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Today was Field Trip Day!!! We headed to a Marina to observe water transportation. We saw a ton of boats and watched a forklift take a boat off the top shelf of the garage (barn) and put it in the water! And Babe got to see a real propeller up close!

These photos are a little dark because I only had my phone handy at the time.

We then headed to the other side of the marina where boats pull in and out, and the kids saw a gas station! On the water! They got a big kick out of that. They were also shown how to properly fill a boat with gas so as not to get gas in the water and pollute it. The marina uses special rags that absorb oil and gas for any spillover.

We hung out by the docks a bit longer to watch a water taxi fill with people and drive away (that was an especially cool discussion with Babe about another similarity between land and water transportation).

Then, before lunch, our tour guide (a good friend of mine) had a surprise to show us. We headed to another set of docks and we were told to stay quiet....and then BAM! The surprise showed up out of nowhere!!!

A real, live manatee! Babe flipped out!

"It's not in a cage!!! I've never seen one like this before!!!"

So cute.

My friend pointed out the scars on the manatee's back and told Babe that he got hit by a boat propeller, and that's why boats need to go slow in certain areas of the water.

While we stayed quiet, the mommy and baby manatee came up for air during their nap every few minutes. It gave me goosebumps watching nature like that! A very cool experience.

After we watched them for a bit, we left them alone, had a picnic lunch by the pool, and then of course went swimming in the pool!

An awesome field trip day filled with really cool experiences. I'm pretty sure Babe and Bubs will never forget seeing a wild manatee!