Beeeeach!!!

We just got back from the beach and had a whoopin' good time! Sorry I haven't posted for a while, there's been so many fun things to do. Ruth and I got some really good waves, and some really good dunks. One of the most interesting dunks for me was when we were on the top of this really big wave, sort of looking over the edge of of a cliff. I freaked out and pulled back just in time, but Ruth shot over the edge and plummeted head-downward into the water. about a second later, Ruth's boogie board shot up like 5 feet in the air. On one of the other waves that was sort of like a cliff that we did catch, I went over the cliff and sort of bounced off the water at the bottom. When Ruth and I both catch a wave, we like to lean towards each other and "link up" by holding on to each other's boogie boards. once there was a big wave that we both caught, and I was leaning over, getting ready to link up with Ruth, when my boogie board shot out from under me. It happened right when I had grabbed her boogie board, so I was still hanging on after I lost my boogie board. And believe it or not, I caught that wave feeling like a sidecar of a motorcycle holding on to Ruth's boogie board.

Woofy Doogie Park

Yesterday we went to a park by the beach we like to call the "Dog Walking" park, because the only people we see besides ourselves whenever we go over there are walking their dogs. When I'm being silly or trying to annoy Ruth I sometimes call it the "Woofy Doogie" park. There are lots of great trees to climb on, and one of my favorites we like to call the lichen tree, because on the higher branches there is lots and lots of lichen growing in big tufts. The dog walking park is right next to the beach, and there's this one place where you can climb a tree on the edge of the cliff and see the ocean, the beach, the mountains, and the valley.
You're up so high that the ocean and its waves look like the waves are breaking in slow motion. You can see so much beach, and the people that are on it just look like little dots. That particular beach has some pretty big waves, and my mom spotted some people surfing on them. It was fun watching them, because usually when they caught a wave the would fall off at some point in their ride, and who doesn't like to see that?

More Rocky Beach

Yesterday we took walk on the rocky beach again, and I forgot to mention my "Spaceman Spiff" game in my last entry. Well, The Courageous Spaceman Spiff is this guy that I was pretending to be, and he was tracking the Zoragous Zargs (Mom, Dad, and Ruth) to their headquarters in the last entry. He had to stay hidden by dodging and jumping along the lava islands at the edge of the lava-pit (the tide pools at the edge of the ocean) to avoid getting spotted by the evil gaze of the Zoragous Zargs. this time, I had already tracked the Zoragous Zargs to their headquarters, spied
on them and recorded some information, and I was trying to get back to base. It is really a fun game, especially if you pretend that all water is lava and you have to jump from rock to rock to survive.

The Rocky Beach at Low Tide

We went to that beach I mentioned earlier, and it was really low tide, too. There were some great tide pools, we saw bright purple and orange starfish, chitons, anemones, mussels, a crab, shellfish, and a beautiful sunset.
Chitons are these creatures that don't really move, and if they move at all, they move very slowly. click on the word "Chitons" to go to the Wikipedia article. the Orange starfish we saw was bigger then the purple one, and they seemed to be hugging, sort of. they were on this rock that had so many mussels, you couldn't see any rock.
Mom saw this little crab crawling among the anemones, but Ruth and I didn't spot it in time. Ruth and I like to poke the anemones' tentacles so that they curl up into a tight little cylinder. there were also these teeny tiny shellfish that are fun to pick off the rocks and tap.
There was a GRAND sunset, and with the waves crashing on the rocks, the towering cliffs, and the sun's last rays reflecting on the water, I wished that I had a camera with me, or at least a sketch pad.

Beach Fun and Rental House

Yesterday we went to the beach that we can walk to from our new rental house, and it is the rockiest beach I have ever been to. It was almost completely high tide; completely high tide meaning the bottom few steps that lead down to the beach being underwater at all times. Those bottom few steps are made out of solid concrete, yet they are eroded so much that it seems like they were meant to be some kind of crude ramp.
We walked down the stretch of rocks and sand that was above water for a little ways, until we got to this rock formation that was right on the brink of the waves. Mom sat on a slightly chair-shaped rock that was more away from the water and read her book. Ruth and I went to play on the semi-underwater rocks.
We had a great time, collecting interesting rocks, shells, bones, skeletons,and seaweed, storing them up on a tall rock that was sort-of an island. We also explored the tide pools that were just forming, by that I mean that if you wade quickly out and climb up on one of them with the correct timing, you might make it without getting knocked off your feet by an oncoming wave.
Our favorite tide pool rock was this very pretty one that was almost always a few inches underwater, and whenever a wave came, it would get covered by an extra layer of foam, which tickles your feet. All in all I'm exited that there is such an entertaining beach that we can walk to from or rental house, because I am still looking for things to do over here.

A Day at the Beach

OK, maybe not a day, but about three and a half hours, or something like that. It was grand!! Ruth and I didn't catch any good waves for the first hour or so, therefore our sandcastle spirits were aroused. I played a game where I would make a sandcastle really close to the water, and then I would make it bigger and bigger until the tide came in and start washing it away. then I would make a long, thin stretch of sandcastle that would provide an evacuation route for the sandcastle people who lived in my sandcastle. After I completed my evacuation route I would start making a sand castle connected to it that would be bigger than the sandcastle that was, at that moment, getting washed away by the waves. I actually ended up doing that sequence all over again when the tide rose some more. After about 2 hours had past since we arrived at the beach, and a double tornado/meteor shower had destroyed Sandcastle III, Ruth and I caught some waves. the water wasn't actually that cold. (With wet suits on, of course.)

Beach and Dismantled Computer

Yesterday we went to the beach. There weren't very good waves, but there was some interesting seaweed. Ruth is currently practicing her cello, she has had 2 lessons so far. I started to take apart one of dad's old computers yesterday, here is a picture of it:

Beach Day

Today we had beach day. It was VERY fun. I boogie boarded almost all the time. There were really good waves. Some of the waves got really tall like a cliff before they come crashing down. Once I made the mistake of trying to catch one that big, and I ended up catching it underwater while I was still holding on to the boogie board. It actually was a pretty good wave. When I wasn't riding the waves, I was digging a big hole and building a wall around it or making sand castles. Ruth started out catching waves, but then she switched to soccer. That was my favorite day at school ever.

Morning at my Granddad's House

Today we ate a breakfast of thin pancakes and bacon and sausage. Then uncle Creig and I modified our previous turtle art program so it makes bouncy squiggles that change color and pen width. It is a very complicated script. Then we went to the lake again and Ruth and I played the 728 game on the underwater sandbar. The 728 game is a game where I am a robot that Ruth met and there are lots of other robots. The robot I pretend to be is called 728.