While all of you were settling into a deep sleep Saturday night, we were loading the boys, buckets and flashlights into the car for a midnight Grunion Run.
Ever done this before?
Know what a Grunion is?
A little Marine Biology lesson for you.......Grunion are known in California for their unusual mating ritual during high tides when the females come up on to sandy beaches where they dig their tails into the sand to lay their eggs. The male then wraps himself around the female to deposit his sperm and for the next ten days the grunion eggs remain hidden in the sand. At the next set of high tides the eggs hatch and the young grunion are washed out to sea. (Never thought I would use the word sperm in my blogging).
Finn and Tiago hugging it out before we hit the dark beach, they had no idea what to expect!
At first Finn was scared and stayed close to shore with the bucket. I put him in charge of the red flashlight, trying to keep his mind off the darkness and the high tide.
I shared many Grunion runs as a child with my father and love that I get to share the same midnight fun with my own son.
I am impressed with myself as well as with Devon at how well we dressed the boys at such a late hour!
Flashlight at ready,
keeping a lookout for the Grunions!
Todd caught the first one!!
Tiago & Uncle Todd running through the surf looking for silvery flashes as the tide recedes.
Look what washed up on the beach, an actual "Minute to Win It" Game, complete with the ball! I kept it, cleaned it and will have all the dads try to "Win It" at my home on Father's Day. Wonder who will win? I will keep you posted!
Tiago's first catch of the night,
I love his little hands in this photo.
Uncle Todd helping Tiago hold tight to his fish,
they are very slippery and flip their bodies crazily.
Woo Hoo! Devon's catch of the day, she wouldn't let Todd keep it for bait, she released hers back to the Sea.
Victory! My son finally jumped into the fun and caught his first Grunion. His father announced that he was finally a true Viking Warrior fisherman, just like Tiago!
Our Grunion hunting wrapped up around 1am, we kept a few.......Finn wanted them to ride next to him on the car ride home. He talked to them the entire way home, he had no idea they were destined for the freezer to be used later as Todd's Halibut fishing bait.
We had a fabulous family evening under the stars...running through the surf, giggling and loving Todd's brilliant idea to enjoy our local Grunion Run! For those of you wondering, we did sleep in Sunday morning, we earned it!!
