Shhhh...It's sleeping

The King is sleeping. We've winterized it, parked it in the side yard and given it a ratty blue tarp for a blanket. I kinda wanted to decorate it for Christmas, but there's no outlet on that side of the house. I'm betting after one good “lake effect event” we'll be fishing that tarp out of somebody else's satellite dish.

Speaking of lake effect...we've yet to have any measurable snow here this year. Very unusual for these parts. Also discouraging as the boys are signed up for 2 days of ski camp next week. The boards are ready and skis tuned up and sharpened. Really hoping for some white stuff by the new year.

December has flown by and I really can't believe that it is now nearly 11 o'clock on Christmas Eve. Where did this fall go?? Our days have been filled with school, activities, and concerts, shopping, baking and wrapping. It's been so hectic that I dropped our cards in the mailbox this afternoon on our way to church. We did have time to squeeze in a few fun activities to help us find our Christmas spirit. Several years ago the husband bought me a mold for making gingerbread houses. Even thought the boys are getting older they still wanted to make them this year. We spent a Sunday afternoon decorating them, and the teen did a really good job on his. He put a candy guitar on the roof and decorated a gingerbread person to look like he was playing a guitar. Pretty cool huh!

I also spent an afternoon with the middle child and the little dude at the Niagara Holiday Market. It was an outdoor market with little booths set up and filled with primarily local products, some tasty treats to eat and a skating rink at the far end. We were there the day they held the ice sculpture contest. The sculptures were really cool, but of course, as I went to snap their picture in front of one of the biggest sculptures, they couldn't help but show off for the camera. I don't think he really licked it...

Finally, we spent this afternoon and evening with Grandma and Grandpa, enjoying a lovely dinner and just spending time together. The little dude is, for some reason, obsessed with dreidels (we are Lutheran). He came home from school earlier this week and loudly announced that he was going to “ask Santa to bring him a dreidel for Christmas.” I didn't have the heart to crush his 7 year old exuberance and curiosity, so there will be a small, red plastic dreidel in his stocking tomorrow morning. In the meantime, the husband turned a rudimentary one on his lathe this afternoon and Grandpa was a really good sport and played him for a handful of m&m's.

We have also been busy researching many National Parks and choosing interesting places to stop and see on our trip next summer. A teacher friend of ours had an exchange student a few years ago whose family came here to visit, rented an RV and went across the country. They kept an extremely detailed itinerary of all the places they stayed and things they saw, and we will likely follow some of their travel tips. The itinerary is, however, written only partly in English. Much of it is written in German. Could make for some interesting day trips!

And finally, the King hasn't been sitting totally idle since we tucked it away for the winter. It has been an awesome place to hide all the boys Christmas gifts! We used to hide them in the canoe hanging from the garage ceiling, but they discovered that hiding place last year. No peeking for them this year! Really, because the locks are frozen and the husband just informed that he needs the hairdryer. I'm hoping to thaw the lock and free the presents for “Santa.” And on that note, I would like to wish all of our friends and family a very Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukah, Blessed Kwanza or Festive Festivus! Have a happy holiday and a Wiz Bang New Year!!   

Thankful

Whew...what a weekend! Our family had a wonderful thanksgiving, and we have so much to be thankful for. We started the celebration with the Middle Child's birthday...11 years old! We had a super fun party with some friends at Buffalo Comedysportz!

On to Thanksgiving, where a fabulous meal was prepared at Grandma's house, complete with a game of Whoonu and a ping pong tournament. We spent the weekend with family, enjoying great food and some unusually wonderful weather that afforded us a fun afternoon at the playground! The kids had a great time.

So, I am thankful. Thankful for all that I have, but most of all, for those I have in my life!

Happy Thanksgiving!  

Things I Will Miss

As exciting as this trip we are planning is, there are a few things that I will really miss next summer. One of them is our vegetable garden. As long as the husband and I have owned a home, we have always had a garden. When we lived in the Midwest and had a huge backyard we turned the sunniest corner into a patch of delicious tomatoes, zucchini, squash, broccoli, cauliflower and lettuce. Back in New York, on postage stamp size suburban lots, we continue to use at least part of the backyard to grow our own veggies and once the boys came along, enlisted their help in deciding what to grow. Their favorites are cherry tomatoes, pumpkins, corn and mammoth sunflowers. I love that they will just head out to the backyard on a sunny summer afternoon and make a snack out of cherry tomatoes straight out of the garden. As we will be gone for the majority of the local growing season next summer, we won't be planting our garden, and I will really miss having those wonderful fresh meals straight out of the backyard.

