what they do at the beach...

I took the boys to the beach the other day.... we were going to go to check out some dunes (D brought the skim board to try surfing/sledding/sandboarding down the dunes) and look for rocks at Agate beach (J wanted to add to his rock collection). We left town with just under 1/4 tank of gas; I was too cold to get out of the truck to fill up, it had not warmed up yet. We drove a good 20+ minutes north; I am not sure how close we got to Agate beach but when the truck said 40km left in the tank, I figured we should turn around and head back.

So we drove back towards town to find a place where we could find dunes and rocks.

We headed down a side road towards the beach. They boys were getting nervous because now the gas gauge said 'fuel level very low' so we decided to park and walk the rest of the way. We put our rubber boots to good use as we trudged through the muck before we got to the sandy road and saw the water.

The boys made a B-line for the beach and I hung back to watch...

There are no steep dunes here so the skimboard is useless and D leaves it up on grass. He heads off to the waters edge and watches the waves. The tide is heading out (thankfully) and so he is not caught unexpectedly with a bootful of water. But with the strong wind, the waves are still giving a good crash about 10ft from the shore. D picks up rocks to try to hit the wave just as it breaks... I watch him throw it long or too short but when he makes 'a hit' he looks back and grins.

J heads off away from us with his eyes glued to the ground. He picks up handfulls of sand, washes the fine grains away and collects all these small crystal-like rocks. He finds a tri-coloured rock and calls me over to check it out. I hold it for him (it is a really nice one!) and he keeps on his agate search. He finds a crescent moon shaped perfectly white sugar agate and tosses it towards me to see. He now knows the difference between a real agate and a sugar agate so the sugar ones are no longer as exciting. After about 15 mins, he finds a good size agate even though he was sure he wouldn't.

D comes over to see what J has found. D bends down and picks up a white rock close to me "look what I found J. A half moon sugar agate". J yells back, "I found that one already" I had a little giggle.

We drove back to town to get gas and head home to make soup for lunch.

After lunch J, and I went to the library with a mission to find a book about rocks. He found a reference book and read that diamonds can be found at the waters edge. He believes the crystal-like rocks he found could be diamonds!

I found a book I had almost bought at the gallery a few weeks ago "The Golden Spruce" by John Vaillant. I will give my book report when I am done. So far, it is bang on with everything I have seen, heard, smelt, felt in this temperate rainforest. Right down to the line "You have the feeling that if you stop for too long, you will simply be grown over and absorbed by the slow and ancient riot of growth going on all around you." I have tried on several occasions to get a good pic of this description but I have been unable to capture it. I will keep trying!