TWO!

Before we packed up I managed to upload a few photos from Simon's low-key birthday celebration:

Work begins on the infamous "truck cake".

Millie picked out this truck for Simon.  He LOVES it.  Millie said "I knew Simon would like it."  Sweet.

Score!  Train table and approximately 1000 train pieces and parts found at a very affordable price on Craigslist.  Both of them loved  this one.

And dinner was...where else...CiCi's!  

Simon HATED his cake.  I mean he screamed and cried at just the sight of it.  What...you're not totally down with the electric yellow frosting, black licorice truck arms and shady donut tires?  Imagine that!  Seems like I have a pretty sorry track record when it comes to homemade birthday cakes.  Maybe the universe is telling me to give it up and head straight for the ice cream cakes.  Yessss!

Someday this kid might have a normal birthday with a party and friends and the whole thing.  But then again, it might not happen all that often since the Navy likes to move us in the middle of summer.  For now we'll make sure to stop and celebrate all that Simon means to our family.  He's an amazing kid...not sure how we were chosen to raise him, but I feel lucky for it everyday.

It's On...

The 'big adventure' (our term for this crazy move) has begun!  Writing from Cedar City, Utah, the first stop on our epic odyssey.  The packers came on Wednesday to load everything into boxes.  The movers came yesterday to put everything on the truck.  We hit the road this morning.  I wish wish wish I had a photo of our traveling circus.  ALL of us, including Casey and including enough entertainment items for an entire school of children (I get panicky about the long hours in the car, especially the Nebraska section) are packed into our Ford Escape.  Yep, if you do the math, that means we have a huge contraption for luggage on the roof since Casey's got the whole back area.  The back windows are fogged over with dog drool, the middle windows are covered in sticky handprints and Elmo/Buzz Lightyear stickers, and the front one has my face pressed against it, staring at the landscape and trying to comprehend all that lies ahead for us.

We are taking our time on this journey, spending almost three weeks visiting family and lots of great friends along the way.  I'm looking forward to having Christopher with us full-time and checking in with so many people that we love and don't see often enough.  And you know, deep deep down I really feel like we will be back in San Diego soon.  So this is more of a 'see ya later' than a 'goodbye'.  Much easier on the emotions that way.

A few random photos from our last few days:

The kids and I got to watch Christopher receive an award from his Command.  

 

Love this shot of the kids against the sea of uniforms.  What an interesting life for them...they don't even think twice about running around a helicopter landing zone in a crowd of uniforms.  Or packing everything they own and moving across the country.

  

Boxes...everywhere!

A Picture Perfect Day

I think we found utopia.  It's Balboa Island on 4th of July weekend.  Holy Cow this was a patriotic, idyllic little enclave of fabulous beach mansions...I mean super-sized cottages...and kitschy tourist shops.  Add in one great breakfast place, over-the-top holiday decor and a fun hotel stay and we had ourselves a perfect little weekend.  Julie met us there on Saturday morning and joined us for the fun.

Mils and Si are showing off their first-ever gummi-bracelets bought for them by Aunt JuJu.

Picnic lunch on the boardwalk.  Wish I could have captured the awesomeness of Si's stained lips and shirt after drinking this grape/berry concoction straight from the bottle.  

Here's what I'm talkin' about.  Cutest general store ever.  This is Millie's first ever motorized ride of this type.  My mom is (and therefore I am) convinced that these rides are just filthy enough for the kids to contract some form of flesh-eating bacteria, so we generally steer clear.  Not on this dream of a day, however

Just a cute house...my favorite, in fact.  What you can't see is the two gigantic golden retrievers sunning themselves on the front patio.  Heaven.

And we could call it a day in Millie's book.  She has discovered the magic of a candy necklace.  

Si's not as concerned with the beauty of it...he's more of a flavor guy.

Back at the hotel, Dad and the kids crashed for naps while Mom and Jules hit the pool.  Sometime before dinner Millie busted this out on us.  SHE WROTE HER NAME!  I might have cried about it.

What's a perfect day that doesn't end with s'mores?  I did a dance when I saw that the hotel had a big s'smore roast planned for that evening. 

We called them 'sticky deserts' and loved every messy bite.

The evening ends with some running around and rolling down the hill at the hotel.  

The next morning we headed back to the island for breakfast at Gloria's and a visit to our cow friend Bessie (The kids called her Betsy since I have two mom-friends named Betsy.  They must be so happy to have a cow name-sake.).  What an awesome final SoCal road trip.  

Instead of packing...

...here's what we've been up to:

I am doing everything I can to burn this smile and his sweet laugh onto my brain forever.  He's goofy and clever and such a little flirt.  Oh man I love him.

Millie's preschool friend Sam and his sister Abigail came over for a playdate.  What's more fun than popsicles on the front porch?

Another triathlon enjoyed by the fam.  This one was right downtown and was actually the race that started all this madness.  It was the first one Christopher ever did back in 2004.

Our neighbor Dara joined Christopher, Casey and the kids for the nightly ride/walk around the block.  These steps are the usual rest stop along the way.

A little old-school style car washing in the driveway.

He's thoroughly soaked...head to toe...

...and loving every minute with his dad!

Dolphins

How's this for a cool Navy job?  Dolphin trainer!  Christopher met a few of the guys who handle the Navy's very specially trained dolphins and they offered to let us come down to the pens to watch them feed and interact with the dolphins.   This one giving me a "high-ten" is pretty amazing.

Millie loved it!

Meanwhile, Simon was kept pinned down as tightly as the three of us could manage (Julie was with us, thank goodness).  What a great morning.

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.