Chillin' Out at the Beach
After the high 90s last week, we decided to cool off at the beach on friday. We left soon after 9am, and Noah fell asleep on the way there! I think the kids weren't sleeping well due to the heat and as soon as we hit the cool northern breezes he conked out.
We went to Natural Bridges in Santa Cruz, which is a habitat for the Monarch butterflies on their migration route. Of course, it wasn't the season they were there, but Olivia and I went in and watched the little movie about the Monarchs while watching Noah nap in the car from the window. It really is amazing the metamorphasis the butterflies go through. Also, I did not realize that it takes several generations of butterflies to go through one migration cycle, so the butterflies that leave one year are the grandparents of the ones that return! We'll have to go back in the winter and see when the thousands of butterflies are hanging out there.
They also had a salt-water fish tank in the building and the park ranger lady fed the fish while we were there. She fed sushi rolls to a monkey-faced fish who hid behind a rock the entire time and only peeked out to eat. And she fed shrimp to the star fish. It was cool to see the star fish eat. They moved the food very slowly from the points of their stars to their stomaches in their middles. And she gave some seaweed to the sea urchins who grabbed it with their pointy things. Ok, I didn't learn all the technical names of everything, but it was really fun for Olivia and I!
Then Noah woke up and we spent a little more time in the building looking at the stuffed animals, real animals that had been stuffed. A bobcat, raccoon, an owl hanging form the ceiling, and a bunch of other birds. Then we decided the fog had rolled off enough to hit the beach.
The beach was still rather chilly. I spent the entire time in my sweatshirt with goosebumps. It's odd to be cold at the beach less than an hour away from home where I'd be sweating, but it felt really good.
The kids did great, we played there for hours. We buried ourselves multiple times. I built hundreds of sand castles for them to stomp on. We ate lunch and the kids pigged out, I think again the heat had been affecting their appetites and in the cool air they realized how hungry they were.
And the best part, they BOTH fell asleep on the way home! Score!
Overall, a tiring and very fun day. We ended up being out of the house 6 or 7 hours. A very good way to beat the heat.
We went to Natural Bridges in Santa Cruz, which is a habitat for the Monarch butterflies on their migration route. Of course, it wasn't the season they were there, but Olivia and I went in and watched the little movie about the Monarchs while watching Noah nap in the car from the window. It really is amazing the metamorphasis the butterflies go through. Also, I did not realize that it takes several generations of butterflies to go through one migration cycle, so the butterflies that leave one year are the grandparents of the ones that return! We'll have to go back in the winter and see when the thousands of butterflies are hanging out there.
They also had a salt-water fish tank in the building and the park ranger lady fed the fish while we were there. She fed sushi rolls to a monkey-faced fish who hid behind a rock the entire time and only peeked out to eat. And she fed shrimp to the star fish. It was cool to see the star fish eat. They moved the food very slowly from the points of their stars to their stomaches in their middles. And she gave some seaweed to the sea urchins who grabbed it with their pointy things. Ok, I didn't learn all the technical names of everything, but it was really fun for Olivia and I!
Then Noah woke up and we spent a little more time in the building looking at the stuffed animals, real animals that had been stuffed. A bobcat, raccoon, an owl hanging form the ceiling, and a bunch of other birds. Then we decided the fog had rolled off enough to hit the beach.
The beach was still rather chilly. I spent the entire time in my sweatshirt with goosebumps. It's odd to be cold at the beach less than an hour away from home where I'd be sweating, but it felt really good.
The kids did great, we played there for hours. We buried ourselves multiple times. I built hundreds of sand castles for them to stomp on. We ate lunch and the kids pigged out, I think again the heat had been affecting their appetites and in the cool air they realized how hungry they were.
And the best part, they BOTH fell asleep on the way home! Score!
Overall, a tiring and very fun day. We ended up being out of the house 6 or 7 hours. A very good way to beat the heat.
posted by catankgirl at 10:23 AM
1 Comments:
At 5:27 PM,
Leslie said…
That looks like a great day. Nothing like playing in the sand to waste a few hours and wear the kiddos out.
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