On a whim, we took a day trip out to the ocean on Saturday. The weather was sunny, we were down one kid (Emily was at a friend’s house) and we had no other plans for the first time in a few weeks, so we packed our cooler and headed out.
When we left Olympia, it was sunny and 75. The weather stayed the same til we got about 3 miles from the coast, then we hit some serious cloud coverage. Grey skies, some wind and cooler temps. You can still drive on the beach in Washington (which strikes me as odd), so we found a nice little spot with a couple pieces of driftwood to sit on and got our stuff out. Will wanted to check out the water and “go swimming” but a few steps into the water changed his mind pretty quick. Our camera is out of commision, but we took it along anyway. Turns out, it’ll still take pictures but you can’t really tell what you’re taking a picture of since the display screen is broke and the token viewfinder on it is pretty difficult to see through.
As you can see, the weather was a bit of a let down, but the kids enjoyed themselves despite that. Will found an old crab claw, his “snap crab”, and had fun trying to throw it into the water. Violet seemed to enjoy running from the water as it came in, until she didn’t move fast enough and got a little wet. Will, Violet and I made a few sand castles, though they enjoyed smashing them more than building them.
I always love going to the ocean. I like standing there, looking out at the water and just letting the immensity of it set in. Whatever problems I have seem to feel smaller when I’m near the ocean. It calms and humbles me, and reminds me how small and ultimately insignificant these things in my head are. It gives me confidence that I can solve what I need to. It’s the ultimate form of therapy for me, just getting outside and experiencing the natural world that surrounds me.
