Several Sundays ago I finally said yes. I said yes to putting the to-do list aside and stepped out to enjoy God’s creation. The weather was too perfect to not steal away to the ocean. With cameras in hand Will and I set out to one of my favorite beaches.

We started on the cliffs above gazing out on the mighty pacific.

Shortly after, we stumbled upon a brown pelican resting on the bluffs. I wasn’t able to get much with the prime lens I had on before he flew away. But I still managed to find a few things to amuse me along the way.

Once we scaled down the hill side to the beach we trekked back along the waters edge to see if we could find some seals we spotted from above.

It took us a bit to find them but we did! So we sat and pulled out the zoom lenses. They watched us as we watched them, both of us fascinated by the other.

It wasn’t till I sat and got lost in movement of the water and the playfulness of the seals watching us did I realize how calm I had become. I stopped thinking about the to-do list and my current stresses. I was in the moment with Will, the ocean, and the seals. It isn’t often that I feel like I disconnect like that. I felt as if God granted me a true moment of peace… and joy from the seals popping up all over the place watching us.

But we had more ground to cover and couldn’t spend the whole afternoon in that one spot. So we moved on away from the cliffs to the sandy part of the beach.

We paused once more, sitting against driftwood and stared out on the ocean. I felt relaxed. Clam. Peaceful.

Ohh, we can begin again
Shed our skin, let the sun shine in
At the edge of the ocean
We can start over again
~ Ivy