Jelly fish and sponges

We had lessons each day at the beach.  

Lesson on Jellyfish - We learned that inside their bell-shaped body is an opening that is its mouth.  They dine on fish, shrimp, crabs and tiny plants.  They digest their food very quickly.  They wouldn't be able to float if they had to carry a large, undigested meal around.  But guess what?  They eat and discard waste from this same opening!  

Our mouths are often potty mouths.  James 3:9,10 says:

"With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God's likeness.  Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing.  My brothers and sisters, this should not be."

Sponge lesson - We watched Jonathan Bird's Blue World about sponges.   Sponges soak up water through all its holes and pores and traps its food as the water flows through its body.  They filter tiny plankton with the water and any waste products are released through an opening on the top of the sponge.

We need to soak up the Living Water, which is the Word of God.  In our lives we need to get rid of the bad stuff that we don't need.

"Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, and slander, as well as all types of evil behaviour.  Instead, be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you."  Ephesians 4:31,32

You can squeeze water out of a sponge and it can become totally dry again.  Sometimes people become "dry" too.  Maybe they are going through hard times and they blame God.  They quit spending time reading the Bible/ talking with God.  They lose the joy of "walking" with God!  Their hearts become hard.

I've often said that in difficult times, I would rather hold onto the Father's hand and have Him by my side than to shake my fist at Him.  He is FOR us.  It is the evil one who wants us to turn our backs on the Lord!

The parents taking a nice break while we had lesson and craft time.

Crafts and Lessons with Nana - the octopus, squid and cuttlefish

The kids asked if I would have lessons and crafts once again, so I did.

Our last time, I used Bible stories that had to do with the sea.  But this time, Papa and I decided to use creatures of the sea.  On day 1 we learned about octopuses, cuttlefish and squids.  I shared about the characteristics of these underwater sea Cephalopoda.  They are very interesting!   The squid and cuttlefish can change colors to match their backgrounds and we discussed why this was important.  

Sometimes people "change their colors" too.  If they are with one set of kids, they will act one way and when with another set of kids, will act another way.  Maybe at church, they act like a good kid but at school, there might be a really "cool" friend but he or she is not so nice.  Trying to fit in, you might act like that kid and make fun of others.

In high school, Papa used to be involved in the youth group but on weekends, he would go out with some buddies and get drunk and do things he shouldn't.  But the Lord rescued him from that type of life!  He has been changed from the inside out!

On that day, we tie-dyed shirts.  Hannah helped and was an excellent teacher!

And later we took pictures in our tie-dyed shirts.

On the day we had this lesson, I fixed octopus oranges, octopus hot dogs and we had squid to eat too.  Only Hannah was brave enough to try that, but I love it!  You can see this at this post.

 That afternoon, Papa got out the octopus kite!

 Hannah took a couple of FUNNY pictures!  The kite was pretty difficult to handle it seems.

 

 Sure was fun!

The peacock and the unicorn

Josh's family brought a GIANT peacock floatie to the beach.  Unfortunately, on their last vacation, a storm came up and slammed the peacock against the posts under the house and tore a hole in the side.  They tried to fix it, but would it hold up?

Well, maybe it lasted half an hour before it began to lose air.

They tried to repair it one more time, but in the end, the peacock met it's demise.

 One afternoon, we watched a unicorn sail past us with no one on board.

 It went further and further out to sea!

We looked down the beach several houses and saw a couple of guys get into their canoe and head out after their "run away" unicorn.

 Caught up to it!!

 A coast guard helicopter flew overhead.

 Hurray!  Rescued!

Watermelon on the beach

When I was growing up, our church in Japan would sometimes go to the nearby beach for a picnic.  

We would eat the carefully prepared rice balls and other treats the ladies packed.  Games were played.

One game we played was called "Suikawari" or watermelon splitting.  It is a traditional Japanese game where you blindfold people and they take turns trying to hit the watermelon with a stick.  After it was finally bashed open, we would all share in eating it.

(I couldn't find our photo of that but found this one on-line)

We didn't do that at Dauphin Island, but we did have a watermelon on the beach!

Hannah and Sophia had put their money together and purchased this watermelon "boat".  

 Laughing at Papa who had wiped out!

Then they wiped out too!

 

These pictures crack me up!

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 It also worked as a place to rest when you are tired!

And in case you missed reading the blog about our meals, here is the watermelon we ate!