The Beach in November

Ciera left the Sunday before Thanksgiving to go back up to Utah--she was feeling nervous about missing so much school, so she was only here for a few days before leaving. Because she wasn't going to be here as long, Linda wanted to make sure that she got a chance to do some things that she wanted to do. One of those things was going to the beach. So, we went to the beach in the middle of November.

The water was actually warmer than you might think...it was the air that was cold. So, as long as you stayed in the water you were fine =).

But here is the proof that we actually went in the water. OK, OK, I didn't go all the way in the water, but Linda, Ciera, Ciera's friends, Dallas, Kayla, Mason and Amanda did. (I admit it, I'm a wimp.) But I did go in up to my calves, and once I got over the shock of the cold water...it really wasn't that bad. Dallas and Mason stayed in the water a long time and body surfed and boogie boarded. Ciera blackmailed her friends into getting in the water and once they were done swimming, they went up to the pier and spent time in all of the shops. Amanda was miserable once she was out of the water and was very grateful that I had brought a change of warm clothes.

When Amanda and Kayla were done playing in the water, they spent time playing in the sand.

They were buried and made into mermaids and they played with their younger cousins. Aaron and Rainer loved playing in the sand. At one point, a big hole was dug and they had a blast playing in that.

At some point, Linda took the two younger girls to the bathroom (it was like a 5 min. walk from where we were.) Nancy and I began to worry when after while they didn't return. We were really beginning to worry, but then we looked and saw a very unusual sight. Walking toward us was Linda and the girls and a flock of seagulls following them. We didn't understand until they got closer.

They were hiding under their towels and holding crackers above their heads as they walked toward us. The birds would swoop right down and take the crackers from their hands.

It was pretty cool to watch. I couldn't resist, so I got out the loaf of bread I had brought in case anybody got hungry. We had so much fun feeding the birds.

(The birds didn't always have very good aim. I got bit a couple of times while holding bread up.)

We would even throw pieces of bread into the air and watch them catch it mid-flight. The birds would sometimes get pretty crazy trying to get the bread--we had a blast. We were having so much fun that we tried something else.

(This picture doesn't do justice to how many birds gathered around the girls. When we back away, more and more birds surrounded the girls.)

We had Kayla and Amanda lie down and then we threw bread on them to see if the birds would come and eat it. Amazingly enough, they wouldn't come for the bread that way. They made like a half circle around the girls, but they wouldn't get close enough to eat the bread. We could see the birds taunting each other and saying things like, "Larry, you go and eat it." "No, Bob, you go and eat it." But no bird was brave enough.

It was such a beautiful day and we had such a fun time. It was the perfect way to start the week visiting with family.