Mama Diaries

Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Giveaway Winners, Sea Creatures, and a Game

(Those things go together, don't they?) 

Hey everybody, I'm back!  My family and I had a great time at Delray Beach, Florida celebrating our Aunt's 90th birthday.  I have a ton of stories from this trip.  I'll share some of them this week.  But first, I have to announce the winners of Kamy's books:  Crystal Collier is the winner of Breathe Again, and Medeia Sharif is the winner of Family Ties.  Congratulations ladies, and thanks to everyone who stopped by and commented!

Now for the story:

My kids and I were playing in the ocean when I spotted something that looked kind of big.  It was swimming some distance away, but it was getting closer.  I kept my eye on it.  Then I saw something that looked like a fin pop out of the water.

Uh oh, I thought.  That thing looked an awful lot like a shark.

"Come on, kids," I called.  Let's head to the shore."

"Why, Mama?" my son asked.

"Because there's a sea creature out there, and I don't know what it is."

Meanwhile, other swimmers spotted it and quickly headed for the shore.  We all watched as it came closer.  A fin came up, followed by a tail.  That thing was huge!

We all stood there, watching it for about ten minutes.  Then an intrepid group of folks with a raft decided to paddle out and investigate.

I started humming the Jaws tune. 

"Is it a shark, Mama?"

"I don't know, Bubba, but those guys are nuts!"

The rafters came within five feet of the creature.

"It's a manatee!" they shouted.  Then they took another look.  "There are two of them!"

Great.  So then everyone, including my kids, swam out to see the manatees.

I was  a little more cautious.  Because where there are manatees, there are sharks.  I kept a wary eye on the waves, making sure no other suspicious fins popped out of the water.

Fortunately, under my watch, there were no more sea creatures.  But when we were at the pool later in the evening, there were a bunch of people  talking about a nine foot shark they had just seen.  I bet that shark was hunting manatees!




Now for the game:

It's like "Where's Waldo?"  but this is "Where's Sherry, Bubba, and Squirt (my daughter)?"

See if you can find us in this picture:



        (I enlarged the picture to help you see it.  Hint:  I'm not the dude in the blue shirt who got cut off.) 

25 comments:

  1. Hi Sherry!

    Congratulations to the winners of Breathe Again and Family Ties.

    I wouldn't go back in the sea even if I knew it was not a shark!

    Magnifie dthe photo to have a closer look!


    Nas

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    1. I enlarged the picture, so you can have another look. :)

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  2. Manatee- now that's a new word in English for me :)

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    1. I think they're related to elephants. They look a little like walruses, though. And they like to eat cabbage. (Don't ask me how I know that!) Just give them a wide berth in case they start passing gas!

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  3. Congrats to the winner and welcome back, you have been missed. Look forward to your stories.

    Yvonne.

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  4. Congrats to your winners! As soon as I heard you all were in the water and something was swimming nearby, the theme from Jaws started playing in my mind.

    You'll have to clue us in- where are you all in the picture???

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  5. You're the beautiful lady wearing the t-shirt that says, I scare away sharks to keep my children safe.

    Love,
    Janie

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  6. Found you with ease and hmm glad no shark attack came due on the high seas

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  7. I don't know if I found you or not! LOL Are you going to reveal the answer? :)

    I'm glad those sharks stayed away.

    Congrats to the winners!

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  8. Manatees? Cute! But yeah, I wouldn't feel brave enough to go back out into the water, either. It'd really suck to run into a shark!

    I've never been too good at that "Where's Waldo?" game, so I'm not even going to attempt it here. XD

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    1. I'm not a big fan of sharks when I'm swimming at the beach. They're not bad though, if you're SCUBA diving. I guess it's better to be down on their level underwater so you can keep an eye on them. Shark surprises are not cool!

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  9. Never want to deal with sharks

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    1. Definitely not on a beach or when you're surfing!

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  10. Yay! I won. =D

    Oh man, you're making me nostalgic for my scuba diving days. *sigh* I swam with sea lions, sting rays, and dolphins, but not manatees. There's another one for the bucket list, eh?

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    1. I haven't dove in eons! Maybe we should get together and have a dive trip! Manatees are very cool to snorkel with. They're afraid of SCUBA bubbles, so you're only allowed to use your snorkel around them. One sat on our boat anchor and wouldn't get off. It was too funny!

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  11. Wow, a nine foot shark..I've never seen sharks up close in open water before. Eek, scary.
    Lovely beach photo! I easily spotted you and your daughter but I'm not quite sure about Bubba.

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    1. I don't mind sharks when I'm SCUBA diving, but sharks prowling along a beach make me nervous!

      I'll give the answer in my next post.

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  12. Hi Sherry,
    I would not have gone back in the water. Yikes!
    I can't wait to see if I chose correctly. :-)
    Sounds like a fun family time, minus the sea creature. :-)

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