around 70 to 80 degrees Farenheit at night in the wintertime. Just imagine the summer! Anyways, I am now in a place called Lake Worth in North Palm Beach. We came here to escape a storm that was coming straight for Peanut Island where we were. So we motored into Lake Worth. There is a Publix food mart nearby and you can go fishing. In fact, we caught some yesterday and had them for Christmas dinner. One was a Corvelle Jack and the other was a Spanish Mackerel. Wren and I had fun catching them.

For Christmas, I got some swimming stuff like a noodle and a wave board. I also got some cool games, books and a lot of candy! My mom bought a tiny fake Christmas tree. It's about half a foot tall, but hey! It worked!

On Christmas Day, we opened presents, and then my Dad make really good pancakes. Wren and I played with our new toys while Mom and Dad picked up wrapping paper and packaging. Later in the day, we went to a cool place called Munyon Island. We had no idea what was on the island, but we did know we were in for some exploring! We docked the dinghy, and then walked along the boardwalk. It was a lot of fun until we discovered three inch long spiders blocking our path. It was not enjoyable. We had my dad go first with a palm frond to brush the spiders out of the way. We did a lot of ducking, shouting, and dancing on that trip. I just about died with laughter because my Mom got told she had a spider on her. It was so funny! The trail had led to a beach that was dotted with old coral. The way back was a lot more enjoyable knowing that the spiders were out of the way. On the way back we found a giant centipede. He was SO cool!  

Christmas this year was a lot of fun!

Love,

Riley

Hobe Sound

Peeling coconuts!

Sisterly love...

Gopher Turtle

Praying Mantis

Pelican

Miss you all!

Is there something on my shoulder?

Hi Everybody!

              We're anchored in a cool place called Hobe Sound,  It is really beautiful here!  There are little sand beaches all around us.  Yesterday, Wren and I found some coconuts.  They were washed up on the sand beaches.  We peeled the husks with the claw of a hammer.  Then we split the nut open with a chisel.  It was hard work.  We tried banging them open with a metal bar that was poking out of the ground, but that didn't work.  The insides were pretty nasty.  The first one was completely empty.  The second was rancid.  We are determined to find a good coconut in our travels.  Yesterday, we just didn't have any luck.  Anyway, now to what I actually wanted to talk about.  Our trip to the beach!  So we packed a snack and all piled into the dinghy (ding-ee) and headed for shore.  Once we got to land, we discovered a trail.  My mom and dad insisted we follow the trail but my sister and I wanted to explore the beach a little bit more.  We all eventually decided to go on the trail, which I personally was very glad we did.  We followed the path until we came to a sign that said, "trail",  that led in another direction, for not we just ignored the sign and went a little bit farther.  I was being a little bit jumpy because there were a lot of things I hadn't seen before, like prickly pear cacti, and also I didn't want to come in contact with a black widow spider.  If you haven't heard of them before, it's a good thing.  They have enough venom in them to kill 10 men.  And to make matters worse, they are very territorial.   They are just about the only creepy crawly that freak me out.  So, where was I?  Oh yeah, that's why I was jumpy.  We explored more and then I found a turtle den, or burrow, with a turtle in it.  He was awesome!   Later I found out he was a gopher turtle.  There were signs on the side of the trail that told you what things were nearby.  There were lots of sand dunes that we walked over.  I looked up at the trees and thought about how many hurricanes and storms they must have survived.  Some trees even need forest fires to disperse their seeds.  The trail did a loop and we ended up back at the gopher turtle's burrow.  There was one more path we hadn't followed yet.   As we neared the end of the path, we came upon a building.  It was a nature center!  It was actually the Hobe Sound National Wildlife Refuge.  As we went in, there were all kinds of cool animals.  There were some awesome tree frogs, bug larvae, crickets, a corn snake, and best of all, a boa constrictor!  A lady came out of a room and welcomed us.  Then she asked us if we wanted to hold the boa!  Of course we both said YES!  So she took the boa out of his tank and handed it to us.  She explained that the snake was harmless and was once a pet.  He was so thick and big.  He wrapped around my arms.  Then it was time for him to go back into his tank so we moved on to the next room.  She said we were lucky to be here when we were because the birds were here.  We saw what she meant when we entered the next room.  On a fake tree sat two cool birds;  a red tailed hawk and a barred owl.  They were really neat.  She also showed us a box turtle and another gopher turtle.  There were also other animals like a cute spotted skunk, sea horses, and some cool lizards.  There was also a crocodile and two alligators.  She took them out of their tanks and let us pet them.  It was a lot of fun.  There was also a gift shop.  All too soon, it was time to go.  We said goodbye to the animals and hiked back to the beach.  We all got in the dinghy and motored back to Kiawah, ready for tomorrow's day of fun. 

