1 "Are we there yet? Are we there yet?" asked Ashley. She craned her neck to see out the car window.
2 A short time later, the car pulled into the parking lot near the beach. The family all gathered up their things and headed toward the water.
3 Ashley stood still for a moment. Her mouth hung open, and she dropped her bucket of things on the ground.
4 "Wow," she gasped. "It is even bigger than I thought it would be."
5 Dad smiled over her head at Mom. "The ocean is very large. Much too big to see to the other side," said Dad.
6 Ashley picked up her things and followed her family onto the beach. Her sandals protected her feet from the hot sand. The wet sand seemed to stretch a long way before it got to the water.
7 "The beach is wider than I thought it would be, too," she said. "Why is the sand darker closer to the water?"
8 "That is because it is wet. The ocean has a high tide and a low tide twice a day. At high tide, water moves farther onto land. At low tide, the water doesn't move as far onto the beach. Right now, it is low tide. We say the tide is out. The sand is still wet from the high tide," said Mom.
Paragraphs 9 to 22:
For the complete story with questions: click here for printable
