Homeward Bound

Greetings friends and family,

Summer in Sacramento is almost over.  This week flew by extra fast because I spent full days at work M-F (almost) and evenings with the family and late night workouts at the gym.  I've been pumping weights like a madman at California Family Fitness.  There is something extra motivational about being around a bunch of serious body builders.  I'm over 150 lbs. for the first time in several years!  That may not seem like a big deal, but for a guy who's been working out in a gym since the sixth grade it's great to see progress.

When I asked Ouma to contribute her thoughts to the blog she said, "I promise I will cry after you leave and you can quote me!"  and that's it.

Being at work all week means I have to depend on Kendra to take pictures.  Would you like to see more blog posts?  Great!  tell her to take more pictures.  Thanks.

Anywho, the living room is continually covered with toys and games.  Luckily Ouma and Oupa are cool about it.  The living room floor also serves as the Uno game table.  Easton and Layla are Uno ninjas.  They can legitimately beat anyone and everyone in the family.  Seeing the four of them playing together on the floor provides a good visual description of what it means to be involved with, interested in, and impactful for the twins.

Another regularly occurring activity is book reading.  The twins raided the local library a few weeks ago.  They get book time almost every day by one or more of us.  Easton's favorite book is "The Disaster of the Hindenburg: The Last Flight of the Greatest Airship Ever Built".  I wish I were kidding, but that boy is so passionate about anything that flies (or floats) through the air.

The twins have a quirky interest in acting like cats.  I have no idea why.  We don't have a cat because I'm allergic to them.  Yet here they are meowing around the house, pretending to lick themselves, and getting bandaged by Ouma.  Not sure why they want their name on the bandage, but here is Fluff and Fluffy.

Last night Kendra and Layla had a sleep over at Megan and Isabella's house.  That left Easton to hang out with us. We chowed down on Chick-Fil-A and made paper airplanes at home.  For bath time I sat beside the tub talking while he did his scrub-a-dub thing.  He doesn't often like to be photographed, but he asked if I wanted to take a picture of him like this with his head poking out of the shower door.

I took off work early to have a golf outing with Oupa and Niell. While planning for the round we arranged for Easton to play a few holes with us.  He rode with us in the cart and putted on the greens.  I consider this to be Easton's first official golf game because he played in real time with the big boys.

The thing he liked most about the outing was riding in the cart with Neill and me.

I knew we couldn't keep up with the flow of the game if Easton played the entire 18 so Ouma came back around to pick him up.  Ted played with us to round out the foursome.  We were hot and sweaty, but it sure beat working in the office!  Great time with these guys who have been such great mentors and teachers for me.

All good things must come to an end including the longest, most incredible vacation in the history of my life.  Being here is Sacramento was like being on vacation even though I worked the past two weeks.  I had occasional dates with Kendra, mornings to sleep in, and peace of mind knowing the twins were cared for at home no matter where I was.  It was nice to have the freedom to just pick up and go somewhere without regard for whether Kendra is available or not.  I don't know many people who love spending four weeks living with their in-laws, but I sure do.  

This is also like a vacation for what is NOT present:  people and ministry.  Everyone needs a break and we don't get much of that back in Phoenix.  We have visitors in our house almost every day.  We mentor or "be a friend" to people every single day without fail.  Those are not bad things, but it sure is pleasant to have a break from them while we're here.  Part of what we do in Sacramento is get recharged like a battery so when we get back to Phoenix we can jump back in and help as many people as possible.  I will miss being here very much!

All of that vacation-style living comes to a grinding halt as we load up the battle wagon and head back to home sweet home.  I look forward to:

Sleeping in my oh-so-comfy king-sized bed 

Desktop computer with ergo keyboard for blogging, no more finger cramps

The pool is five steps from the back door

Same temperature, but without the humidity

My friends (Kendra has many here...  I have one)

My own car

79 cent Frosters at Circle K

Mountain biking trails.  Oh wait... I don't have a bike.  yet.

182 GB of music to play throughout the house

These are just a few things that come to mind when I think about getting back to normal life.  Starting in two weeks our family will be bound by the school calendar for the next 12 years.  Not looking forward to those limitations, but the only thing constant is change so here we go!

See  you soon.