Shelter in the Shells

We are taking shelter from the cold here in Des Moines and maybe in a little denial that we are actually in Iowa by sorting through our new shell collection. We spent the past 10 years collecting shells on the beaches around Venice and this year decided to find out what we had. We cleaned and sorted hundreds of little treasures we had collected and stashed in plastic bags and bins throughout the house over the years. Pee Ew!!

This project started with Hunter and a trip to the Shell Factory. His Nana got him a shell identification catalog and he began his quest for the ultimate shell collection. Here is Nana and Blake at the Shell Factory.

After sorting, came the neverending process of identifying each shell. It turns out there are many different shells with various varieties and markings found along the Florida west coast. Looking closely, we discovered over 80 different shell types in our little collection alone.

Finally we found a special case for the unique finds like these two sea horses we found in perfect condition. They were laying on the beach after a violent storm. Blake found the left one (he thinks it was a pregnant mama) and Hunter found the one on the right. They were no longing living when they were found.