This Stuff is Really Cool

Last week we went to our beach with a very cool plankton net that Syndi made. I took this photo of one of the medium size jelly fish the children caught. We caught several tiny jellies in addition to a lot of plankton. They even caught another Hooded Nudibranch. Before we started this Marine Biology I had never even herd of a Nudibranch much less a Hooded one.

Taylor really enjoyed trolling for plankton, while Ian and Ruby were marching around on the dock. It is a good thing that plankton don't get scared away.

We were really happy that the tide was in, it made looking for sea creatures very successful.

Syndi is so good with my children. She got right down there with them showing them all the really cool things to discover and naming the bivalves, plankton, and many other amazing things.

I loved all the children looking for more Nudibranch's and Jellies. I was nervous about Ruby being so close to the edge, and Erik tends to lean too far out for my comfort.

It amazes me that every time we go to the beach the children discover more. They never get bored, they always want to go, and they get along wonderfully while we are there~Always, All the time!

We spent more time at the beach than we had planned and had to rush home to eat lunch before I left all the children with Syndi to run Ian to the doctor. It was a planned virus to take care of some nasty virus', but was rewarded with a coupon for a free pizza.

Ian was telling the doctor all about the zooplankon that we found and that we were going to look at in under the microscope when we got home. He carried on a very educated conversation with the doctor who even asked if we had seen some Nudibranchs to which Ian replied, "We saw Hooded Nudibranchs!"

How can you be doing something wrong when your 5 year old is learning so much?!

Syndi was so excited when we successfully got slides and could see the plankton swimming under the microscope! The children all too turns looking at the slides and drawing what they saw (some took more care than others, naturally).

Probably the best part of the day was Syndi's excitement and smiles and laughter. Or it might have been spending a few hours at the beach on a sunny October day. Maybe it was learning new things together. Perhaps it was enjoying my children's delight in learning.