Dad put the truck in park and got his camera out.He aimed the lens,steadied it,and took a picture of the tumbling waves.
"Isn't this great?" Mom said as she took a deep breath of ocean air.Most everyone expressed theyr'e agreement.cassidy sqealed and pointed at the seagulls flying up in the cloudy sky."I wish the weather was nicer" I said."I miss the sun." dad got out,probably to take some more pictures.
"Mom can we get out to?"Aaron asked. "Fine,but someone needs to get cassie." I looked back at kirstie."Your closer."I said.Kirstie mad a face.We all climbed out of big red,which is our name for dads truck.I walked over to Cassie’s door,got her out,and set her on the wet sand.She looked down with a curious look on her face."thats sand,Cas" I swuatted and picked up a handful of the soft,warm sand."Here,feel it."Cassie reached her hand out and grabbed some."Aah"she said,and threw it down. I laughed and threw my sand also.” C’mon lets see what the others are doing.” I grabbed her hand and we walked over to Mom and the other kids. They were searching for sandollars."I found one! “Racquelle exclaimed. She held out a half of a sandollar to Mom” Lets find some whole ones” Mom said. Racquelle dropped the shell and started looking again. I looked down at the sand, dotted with shells and a ton of broken sandollars.this is going to take awhile, I thought.” my grandfather used to have a whole bunch of sandollars “Mom told me.” Did he give you those ones we found in grandmas cedar chest? “I asked. Mom nodded.” He gave one to me, your Aunt Gina, and Uncle Joe. “Cassie picked up an oval shell and handed it to mom. “Oh, what a pretty shell. Do you want to take it home?" "Yeah “Cassie nodded. I wanted to find a sandollar to take home. Although I didn't know why. I guess its just something you do at the beach. I left cassie with mom and walked closer to the waves, staring down at the ground below me.Oof.I bumped into dad, who had been taking some pictures."Hey,watch where you’re walking!” he said. "sorry Dad” I apologized.” what are you taking a picture of?” he pointed at the sky. “the seagulls flying up there." Dad turned the screen of his camera on and showed me a picture of four seagulls gliding up in the dreary sky. The birds were flying in a loose triangle shape. The grey clouds made a great contrast to the seagulls white feathers. The picture gave me a contented feeling. “Wow dad that’s a good shot." Someday I hope to take great pictures like my dad. I left him and continued on my quest for a sand dollar. Instead I found a crab arm. “Whoa, creepy." Kirstie was standing a couple feet away from me. “Hey Kirstie come look at this! “I yelled so my voice would be heard over the crashing waves. Kirstie hurried to where I stood. “Oh this will be perfect for the crab body I found earlier!” she said. We both stood there for a few seconds, staring at the dismembered crab limb. “Well are you going to pick it up?” I asked. “Uuh..Well,will you pick it up and put it in my sweatshirt pocket?” I made a grossed out face ”no way!” I said.Kirstie whined.” Aaron! Can you come here??" I shook my head and spotted a sandollar,half buried in the sand. My eyes lit up. “Yes!" I ran over to the buried sandollar and picked it up. Immediately my face fell. I sighed. It was just half of one. Darn it. “Kids!” I heard Mom yell.” come on!" I dropped the disappointing shell and hurried to where my family was waiting. We walked along the beach in a straight line. Aaron and Racquelle, Kirstie and Cas,Mom and Dad, and me at the back. I like being behind, that way I can watch everything. Dad took moms hand in his. Aw,i thought. I reached in my pocket for my camera. this is the perfect picture. a loving couple walking on the beach, holding hands. I stopped and let them get ahead of me a bit. Turning my camera on, I brought the viewfinder to my eye. Hmm. No matter which angle I tried at least one of the kids snuck into the picture. Then I had an idea. I waited until all of the children were in the frame, in various poses around Mom and Dad. Aaron, Kirstie and Cassie, and finally Racquelle. Click. I looked at the screen. Cool. Not a perfect picture, but it would do. What’s more cuter than a family sharing a few happy moments on the beach together? I place the small red camera back into my pocket and caught up wit Mom and Dad. “Oh look evie!” Mom said excitedly. she leaned down and picked up a whole sandollar. I looked over her shoulder to see the prized shell. “way to go Mom!" Kirstie cheered. Aaron and Racquelle stared at the shell jealously. They turned around and started scrutinizing every shell we walked by. I have to find one! I thought. I felt a drop of rain on my face. “Oh man! “I groaned. "Time to go leave, kids” Dad said. He unzipped his jacket and covered his camera. I could of sworn I heard him reassuring the precious thing that "everything would be alright, just stay in here where its warm and dry" I laughed to myself. My Dad is such a goof ball sometimes. I felt a feeling of panic. Oh,I still haven't found a sandollar! Why do I care so much, I thought. Maybe we'll come back tomorrow and I’ll find one then. I found myself still looking at the ground, searching. "Allie, hurry up!" Mom yelled. I made my legs move a little faster, but I still wanted to find that sandollar! I stopped, wide eyed. For there, lying right in front of me, was a whole sandollar. I snatched it up, before any of the kids spotted it. "Kirstie!" I yelled while pulling my camera out of its dry hiding place. "come take a picture of me with my first sandollar!" I turned my camera on and handed it to her. Walking a bit closer to the waves, I held my trophy of beachcombing so all could see it. “ready?” Kirstie asked. "Yep!" Kirstie pressed down on the little silver button to take the picture, right as the tide came in and soaked my pants from the knee down. "AAAH!" I screamed. the water raced its way to Kirstie before she knew what was happening. "EEK!" I started running toward the truck. Up ahead the rest of my family were laughing theyr'e heads off. I looked over at Kirstie, who handed me my camera. "Did you get the picture at least?" "I don't know!" I looked at the screen. She took the picture right when the water hit my legs, so I had a weird look on my face. my mouth was open and my eyes were squeezed shut. The water was wrapping itself around my ankles. I laughed. "this picture is great!" I told he as we ran for our lives. well, I guess it wasn't life threatening but still. finally we were at the truck, safe from the roaring waves. I started shivering. Rain, wind and now my legs were wet! I didn't mind much, though, because safely in my pocket was the whole sandollar I had so desperately wanted. It would be a reminder of what was turning out to be one of my favorite family trips.

The End.