It is February, smack-dab in the middle of winter. Even here in Virginia, February can get pretty cold and cloudy. Well...cold enough to not be at the beach for several months. If you dare head toward the oceanfront, be prepared for beating sand and wild, frosty winds.
But this past weekend was a special gift. An early Valentine's Day present, if you will. Intended to show us all once again, there is beauty to be seen everywhere...even in winter.
With the warmer temperatures, we met some friends at the beach for a quick dinner and lots of running around with found pieces of driftwood as swords.
I had not paid attention to the tide charts. To be honest, I don't even think about the tides in the winter. But when we arrived, we immediately noticed a huge full moon suspended right above the horizon. And a lower than normal low tide. It was a great time to talk about how the moon (and the sun) is responsible for the rise and fall of the ocean levels on our beach.
Yesterday, we researched it a bit more and found these sites to be very helpful.
The Moon and the Tides - explains a very complex subject in language younger kids understand
NOAA, Our Restless Tides - more information on tides than you would ever want to know
How Stuff Works - the video was a great follow up to our discussion
After such a great evening and and even better opportunity to learn about something we might take for granted like the moon and tides, we JUST make it to Spring.
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Notes:
gull feathers were collected for later investigation
whelk egg cases were found and opened to reveal the babies inside
- Eren
