the incident at the beach

and how a granola bar saved the day...

NOT A CLOUD IN SIGHT. We arrived a little after 3, it was a cold and crisp Florida winter day, the kind where you see locals in sweaters and tourists in bikinis. Yup, we were cold and they were warm.

SNATCHED. Snow found a little yellow scooper buried in the sand, she gave it to Maku who kept tossing it in the air. Seagulls gathered around him trying to get the scooper, he was having so much fun until a seagull finally got the scooper in his bill and flew away with it.

THE THRILL OF THE CHASE. The children tried to get it back. They chased the bird as he flew away...far away over the ocean...then PLOP. Little yellow scooper was dropped in the ocean. Good-bye little yellow scooper.

MINUTES LATER. "Look! The scooper! The seagull with the scooper!" Bits of shells, sand and granola crumbles were tossed in the air, but all to no avail. A flock of seagulls feasted on the granola but the one with the scooper didn't stay.

A PEACE OFFERING: Then something yellow fell from the sky. No, it was not the scooper, I think he planned to enjoy that and had no intentions of giving it back. He dropped us a big yellow shovel instead and then stayed for granola.