Fathers Day

Aaron is the best dad. For Father's Day, he was appropriately showered with affection from his biggest fans. The men were served a special brunch at church, and when we came home we grilled tri tip steaks with sweet potatoes and assorted squash from the garden. 

Q made this card. The Cheerios are "donuts". "Donut" you think Dad is the best?!" 

We each gave him a pair of wild socks (his new favorite thing) and he now has a sweet "summer collection" of socks with lobsters, ice cream cones, and popsicles on them.   

Aaron, you're the greatest. Our children are so lucky to have such a fun and doting father. I love the way you cheerfully round up as many kids who want to "go with dad" on whatever errands you're running on Saturdays. I love the joy and calm you bring with you when you come home from work each night. I love the example of selfless consecrated service and obedience you set for your family. I love that you gather your family to pray every morning and night. I love that you teach our children, by example, to love and respect their mother. I love that you work hard and play hard. You are the calm and steady captain of this crazy ship and I could never have sailed through some of those crazy parenting storms without you. We love you, need you, and are so thankful for you and all that you are. Happy Father's Day! 

Quincy in the pool

Our swimming teacher is nothing short of amazing. She builds confidence, teaches important skills in a way my children really  grasp on, and she is REALLY REALLY super fun! Quincy is a now a brave and confident little fish who's ready to join the swim team! Way to go, sister! 

These kids are slide slipping, streamlining, ring collecting, stick diving, back stroking, underwater racing champs at the pool, now. It's wonderful! 

Corbin in the pool

Corbin is water safe! 

We had a week of swimming lessons every day, and Corbin can now confidently jump into the deep end and swim across the pool. This eliminates so much stress off my mother heart. 

Thank you Ms Donna! Congratulations, Corbin! 

Cuz I'm keepin it real

Coming home from this vacation was hard for me. Arkansas is definitely home to me, and I had even started to feel homesick for my little house and garden while we were gone. I think that is a sign that I have a good, happy life here. I'm ready to bid my home stare farewell, and that's kind of what we did on this trip, confirming that we probably won't return to visit there as a family for a really long time. So it was strange to go "home" for a last time when it isn't really home anymore. And weird again to leave "home" to come "home".  It's true, I was only gone 12 days and really missed Arkansas.  But then I stepped off the plane to the grossest June heat wave ever.  That was not my favorite. My hydrangeas are like dead and my squash plants are close behind. And so, I'm still in mourning.  A lot of things just went wrong on our trip and I'm still feeling like I missed something. I'm trying to post highlights mostly, since no one wants to read about everyone's allergic reactions to the hay and super nasty cold and sinus viruses and ear infections that took over our trip, an unresolved sibling quarrel, or any of the other disappointments we ran into along the way. In 12 days a lot of my "happy places" just felt less happy than they used to. Should I be grateful for this? Maybe it makes it easier to leave. I think I said "I'm never coming back here" like 10 times to Aaron in 12 days. I think the root to why I feel bummed about it all though, is because things and places are changing. I knew they were and I thought I was ok with it, until I went to say goodbye to places I love and they had already changed. I wanted to remember them a certain way, and it was a hard thing to see that my goodbye to the way things were actually happened 2 years ago.  

Ok so that's nice and heavy. It was still a good trip, and the children loved all of our adventures, so I'll catch up on posting the good stuff to keep it positive. 

I just want future me to remember that even though I'm typically pretty real on the ole blog here, sometimes there's a happy filter on there, and this is one of those times. Vacation is not always all sunshine and rainbows.  I'll say no more about it here, but this was my face for a good portion of our trip. Claritin D take me away! Being sick on this trip sort of destroyed me. Hahaha Can I get a vacation do over? 

I totally walked all over San Francisco like that. Whatever, man. 

And now I'm off to take a billionth shower because this humidity is sick! 

Date Night in Carmel

We spent 3 lovely hours as grown ups on a date. It was really nice! We drove to Carmel and walked along ocean street and ate dinner at a cute little Italian place I use to go to with friends when I was in high school. We didn't have a reservation, and didn't want to wait until 8:45pm (for real, this is a totally normal dinner time for people in California, makes me hangry) so we decided to give their outdoor dining area a shot. I thought we might be cold, but we were perfectly comfortable in a little alleyway between two buildings. We were alone, music played, it smelled wonderful, and the sun set while we are under string lights. It was idyllic and exactly what we hoped for. 

Beach Day

"What are those white things out in the ocean, Mom?" The children asked as we came over a hill in Watsonville and the coast came into view. "Are they birds?" 

Ha. They're breaking waves, children. I have to admit my heart sank a bit when I saw how rough the surf was. Those white caps mean the water is really choppy, and it's going to be a pretty windy day at the beach. 

"Pretty windy" is a gross understatement. The wind was a gale force of misery! It started out ok, but just got stronger with time and after 30 minutes we all started to get sand blasted on any exposed skin. Reese was the most uncomfortable, and she took cover under a blanket for most of our time there. Q and Steven got in the water (briefly!) then searched for shells. The boys happily played lacrosse and built sand castles. Ben was angry about boogers and sand on his face, but had fun driving trucks in the sand. Sloane enjoyed 5 minutes toddling around on the sand, then hibernated under my sweatshirt until we left. 

It was nice to have some of the Hanson crew, even if our visit was brief. Thanks for joining us Kristin! 

Even a "bad day" at the beach is still a pretty wonderful day. 

Sloane is Walking

Sloane is finally figuring out that this walking business isn't terrible and has branched out from 3-5 wobbly steps to about 70% walking 30% crawling. It's adorable. She is climbing onto everything and gets up onto sofas and other furniture easily. Luckily she is still fairly shaky when she walks so it's easy to keep up with her. For now, anyway.  ;)