One of my mom’s work colleagues and his wife have a beautiful home overlooking the sound on Alki beach.  They invited us over to witness one of the lowest tides of the year that happened to occur just after noon on the 4th of July.  Even better, they are less than a couple of hundred yards down the beach from the ferry terminal/pier where tons of sea life is exposed when the tide goes out. 

Here are a bunch of shots I took during the afternoon and more if you click here or on the pictures below. 

the starfish were everywhere!

6+ starfish on this one piling alone!

Nathan and Ian exploring the sea floor

Cole checking his net for captives

Cool looking starfish

These mussels were attached to a ladder that is completely submerged when the tide is in

Cole shifting to look for sea glass on the beach

I love it when Erin’s freckles come out in the Summertime

Well it only took me three years to finally cave and build Erin her retaining wall for her flower garden.  She has been after me to build it since we moved into our Sammamish home back in March 2005. 

Lowe’s dropped off a palette and a half of landscaping bricks, 35 bags of pea gravel and 50 bags of sand (for the wall foundation + the kids sand box) on the 1st.  After some good progress on Tuesday evening after work, I jumped back in on Thursday evening, this time with the help of the kids. Ian was especially helpful, filling up the wheel barrow and then setting the bricks once I hauled them to the back yard.  Here are some pictures Erin took while we worked; there are more in a slide show here.

Ian helping to set the bricks

Ian and the tamper; no steel toe boots, but he was careful

Nathan got in on the action long enough to set a couple of bricks

All three boys helping dad