Just Some Beach Pics

We got to take a short beach getaway with a few friends earlier this month. Here are some pictures of the fun we had!

Happy Birthday, Sawyer!

Our sweet boy is no longer four. He had a birthday earlier this month and is now "a whole hand"!
It is so hard to believe it's been five years since we welcomed this sweet but not-so-small, 9 lb., 4 oz., baby into our family. He has been such a joy!
He had his birthday dinner on the special plate--chicken panee, mac n cheese, and rice. Not so healthy, but it made him happy!

He decided months before his birthday that he wanted this bear-shaped ice cream cake. Nevermind that he's really not a big ice cream fan, he had seen it at the ice cream store and was sure that was the one he wanted. He said, "Mama, after we get it, you can take it in the kitchen and write a 5 on it." So I did. (the blue smeared spots are where the candles were)

Then we played our traditional "Hot and Cold" game for him to find his presents. Lee Anna helped him read the big words in the birthday cards.

She also gave him the card she had handmade for him.

He loved his gifts...

and got busy playing with them right away!

Happy Birthday, Brother Bear! We love you and can't imagine
our family without you!

GG Visits

Okay, so it took most of a month to get around to posting about it, but G. G. came to visit us! She had been on a choir trip in Greece, and arranged to come see us while she was "in the neighborhood." She was here for just four days, but we packed a lot into those days. We taught her a little history, from things thousands of years old to the Arab Spring.

Of course, she was much more interested in the little ones than in the ancients! We had a fun time, all around.

In the background of the above picture is a fairly recent mosque. It was finished in the 1870s. There has been a mosque in that location for most of 1000 years, though.

I had to include this one so you'd really understand what this visit was like. This spring, our kids have learned the "Punch Buggy" game, in which everyone in the car looks for Beetles and punches his neighbor when he sees one, proclaiming "Punch Buggy" and the color of said car. So G. G. got to experience this with us. Only she was frequently confused about what she was supposed to call out. We got "Bumper bunny" one time, and several other similar variations.

And this last picture is one of my favorites. G. G. asked Sawyer to pose by the donkey cart in the market because, well, there just aren't that many donkey carts in the grocery areas in the States these days. While he was standing there, a local guy passed by and asked in Arabic "What? You don't have garlic and onions where you come from?"