A Visit From Flat Stanley

Have you ever met Flat Stanley? He is a part of a wonderful children's story. Stanley was a normal boy until a bulletin board fell on him and made him flat. Rather than being sad about his new look, Stanley has taken advantage of it and has traveled (he fits very easily into envelopes, so traveling is inexpensive). Recently he was sent by a little boy named Colby, the son of some dear friends of mine, to visit us. He was lucky enough to arrive as we were heading down to spend a day in Seattle. After a quick stop to get Stanley some appropriate clothing, he came with us to see the Seattle Space Center and Pike's Place Market. Below are some pictures from his visit.

This is Stanley in front of the Seattle Space Needle.Here is Stanley in front of a huge fountain. During the warmer parts of the year,

children play in the fountain.

As a matter of fact, Flat Stanley's friend Colby has been to this very fountain and

played in it when he has visited Washington. Stanley was excited to arrive at Pike's Place Market, he'd heard that it was a neat place to visit, very busy with locals and tourists like himself.

This is Stanley in front of the original Starbuck's coffee shop.

He was amazed to find out that the huge corporation started in such a simple space.

Seeing the variety of seafood made Stanley hungry...

There was more than just fish, lots of yummy looking fruits and vegetables also.

Some of the produce was like none that Stanley had ever seen before. He was impressed.

Stanley was most excited when he arrived at the fish stall where the employees, called "fishmongers", throw the fish back and forth. In the picture below, there is a fishmonger standing behind Flat Stanley.

Flat Stanley would like to be a fishmonger himself one day.

Flat Stanley had such a fun day, he decided that he liked the Pacific Northwest.

A couple of weeks later, Flat Stanley drove with his host family to Mt. Hood in Oregon. The plan was for him to learn to snowboard, but unfortunately the temperature on the mountain wasn't very cold and so rather than snow falling, it was rainy that day. Both Stanley and his hosts felt that it was wise for Stanley to avoid getting wet. It was a bit disappointing, but Stanley did enjoy seeing snow for the first time.

Right before Christmas, Flat Stanley climbed back into his traveling envelope and made his way back down to California and to his friend Colby.