Kids always seem to enjoy the things you would least expect, and this post is proof of that. We take an annual spring trip to the Florida Panhandle and have blogged about one of our favorite restaurants, Stinky’s.
Mr. Handsome and I adore the crayfish pie, catfish, grits, and Jambalaya, and both our boys will happily eat grilled or fried fish. But the food is not the highlight of the experience for our sons, as it was is us. When we went this spring, Little Buddy remembered visiting the restaurant one year earlier and knew exactly what he wanted to do: feed the turtles.
In fact, he asked if we could give the turtles our leftovers. We gently explained to him that we would like to save our food to eat for lunch the following day and that the restaurant had turtle food for purchase. The minute we were done with our food, he begged to go to the boardwalk around the back of the building, where the turtles were begging to receive their meal. What a great way for the restaurant to become a favorite eatery among children!
There were smaller painted turtles and huge softshell turtles, all racing to be the first to eat the food that we dropped in the water. Ever since the trip, all Little Buddy can talk about is feeding the turtles. And all we can talk about is our delicious meal.
I used to love to feed the ducks and geese at a local park until the park people cracked down on it. They said that when people feed the wild birds, they stick around instead of migrating. So no more feeding the duckies and no more seeing the fuzzy baby geese for me. I may need to find some turtles.
There is (or was, if Covid took them down) a jewelry store in Midtown Manhattan with a front window tank full of live turtles. Turtles brought the family luck and lifted them out of poverty. You can read the amazing story about this online somewhere – look up Lucoral Co. and “turtles bring prosperity” or something like that. A New York Times article. I’ve been to that store many times and walked past that turtle window a lot. Michelle Obama supposedly bought jewelry there too. Not often you see a store with live turtles.
I definitely expect boys would be happier feeding turtles than eating fish. I had 4 boys. I’m glad you and Mr.H was able to enjoy another great meal at Stinky’s