Monterey Bay Sea Glass

The kids had been wanting to get in the water and use their nets to scoop for sea glass.  So, when a warm day with fairly calm waters came along we grabbed our things and headed to the beach.

Even though the water was chilly, it felt really good to get our feet wet and walk in the edge.  It was nice to pretend that it wasn't winter for the day :).

We had so much fun dodging the waves...well, trying anyway.  The kids would watch for a lull and make their dash to scoop up as much sea glass and/or rocks as possible before running back up onto drier sand.  When the next wave would come in they would swish their nets in the water to rinse out the dirt and then they could see what they managed to "catch".  Big fun :)

We stayed until the kids all had their fill of splashing and treasure hunting, then it was time to go home and wash everything up.  Luckily for me, they also thought that sounded fun and were eager helpers.  We filled a dish tub with warm water and a little Dawn dish soap.  I put a few little colanders down inside the soapy water to hold the sea glass as it got washed.  That made it so much easier... when a colander was full we would just lift it out and run clean water over it to rinse it all off.

we even found a sea glass marble...how cool!

I think we ended up with just about as many rocks that day as sea glass :).  Tyler was collecting an assortment of rocks for a science project he is doing for school...more on that later.  We did find some really cool rocks, though.  Some of them look like swiss cheese with perfect round holes in them.  Oh, and a stick.  Can't forget that :) ...our youngest boy loves sticks and if he is outside it's a good chance he will have a stick in his hand.

The weather turned chilly the next few days, but the kids wanted to go treasure hunting again anyway.  So hunting we went...
 

The kids can't get in the water on the cooler days, but they still have fun... running all over the beach and drawing in the sand while they hunt for the treasure of the day.  Sea glass for some...sticks for others...

Just in case you're wondering, we don't keep everything we find.  Some of it we enjoy for a while and then leave on the sand for someone else to find.  The kids also enjoy sharing their finds with others ...if someone comes up to us and asks what we are finding the kids are happy to show them and then give them some to keep for themselves.  It's fun to see the look of surprise and delight on the recipients face :).