The ten days we spent around Christmas in Goa were principally spent at the beach. There was so much to do and so much to discover! And I really feel like one looks at things through such a different lens when one is with kids. The very first day, Sid and Nish made a wonderful discovery…They were both watching the waves and the water with joy and fascination. When i asked what they were looking at, Nish said “The sea is brown and white and blue and grey” And Sid, who was intently staring at the setting sun added “And orange!” It’s true..the sea is these colors and more…much much more. But I never quite thought of it quite so poetically without even being asked to!
Then, chasing the waves became another fun thing to do…the boys would let the waves lick their toes and would then chase after the retreating wave squealing and singing! Once they decided that the water wasn’t really that cold, we went in and enjoyed the water waiting for each wave to come upto us and break! At one point Nish turned around with his back to the breaking wave and announced that he was getting a “bum massage”
We saw a lot of birds too…other than the usual crows and sea gulls, we saw a lot of kites and some eagles too! The boys were amused to see the birds leaving their talon marks on the beach like the boys’ footprints.
We saw crows feasting on fish that has been washed ashore in the morning…we saw gulls and other birds pulling fish out from dead jellyfish and making a nice meal out of them! The jellies that had been washed ashore one morning was also interesting to see and we spent a lot of time observing them.
Digging of course was something we did a lot of. Amu discovered the joy of sitting in holes in the sand and also of destroying sand ‘castles’. He figured out how to dig and enjoyed himself at it. The twins dicovered that if they dug deep enough they would hit water and that was an exciting activity that kept them hard at work.
We discovered seashells too (with and without creatures in them). This was lovely for size and color sorting and they made great decorations for the sand castles we were trying to (very unsuccessfully) build.
We saw fishing boats and large fishing nets and we were lucky enough to be there one morning as they fishermen were pulling their nets ashore!
We discovered that we could fill our pails with sea water and then watch as the sand slowly settled to the bottom leaving clear water on top.
And we saw dogs and pigs and boats and anchors too…
Yes, the beach was treasure trove…a mine of stuff out there just waiting for us to stumble upon! We’ve come back a few shades darker, with the smell of the sea and the taste of salt on our lips, so much in love with the ocean of many secrets and colors!
myfourboysandme 