1 "Are we there yet? Are we there yet?" asked Ashley. She craned her neck to see out of 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. Soon the ocean lay wide and gray before them.
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, but you can see enough of it here."
6 Ashley picked up her things and followed her family out onto the beach. Her sandals protected her feet from the hot sands. The tide was out, and 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 so dark closer to the water?"
8 "That is because it is wet. The ocean is controlled by tides that make it move closer to land or further away. Right now, we say the tide is out when it is away," said Mom.
9 "Can I build a sand castle closer to the water?" Ashley asked.
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