FRIDAY 5 AT 5: SUMMERTIME

Five ways you can tell its officially summer in the Pacific Northwest:

1. It rained on July 4th. People should really consider celebrating America's Independence on the 5th out here because it ALWAYS rains on the fourth. But, the fifth is guaranteed sunshine and the "unofficial" start of summer.

2. You can clearly see Mt. Rainier more than two days in a row. And when the mountain is out, it is absolutely gorgeous.

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3. Farmer's Markets on every corner (and then some). We have over 10 outdoor markets within a 30 mile radius of our home: Seattle, Redmond, Kirkland, Sammamish and Duvall, just to name a few. You also have to take in to account the numerous roadside stands selling cherries and blueberries. YUM!

4. The public pools are open. Very few people have a pool out here, because you really only have two months out of the year to enjoy it. So when I see the big umbrellas open at the community pool, it definitely means summer is here (even though it will be gone very soon).

5. Kristen neglects her blog. If there was some way to just blog from my head directly to the internet, I would be good-to-go. But until that great technological breakthrough is available at a decent price, I'm afraid I'm just too busy to post everything I want to share. Mostly because I'm out doing things that would make for really great blog posts. Oh, the irony.

I completely forgot to share a FF@F last week because I was too busy doing all of this:

Click this link to see a quick video I made!

A little taste of how we've been enjoying our summer so far - with a trip home to the South to soak up some humidity and vitamin D!