The garden did pretty well this summer. The first crops we enjoyed were delicious beans and snow peas. The purple beans are really fun! The plants have beautiful little purple flowers that turn into long dark purple beans that turn bright green when you cook them!

We also had lots of tomatoes this year. I made these stuffed tomatoes one night for dinner. They were delicious!!

Having this garden has also been a great way to get the boys to eat their veggies, and also to learn some kitchen skills. The little dude helped me make some kabobs one night from peppers, zucchini and tomatoes we picked earlier in the day. I don't know why food on a stick is so appealing, but the boys love it, and grilled veggies with a little Italian dressing are one of our summer favorites!

We are also fortunate to live in an area that has several farmers markets and “pick your own” farms. We love one in particular, Murphy Orchards. We made two trips there this year, one to pick cherries and another this fall to pick apples. We ate all the cherries we picked, but I was able to make some applesauce to enjoy this winter. We'll be home in time for apples next fall, but will miss cherries, blueberries and peaches, our other favorites.

The boys grew their own Halloween pumpkins this year, and carved them right in the garden. After Halloween, when the carved pumpkins get squishy and start to rot, they smash them into the garden and we bury them...compost to feed next years plants. The boys think it's great fun and the squirrels really enjoy all the seeds left behind!!

The garden is all done for this year, and we had our first snowfall yesterday. Just a few flakes, nothing that stuck to the ground, but enough of a reminder of another summer has come and gone. I snapped a picture of the last 2 roses left when I covered them up for the winter. Yellow ones, my favorite.

I'm hoping to be able to find lots of farm markets on our trip next year and have looked at some apps for my phone that will help locate them. I was encouraged to find some of our local markets on Yelp, hopefully other towns have their markets listed as well. While no garden is a small sacrifice to make for an adventure like this, nothing beats a tomato, warm from the sun, picked and sliced directly into your salad or on top of a juicy, fresh grilled burger. I'll miss those tomatoes...

School Pictures

I've never had a lot of luck with school pictures. Too many variables I suppose. When mom's not there, the collar may or may not get straightened, hair is often haphazardly combed, and not often the way it would usually be done. And the photographer has to snap pictures of around 300 bored and wiggly kids all in a few hours during the school day. I get that it's a nice little fundraiser for the PTA, but it often becomes a quantity over quality kind of thing. These pictures sit atop my piano for 12 whole months. 2 grandmothers hang them on their walls. And they are expensive!

Last year I had to work on picture day. I left the house before anyone else was even up, so it was up to the husband to get them “picture ready.” Now, the husband is a great guy, he packs lunches, helps with homework, and I think even makes them brush their teeth and make their beds most mornings. But God love him...this is what came home after last years picture day:

Sweet Jesus, I was not about to put that in a frame and have it follow me around the living room for the next 12 months! So this year, I came up with a plan. Avoid the inevitable argument with the teen about what to wear to school, no worries about boys who are not fond of hairbrushes, I'd let them just be themselves for the school pictures, and take them to the local portrait studio for nice “hang on the wall and give to grandma” pictures. I made an appointment for the end of the summer, when they would be nice and tan and full of fresh air and summer sunshine. After all, we live in the northeast, and if you wait until closer to the holidays, the color in their faces has often faded and then the pictures tend to look like they were taken during the last zombie apocalypse (see above). I made haircut appointments for the morning, picked out nice crisp shirts and ties and gave myself a big pat on the back for coming up with this fabulous idea!

Some of you know what happened next...and if you live in a house full of boys you can probably guess that all did not go according to plan. The morning before picture day the little dude came stumbling out of his room in his Star Wars pj's, hopping from foot to foot with that early morning look of urgency on his face. The teen was in the shower, so I waved him on into my room with instructions to just “use my bathroom, and make sure you flush...” He finished up and headed down stairs to breakfast without so much as a “good morning” and the next thing I heard was the husband SCREAMING “What happened to your eyebrows!!!” Complete and total silence followed...nobody was admitting to anything. I checked the bathroom and the evidence, tiny little fuzzy brown eyebrow hairs, were all over the sink and counter. He had used the husbands razor to cleanly and efficiently remove his eyebrows. Where he once had eyebrows he now had perfectly arched tan lines. When we calmed down I snapped a picture:

