Learning the Beach

The first morning at the beach the girls were a bit cautious - they played in the sand and dug at the waterline a bit and had a lot of fun, but were hesitant to get too much in the waves.  (The hesitation didn't last long - they were running in the waves by the end of the day!)

This was Nora's "safe" way to full her bucket with water:

Elsa got a bit braver, 

and then discovered that if you dug in the surf you find live mole crabs and live cochina shells that burrowed back into the sand after the waves pulled them up.  Everyday then she collected bucketfuls of "pets" that she watched and released the next day when she caught new ones.

Then we got super excited when we found the mermaid!