Love you all,

Riley

Night walk

We crept slowly around the boatyard, observing silently as we took light steps. The air was crisp, but a warm breeze was sweeping over the sleeping earth. We were engulfed by the cricket's soft chirping in the grass as we plunged deeper into our mission. We slunk around a corner, where a broken light was trying its best to keep out the darkness. A gecko watched us as we passed. A katydid flew noiselessly in the darkness, and the ants at our feet marched on. The night sounds grew nearer with each careful step. We stopped. At our feet was a board. We had stopped at many boards like this before, but this one was special. We took the opportunity. Our spirits high, we lifted up the old board. A mixture of fear and excitement singed me. Everything was waiting. The sounds. The air. Us. All of it stopped.

Underneath the board, was a scorpion...

Mission Completed!

This is just a little story I wrote a while ago. My mom insisted I put it up. It was when we were still in the boat yard and we went on a night hike around the dream lot, a place where all of the boats go to die. We found a lot of cool things, including a scorpion! There are pics of all of the animals we found below, Hope all is well,

Rile- poo :)

                

hideaway anole

Gecko - night hunter

katydid (libby didn't)

Blind snake

scorpion!

Gone Fishin'

December 12, 2013

Hi everyone!  

I haven't posted in such a long time! We have been so busy scrubbing the decks and slathering ourselves 

with suntan lotion. What is it, like 10 more days until Christmas? It's kind-of hard to get in the Christmas 

spirit when it's 80 degrees, sunny, and there are palm trees everywhere... But , yeah, I am having a blast 

down here!!! There is one thing that I have learned, people are NOT, under any circumstances, impressed 

at catching catfish. Mostly because people don't eat them. I don't see why not! They're considered a "trash 

fish"! Wren and I were catching catfish and feeding them to the pelicans. I mean, some of these fish were 

HUGE. It was awesome. I can't wait to catch Mahi Mahi.  Now those guys can get up to be over five feet 

long! We had some Mahi Mahi the other night. It was imported, frozen, from Peru, and it was SO good!!! 

We will also catch Red Snapper, Snook, and Grouper once we get o the Bahamas. I miss home a lot, and I 

think of you guys often... getting buried in snow. Ha Ha!!!

Love, 

Ri.          P.S. I have no idea why this got formatted in this way...

In Florida

I am in Florida!!!! It is so warm here! There are palm trees everywhere! It's awesome! I am using so many exclamation marks! Anyways, sorry I didn't post the last couple of days, I am so busy! I will tell y'all's what's happening and what's been happening. So, on Friday, we went to the National Zoo in Washington, DC. It was so much fun! We took the train to the zoo in D.C. and saw all kinds of animals! My favorite animals there were the lizards. They, in my opinion, were the coolest of them all. The gorillas were pretty cool too, but not as cool as some of the lizards were. We saw pandas, lizards, gorillas, lionesses, small mammals, cool birds, alligators and crocodiles, wolves, awesome reptiles, sea creatures, fish, and orangutans. Everything was so cool. I felt bad for some of the creatures that were trapped behind glass and nets, but it was such a unique experience. As soon as it got dark, all the trees there lit up with decorative lights, and Christmas music played in the background. We bought popcorn and walked around a little bit more. That's when all the people came. There were probably, literally 1,000 people walking around. It was like an amusement park. We decided to leave because of all of the people (my family, including me, does NOT like when so many people are around you, you can't breathe). When we got back to the RV, we were so tired, we went to bed almost instantly. So, yeah, that's my Friday. Now, for yesterday, you can look at the next few posts... Sorry again!!! 

Hope everything is well,

Riley