The inquisition began during breakfast. “Why on earth would you shave off your eyebrows?” “On what planet would this seem like a good idea?” “What on earth were you thinking??” Slowly, the story began to emerge. It seems that the middle child and a neighbor kid convinced him that he could score 25 large on America's Funniest Home Videos (is that show even on anymore?) if he shaved off his eyebrows then filmed his father's reaction and sent it on in. Alas, as 7 year old boys are not that well organized, he shaved without recording. I briefly considered bagging the whole picture day adventure and trying to take some kind of photos myself, but lets be honest, at best I would have ended up with something like these:

Now, seriously considering why on earth I agreed to spend 8 weeks in a 27 foot tin can with this group of nitwits, I decided to forge ahead and came up with another plan!! We headed to the mall for haircuts, and when the little dude was done I dashed him over to the department store makeup counter. I retold my tale of woe to a VERY Kind young woman who, with a look of horror on her face, penciled his eyebrows back in, we dressed them up in shirts and ties and headed upstairs to the portrait studio. It took a while, but we did end up with some very nice photos. Here's one of the three amigo's, they clean up pretty well:

The tie's a little crooked, but the eyebrows don't look too bad.  I sure hope grandma likes her copy!!

Campground Review : Moorings Oceanfront RV Resort

While in Maine we stayed at Moorings Oceanfront RV Resort in Belfast. I found it through a simple Google search of campgrounds in the mid-coast Maine area and booked it based solely on their website and reasonable weekly rates. I called to make the reservation, and the person I spoke with was informative and very helpful as I had a ton of questions. I quickly received a confirmation e-mail with directions to the campground and instructions for checking in.

We arrived rather late in the day (around 8) and the office was closed. We checked in at the restaurant, were directed to our site and told to check back in at the office in the morning. Our site was easy to find, all the hookups were easy to access and by 8:30 pm. We were on our way back up to the restaurant for a late dinner.

The sites at Moorings are larger than others we have stayed at, which was very nice. With only 44 sites in the whole campground, you didn't feel like you were smooshed in right next to another motor home and we had room to spread out our chairs around the campfire ring. Each site also has a picnic table and a view of the ocean. The site was level and had hookups for water, electric and cable television. While there was no sewer hookup, the mobile sewer service came through the campground each Monday and Thursday to pump out holding tanks. The dump station was also conveniently located near the exit and was very easy to use.  Here is the evening view from our campsite:

Moorings also provides free Wifi at each campsite. We loved having this available as it meant we could search for things to do in the area and purchase tickets for local boat excursions and whale watches right from our laptop at the picnic table. The connection was pretty fast and I was even able to write a couple of blog posts and check email while we were there. There were bathroom and laundry facilities with free hot showers and coin operated washers and dryers located next to the office. They were very well maintained and clean. The owners and office staff were friendly and helpful.

The owners of Moorings also own a restaurant located right at the campground. Papa J's and the Lobster Bar serves local seafood, pasta dishes, pizza and a variety of homemade desserts. They also have a full bar and wine list and campground guests receive a discount on food. We ate there the night we arrived and it was delicious! 4 of us ordered the fish sandwich, served on a soft roll with french fries. The fish had a wonderful crispy coating and was flaky and buttery inside. We all enjoyed it! The teen, our resident vegetarian, had the three cheese manicotti. It was huge, with at least 4 manicotti shells stuffed with a creamy cheese mixture and served with a delicious, slightly spicy homemade sauce. Our waitress was very nice, helpful and provided quick, excellent service.

The town of Belfast was very nice with a touristy “downtown” area right on the waterfront. It also had a clean, well stocked grocery store (Hannaford) and a couple of auto parts stores, which we predictably had to visit a couple of times. Belfast is also located about halfway between the bigger towns of Bar Harbor and Boothbay and is close to Acadia National Park. We had a fabulous time and hope to return in a couple of years! 

    

We did some other stuff too

We did lots of other things while we were in Maine. We spent a few days just hanging out at the camp ground, swimming in the ocean, collecting shells and sea glass and flying kites on the beach. The weather was beautiful and the water was pretty warm. The boys loved watching the tide go in and out, and Penobscot Bay at high tide provided just enough wave action to keep the boys happy. I have to admit here, having never been to Maine, that I was kind of expecting the tan sandy beaches of my childhood spring vacations in Florida with my grandparents, and this beach was nothing like that. It was very rocky and the waves were much calmer in the bay than out on the open ocean, but it was beautiful none the less. Many of the rocks were flat and perfect for skipping and the shells were a beautiful blue color. There was always a breeze and at low tide it was a beautiful place to take a walk , fly a kite, or look for sea creatures.

