Beach Fun

As was mentioned in the previous post, summer time has changed our routines a good deal, which has also allowed us to get out of town on the weekends. A few weekends back we went to Santa Cruz, where we played on the boardwalk and enjoyed the beach. It was interesting to observe two valley girls' reactions to scenery both in and around Santa Cruz. Elliot, who is usually more adventuresome than her older sister, was frightened by the waves crashing on the shore, and thus refused to do anything but be held by mom. Rebecca on the other hand happily strolled up and down the beach searching for treasures to collect and built sand castles with dad. The previous day, however, she too had been frightened by the giant redwood trees in a grove in Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park. I suppose it makes sense that a child with a large imagination who isn't accustomed to seeing such large trees would be so affected by their ominous presence, as well as by the darkness they cast on the trail below. My husband and I have a fondness for natural places such as these, so I guess with more exposure and a bit of education our girls will come to love them too.

But back to art. We toted home a small bucket full of mussel shells, driftwood, and other small fragments of things that Rebecca found on the beach, and just yesterday we finally got around to doing something with them. I pulled out the glue gun and put spots of hot glue on a piece of driftwood while Rebecca firmly pressed the shells and feathers into the glue as it dried. Elliot also got to try, though she needed a bit more help than Rebecca did of course. Rebecca was fascinated by the thought of putting glue in a gun, and she especially enjoyed playing with the little strings of glue that form as the hot glue is stretched. When all was said and done each girl had a souvenir from the beaches of Santa Cruz, and I had a small blister on my thumb from the hot nozzle of the glue gun.