The End of Summer

In the Old testament days. after God has showed up big and performed a miracle or 5, the Israelites would build an altar so they would remember His faithfulness and provision. In many ways, this blog, and in particular, this post, are severing as my altar to the greatness of our God and what He has done in our family.

Two summers ago, we lived minute to minute waiting for the next crash and burn to happen as we adjusted to our newest child being in the family and all that entailed with it on a daily basis. Camp was out of the question - behavior was too unpredictable. Beach days were hit or miss - and mostly miss with a retreat back to the parking lot sometimes within the hour we arrived. 

But God worked a miracle in our family - and our end of summer now looks normal. 

Gymnastics Camp

 Playing in the rain

Rainbow Express for Katie

Complete with more……….

 JANA!!!!! 

 Lots of dress up

 And a brach outing that leased several hours with no meltdown and the awesome Aunt Roni! 

 Art camp for Cami - with her right hand that is healing excellently (more on that in my next post!) 

God has brought us do far in 24 months. We aren't at the finish line yet - I am not sure for kids who have suffered so much loss and trauma at the beginning of their lives there is ever a "true" finish line this side of heaven.

But we are better now than we were then. And this post is a reminder that God's faithfulness never, ever left us. 

Down By the Sea

Our last morning - no better place to spend it then by the water - 

As we were playing in the sand, minding our own business, the USS Nimitz graced us with her presence. Majestic and over whelming doesn't even begin to describe the experience. I just felt safe. And grateful. 

My loves…..

and another one….

This baby might have been born in Washington State and is currently being raised in the heartland, but there is no doubt she has some serious California in her! 

It was short and it was close to home, but it was oh so very, very sweet. 

Zoo Day!

A trip to San Diego with all these children would be incomplete without a trip to the world famous San Diego Zoo!  

We did a whole lot in just a few hours…rode the tour bus

Rode the sky safari

saw some animals 

visited with polar bears

swam with the leopard seals (who are polar bear food - so I didn't quite understand why this attraction was with the polar bear exhibit)

flew helicopters

and generally had a really, really good time! 

(I think this might be the cutest picture in the universe of this baby!) 

Family vacation - part 1

This summer wasn't filled with all the travel last year was because of surgery and camps and all sorts of other stuff. We did, however, manage to get a small vacation scheduled. We headed down to San Diego for a family vacation two weeks ago. 

THe little girls wanted to take the train - so the girls did that while the boys drove the cars and all the STUFF we had! 

Our destination - old stomping grounds. When Doug & I met, I was living on Shelter Island. We got married here and lived here for the first year we were married. Many, many fond memories of that time in our lives.

Katie grasped the full concept of the vacation day 1! 

Breakfast on the patio….

A family visit to the tide pools (while momma slept in and drank coffee and enjoyed a blissful, peaceful morning…alone….)

I believe this photo was taken right after Doug rescued Katie from a near "over cliff" experience…notice the grips on her by both Sissy and dad! 

We also took a three hour cruise - and all came back to talk about it! I love my family - simply love them. 

Babysitter extraordinare Lauren joined us - my girls are going to have a very, very hard time when she goes off to college in a few weeks. 

Me and my girls….

Love….

…more love (and just an aside - we say this all the time - but Jonathan is more than a son-in-law…he's my "son in love" - I could not ask for a better husband for my girl or dad for my perfect grand baby - and he's a really, really good guy who I adore) 

After the harbor cruise, Ashlee and I took all the littles back for a nap and Doug and Jonathan took Cami to visit the USS Midway. 

Days 1 and 2 - complete. 

I am relatively sure that the memories Doug & I have of our time together in San Diego are far exceeded by the memories that we created during this vacation...