Carkeek Excursion

Today, it snowed. Naturally, I had the brilliant idea of taking the kids to the beach! Doesn't everyone equate snow with beach trip???

Our kids were in dire need to burn off some energy, and Conor asked to go to the beach while we were out a bit earlier. The idea stuck in my craw and after seeing the snow (and later, rain) taper off, I figured "Why not?" So, I packed up a few beach toys and the kids and we headed down to Carkeek for some beach fun. We are so blessed to live where we do... and have beaches so close to our house. We really don't have to plan ahead for a fun outing and if the weather doesn't cooperate, we aren't out anything if we have to cut our trip short.

As we drove to the beach, I told the kids that I didn't want them to go into the water because it was a rather cold day and I didn't bring extra clothes for them. The agreed to the one stipulation of our trip, so long as they could get water from puddles if they wanted to fill their buckets. OK, that sounded reasonable. No problem. Wow - that was easy. (Insert a "duh-duh-duh" soundtrack here.)

The kids made a bee line for the beach, happily dug in the sand, and flung the frisbee at each other (ok, moreover in the direction is happened to go, but with the general idea of aiming at the other.) Then, I noticed a seal just off shore. COOL! I tried to take some photos of it while simultaneously kicking myself for not bringing my zoom lens ... and that's when the kiddos conveniently forgot our "no going in the water" agreement. Damn that harbor seal. It sidetracked me at just the right (wrong?) time!  ;)

It amazes me how our children develop hearing loss at just the right time. For some astounding reason, they just so happened to go deaf just as I was reminding them of our agreement to stay out of the water. Go figure!!

Fortunately, their hearing returned (after me threatening to take them home RIGHT NOW), and they "decided" to play up on the sand instead of down on the rocks (and in the water). I decided they still have too much energy to burn, so I challenged them to run to the furthest driftwood log and then back to me. (This also gave me a chance to take some action shots of them running... so I really had two motives in sending them down the beach.)

Annika invented a new game today. She stuck a stick that was about 3 feet long into the sand. Then, she and Conor took turns trying to fling the frisbee onto the stick. Basically, a beach/frisbee version of horseshoes. What really struck me about this game was how encouraging the kids were with each other. There were plenty of "good try", "so close", and "you almost got it" comments. It made my mama heart very proud!

About an hour plus into the excursion, the cold started to sink in (and the lack of listening by our children was eating away at my last nerve), so we called it a day and headed home. Energy was burned, nature was observed, and fun was had. I call that a win!

Annika found a puddle to fill her bucket

Hey, kids! Remember? No water.

So glad they listen... like how Annika is further out here than in the photo above? Sheesh!

Conor digging holes in the sand to find treasure

There were quite a few birds at the beach today. The tide was out, which meant lots of shelled items for the birds to eat. They would swoop down, grab a treat, soar high up, drop the treat (in hopes the shell would crack), and then dive down to claim their food before another bird did. 

Our friend, the harbor seal

High flyin' Conor

Jumpin' Annika

Run! Kiddos! Run!!
(Our children have obviously inherited my habit/skill of sticking out
their tongues while thinking or working hard!)

Conor and Annika playing stick frisbee