California Dreams

It always seems to take me longer than I anticipate to recover and post vacation pictures. I think part of what takes me so long is I start to create my slide show and I end up taking an hour just looking at all the pictures again and remembering what an amazing time we just had. I wish that we could stay on vacation for the rest of our lives, but then again I guess that wouldn't be a vacation anymore?!

We had a wonderful week in Southern California and we had some wonderful family time. The first part of our trip was spent at Hotel Blackford, if you recall some past posts, this is our Aunt & Uncle that so graciously welcome us to their amazing home in San Diego every year. Eric's brother Darren decided to fly in for the weekend so we got to spend time with him as well as his cousin and their new baby, Stephanie. This was especially fun for Kylie as she continues to be completely obsessed with babies. Everywhere we go, "ooohhhhh baby sleeping!" or "oooohhhhhh baby crying" or just "ooohhhh baby!" She's at the perfect age to have a sibling, so hopefully the Lord will allow this again in our future!

We decided to venture to Sea World San Diego as we had a free day, and this was so fun. Even for Eric and I. One of the best parts was a huge Sesame Street playland that caters to kids of every age. The Lord worked it out again and again so we took some great pictures of Kylie with Cookie Monster, Elmo, Grover, and AbbyCadabie (sp?). She hasn't stopped talking about these guys since we got home! She also enjoyed the animals and did great considering a long day in a small stroller. We'll be going back to use the 2nd day of our tickets in October, so we now know the right way to do it. If you want my suggestions, email me :)

Then, for the second half of our week, we traveled north to Sunset Beach, just north of Hunnington. We stayed with my parents at the home of some of their friends, Tom & Diane. They met a few years ago when they served in Africa together and have remained friends since then. Tom & Diane are some of the most gracious people we've ever met and their generosity has been blessed by God. They are an amazing example of giving with open hands and continuing to receive because of it. Their vacation home is right on the beach and we woke up to amazing views of the ocean every morning. We relaxed an spent our time building sand castles and body surfing. We even got to see 4 dolphins surf with a wave only about 20 yards out from the beach. It was truly a sight to behold and we all gasped out loud when we saw it. Just another opportunity to see God's amazing creativity displayed for all to see!

I hope this gives you a small insight into our amazing trip and thanks for all the great memories, family!

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I have the Best Dad!

Yesterday, Amy hosted playgroup at her mother-in-law's house for several of us along with our kiddos. Amy's husband has now also joined the ranks of a Phoenix fire-fighter and they both were off shift that day. So we decided to invite Andrew & Eric along to experience playgroup for themselves . . . I still can't decide which was the more deciding factor, the wonderful gourmet lunch or the toys!!! Based on the following pictures, I'll let you decide!





On Sunday we spent the afternoon at the Mall with the Price's. We were dying to get out of the house for a change of scenery as last week was exceptionally warm with each day over 111 degrees. It gets too hot to go anyplace in this heat. I know all of you who live in the southeast say it's a dry heat, but 110 is the lowest setting that my oven gets to!!! Anyhow, Amy and I commented as we left the mall that times certainly have changed for our husbands since walking around this mall in high school. Can you imagine what these 2 boys were doing at this mall a few 15 or so years ago?!?!? Does it get any better :) I love you Eric!