We also visited the Penobscot Marine Museum in Searsport, Maine. This museum reminded me a lot of the Adirondack Museum in Blue Mountain Lake. It had lots of small buildings depicting life in a coastal shipping village. Their collection of antique wooden boats kept the husband drooling and I really enjoyed the artwork on display by local artists. They also had lots of neat activities for the kids! The boys had fun playing on the huge model square-rigger mast, learning how to set the sails and climb to the top:

Some of us dressed up as fishermen:

And we happened upon the touch tank just as the keeper was arriving to clean it:

The boys LOVED the touch tank!

Finally, we enjoyed lots of delicious, fresh seafood! The Maine coast is dotted with establishments called “Lobster Pounds.” Every small coastal town seems to have one right on the water. Basically, the boats pull up in the morning, unload, and the fresh goodies are placed in large tanks with circulating sea water. You can buy your live clams, crabs, mussels or lobsters and take them home or have them cooked right in front of you. Not really a restaurant, as they don't serve alcohol or any side dishes, they do have picnic table and seating areas inside and out by the water and you may bring your own side dishes and drinks to enjoy there. We stopped at Young's Lobster Pound

and purchased a pound of fresh mussels (for $1.99/pound, unheard of inland where we live!) Back at the campground, I sauteed them in some butter, garlic and white wine and we had them with a plate of pasta. Can you say delicious!!

We went back a few nights later and decided to picnic! We ordered some lobster and clams and possibly the most delicious bowl of crab chowder I have ever eaten!

Everything was yummy!! While the teen was not a fan of the lobster, the other 2 boys loved it. We hope to go back someday...soon!

A Whale of a Tale

While in Maine I really wanted to check off one of my bucket list items and go on a whale watch. The husband had been, years ago, off Cape Cod, but the boys and I never before had the opportunity and to see such great and beautiful creatures in their natural habitat. The North Atlantic is home to several different species, including fin back, humpback, minke, pilot, sei, northern right and sperm whales. I knew that the chance of seeing a northern right whale was slim, as there are only about 300 of them left in the wild, but we were hopeful that we would see some others.

We headed up north to Bar Harbor on Sunday, hoping to catch the 8:30 a.m. boat. Sadly, we were plagued with fog once again and that tour ended up canceled. We decided to hang around and try for the 1 p.m. tour. Bar Harbor's not a bad town to spend some time in if you happen to be in the area. We had some delicious blueberry muffins and wandered around some of the shops. The boys had fun watching the fog roll in and out of the harbor and the few boats that were working come and go. We also ate more lobster!! Unfortunately, the fog never cleared and the 1 p.m. tour was also canceled. We headed back to the campground pretty bummed and afraid a whale watch just wasn't in the cards for this trip.

The drive up to Belfast had been a marathon one, so we were already thinking of spreading out the drive home over a couple of days. When we returned to the campground I began searching for whale watches that left from ports south of Belfast in the hopes of hitting one on our way home. I found one called Cap'n Fish's Whale Watch out of Boothbay Harbor, about an hour and a half south of Belfast and on our way home, so we decided to give it one more try on Tuesday morning and purchased tickets for the 9:30 tour aboard the Pink Lady II:

Tuesday turned out to be a beautiful morning, with not a drop of fog in sight! We boarded the boat and found some great seats right up front. We were on our way!

The trip out of Boothbay Harbor was really interesting. The lobster men were out checking their traps and we saw lots of different birds out looking for snacks. We also saw several pods of harbor porpoise and harbor seals. The first mate Daniella pointed out interesting landmarks including the Burnt Island Lighthouse:

And also the summer home of the Wicked Witch of the West, Margaret Hamilton, on Cape Island:

