Photographic memories: beaches

Stick-town, Centennial Beach, Tsawwassen.This is a great, lazy parent beach-activity to do while the kids are off splashing and digging. Just use scraps of bark and sticks and rocks to build your own city. Totally useless, but kind of addictive.

Being bird-watched, Centennial Beach, Tsawwassen. Better not leave any food items unattended: the crows are very attentive.

Stanley Park, Vancouver (near the totem-poles). Demonstrating a favorite kid-activity at the beach: chucking things in the water!

Harrison Hot Springs, BC, Canada. More wood-chucking! The only problem is when someone wants to retrieve their stick and is wearing running shoes rather than boots...

Natural driftwood sculpture, Crescent Beach, White Rock. I love how all kinds of rocks have lodged in the twisty old roots.

Tällön, Sweden. Racing the remote controlled boat down by the beach. This is just in front of my parents' summer house and is definitely one of my favorite spots in the entire world.