Treasures

During my recent weekend visit to the Tidewater, I took the kids to a couple of the local beaches so I could take some photos and they could run around.  OK, so Big Sis doesn't run, she just looks all broody and draws "I Love Brent" in the sand 50 Brazillian times.  The Brat Child runs, but only until he spots the next glorious and priceless treasure on the sand. 

This time it was feathers and dead crabs.



Because his hands were full of crab shells, the Brat Child decided to use my sweatshirt pocket to hold his feathers.   While we walked along the beach, we came upon a dead seagull.  It wasn't really recognizable as a seagull except for a few long beautiful flight feathers left attached to the skeleton.

The Brat Child and I saw the skeletized remains at the same time and I said, "You are NOT putting that in my pocket!"

The Brat Child continued kicking at the feathers in the hopes of kicking one or two loose.  Because maybe if one came loose I might then let him put it in my pocket.  And because I've poked my share of dead things been curious about things I find, I let him make his attempts.  When he leaned in closer to take a better look I reminded him, "I mean it.  No skeletons in my pocket!"

The Brat Child is not phased by skeletons in his pockets.

Or his hands.

We also came across a Mermaid's Necklace which is really a whelk's egg case.  After explaining to the Brat Child what it was and what was in it, he added that to his collection. 
"What are you going to do with that?" I wondered.
"I'm gonna hatch dem eggs," he answered matter-of-factly like I'm an idiot who didn't realize that you can hatch whelk eggs via incubation.
Can't wait for the next walk.