We Go To Florida--Day 6 A Quite Sunday with Iguanas

We went to church first thing this morning.  Brandt was able to pass the sacrament with three other deacons in James and Alisa's ward.  Brandt did a fine job, but he wasn't exactly sure where he should be going.  But the bishop's son Adam, who is also twelve, made sure he was headed in the right direction.  There were 88 people in sacrament meeting, which isn't very many people.  James is the Young Men's President and Alisa is the Primary President, so both of the children were well taken care of.  They only have one senior primary class, so Brandt and Blythe were together, and James made sure Brandt got to young men.  They took pictures in Primary to send to cousin Ethan whose birthday is next week, so Blythe was in the Primary picture where they all held "Happy Birthday" signs.  There were sixteen sisters in Relief Society, two of whom were missionaries and two of whom were visiting, meaning there were only twelve regulars.  But the Church is true wherever you go, and it was nice to be in meetings on the sabbath.

James and Alisa are fabulous.  It is so fun to be with them and we did lots and lots of talking, talking, talking.  After a yummy lunch, James suggested we go try and catch iguanas.  Iguanas run wild in their neck of Florida.  Just the week before we were there, Alisa sent me a short video of an iguana strolling through their backyard along the pool deck.  He must have been contemplating a swim.  There is a large canal near their house, iguanas regularly hang out there, and James thought it would exciting to try and catch some.  He has a long pole with string running through straws taped to the sides of the pole, with a straw lined loop that could go around the iguana's head should one get close enough to loop it over.  James said our chances of catching one was slim to none, but Brandt was keen on trying and we all needed a walk, so off we went.

We did, indeed, see six or seven iguanas on our stroll.  We startled several that were lying in the grass, camouflaged, that startled us in turn as they darted away into the water and disappeared.  There were several docks over the water, and we saw three iguanas on docks.  On the last dock there were two sunbathing.  Brandt crept up the dock, slowly and steadily enough that only one belly flopped off the deck.  The only remained, sunny itself.  Brandt managed to get the loop around its neck and pulled it taut, essentially capturing it.  He turned excitedly to show us, lifting the iguana off the deck.  That was enough for the stunned reptile--he wriggled free and dove/fell into the water, swimming rapidly away.  We all shrieked in surprise and delight while Brandt held the iguana catching pole overhead like a Tusken Raider, squealing with pride that he, Brandt Barrus, had caught a wild iguana.  He can put that on his resume: Brandt, iguana catcher.  I have no pictures because I was taking video.

We did some game playing after our iguana adventure.  James, Brandt, and I played Clue, then Alisa, James, Brandt, and I played Qwirkle.  Kent and Blythe ignored the games.  We're in Florida, a state with lots of beaches, and although it was Sunday, we felt that a walk along the beach after dinner, at sunset, would be a perfectly acceptable sabbath activity.  We drove over to Pompano Beach and wandered along the shore, getting out feet wet, looking for shells, and enjoying the crisp sea breeze.  The water was very warm and there were numerous turtle nesting sites staked and roped off.  The children had a very hard time not getting completely wet.  It was a wonderful teaser for beach time tomorrow!

Turtle nesting sites.

There are warning signs attached to each one warning about messing around with the sites.

There are big fines and jail time associated with disturbing a site.

Out of focus.

Sob, sob, sob!

A quick, goofy selfie

Do you see that water temperature?

85 degrees.

The ocean!

85 degrees.  

We can hardly wait to get in the water tomorrow!

I think bathing conditions will be more than OK!