We took our gear to the beach and set out our towels and umbrella, smeared on the sunscreen while talking about the sun, UV rays and the untrue urban legend making the rounds about sunscreen making children go blind then headed for the water.

For some reason the water was full of jellyfish. They all appeared dead, but having been stung many times I didn't take a chance and neither did my son. We discussed jellyfish, how one might know if they are dead (well, not sure, but if the tentacles are missing, I'd say you're safe), the parts of jellyfish, the toxin of their stings, then went on to discuss why there might be so many washing up on the shore. No big storms just a little rain two days ago.
Aaron asked how storms would cause things to wash up on the beach and we talked about that, too.

We played by the edge of the water with the baby while she ran back and forth chasing and being chased by the waves.
This led to a discussion about waves and the wind, crests and troughs, breakers and undertow, tides, the moon, the sun, and gravitational pull.

We got bored since we couldn't go *in* the water and packed out stuff up earlier than we had intended then headed for a boardwalk vendor to buy some very greasy fries for lunch,which we ate while sitting on a bench in the shade of a scrubby looking pine tree. We continued our discussions about tides, storms and jellyfish.

We then wandered around the boardwalk, waiting for Funland to open so Sarah could go on the rides. We wandered in and out of shops as Sarah couldn't take too much sun.
Aaron was shocked at the prices and asked why things were so expensive at the beach -- were tourists rich? We discussed a little bit about tourism, beachfronts and economics.

Finally it was one p.m. and Funland opened.
Aaron rode on a few rides himself while I took Sarah on the baby rides. We convinced her to try the merry-go-round, but she would only sit on a bench, and with us both there, so we sat with her and went round and round and round. Aaron and I noted how the horses went up and down and discussed the piston action under the horses and the rotation of the crankshaft and how the same basic function was involved in the gasoline engine.

After we used up our allotment of tickets, we walked back toward the car and Sarah saw some pinwheels. I got one for her, and we proceeded to the car and came home. While driving Aaron told me about the rides he went on, and we ended up discussing centrifugal force, inertia, momentum, velocity, acceleration and deceleration, then while she slept, he started playing with her pinwheel to measure the force of air coming from the a/c and we discussed windmills, the various shapes of blades or sails on different types as well as how they can be used to grind grain, pump water from wells, or create electricity.

And some ask about taking breaks from 'school'?
How do you take a break from learning when you have days like this?