The Way It’s Supposed To Be

Last weekend, we took the kids to an unspoiled beach, which essentially means that it is untouched by humans trying to commercialize it.  Unsurprisingly, it is far more gorgeous than any other shoreline that I’ve ever been to (and that is many!).  It is right on the edge of an old plantation, so there was much beauty to explore even apart from the beach area, but we discovered tons in just this spot alone.

There are so many incredibly gorgeous shells to behold.  We weren’t there for more than two minutes before Julianna came over to me with a beautiful, and fully intact, conch shell.  They were everywhere!  Since it’s a preserve, you are not allowed to take or leave a single thing (it’s a minimum $750 fine if you’d like to “shell” that out for helping yourself), which is why there are so many.

We also found many other treasures that were fun to see in their natural habitat.  Julianna found a hermit crab crawling along among the fallen trees;  Jake found a sand dollar, which he has an impeccable knack for discovering.  I’ve never seen one in all of my years of beach-bumming, and this guy finds them almost every single time we go.

Andrew’s entire trip was made when he happened upon an hatched sea turtle nest.  It was so very cool to find that in an untouched place.  It would have surely been pillaged if we’d have been on a tourist beach.

The whole place was simply gorgeous, and the weather was completely perfect for exploring.  Ty even found a spot on one of the many piles of shells to rest.

It was such a perfect way to kick our terrible cabin fever to the curb.  It’s been a long winter and we are all grateful that warmer temperatures are moving in. We are hoping that last night’s frost will be the last that we will see until the end of the year because we are gearing up for turning our garden plans to fruition.  We will try our hand at a few raised beds and some container gardening this time since we are still in a rental home and I don’t think they’d be in love with the idea of us tearing up their sod for a garden plot.  😉  More to come on all of that, though.  I must run, now.  Mark has the day off and we have to head to the DMV for Gayle Getting Her Driver’s License, Part 2.  Don’t even ask… 😀

Have a great weekend!