Once out of the harbor we began the search for whales. Daniella told everyone to keep their eyes peeled for the plume of water from the whale's blowhole as they surface to take a breath, usually the first thing you see. We watched, and we watched, then we watched some more. For more than an hour nearly every person on the ship watched the horizon hoping to see something. We had been instructed by Daniella to yell out if we saw anything so that Captain Mark could pilot the ship closer to investigate. We had sailed through two of the whale's feeding grounds and no one had seen anything. The captain had announced that we were going to have to turn back, and that a whale sighting was not likely to be in the cards for today. As the ship was turning, the teen suddenly shouted that he had seen something on the horizon. I didn't believe him at first, but then the man next to me said he saw it too, so Daniella came over with the binoculars and Captain Mark started to steer the ship in that direction. We watched and watched, then all of a sudden 2 fin back whales surfaced to take a breath right in front of us! It was an absolutely amazing sight! After taking a couple breaths they dove down to feed and luckily surfaced again about 7 minutes later and we got to enjoy a couple more fleeting glances of these magnificent creatures! We discovered that capturing a picture of these wondrous moments is really tough, and basically a matter of luck. The husband snapped this one at just the right moment:

We were fortunate to see a couple of minke whales and some pilot whales on our trip back to the harbor. It was a great way to end our trip, and I guess the 170 bucks we shelled out for the teens glasses paid off!!

Here's a picture of the whale spotter himself with first mate Daniella:

And all 3 boys with Captain Mark:

One more item checked off the bucket list! Many, many more to go...

Home

So our first excursion with the “King of the Road” went pretty well. We had a great time in Maine, met some fantastic people, saw lots of cool things, ate great food and most importantly made it home in one piece! We broke up the long drive by heading down the coast of Maine yesterday, taking in a whale watch, then camping on the southern coast of Maine last night and driving home today. There are so many things I want to write about...but I'm really, really tired and the motor home looks like a frat house on Sunday morning. We were doing a pretty good job of keeping things neat and organized until we left Belfast, but with the sightseeing, the boys and the electrical problems (yep, not solved, had to charge the battery last night and no headlights...again) it's a wreck. Dirty dishes in the sink, a lobster claw in the cup-holder and somebody's shorts are hanging from the lamp. In other words, a good time was had by all!

Just a couple quick pictures and thanks! We stayed at The Moorings RV Park, a terrific campground where we met some wonderful people. The boys made a friend and had a fabulous time on the beach catching crabs and sea stars with him and his family. It was great to have a friend for the boys to play with! We were fortunate to be camping next to a very nice couple from New Hampshire and had a great time visiting and getting to know them. Finally, I can't tell you what a pleasant surprise it was to return from our whale watch in Boothbay and find this note on our windshield:

Another wonderful couple who raised and survived camping with 4 boys! An added bonus of camping, seeing cool things and meeting great people!

Finally, a picture of the sunrise on Penobscot Bay Tuesday morning:

I hope to have one of a sunset over the Pacific to hang next to it soon!      

Camden, Maine

While planning this trip we talked to several friends who make regular trips to Maine or are actually from Maine and asked for their “must sees.”  A number of them recommended Camden, Maine as a quaint little town with lots to see and do.  Camden has a lovely little Main Street shopping area with shops filled with local artisans and restaurants.  There is also a harbor with a wharf full of schooners offering all kinds of day sails and cruises.  We decided to head down and check it out a few days ago, and Camden didn’t disappoint!

We checked on the internet and decided to take the 1 p.m. Lobster Fishing and Wildlife Encounter aboard the Lively Lady Too.  Unfortunately, Camden’s Harbor was completely fogged in and all the morning excursions had been cancelled.  As the fog was not lifting, the 1 p.m. excursion had to be cancelled as well.  We rescheduled for the 3:15 trip and headed out to explore Camden.  Since we were a bit hungry our first stop was the Bayview Restaurant, where the husband and I ordered and shared a lobster roll: 

It was delicious!!  A little bit of buttery, creamy lobster goodness on a lightly toasted roll.  Yum…these may just be my new favorite thing to eat.  We wandered around town, did a bit of window shopping, and then headed back down to the wharf.  It must have been our lucky day, because by mid afternoon the fog had moved out and we were good to go!

The Lively Lady Too is piloted by a salty Maine lobsterman named Captain Philbrick, a fascinating guy with extensive knowledge of the surrounding coastline and sea life.  He’s also a wonderful story teller with about a million fish tales and anecdotes to share along the way.  Here he is piloting his ship. 

