What Life is REALLY About...

In honor of Father's Day, check out this most amazing photo.  These six guys just completed a triathlon together...how's this for a celebration?   They are the husbands of the six of us girls who completed our own first triathlons in March, and this was the first triathlon for two of these guys, too.

One of the moms (Betsy...we call her the 'over achiever') got organized and had the top photo enlarged and mounted for all of us to give to the Dads yesterday.  I think it says a lot about this sweet life we've got going right now.  Our families have enmeshed themselves in so many ways.  These guys serve together at church, coach softball together on the weekends, care for each others' kids, talk about real stuff with each other, talk sports with each other all the rest of the time, and two of them are even going to Haiti together in a few weeks.  And if the Dads are this involved in each others' lives, well, you know the moms and kids are having lots of together time.  It'll be fun to look back on this photo in 10 years, wherever we might be, and remember how much fun we're having raising these kids in such a community of love and friendship.  Oh, and also...in 10 years Abby and Sophia will be graduating high school, so we might want to bust this out at a graduation party or something.  What 18 year old wouldn't want a photo of them in pajamas enlarged for all to see?

The Farewell Tour Continues...

Two more emotional land mines were cleared this week: We said goodbye to the Bowmans (better known as Jill, Brent, Brynn, and two week old Drew) as they moved away to Denver.  This was a family delivered to us directly from God to make our time in San Diego sweet and meaningful and just plain fun.  It's friends like these that give me so much encouragement to keep on reaching out for relationships when we find ourselves starting over in a brand new town.  Who would have imagined such a deep connection could be made in less than two years?  So in direct opposition to my introverted nature, I'll keep our hearts and lives open for our next great friendships.  Some photos of our last evening together:

Later in the week we celebrated the end of a great first year of preschool for Millie.  Really, it's the first year of school for our entire family.  It was cool to feel our way through the logistics of the new schedule, packing a lunch, classmates' birthdays, Millie's own birthday with her class, how in the world to save/store/stash the copious amounts of artwork she produced, parent/teacher conferences, and so much more.  She of course, grew and changed like I could not have imagined, and my single goal for her was accomplished a million times over: She grew to love and trust her two teachers.  Mrs. Beisigl and Mrs. Cook poured themselves into these three year olds each week and Millie thrived in the attention.  Here's how I know: not too long ago Millie did something really cool (I forget exactly what it was...) and the first thing she said to me was "Can I tell Mrs. Beisigl?"  Something tells me that her teachers are celebrating Millie's achievements in a special, special way.  I'm excited about our next school adventure in Charlottesville.  Millie is too, which is just priceless.

This is "Simon's Hall"...his holding pen before bursting through that door to greet his sister at the end of her day.

Dad and Mils check out a photo collage her teachers made for her.

Millie and her friend Amelia.  

Poppa's Boat

A few weeks ago my parents stopped by San Diego on their way to bigger and better places: Alaska!  They visited a couple of days and then hopped on their cruise ship and headed north.  We drove out to the end of Point Loma and were able to see them off as they headed out of San Diego Bay.  It was surprising and exciting that we were able to find where my parents had stationed themselves at the top rail of the boat and wave to them as they headed out to sea.

Simon couldn't stop pointing and shouting out to "Poppa's Boat!"  Still, when we drive by the sailboats in the harbor, he points and announces "Poppa's Boat"!

We were shocked by the enormity of the thing.  We were on one of the Navy bases, so those black things are floating security barricades around submarines parked at the base.

Quick and squirrely family pic.

Bye Yammy & Poppa!

A Bit of Randomness

I've begun taking photos of our everyday life here...just the regular stuff that I know I will remember fondly as the beautiful minutiae that filled our days.  A few random tidbits...  

We're headed off to do some bug hunting.  Mils is equipped with her magnifying glass and trusty backpack.

We encounter ants, lots of snails, and these two hilarious dogs in a neighbor's window.  Check out how furiously they are barking at the kids.  So funny.

  

Christopher and I made this cape for Millie for Christmas.  I was silently devastated when she quickly lost interest and it hung alone in the closet.  Ah Ha!  It's become a new favorite and Super Millie has been racing around our house!

Super Millie to the rescue!  Helping Simon spin some dancing tunes.  I have no idea why neither of them are wearing shirts here.  I'd like to blame it on watermelon eating, but who really knows...

  

A nightly event is the family walk around the block with Casey (usually minus Mom, who is most often at home pulling dinner together). Sometimes Mils is on her bike; Simon likes to push the baby stroller or ride Millie's old tricycle. It's a lot for Christopher to manage, really, but he's gotten to know a lot of neighbors who seem to look forward to his evening caravan.

Quick break to teach Millie how to shake hands: "Nice to meet you.  I'm Millie."

You have no idea how exciting this is:  Simon is willingly holding my hand!  We've been working on this for MONTHS and most often it ends in an attention-drawing drag/dangle/swing of Simon across a busy street during which he is screaming and kicking the entire way. I'm pretty excited he's decided to cooperate in his own safety measures.