Baby Shark...dodododo....

I just have to share a few photos from our last jaunt to the beach for the summer.  We've had 3 trips to the coast this summer....just waiting for the day we can live there forever.  Billy and I that is.  The kids are like NO WAY!!  One day we will retire there and the kids will have a beautiful place to visit and bring us lots of Grand babies.  Yeah...I like to dream ahead. 

We both fell in love with Saint Simons years ago when we attended a Leadership Georgia retreat.  A piece of my heart never left.  Never will.  It is the most amazing beach I've ever been to.  It's so raw....so underdeveloped...so very perfect.  I can not stand to go to any beach that has Go-Karts or other contraption that is made to make humans fly and vomit.  Where every corner has a chain restaurant and the condos are so high my fear of heights gets into complete overload.   Rather we like a quiet beach.  Where in the morning and nights families are out walking their dogs.  Where you can walk on a beach and not see condos, but rather sea oats and dunes that look like magical snow mounds.  Where the water is so sparkly you'd thought God had tossed his new glitter jar down right on your slice of beach that day.  Yeah.  That's St. Simons.

Here we are content to rise...hit the beach....and not come in until dark.  Our favorite activity, shell hunting and critter spotting.  This week the waters were particularly full of these beauties:

Have you ever held a live starfish in your hand?  Well, they tickle.  They wiggle.  They breath.  You see above her little legs curling up?  She wanted back in the water!  It pained me to see everyone walking around with them in their hands to keep.  We always throw them back.  We also found giant sand dollars this time.  And although they are living too, we only take those that have been beached.  We also learned that starfish eat sand dollars.  Weird.

Here's Billy and Mailey walking in the glittery water.  Another trick to finding sand dollars is to dig a little.  they bury themselves.  We walked for hours every morning while the tide was low.  Finding treasures of course!

I found this unbelievable sculpture my first day out for a run.  It's a giant piece of driftwood that people have covered in ocean trash.  Flip flops, sunglasses, jewelry, tires, rope, pacifiers, etc....somehow all this trash finds its' way from its' original owners to the sea and out again. It makes a lovely sculpture.  And pointed statement.

The Atlantic beach on this island has nice hard sand.  Perfect for running, riding a bike and renting these bikes!  I tried it this time, and it was hard!  It's all about the hips, which since I got some you'd think would have made it easier!  Not. 

Below is me trying out paddle boarding.  I LOVED IT!!  So much in fact that I have started researching buying my own for the lake in our neighborhood and my Dad's lake.  Although should a ski boat go by the wake would surely knock me off!  It was a great sport for building your core! 

Staying upright is very important if you have a fear of these little guys below.  By far the coolest thing we did this trip was look for these:

Hmmm...what is it you ask?  Do you know the song..."baby shark...dodododo  baby shark dodododo..."  Yeah?   That's a baby one in Billy's hand below he rescued from the surf.  He just couldn't get back out to sea.  The one above was about 2 feet from me in knee deep water.  We also saw a hammerhead shark and loads of black tip.  Ranging in size from tiny below to about 4 foot.  Yeah.  As shark enthusiasts, it was beyond exhilarating!!    Shark week LIVE!

So our week was packed with shark spotting, sting ray spotting, horseshoe crabs (they are hilarious looking!!), starfish, sand dollars, drip castles, body surfing and more.  Oh, of course amazing seafood...in non-chain restaurants! This week I've gotta get back to the regular eating, pretty sure I gained 5 pounds in shrimp and fish weight!  Also......we go back to school!  ekkkk.....I'll be off in the classroom tomorrow cleaning and getting bulletin boards ready.  Monday the bell rings.  Hard to believe the summer has come to an end.  It has been one of the best I can remember ever having.  Older kids, better routines, and of course sand in the toes for many days will do that to you!!