Local Life

Last night my family and I decided to get outside for some fresh air, so we went to a local farmer's market. Our goal of walking for exercise was pretty well negated by the fact that we came home from the market with a scrumptious marionberry pie. Hm. Oh, well. We also brought home some beautiful flowers. I love farmer's market bouquets...so bright and big and varied.

While at the market, our daughter found the ocean. Yes, that's right. With her sharp eye and keen sense of direction, she was able to locate the largest body of water in the world. She was quite proud of herself. (Okay, so it was Puget Sound. It's still part of the Pacific.) Unfortunately, "the ocean" was not within walking distance, which disappointed our little girl, so on the way home we detoured to a nearby beach. It is less than five miles from our house, but in our three years of living here, last night was the first time we had visited (although Andy and I had been several times before we moved here). Isn't that pathetic? Our daughter was so excited! She threw rocks (and sand...lots and lots of sand) into the water, found seashells and pretty rocks, all but destroyed her sandals (so glad she happened to be wearing sandals!), and was fascinated that "the ocean got [her] hands" as she played in some gentle waves. My husband found a dead crab, which was another object of great interest. There was also a drunk man who appeared to be standing in the woods yelling at himself, which, you know, always makes for an interesting time.

It was such a pleasant evening. Beautiful weather, pretty flowers, delicious pie, the ocean, and a little girl's wonder. It doesn't get much better than that.