Tide Pools

I count myself one of the luckiest of folks because we live so near the coast. A few weeks ago there was an extremely low tide in the middle of the day and we took full advantage to explore one of our favorite tidal spots.

 True's never actually caught a crab, but she keeps trying.

Those anemones spit if you touch them!

This crescent of rock and water is surrounded by a crescent of smooth gray sand. The beach is located in a small inlet in a bay and even when the tide is full the water is smooth and calm and the kids can swim as long as it's warm enough. It must be a marine nursery, because there are tiny shells . . . sand dollars no bigger than your pinkie-nail, thumb-nail sized clams, spiraling shells no longer than the shaved point of your Ticonderoga. The whole inlet is just big enough - five or six acres.

This is a young pirate's paradise. All the kids in our family and extended family know this as Pirate's Cove. 

In keeping with the pirate theme, a few years ago Hubby arranged a playdate for the Grands and Great-Nieces and -Nephews. He filled an old chest with pennies and "jewels" and swords and wooden muskets, eye-patches and tricorn hats. He half-buried the chest in a dune and allowed the kids to find it. Some are still convinced to this day they found real treasure. After all the play and swimming and sword-fights and poking around in the rocks, was a barbecue. It was one of the best days ever. But then, any day on the beach is a very good day. And a day in Pirate's Cove with children you love surpasses "very good" by a gazillion nautical miles.