Beach Fun

We spent today the day in Grapeview which is on Case Inlet which connects to Henderson Bay which flows into the Puget Sound! My friend from Taylor, Kathy, has an aunt with a beach house. I've heard a ton of stories about their adventures at Aunt Nancy's place so we were excited to participate.

We've been to a few beaches around the Puget Sound area and I'm always surprised with the variety you find in sea life as well as the ocean shore and tides. The effect of the tides here are amazing. I grew up around the water in Michigan and high and low tide usually meant a difference of about 20 feet along the shore. Around here the difference can be 30-50 feet of water levels.

This picture is during low tide. I am standing on the Inlet floor in this picture. In a few more hours the water will be about 25 feet above my head. Boats will be able to pass under the bridge you see in the background and the white poles coming out of the ground will stand about one foot out of the water as a warning to boats of low water levels.

The kids had a great time catching crabs, sand dollars (which don't require much catching) and Baileigh surprised us all when she brought to our attention the jelly fish she was holding! Luckily she dropped it as I sprinted towards her like an insane woman yelling and waving my arms. She was scared of me, not the jelly fish! Thankfully, I think it was dead and there was no harm done. I don't think I have to ever worry about her picking up another one again after my reaction. For a moment there I thought I was going to have to pee on her hand! (If you're saying "WHAT?" then you obviously aren't the seasoned marine biologist like myself!).

The jelly fish Baileigh found (and held!).

We took several crabs captive! It was a tough lesson on death when we got home and heard "all my crabs are sleeping." This led to a lengthy talk on the fragility of life and our own mortality...I'll save it for another blog.

We also found several wild golf balls and took those captive, too.

Mckenna had moments of fear when a crab would crawl in her sandle or she would get stuck...but for the most part she overcame any reservations she had about the "big crabs with pinchers that hurt," as Baileigh had so helpfully described earlier that morning.