Our beach week

We spent the past week visiting my parents, who just happen to live near South Padre Island. I had planned on a full week of fun ocean themed crafts and reading books. Instead we spent almost all day everyday in my parents pool. (ah-mazing) And we took two trips to the beach. So, we didn't do many ocean themed things. But we did talk a lot about oceans while we were swimming and playing at the beach. My mom got Kaydence the book The Cat in the Hat knows a lot about that: all about Sharks. I've never read any of the cat in the hat knows a lot about that books before, but let me tell you, they are great! It had so much information, it was easy to understand, and it has the cat in the hat. I am now looking to build a collection of the cat in the hat knows a lot about that books, I was very impressed. We read it every night for bedtime. Anyways here is what we did on our trips to the beach!

On our first trip to the beach we had a picnic. The spot we usually use was totally full. Turns out there was some kind of adult daycare thing going on. Anyways, we decided to stop here instead. The shore is rock, and there were people fishing off of it. The kids had fun looking at the water and asking questions about seagulls. 

It's pretty huh? Kaydence wanted to know why we weren't going to swim there. We talked about the rocks and how much nicer the sand would be on our feet. 

Check out how nice the water was. It was so clear and the waves were nice and gentle. 

Nolan was so tired, and very grumpy. He did not like being sandy, and he did not want to play in the waves. 

Kaydence on the other hand had a blast. The waves were gentle so she was able to play and jump around. Since the water was so clear we walked out near one of the sandbars. You can usually see small fish swimming around, but that day we saw some really big fish swimming in the waves! Nolan loved it. Other than fruit snacks, that is the only thing he liked from this days beach trip. We spent a lot of time standing out there looking at fish. Eventually Nolan fell asleep on Grandmas shoulder. It was so cool seeing those big fish. We talked about big fish eating the little fish. After we left the beach we talked about sharks eating fish too. No point in making them afraid of sharks. (like I am) 

On our second trip to the beach we FINALLY made it to the Sea Life Nature Center. We tried to get there during our year living down there, but they are closed in Mondays and seemed to be closed every other time we tried to stop by. It was so fun. It's only a $3 donation per person. They have tanks set up where you can touch some of the animals. Other tanks were full of fish. While we were there the lady walked around feeding the fish bits of shrimp. So we got to see them eating as well. We loved the octopus. And the "nemo fish" who I didn't take a picture of.

 Starfish! That was one of the areas where you could touch and feel. They let you hold the starfish (or sea stars, depending on who you ask) . They ask that you only hold them out of the water for 10 seconds. Kaydence was very gentle and loved holding them. Nolan was a bit freaked out and didn't want to touch anything.

She spent a while holding them under the water as well. That way she could hold it a little longer. 

We spend a really long time with the hermit crabs too. Kaydence picked up the different shells and watched the crabs hide in them. If you hold them for a while they start to come out again. We talked about how when they get bigger they find a new bigger shell. We talked about how they live inside their shells so they carry their houses with them.

Sea horses! 

They had this tortoise wandering around. Nolan thought it was awesome until it started crawling toward him. Then he screamed. It was hilarious, probably not for him though. He said, "turtle eat me" and we explained that"turtles" do not eat little boys. We walked about what tortoises eat. Kaydence asked if she could touch it. She spent a little while feeling it's shell and watching it move around. Eventually Nolan felt brave and went up to touch it. Even though we got to the beach around the same time as our first trip the tide was much higher and the waves were really strong. We played in the water for a long time, but we couldn't go out as far. And we couldn't see any big fish swimming. It still was beautiful though. Beautiful sunny skies and not too hot. I think we will re-visit learning about oceans at some point this summer.

Next week we start watching Ashley, and Kaydence decided she would rather learn about bodies than fairy tales.