Little waves rippled at Penny’s feet as she looked around the lake. She has played in water before, but not in a body of water surrounded by mountains! Penny and Coco were at Crescent Lake past Moonlit Mountain. It was a beautiful day to be there. Mountains and hills surrounded the mass of water, and in the distance, Penny could see Moonlit Mountain standing tall and proud above the rest.
Penny looked closer at the water beneath her. The water lapped over the sand, forming rigid ripples that felt so fun under Penny’s feet. She’d run her foot along the little bumps and smooth them out. The water was shallow and cold, but you got used to it after a while. It was a long walk toward the lake before the water became deep enough for swimming.
That was perfect for Coco. She came up to the shore and took one little step into the water. Brr! It was so cold! She tried again and it suddenly felt better. She waded over to Penny who was jumping over the waves. Coco smiled and joined her. “Ooo! Here comes a big one! Are you ready Coco?” shouted Penny.
With one big jump, they cleared the wave. They cheered and laughed as they jumped over more tiny waves. When they couldn’t jump anymore, they stopped and let the waves roll by.
Penny looked back at the shore, it’s supposed to be a beach, but Penny actually lived near one and knew this wasn’t really a beach. While this had sand, like at Bubble Beach, it wasn’t the same. This sand wasn’t as fine. There were many rocks and pebbles in it, so it wasn’t as soft to walk on. However, the seashells were so tiny! Penny thought they were so cute. Penny gathered up a handful and couldn’t wait to bring them home to compare them with the seashells at Bubble Beach.
Coco found some smooth, flat rocks and began to skip them. Plink, plink, plink. “Wow, you are so good at that! Can I try?” asked Penny.
Coco handed Penny a rock. “You just flick it like this.”
Coco threw it like a frisbee and it skipped 5 times across the water. Penny threw hers and it fell with a plop. She looked around the beach again and picked up three more smooth rocks. They all fell into the water with a plop instead of a plink and none of them skipped across the water. “It takes a lot of practice to get it right,” Coco said, and threw another rock.
Penny looked around one more time to find another rock and found something small and red in the distance, “Look, Coco!” Penny shouted, “Mr. Snaps came out all the way here to see us!”
Coco, surprised, looked to see what Penny saw. “I don’t think that’s Mr. Snaps,” she said as she walked over to see what it was.
Penny followed Coco. After thinking for a moment, she knew Coco was right. This was so far from Bubble Beach and that’s a long walk for a little crab. Even for a Penny. As they neared the red mound, it started fluttering in the wind, and Mr. Snaps definitely doesn’t flutter in the wind. Turns out it was a red bag someone lost. It had a hole in it and was covered in sand. Coco picked it up. “Let’s take this back and throw it away.”
The sound of the waves were much more gentle here at Crescent Lake than at Bubble Beach. The waves at Bubble Beach seemed to take up space in your whole mind, but here, it was a quiet background. Penny could still hear the birds chirping in the distance.
Back at their spot, and the red bag in their trash bag, Penny ran back out to the water. She stomped and splashed a little more. A slightly larger wave came back and while she was stomping, she kicked the wave just as it was about to crest. She loved the feeling of breaking the momentum as she kicked it. She tried again and started laughing. “Come join me, Coco!” Penny cried out.
Coco was back at their spot looking through their bags with a frown on her face. “Penny, I think we forgot to bring the sand toys!”
Penny ran back and helped Coco look. Sure enough, they weren’t there. She really wanted to try making a sand castle here and now she couldn’t. She felt a little frustrated because she knew they were right by her front door and she still forgot them. Penny sat for a moment longer, her frustration turned to disappointment. Then she felt a little nudge. She turned to see Coco handing her a sandwich.
Penny gratefully grabbed it and ate. She looked out to see if she could spot the other side of the lake, but it was just too far away. “This lake must be so big!” Penny said, “How long do you think it would take to swim across?”
“Maybe a whole day,” Coco replied, “Maybe longer if you aren’t a good swimmer.”
Penny sat for a moment and wondered what it would be like to swim across. Then she spotted a large hole dug in the sand near the water. She finished her sandwich to investigate. The hole was wide and already filled with water. Penny was sure she could make the hole deeper. “Come dig this hole with me, Coco!” Penny shouted.
Coco finished her sandwich and ran over to dig with Penny. They dug the sand out of the hole. The sand would drip off their sands, making dark drippy piles of sand around the edge of the hole. As they dug deeper, more sand came piling up in the hole. “It’s almost like a never ending fountain of sand,” Penny remarked at their slow progress.
Coco got tired of trying to dig a deeper hole and was more interested in making drippy sand sculptures. She’d pick up the sloppy sand and let it slide off her hands onto a thick pile. Penny looked over at Coco’s sculpture. “Oh, wow, how did you do that?”
“I just let the sand slide off my hands,” Coco replied, “I’m trying to see if I can make it into a taller tower, but I think the sand is too wet here.”
Penny grabbed some sand and tried to make her own dribble castle. She giggled as the sand oozed between her hands. Coco tried some firmer, wet sand and was able to make a tall-ish tower. Then they tried to see who could make the tallest tower.
The little waves rippled at their feet as they sat near the shore. The two friends giggled and played in the sand, now ok without using sand tools. The wind blew by out over the lake and to the mountains, where Moonlit Mountain stood high above the rest.
