Connor and the creatures

So we had sort of an epic day on the day before the 4th that involved quite a lot of creature excitement for our young animal lover, Connor. It started with a dead squirrel in front of our house. This might not seem promising but a large vulture was right in street working on it. There is a Wild Kratts episode about the turkey vulture and you need to understand that for Connor to see an animal from the Wild Kratts is like seeing Robert Redford or some movie star for the rest of us. So here is Connor dropping some knowledge about the vulture:

Then we went off to the beach, which went pretty well. To enjoy Galveston several things have to be in your favor and they were this day. There was astonishing little traffic, it was not excruciatingly hot, and the beach was pretty empty. Next, there was really not that much seaweed in the water, which makes a big difference. And the water temperature was really pretty perfect. The beach we went to is very shallow and has soft sand too so the boys could play in the waves without getting in very deep so it was pretty ideal. Jamie, as usual, got very uncomfortable about the sand, but then a game of whiffle ball helped him move on. He liked it because it was windy so the ball curved. He knows I won't let him throw a curve ball til he's 16 so this was a big thrill. 

After getting from the beach, I realized it was the first night in a while we've had things sorted so early, so we cozied up and watched the rest of this movie about saving these three whales trapped in the ice in Alaska. It was cute and they both liked it, except one of the whales, the baby named Bam-Bam, dies. Connor seemed really not to register it when it happened but then when the others were free he said "Where's Bam-Bam???" We had to break it to him. He waited about 5 minutes and began sobbing, just sobbing. I toyed with going the cycle of life route, but instead offered to buy him a stuffed animal whale for his birthday. "You can name him Bam-Bam Connor," Jamie said, "so you can remember him in your heart."