2017 Life Logs, Day 214: Swim Lessons, Fun with Friends, Turtle Release
Date: Wednesday, August 2, 2017
Weather: Partly Sunny; High 82, Low 65 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Studio, Falmouth, MA
It was a marathon 12-hour Camp Oma day, but long as it was, I think the Goldpebbles enjoyed all 720 minutes. Between morning swim lessons and an evening turtle release, the boys played at home with neighborhood friends, Cole and Leo. Their family returned yesterday from a two-week vacation visiting family in California, so we invited them over to play for the afternoon. The boys got out the slip and slide and had a great time sliding down the hill in the backyard. At one point, Sam came to the kitchen door to tell me someone was at the front door. I went to the door and no one was there. In fact, no one was in sight. When I got back to the kitchen, Sam had disappeared, but I saw muddy footprints leading from the door to the sink. Hmmmm. I looked out back and saw mounds of bubbles on the slip and slide. Sam had tricked me so he could confiscate the dish washing liquid to speed up the slide. And it did. They were having so much fun there was no way I could be angry with Sam for his little deception. After the slip and slide, the boys played croquet in the front yard and then enjoyed time on the swing set. It was quite refreshing to see boys ranging in age from 5 to 11 having so much fun on a summer day.
At 5 pm, Cole and Leo went home and I headed north to Craigsville Beach with the Sam, Jonah, and Ollie. We bought dinner at the Craigsville Beach Grill and took it across the street to eat on the beach. Just as we finished, who would appear but Cole and Leo. Cole and his mother were part of a training in the fall learning how to rescue stranded turtles. So, when they heard we were going to the release, they also decided to come watch the release of the eight Kemp’s Ridley sea turtles that were rescued last fall. Kemp’s Ridley are the smallest and most endangered of all sea turtles and every fall some of these little guys get caught in the Cape Cod Bay and can’t find their way out to head south before the cold weather comes. They then get cold stunned and end up stranded on Cape Cod beaches. Various organizations work together to rescue them and the National Marine Life Center in Bourne takes care of them through the winter and prepares them for release once the waters of the Cape Cod Bay are warm enough. Today was that day and hundreds of people came to watch.
Somehow the Goldpebbles, along with Cole and Leo, headed in the right direction at just the right time and we ended up with a front row view. The turtles didn’t arrive on time, so we had a very long wait. But the boys waited willingly and enjoyed seeing these turtles head out to sea.
Then they asked if they could head out to sea as well. So off they went frolicking in the water. They were delighted with the water temperature . . . much warmer than Falmouth beaches they declared. But when I checked water temps tonight, the data tells me the water is only one degree warmer here. Whatever, they enjoyed a late evening romp and then we fought the traffic to head home. Long, but lovely day.
