FISH!

Finally! It's taken lots of time to build and develop everything, but now it's all put together.  Some of the equipment isn't quite working yet, but we will fix that soon.  We filled the tank sooner than we had planned, because Derek, our master fish catcher, had already caught some fish.  That was on Thursday, April 21.  On Friday, we got our sand and water.  We filled the tank up and then went to the evangelistic meeting.  When we got home, the water was clear enough to put the fish in.  You're supposed to wait for at least 24 hours, but the fish were outside in a bucket.  We thought it would be better for them in the tank.  So far, (almost 2 weeks) we have haven't lost a fish (except for one that mysteriously disappeared. We think he was someone else's lunch since he was really small.)

it was really cloudy because of all of the sand

blue stripe and princess damsel

the water cleared up considerably the next day.

speckled butterfly fish

getting adjusted to its new home!

Gun Beach Sabbath

We had church at the tent on Sabbath because it was the last day of evangelistic meetings. Some friends asked us if we wanted to go to Gun Beach with them, so after potluck we went. We walked down the beach, but we went back to where we first were pretty soon because it wasn't as nice. my dad and I snorkeled in the shallow water almost all the way back. We some some pretty cool things, but mostly stuff I've seen before.  When we got back, we swam out to the reef. I couldn't beloved how pretty it was, I think the coral was about every color possible!  We swam to the edge of the reef, and all of the sudden the bottom just dropped away from us.  It was actually kind of scary. I've swam on the other side of the reef before, but it was off of a boat.   I've never swam past the reef from the shore. I thought I'd seen a lot of the fish, but there were even more kinds, in bigger numbers.  When the sun would shine off of the coral, it looked like it glowed.
    Then I got to thinking, that all that all the coral and fish  existed whether I was there or not.  God created them so we can see it, and marvel how great he is. I know that a lot of people don't go to the beach on Sabbath because it's easy to forget it's Sabbath, and that's true. But today was different. Now I know why they call nature a second Bible.  There are so many lessons to learn if we just stop and think.  
-Bryce

DIY aquarium project

Hopefully soon we will finish covering the stand

The start of a protein protein skimmer, made out of a commercial RO unit filter cartrige.

The ten gallon sump

Starting to collect the things we need. 

Tom and the boys have started building a saltwater aquarium!  All of their progress will be posted here.  So far, we have the 55 gallon tank, a stand, the pumps, and a 10 gallon sump.  We plan to cover the stand and install doors later.

Jumping Off of the falls

SIgua Falls Sabbath hike

The Kyles and us had a wonderful time at Sigua Falls this afternoon.  It takes about an hour to hike in, so when we got there, we were really hot and sweaty!  That was ok though, because we could just jump into the refreshing, cool water.  Some of us, (the adventurous ones) decided to climb part way up the falls and jump off.  The highest place where we jumped was about 20 feet tall. On the way back from the falls, the boys had fun looking for WWII bullets and shells.  We found 55 all together.  It was a tiring afternoon, but we had an awesome time.

Our cousin (and nephew) Lloyd just left yesterday after a two week visit.  Although his time with us was short, we made the best of it.  We got to do so many things!  The day he arrived we went snorkeling. A few days after that, he and Jerri had their SCUBA lessons. We also went on a number of hikes (here they are called boonie stomps).  The longest hike was to Sigua falls.  It takes an hour and a half to get there if you walk, but we made it in about an hour.  Only three of us actually went all the way to the falls, and we only had a few minutes to swim before getting back. It still made for a memorable experience.  Not all we  did the same things because of school.  Lloyd and Jerri went to a cave one day, and lost pond on another.  Sometimes they did two hikes in a day.
Hopefully, he will come back a visit us in the near future, so we can have even more fun adventures.