Fort Ward Beach Trip

Every year, all the second grade classes at Wilkes get to go on a beach field trip to Fort Ward.  The school hires divers from Exotic Aquatics who talk to the kids about diving, then go into the Puget Sound and collect marine life and put them in small touch tanks, a.k.a. wading pools, for the kids to experience.  I've been lucky enough to go on this field trip four times over the years, and this is the first time I've gone without a younger sibling in tow! 

I "chaperoned" a group of four kids.  I use the term chaperone loosely!  We got to explore the beach while the divers collected sea creatures, and the kids didn't really need much guidance.  The two girls took off looking for sea stars, and the boys were fixated on finding crabs under the rocks.

If you look closely, you can see two crabs in this shell.

Ben and his good friend, Henry

The creatures the divers found were amazing!  Much better than the touch tanks at the Seattle Aquarium, even!

That's a red baby octopus!  The water must be really clear down there, I don't know how you could see so many of these creatures otherwise!

Ben enjoyed the touch tanks for about five minutes, then was back to searching for creatures of his own. 

I've enjoyed this field trip each time I've gone. (Although the weather could have been warmer this year...stocking caps in June, seriously?!) I may have to "adopt" a second grader in a few years so I can go again!