Some More Water in the Bucket: Visit the Pacific Ocean

I can feel it when I sleep, when I wake up, when I walk, when I shower, when I eat, when I hold babies, and even when I blog: we got to go to the beach yesterday!

Getting out is quite a feat around here. Kalyn and I hadn't seen daylight for 3 weeks as of yesterday, so getting to go out was almost the highlight of our month. Even more exciting is the fact that I accomplished another life goal: visit the Pacific Ocean!

I was actually born by the ocean in Oceanside, California. However, I don't remember it, seeing as how I was an infant (and probably acted a lot like the ones we take care of around THOGL). The only other time I've been near the ocean was in Sierra Leone (we visited the beach one day) and on my honeymoon in Port Aransas, Texas. I love the beach, love spending time on the beach, love sleeping on the beach, and love pretty much everything about the beach.

The visit was my first to a beach with black sand. This was important because it was near impossible to walk around barefoot, unless you had recently been in the water. Since the sand was so dark, it muddied up the water as well, so it wasn't exactly pristine and crystal clear, but it wasn't anything like the (almost) toxic rivers in Kansas that I am used to. The sand was as pesky as any other beach's sand, staying on for the next 24 hours (despite 3 showers). Nonetheless, it was beautiful. The conditions were perfect - just sunny enough for to be comfortable and not die of heat exhaustion, good water temperature, and hardly a soul around the shore. Most people around here don't like to get their skin in the sunlight, so laying out on the beach isn't something that is done a lot - hence why anyone who did come around stared at us (besides the fact that we're all foreigners). A few people that came around were really interesting.

We didn't talk to these people, but just watched as a soon-to-be husband and wife posed while their photographer took pictures of them on the beach. If you look closely, you can see a mountain behind the couple; it was interesting because it didn't appear to be connected to anything - just a lonely mountain out in the middle of the ocean!

All in all, the day was great. To be able to get on my knees in the ocean and wait helplessly as waves mercilessly knocked me over was exhilarating, and yet relaxing. Laying on my towel, avoiding the burning sand while trying to soak in as much sun as possible provided a good therapy from my cabin fever. Playing with Kalyn in the ocean as we aimlessly threw mud at the waves reminded me of the first week we were married and on our honeymoon. Basically, the day couldn't have been any better. And to top it off, I got a nice burn - my first of the summer. It stings, and like I said, I can feel it in everything I do, but it was worth it to witness such overwhelming beauty and to be surrounded by such majesty.