8th Annual Underwood Florida Trip

Well it is over and we are all home, dragging ourselves around to work and shool.

Here is Blake sad on the plane going home. He looked even worse when he headed into the school this morning with his winter coat on.

We had a perfect time this year. We took 445 pictures. Of those, a theme emerged. The boys perfected the art of Shark Tooth Hunting. This is their 2008-2009 take:

The frame is filled with their prize finds. Everything from the tiniest shark tooth "ever" to the scariest looking to the biggest to white teeth and some that may not even be sharks teeth. The fish is filled with the other teeth. We lost count around 500. We went on 5 expeditions over the 17 days we were in Florida.

We learned this year that there are many methods for shark took hunting. Here are a few of the boys favorites:

The Spot and Grab - barehand method

This method includes standing in the water ankle to knee deep and peering in to catch a glimpes of a tooth and reaching in to grab it before the waves wash it away. This is Dave's perferred method. He likes the challenge!

The No Wet Feet Browsing method

This is where you walk along the shore just above the spot where the waves come in and look like you are just strolling, but you are really looking for any shark teeth that have been left on the sand by others. You casually pick one up when you see it and stick it in your pocket. See Grandpa Al. That is the method he is using here.

Scoop and Sift - most commonly seen method
This is where you use an implement like a colander, sift or if you are real professional, a shark tooth scoop. This is a specially designed scoop that allows you to dig, scoop and sift out the sand so you can find your teeth among the other shells on the bottom of the sea. Blake has spotted one here.

Scoop, Dump and Scrounge - another commonly seen method

This is when you go out and scoop sand off the bottom of the ocean floor and dump it on the shore so you can sift through it thoroughly. This is what happens when you start to get greedy. This requires you to get dirty. This is a nice set up for a scrounger.

Cute Kid on the Beach method

We can't all use this one, but we had a special weapon on our team. This is when a cute kid with a little shark tooth scoop spots an older person (everyone is older) strolling alone on the shore. He looks cute and friendly and maybe not able to find shark teeth on his own. Never fails, a friendly person will walk by and say, "Hey would you like a shark's tooth". He smiles excitedly and says, "Oh Thank You!". Than runs up to his mommy screaming, "mommy I got a shark's tooth." Everyone is happy.

If you don't like any of the methods shown above there is always Sea Pleasures downtown Venice. You can get a shark's tooth for about a dollar, more if you want the really big ones.

PS This year both Blake and Nana found their first shark tooth! No more virgin hunters in our family.