Sea lions, barnacles, and bears, oh my!

Fourth of July weekend brought us to the Caldwell cabin at Port Ludlow. Good people, good weather, good food (thanks gang!) . . . it had been too longs since Brent, Henry, and I had gotten to join in. Plus, we got to log in some precious miles, over seven a piece, on Saturday's beach hike! The tide was low, which made the walk possible and uncovered a whole little world of tidal creatures. I've been on beaches my whole life, but I've never outgrown the wonderment of getting a peek at the little lives going on under the sea.

I couldn't stop pointing out how big some of the barnacles were to Brent. "Look how big THAT one is! Brent, come here, you've got to see this!" Ah, my patient husband. He'd glance in my direction with a little smile on his face, like, "oh, she's so simple". I don't know if it was a look of amusement or . . . pitty. Okay, but, the barnacles were huge! The big barnacles had little barnacles growing on them - how funny! The more we walked, the more engrossed I became. It was like Oz (without the flying monkeys - if you see flying monkeys on the beach . . . run!).

There were groups of bloopy little circles on the rocks that looked like rings of jello. They were actually colonies of sea anemones hiding their tentacles from the sun. There were so many of them and it became a challenge not to step on them. Poor little tidal creatures! First, they're dried out in the sun, then, they have to endure the tennis shoe tread of clumsy beach combers. Great, now I felt like a jerk.

My spirits were lifted by watching the tiny crabbies on the beach. They'd run by so quickly with their little claws in the air, like, "weeeeee, we can run sideways!". The whole circle of life was display on the sand - there were plenty of grown-up and dead crabs, fish, and jellyfish much to the joy of Henry and Brinkley. They were good, for the most part, really. They were too busy chasing each other to notice. Well, mostly Brinkley chasing Henry so she could, um, dominate him. I'm beginning to think she needs counseling. There was only one instant that she stopped to bite the leg off of a dead crab and Henry responded well to my shouts of "leave it!" every time he approached a dead thing.

The walk wasn't without its war wounds, though. Parts of Brent's feet got rubbed raw from sand in his sandals and Henry split a paw pad, no doubt on the (huge!) barnacles. Both of my boys are recovering well, though. We were all grateful for a wonderful day and the easy entertainment of life on the beach. It was our last big walk with Brooke, too, before she leaves for China!