Ocean Day One

I look forward to this trip every two years since that is our schedule for ocean vacations. But more and more I feel like it should become an anual event in out family. We talk about it for two years, dream about it, anicipate it's arrival. The sand beneath our feet beckons us, the smooth ocean rocks, the endless miles of seashells that my children collect by the gallons in ziplock bags. The ocean seems new to Gavin, who doesn't remember this trip two years ago. He is not sure if he really likes the feel of the seawater on his legs, but he plays in it anyway. I photograph everything my kids do. I am obsessed with the sound the shutter makes when I push the shutter release button. I am in heaven on the beach tweeking my camera and watching my kids. I am convinced Heaven isn't Heaven unless there is an ocean there.

 A sand dollar. A precious find in our family. Every morning before anyone was out of bed, before anyone was on the beach, in the breaking dawn hour, Dave would get the girls out of bed and take them down to the beach in search of sacred sand dollars. If you get there before the seaguls do you might find one perfect unbroken gem. It's the hunt my girls have been waiting for all spring.

In retrospect I am not sure really which day was day one or day two. My mind has already lost track of events and blurred them altogether.

There is a jetty on the northside of our beach condo, it goes out about a hundred yards. Dave and Spencer are in search of a crab.

On the jetty the kids found different colors of starfish attached to barnicals. Arden caught about nine small crabs, although they outsmarted her and got away, crawled right out of her container and jumped back in the ocean. She was devistated at first until she realized that she can't keep them anyway, they aren't exactly like sand dollars now are they.