All of a sudden summer is here. It’s in the 70s and sunny and we’re not the only kids digging at the beach this weekend. We went with Mommy, Daddy and Nana and dug a giant pit with castle walls.
Summertime Beach
When we started, the tide was out and there was a shallow pool a few yards in front of us and then a wide sandbar. But we built our castle right at the high tide mark so that the waves came in through our water gate when we were ready for them.
The Wave Comes In
Today (Sunday) Mommy took us to the Scheveningen Museum. Our neighborhood used to be a fishing village separated from the city of Den Haag by hilly sand dunes. So the museum is full of models of fishing boats and the tools that fishermen used and lots and lots of sea shells and paintings of the fishing boats. There’s a little room that’s just like the cabin that the herring fishermen used to live in while they were at sea.
So we decided to go to the beach ourselves to see what sea shells we could find. First we stopped on the “boulevard” at the top of the beach for a snack from a kiosk. Henry had a plain sausage and William had a paper cone of french fries with ketchup. The tide was very, very low and it was foggy and about 34 degrees out. But there were hundreds of people walking along the beach with their dogs and their baby buggies. The tide was so far out that we could walk out on some causeways that are usually underwater. They were covered in shells. It was great.
Here’s a photo of the shells we found today.
The Shells We Found on 24/1/2010
By the way, the photograph at the top of the blog is of the beach at Scheveningen, where we were today.
First Day at the Beach
We can walk to the beach!
From our apartment we walk one block, turn the corner, cross the street and we’re in the Oostduinpark (East Dunes Park). From there we can walk up the pedestrian trail or the horse trail to the beach itself. The beach is very wide and very long and full of people walking even in the cold winter weather. And there are lots of shells. Henry was pleased to find out that you don’t have to pick up every shell you see because there will be more shells there every day.
Climbing the Tower on the Pier
There’s also a long boulevard on the beach full of shops and restaurants and a long pier that goes out into the waves. On New Year’s Day we all walked along the pier. William, Henry and Daddy climbed the bungee tower at the end of the pier – 142 steps up and 142 steps down. Then we had dinner at one of the beach restaurants. We sat next to a small fireplace and had a delicious dinner.
It was a great start to the new year.
