August 14th

At one point in the ocean, I realized that if I dug down about 1/4 of an inch with my fingers, I could occasionally find a crab.  I showed them to Emma and she thought they were really neat...at least until they started to emerge from their shell.  I think California could hear her shriek when she saw one come out for the first time.  I really wanted a picture of them, but taking my camera into the ocean wasn't an option.  So, the first time we attempted to bring them to shore it ended up not going as planned.  I guess I didn't realize that the little guys would just start digging in the sand once I poured them out of the bucket which made it difficult to take their picture.  Emma's reaction was also quite funny so I forgot about the crabs and just took her picture instead.  Then we decided to try putting a little sand on one of Emma's sand toys that would prevent them from digging into the ground so I could take a few pictures.  My mom was a good sport about the whole thing as she waited patiently on the beach with my camera while I scavenged around for crabs.  I thought I ended up with a cool sample of them, until one of them started to come out of his shell and he turned out to be some sort of snail.  I think California heard my shriek at that point.