Low tide

Today we had one of the lowest tides of the year. It was a -4 tide, which I learned was -4 feet down from sea level...not out. The water was out from the regular shoreline was like 100 yards! We went out at 8:30 this morning and got to stay out for a few hours. We had fun with our friends laughing and finding critters. I had to go home around 11:30 to work on my English homework, but Wendy said she could take the kids home later so they could stay and play longer...and I could have some quiet time to work on my paper.

Brooklin was the dirtiest of my kids. She picks up everything and had goo and mud all over herself. She is not afraid to play in the mud. Here she is pretending to eat an eel...the kids found tons of them, and then a shot of a clam she opened. She only had to think for a minute how to get it opened...the same way the birds do it! She tried to pry it open, and then decided to drop it on a rock! Smart girl! She picked off the top shell and then inspected the gooey contents with gusto!

London is a little more like me. She will touch some of the critters, but doesn't like to get herself that dirty. I don't like to touch any critters...so she is better than me, but has her limits. Isaiah has no problem getting messy either. He found this starfish and also a crab and some eels.

You can see where the normal shore line is...and it is really far out there! The first picture is from the beach, and the second one was taken with my heels in the water looking back at the beach.

This boat was left high and dry when the tide went out...two hours later when the tide was coming back in, I took another picture of it refloating.

This is a heron. He is hard to see, but while I was watching him, he snapped a fish right out of the water.

The tide was so far out, that this person's crab pot came clear out of the water! It was really funny! The buoy didn't have any identifying markings on it (which is totally illegal), so when Caleb and his friend harvested the dungonuss crab out of it, I didn't get after them too bad. They left the bait, and actually added another fish head they found to the pot, so maybe that guy was able to catch more crabs after the tide came back in.

These are sea anemones. They are everywhere. In the water they look pretty. Out of the water they look like big, slimey, colorful, boogers! (and worse) They were really interesting...I touched one (on accident) and instead of the fingers being slimy, they were like tiny velcro. It stuck to my finger and I jumped! =)

We found several tiny crabs. Caleb is yelling at his for trying to pinch him.

You will have to click on this first picture...I caught a salmon jumping out of the water. They were jumping all over! The other is a shell from an urchine.

Some starfish...some big and some really tiny! Oh, and then a picture of me...haha! I actually took it after I got home. I braided my hair for pioneer day! =)