We headed out of the harbor and within 10 minutes he was pulling up the first lobster trap.  Captain Philbrick took the time to explain what the different colors on the buoys mean (nothing, really.  Each fisherman chooses their own), what each of the tags on the trap mean (they are the fishing and trap licenses for the fisherman, color coded for each year) and how the traps work (lobsters simply are not very bright.  They follow the bait in, then forget how they got there and are unable to get back out).  He explained the difference between soft shelled and hard shelled lobsters (none, really, but only hard shelled lobsters can be shipped) and what makes a legal lobster.  There are 4 characteristics of a legal lobster: The distance from the eye socket to the end of the body must be greater than 3 inches and less than 5 inches.  Female lobsters carrying eggs may not be kept.  Notched female lobsters must also be put back.  A lobsterman must cut a small notch in the back right fin of any female lobster carrying eggs before putting her back in the water.  It will take 2 years for the notch to grow out and during that time any lobsterman who catches her must put her back.  Captain Philbrick caught 3 lobsters in the 2 traps he pulled up, and 2 of them were legal.  One was too big, but he returned all of them to the ocean at the end of our trip.  The highlight was when he passed them around for the kids to hold!

Captain Philbrick also took us out to an island with a very rocky shoreline which is home to a pretty sizeable colony of harbor seals.  They blend in very well with the rocks, and a few of them were in the water swimming.  I think I’ll be looking for a better camera before next summer, as they are hard to see in the pictures I took.

Next we headed over to another island with a bald eagle nest.  It must have been our lucky day because as we were rounding the tip of the island the eaglet soared out overhead!  What a beautiful bird!  He was all dark brown as he won’t grow white feathers until he’s an adult, but with a 7 foot wingspan was an impressive sight soaring around that island.  All through the whole trip Captain Philbrick shared his stories and knowledge and answered questions and before we knew it a 2 hour tour had turned into 3.  And it was worth every penny!       

Maine

Maine is wonderful!  Maine is beautiful!  Maine is a really far away…

Back when we bought the “King of the Road” we knew we wanted to get everything working so that we could take at least one longish journey this summer before we really take the plunge next summer.  We’ve never been to Maine, but always wanted to take a vacation here and thought it would be unlikely that we would be able to work in a trip this far north and east of our home next summer. We did a little research on the various regions, decided on the mid-coast area near Acadia National Park, found a campground and made a reservation.  THEN, we put the address into Google maps and found out we were facing about a 13 hour drive.  We decided our best strategy would be to put the boys to sleep the night before right in the motor home so the husband and I could just roll out of bed and get going early in the morning.  Great idea, right?  Except, we didn’t count on the excitement and exuberance of a 7 year old boy about to embark on an adventure.  He did not want to go to sleep.  Could not be bribed or convinced to go to sleep.  And by 10 p.m. the middle child was in our room, complaining loudly that his brother was keeping him awake by making farting noises and tickling his feet.  Ugh…we were off to a rough start. 

Lucky for us, they did all finally fall asleep.  We were up at 5 the next morning and on the road by 6.  It was a phenomenally long day of driving but, with only a couple of stops we made it to the campground by about 8 p.m.  No engine trouble and no jumper cables necessary!  We do have a few things to fix this week though and had to find an auto parts store this afternoon for some supplies.  We seem to still have a headlight problem, although not related to the previous electrical problems as they were working at one point, and one still is.  Also, some of the electronics in the central console did not get hooked back up.  The radio doesn’t work, nor does the plug in for the GPS.  Its battery died about 4 hours into the trip and we had to go old school and buy a paper map. 

But, we’re here and today was a glorious day.  Warm, sunny, with a light ocean breeze.  Right after breakfast we headed down to the beach for some swimming.  The husband planted his chair on the beach and decided he wasn’t moving…even for high tide.  When the water hit our ankles I had the good sense to move my chair back.

But the husband stayed put.  When the water reached the seat of the chair the boys went over to investigate.  Still, he stayed put.

The tide moved in pretty fast and was soon up to his waist.

Yet there he sat, until the water reached his chest and it was time for lunch.  Refreshing!

The boys LOVED the beach and spent lots of time looking for sea life in the tidal pools as the tide went back out.  They found a few things, but the highlight of the day came when we headed back down to the beach with our flashlights after dark!  They found LOTS crabs in the pools and at the waters edge.  They were everywhere, some big, some smaller than a fingernail.  The boys had a blast picking them up then watching the crabs bury themselves in the sand when they put them back down.  It was really interesting to see how well they blend in with the surrounding sand and rocks too.  Once they were buried in the sand you could only see them if they moved.  Here are a couple of the larger ones they found.

So, today was a great day!  We have lots more to see and do while we’re here.  We’d like to do some sea kayaking and are looking into a whale watch!  Hope the sun stays out and the rain stays away!