Wakodahatchee Reserve

I forget that in Delray Beach we are still fairly close to wetlands. I guess since we are further away from the Everglades than we had been in Miami, I just forget that we still live in that type of place. But the other morning (sometime in December?) I just went to maps and then parks to find somewhere new to go. And realized there are two huge parks nearby that are just boardwalks over all the marshes. So we've gone a few times now to walk around and join in with all the retiree community members for bird watching. It has actually been really relaxing and fun--and the old people (I mean, we live in Palm Beach County, retirement capital of the country I think) just gush over my kids (a change from some of the ornery old people in the grocery stores) and one man even let Will look through his bird watching binoculars--which totally made his week!

There were about eight big birds in there that you could pick out.

Ballerina costumes and cowboy boots. Perfect outfit for any excursion.

I really liked these bright blue chickens. One lady gave us a fairly detailed account of how they blew over here in a hurricane and aren't native to Florida and now are repopulating like chickens and are a real nuisance. Too bad, considering they are so pretty!

You can BARELY see it, but there is an alligator under that tree to the left.

We may have given an old lady a heart attack when she saw my kids looking over this fence. Oops. (They were just fine!)

I really like boardwalks--I think it's fun! We saw several turtles, soooo many birds, fish, two alligators--one was a baby that was super close-- and a few iguanas. I was actually thinking today that it is going to be weird when there aren't peacocks inhabiting the street where we turn into our block, and we don't slow down for flocks of ibis, and today I had to slow waaaay down for an iguana high-tailing it across the street, and my kids don't stop to look at lizards and giant toads(they are literally called that) on the sidewalks. So fun and crazy!