The August sun beat down on the beach, paving a blinding highway from shore to horizon.

We squinted as we lumbered down to the waves, three kids, three boogie boards, and one million accessories in tow. As I unfurled the towels, the kids jumped into the warm water, eager to enjoy a morning of “surfing” the waves.

After a few attempts, it became clear.

The tide was too high.

This was not going to work.

Disappointed, we gathered all our stuff and turned to leave the beach.

As we walked past the turtle nests dotting the sand, the Broward County Sea Turtle Conservation Team’s 4x4 pulled up, parking right next to us for their daily nest checks.

While the scientist pulled sargassum from the nesting site, we began asking her questions.

“What’s your name?”

“Are you a biologist?”

“Do you come here every day?”

“Is this the best job ever?”

After Abby generously answered each and every question (and there were many more), she asked us one.

“Do you want to see some hatchlings?”

The kids, forgetting all about their failed boogie board attempt, watched excitedly as Abby lifted a dishtowel off an orange Home Depot bucket, revealing an inch of sand and two green sea turtle hatchlings.

The more active one kept trying to climb up the sides of the bucket, flopping onto its back and revealing its white belly and tiny belly button before struggling to roll back over.

After watching this happen several times, my middle son declared:

“This one’s name is Flipper Flopper.”

Unable to resist the rhyme, the other, less active hatchling was quickly named Nipper Nopper.

We watched the two hatchlings--Flip Flop and Nip Nop for short--for a few more minutes, noticing how flimsy their flippers seemed and admiring their little shells.

When it was time to go, Abby covered them back up with the dishtowel and carefully placed the bucket onto her beach cruiser.

We waved goodbye to our two little turtles, who would head off to their ocean home after dusk that night, thankful for now that we weren’t still flopping in the surf.