Leisurely

Yesterday, we went down to Fort Fisher to the Aquarium there. It was the perfect size for a kid Sam's age, with a little playground, a touch tank (not that Sam wanted to touch any of the animals in it...), and some local North Carolina animals, including an albino alligator and a cool exhibit of box turtles. We followed up the visit with a yummy Indian food lunch, and some pool time later in the afternoon. All in all, a fun day.

Looking down into the turtle area

'Hanging' out on the playground

Playground fun

Cautiously taking a look at the touch tank

Seahorse!

Box turtles

Time for lunch!

Unfortunately, Sam was a really really bad sleeper last night, much worse than usual, and as a result, we all woke up tired. I had planned to run my marathon pace run today, but it was evident shortly into the run that that wasn't going to happen, so I chose to just run a leisurely hour instead. I kept the pace mellow, let my mind wander and ran along the berm and then up the main drag to the clubhouse before taking the backroads back to the house. It was still early enough in the day that a lot of my route was in the shade, and although it felt a bit more humid than it has the past few days, it wasn't bad out. I tacked on a bit at the end to get in 6.75 miles, and was more than satisfied with the miles considering how exhausted I felt. I'll get in those MP miles tomorrow, one way or another, and am really hoping that we all get a better sleep tonight so that they come a little easier!

I scared up a big Great Blue Heron while I was running along the Berm. It had roosted in a dead tree, and as I got closer, it honked and squacked at me, finally taking off as I was running right beneath the tree.  I saw another Heron fishing in one of the ponds further along, as well as a lot of mockingbirds and a few turtles sunning themselves on a branch at the edge of another pond. Also a cardinal and a belted kingfisher, high on one of the telephone wires above a pond, busy keeping an eye on the pond for his next meal. We've been seeing some neat sightings right here in my parent's yard too. There are mockingbirds galore, along with a ton of green anoles, ranging in color from bright green to muted green, to mustard yellow, brown and even one the other day that had turned almost black as he was resting on the faux black wicker chairs out on the porch. There is also a pair of ruby throated hummingbirds in the yard. It is really neat to see them together, as they "talk" and chatter to each other, and after having fed in the flowers, go off and roost on the thin ends of the live oak and birch tree branches at the edge of the yard. Very cool.