The Practice Beach

As Mom began getting the kids ready for their summer adventure, one of the big selling points she pushed was the beaches in the Seattle area. So, when a couple of weeks went by with no beach trips, the Muffins really started to wonder what was going on. Where was all that sand and water Mom advertised? Finally, Mom defied an afternoon shower, loaded up the kids, and took them to "the practice beach," a place to see how they would do being that close to a large body of water (and hopefully a step to practice for an ocean visit later). The destination: Golden Gardens on Puget Sound. The afternoon shower stopped by the time we got to the beach, but it had lasted long enough to leave the beach pretty much empty, aside from a few very dedicated sand volleyball players. The first thing we found was this nautical-themed playground:

There was also a rope climbing structure that the kids really liked (hooray for rigging):

Soon enough, we made our way to the actual sand and water. Curtis made lots of circles in the sand:

Amanda found a genuine shell and a seagull feather:

Lydia thoroughly investigated the sand:

Amanda and Jared were very interested in the water, but Mom and the water temperature kept them from exploring it too much:

However, they did find a "sea creature" of some sort in this bucket of water they pulled up:

It wasn't quite what the Muffins had imagined (what with the lack of extensive water play and all), but they still appreciated having finally gotten to the beach. Best of all, their good behavior on the outing gave Mom the courage to plan for more beach trips over the summer.