I've been up to my knees in the "marsh" all week.

Okay, so maybe it wasn't actually me that was up to my knees in the Marshlands....it was that pink shirt loving son of mine. Why? Because we've been on a field trip to the Dauphin Island Sea Lab this week, that's why. Pretending to be marine biologists....and loving every squid filled minute of it.

And I was there to take photos, while alongside the marsh....not in it.

We've had a wonderful trip....but I am very tired, my vocabulary and sentence structure skills are escaping me, and I am in dire need of a nap...a long 8 hour overnight in my own bed, sort of nap.

However, I had to put out a few photos to show you a sprinkling of the fun we found while in our classes on the coast.

So without further adieu.....

The kids first class was a short lecture on Wetlands....and then a trip to the marsh for critter catching in the Gulf of Mexico using dip nets, their bare hands, and seine fishing (where you use the big net and drag it to shore and see what treasures from the sea you may behold).

And they caught a plethora of sea life right before my very eyes....through the lens of my camera, because these eyes weren't going into that muddy marsh to smell of brackish water for the remainder of the day.

A few pics of these cool creatures: (names (phylum, class or species) have been changed for anonymity)

• Mr. Flat Flounder

• Mrs. Crab-owitz

• Tomahawk John Doe

• I usually just call this guy..."supper"...when I'm dining at the coast.

• And this little guy....it seems he's a tad bit bi-polar....one minute he's a beautiful seashell......

• and the next....he's a slimy snail. (Fascinating story behind these snails....if I see you, I'll fill you in.)

• Truth be told....it was bucket loads of science filled awesomeness.

I would try to give some clever educational material to go along with these pics.....but my brain, may or may not have been left on the beach with a few large jellyfish we buried yesterday evening, or back a few hundred miles down the road a couple of hours earlier, when the 6 children in my car trampled right over my last nerve.

Trampled. Right Over. My. Last. Nerve.

Never fear, I will regain conciousness some day....and I may even begin to like 5th graders again....some day. I have more pics, from more days, of some TOTALLY NEAT time spent at the Sea Lab......and soon, I'll post coherent thoughts that make you want to continue reading....but until then, I only have one bit of wisdom to impart to you......

• The weekend is almost here....so don't be crabby.