Nature Study: Summer Ocean Breeze

We took a break from our weekly trail hiking today.  After our swimming lessons we decided we'd head towards the ocean.  The kids were more than excited.  We loaded our van with boogie boards, towels and plenty of snacks.  We also brought along our nature journals.  We had plenty of time for fun, but we also had moments to admire a few birds, ocean items and land marks we are not used to seeing every day.  There were plenty of sea gulls:

My attempt at capturing the pelican.

My camera ran out of battery before we could take a snap shot of some amazing acrobatic Pelicans.  The kids loved how they dove straight into the water without warning.  Hung out and then flew right out.  There were plenty of thoughts on why they were doing this.  We also found some seaweed, different pebble rocks, some broken shells and tiny crabs.  I think we'll be pulling out some beach books for the rest of the week.

I was able to take some hazy horizon shots of two of the eight islands that make up the Channel Islands in CA.  These are the same islands in the book Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell.  We learned that only five of them were made into the Channel Islands National Park.  We would really like to go there some day.  My oldest read the book last year and was very intrigued.

It was a wonderful day.  This next shot was my absolute favorite.  I did not have the kids pose, but you have them run around the ocean and sand for a while; then call them in for lunch and they were as still as they could be: