Crabs

On the 14th, we finally did something we've been wanting to do since we moved to the coast. We went crabbing! I had a short list of things I wanted to do before moving away from the ocean and crabbing was at the top of that list. We never did get to go clamming or visit Tillamook and the northern Oregon coast cities, but we did go crabbing and eat a peanut butter milkshake from Sue's Kitchen.

The milkshake was heavenly!

We missed the ideal crabbing time by an hour or so, but it was still SUPER fun and was so simple! We should have done it ages ago.


We went to the docks in Bandon and rented two pots. Hyrum skewered chicken on the hooks


and tossed the pots out.


The sea lions were swimming close by,


but they never stole our bait. I hear they prefer the fish over the chicken.

While we waited for the baskets to fill,


the kids played on the animal carvings by the dock that Nana took them to play on once before.





Kiersa's new obsession is trying to skip like the big kids. It's so funny to watch!


We pulled in a lot of crabs,





but they were mostly female and all too small.


This is where the females keep their eggs. None in this one though.


Tossing them back in the ocean was trickier than I imagined. They clung to the pots...


and they would stare you down as you approached them to pick them up, waving a warning pincher claw at you all the while.


We mostly just had the kids chase them to the water.


So now the test...could we get the kids to touch a crab?

Paisli wasn't afraid!


But Hyatt was less than enthusiastic to put his fingers in any peril. He thought it was fun to look at them,


but his countenance changed completely when he was faced with the challenge of actually touching one. The most he'd do was touch a back leg.


Hyatt's hilarious because whenever he senses any danger (scary stories or voices, crabs, etc), he pulls his hood over his head to hide. If he doesn't have a hood, he just pulls his shirt up over his head.


Talea, being the creature lover she is, knew she could do better. Not only did she touch a leg,


she let it crawl up her arm!



And, she learned how to pick them up from the back so she wouldn't get pinched.




But what fun is toying with the danger of crabs if you're not going to see if the pinch actually hurts? Talea tested it of course...and enjoyed it!


According to Talea, a praying mantis pinch is more painful than a crab pinch.


When I tried to get Kiersa to touch a crab, she looked at me as though to say, "Do you think I'm THAT stupid?"


She mostly just liked watching the seagulls...



I, on the other hand, was less than thrilled to have the feathered rodents pestering us since they kept hanging around trying to steal our bait and our catch. Plus, one even pooped on me in an aerial fly-by!


Kids make each adventure so much more fun, don't they?





Paisli is such a smiler! And it models her new tooth she just cut. She has 4 teeth now.