Perfectly Awesome Day :: Sandcastles Competition, Paddle Boarding, Cupcakes...and More!

Ready for a post full of sand, sun, and ocean fun? That was our day and I have a few favourite photos for you! 

Today the PEI National Park celebrated its 75th anniversary. They had a day filled with activities. We started the day with the sandcastles competition. My two oldest (15 and 13) entered the competition individually, Celeste (8) and I entered as a team. Everyone got to work right away. 

I was so busy constructing with Celeste that I didn't get many photos of the building, but here are the final sculptures. 

Adrienne's sand sculpture included a 75th and several turtles. 

Andre's was a circle structure with a bridge, many trees and a house in the middle. 

Celeste and I decided to build a South American temple. She is really good at making stairs (I'm not!). She also included a 75 in the field in front of the temple. We both worked on the surrounding wall. 

By mid-afternoon, the judges went around every sandcastle and made their decisions. The beach was full of sand sculptures! Here is the one by the sand castle artist:

And for the surprising results: Adrienne won 2nd place in the competition and Andre won 3rd! Her prize was a $50 gift card for a local sport store and Andre got a $10 Tim Horton's gift card and a PEI National Park book! They were super happy!!!

There were other activities throughout the day. The girls painted ocean landscapes:

Celeste and Andre loved the nature table. They had a tank set up with live lobsters, oysters, clams, and jelly fish. Celeste learned that the smallest jelly fish that don't have their tentacles yet can be held safely. She spent a lot of time catching baby jelly fish and releasing them after finding that out! They also had a booth set up to learn more about the piping plover. There were other booths that we didn't visit. So many fun things to do!  

Here she is showing me a little one, 

first the under side, then the top:

Adrienne and I tried paddle boarding, for free. A local sports store had a booth and had a person explaining the basics and taking small groups out on the ocean. Adrienne went first and watching her, I decided I had to give it a try too. I am so glad I did, it was so much FUN (once I fell in, before that I was a little too nervous!). Adrienne loved it too. 

Celeste was watching Adrienne too and wishing she could try, but the minimum age was 15. 

They even had cupcakes for everyone! A perfectly awesome day!