Our annual trip

So every summer we head home. We visit Ohio, Georgia and Alabama all in one fell swoop. In the past we have flown and then rented a car to drive between locations. This year, Josh was able to have a larger block of time off, so we crunched some numbers and decided to drive. The whole trip wound up being 7150 miles. We drove through and visited 20 states in almost 5 weeks.

We left California on June 15 and drove for four days to Ohio. We stopped  the first night in Green River, Utah and got up the next morning to spend half of the day visiting Arches National Park. It was spectacular. We have seen our fair share of national parks, but this one is definitely our favorite. It was so beautiful there that we felt compelled to take a million pictures...of course none of them do this place any justice. Just amazing. Much to Rea's excitement, there were wild rabbits everywhere! She was able to get super close to one of them. Made her day.

 Day two of our drive we only drove to Denver which was about 6 hours away. While in Denver we ate at the best pizza place. It was featured on one of our favorite shows, Diners Drive-Ins and Dives, so we had to stop in. It's called Hops and Pie. Best pizza I think I have ever had. If we lived in Denver we would definitely be regulars.

Day three we drove from Denver to St. Louis, so that was a pretty long day...and not much fun since we got to drive across Kansas. There is seriously nothing there. We made it to St. Louis late and got settled into the smallest hotel room I have ever seen. At that point we were just happy to see a bed, so we let it pass.

Day four we got up, grabbed a biscuit at a nearby McDonalds and headed to see the Gateway Arch. It took us forever to figure out how to get to it even though it was only 4 miles from our hotel. The city was doing all kinds of construction and had every other street closed. We finally made it down to the park (which was also under construction) and took a few pictures and then got on the road.

The last day of the trip was fairly quick--6 hours. We made it to Mt. Gilead in one piece and with all of the children and the dog. We were so glad to get out of the car and to start our vacation!

Manifesto

Rea has been taking ballet this year at Bethel Ballet Academy in Hanford. It has been her first real experience with real ballet at an actual academy. I picked this studio because a good friend had recommended it but also because it is the only Christian ballet company in the area. When I was growing up I took at a Christian ballet studio and so it was important to me that Rea did as well.

Their recital was last night and it was beautiful. It was entitled "Manifesto" and was all about the choice we make to follow Truth and integrity or to follow the world. Reagan's class was "cotton candy". She did so well. She wasn't afraid and she remembered her whole dance. I could have cried, I was so proud! When we left she was so happy and had so much fun. I'm just thrilled she'll be dancing at Bethel again next year!

Coaches pitch baseball

This year we opted to get Wyatt involved in the base league for baseball. He had played t-ball out in town last year, but we had such a great experience with the on-base soccer, we figured baseball would be just as good. Turned out to be the case! Wyatt had a great coach and played for the Cardinals this year. No keeping score at this age, so who knows what their record was. The coaches would pitch to them four times and then if they still hadn't made contact, they would bring out the tee. Wyatt only had to use the tee twice and he definitely had the best arm of any kid on the team. I know I'm partial, but I'm pretty sure we have a burgeoning athlete on our hands!

Swim Lessons

This summer we opted to enroll the kids at Hammond Swim School again. They do such an amazing job and we always see so much progress after only two weeks! It's pricey, but worth every penny. This year all three kids were in the pool at the same time--different classes, but same lesson time and same pool. At the very end of the two week session, Josh and I were finally allowed to go in and watch. I couldn't wait to see how Wyatt and Rea had advanced and how Loyal was doing in his very first swim class. They all did SO good! We were totally thrilled! I went ahead and signed them up for next year!

Bye bye baby mullet

Well. We finally bit the bullet and did it. Poor Loyal was somewhere between a mullet and Bozo the clown--so it was time. It always hurts a mommy heart to pass these milestones. But I suppose it was inevitable...he is a boy after all.

So daddy cut his hair in the kitchen. Sweet bud did not want to sit still. Thankfully curly hair is very forgiving.

iPhone pictures