Coquina clams can be found by the thousands up and down the North Carolina coast.  These tiny little mollusks come in a wide variety of brilliant colors, from bright yellow to deep blue or white with purple stripes. When my youngest begins to get bored during a beach trip, I will take her to the water’s edge for several rounds of what we call “Coquina Races.”  We each hunt for just the right coquina, and then meet for an exciting coquina race.  When the water flows back and exposes sand, my daughter says, “on your mark, get set, go” as we drop our coquinas on to the sand.  Then we wait and hold our breath.  Finally, one of the coquinas will turn end...

A good friend of mine taught my daughter and I a fun game to play on the beach that has become a family tradition. As soon as someone spots a colony of pelicans, he or she blurts out either “even” or “odd.”  The person that they are with calls out what they think the count will be as well. Then, simply count how many pelicans there are and see if it is an even or odd number.  This is a effortless game that catches on quickly and always produces smiles and laughs when it is played.  Especially if someone yells out “ODD!” and you see there is only one pelican!...