Zoo…check!

...white sandy beaches, wide open enclosures, carefully simulated environment

…this could very well be the Santa Barbara Zoo!

The ant hill was the highlight of our visit,

you grab a piece of cardboard, climb to the top and

weeeeeee!

Beach Picnic…check!

The girls and I go to the beach often,

but you see apparently Mommy is boring and Daddy is fun,

so this trip was especially…special.

this is Char's "having a blast" face

Dog Beach...

re-named by me, in light of the buttzillion unleashed dogs that ran full

speed up to my children,

and were almost were wrangled by my protective husband.

They were all nice dogs of course, but "you never know".

One sneaky lil devil swiped our tennis ball from between my feet as I lay there pleading for the the sun to come back, literally blowing at the giant cloud in hopes of giving it a little boost.

I had sworn to protect Nevaeh's ball from the dogs. Mommy fail:(

Phase 2

"Surprise! Happy Last Work Day Daddy!"

…the girls and I yelled as he came through

the door last friday evening.

We threw him a lil party with homemade pesto pizza and cookies and all of his favorite things. The Lord has been faithful, the body of Christ so generous, the season so sweet. My 'Mover Man' can rest for a bit…we move on to phase 2 of our roller coaster ride.

We're up, we're down, we're uncertain what's around the next bend,

but we are having a blast and we would totally get in line all over again!

Al will start on Staff with Reality Carp On Sept 1st.

Hungry for a little Daddy time, Nevaeh had been praying for Al to have 10 days off work before she starts school, Jesus answered her prayers x3!

We now have 31 days of Daddy time, and we couldn't be more thrilled!

Thank you Jesus!

Nevaeh made a list of things she wants to do during Daddy's vacation

she was persistent that her list needed a bow

…"Why?" i asked impatiently

…."because its a gift from God" she said

(enter heart melting here)

I hope to keep you updated on our adventures

…buuuuut you know me…