Location, location.

No, I haven't resolved the kindergarten issue yet. However, Marcus spent half a day in the full-day class yesterday, and it apparently went very well. At the same time, interest has perked up in the meetup groups for preschool age children getting together. Go figure. About the time I'm committed (sort of) to signing him up for the full day, people with older kids start coming out of the woodwork. That said...the meetup route would still be more work for me, and it wouldn't come even close to every day. So school is probably the better option. I just can't get over this guilt and bittersweet feeling about signing my first baby up for full-day school already...sigh.

After school, we went to the Puget Sound for the first time (aka "the sound"). We visited at Richmond Beach, in Shoreline. Marcus was a little disappointed that he didn't have his sand toys with him (oops) but otherwise, he was impressed. We'll have to look into other opportunities to visit the sound - including riding a ferry, once I figure out the best way to do so. I'm not sure how many decent days we'll have left this year for that sort of thing though. It's cooler and noticeably raining/drizzling today (as opposed to misting, which still allows for outings).

Following the beach trip, Marcus suggested a visit to Jamba Juice (yes!). I figured that the closest location (that I knew of) was Lynnwood, so we headed north during rush hour - not the smartest idea, but we made it. Gotta love being back in Jamba Juice territory. I missed it during my five years in Indiana. ;)

So here's the thing about location. We're not super far from anything, but we're not super close to anything either. Our house sits well away from the main arteries, and we have to drive through a somewhat twisty neighborhood to get anywhere. At about the one mile point, we have a McDonald's, a Starbucks and a few miscellaneous businesses. Mile and a half - we have the nice-but-limited town center, which has a small library, a couple small yummy eateries, an Albertson's grocery, and a few businesses (including a book store). There is a QFC grocery maybe 1.5-2 miles in another direction. At two miles, there's a Fred Meyer (the local grocery/dept store combo). More eateries seem to be limited until you go a bit further. Northgate Mall (with most shopping we'd need, and our favorites Panera and Chipotle) is four miles away. Within say 5-10 miles, you can explore a good share of Seattle to the south/SW (though I've mainly stuck to the NE part); Kenmore & Bothell to the NE; and Shoreline, Edmonds and the edge of Lynnwood to the NW. It takes a while to get to any of these places, because there are a lot of (slow) lights, traffic, and the speed limit is usually about 30-35 mph. I haven't ventured to the east side at all yet, and it seems both unnecessary (given the amount of stuff yet to see on this side) and unpractical (given the amount of baby car protesting I already endure) anytime soon.

Contrast this with Muncie, where just about *everything* was within a three mile radius of our house, and the traffic was minimal. The change is a bit of a shock, and eating out often, like we used to do, is a bit more tedious. I'm working on eating more at home (go figure) but progress is slow. ;)

That said, I'm not complaining much, because I like being able to explore the different areas. Maybe after this year is over, we will move more in one direction or another, based on where we tend to go the most.