The Three Sisters playing in the sand. Morgan, age 12, who later changed her name to Dylan, sits partially buried on the upper center right. Kate, about 6 & a half, is on foto left. Talia, bottom right, is 4 years along. Tuesday 1 August 2006. Foto by Daddy William, age 47.

Kate’s turn! Talia & Morgan do the burying, tho under their parents’ watchful eyes, of course.

Uh-oh, a vampire in the sand! And the Sun doesn’t disintegrate this vampy chile.

Kate Staked! Ahhh these kids have been reading too much Twilight on top of Harry Potter, ha ha! Twilight the novel, the first in a saga, came the previous year in 2005, & Morgan had quickly snatched up a hardcopy version for herself. These tales of bloody vampire & werewolf teen romances were set in the surrounding regions of high-lonesome lumber towns and Native reservations along the wild edges of Olympic National Park.

William runs up the beach pulling a kite up into the wind as Jo races alongside. It’s a day of salty haze, brisk breezes, & cold seawater. The wide, empty summer beaches of Pacific Beach & Moclips intoxicate us Seattlelites. Sunday 30 July 2006.

William & Jo.

The MoKats surfin’ in the freezing cold Pacific Ocean. Talia quickly dashed out & refused to go back in as she doesn’t like cold water. Kristina & I didn’t last long out there either, but Morgan & Kate swam & body surfed for quite some time. Sunday 30 July 2006.

Ocean water temperatures along the Washington seashore range in the 40s & low 50s F in the summer, yet are much warmer 20-25 miles offshore. The California Current picks up upwellings of frigid North Pacific water & conveys them south along the coast all the way to Mexico’s Baja California Sur. The Atlantic Coast of the Eastern USA, by comparison, is warmed by the Gulf Stream as it heads north from the tropics.