SFD Academy- Week 9

Week 9 started off with a bang...or more of a crash, when I accidentally knocked my phone onto the floor of Trader Joe's, losing EVERY contact I have acquired over the last ten years of my life. The phone guy at Costco told me that my choices were to purchase a new phone for a small fortune or wait until December for my free upgrade...soooo I spent Week 9 without a phone while I tried to come up with a more realistic option.  I would describe the experience as less inconvenient as I would have thought and unexpectedly freeing :)  

Despite my complicated communication situation, we still managed to find our friends and enjoy another full week of fun adventures: 

Summer in Davis means it's Band-uh Time again!!

Most of the kids in our life really get into it...

And I mean really get into it :)

And some of them do not.

And some of them just enjoy running around doing their own thing with some awesome background music :)

I sure love the four year olds in my life :)

Breakfast is getting super casual around here...

...Except on the days my friends invite us for a morning feast in the arboretum. 

Seriously, why have we never done this before? 

Overnight French Toast a la Pioneer Woman (thank you Kate) 

and a desperately needed iced coffee a la Beloved Friend (thank you Jenn!)

And, the best part: people we love :)

Yup...it's a good life, isn't it?

***

We heard a rumor that there are millions of bats that come out to feed from under the overpass on the edge of town at dusk and so when Sean came home one day looking like he could use some alone time, I took the kids (in their PJs) to investigate.  It felt a little bit weird to just pull off the freeway onto a poorly marked dirt road at dusk (and with NO phone) but I had been told that this is where to go, so I just tried to focus on the "fun" element of the unknown adventure I was on.

We didn't know where to look or even what we were looking for so we just hung around and waited for something to happen :)

And took some selfies :)

But the best part was when our friends arrived by surprise to join us and made the whole experience much less creepy and a whole lot more fun.

Because really, who wants to throw rocks off a cliff alone? :)

Plus, Kate actually knew what and where we should be looking :)
Apparently, the bats are up there somewhere! 

And as if we needed any other reason to make it feel even more magical of a night, 

the humongous full moon began to rise on the horizon. 

And then Kate broke out the Kettle Corn and we munched and munched while the moon continued to rise...

 ...and the sun continued to set...  

...and we felt grateful for our friendship :)

At this point, I don't think I even needed to see a single bat to be glad that I came.

But then it happened.  All of a sudden, a stream of hundreds of bats burst forth from under the overpass and darted out into the evening sky. It was a remarkable event to witness although you will have to take my word for it because this picture clearly does not do it justice!
Or you could just go check it out for yourself :)

***

Fresh from their honeymoon, Uncle Benny and Auntie Bree stopped by our crazy house on their way up to Tahoe. In the two hours that they were here they brought me Starbucks, read books (an encyclopedia actually :)) to my kids, played a game of chess with Oliver, shot some hoops in the backyard, accompanied me on a trip to Trader Joe's and joined us for a swim at the Rec Pool. And we got to relive the wedding all over again as we reminisced about what a special day it had been and looked at all (1,157) of the pictures that I took. 

We are so glad to have them both in our life now.  

And... we hope that there will be many more trips to Tahoe in their future ;) 

While the Newlyweds headed up to Tahoe for the Fourth of July, Sean and I opted for the lower key (no traffic, free accommodations and cousins!) option of going home to my parent's house.

It was the right choice for us :)

We had a good time, but I missed Emma.

It was weird to be in her room while she was so far away. 

But since I thought of her so often, I also remembered to pray for her many times that day.

And just before 10 o'clock that night, we got word that the team had arrived to the village safely (after a few days of travel) and that Emma was "so happy that she couldn't stop smiling".

We knew we wouldn't have too much contact with her while she was gone, but after thinking about her all day, it was a gift to hear that good news.
And since she wasn't around to enjoy her big comfy bed, we made a point to really enjoy it for her :)

The next morning was the Fourth of July and 

we were honored and surprised to have both Davy Crockett and George Washington join us for our traditional national anthem and flag ceremony in my parent's garden :)

(waiting patiently while my dad cues the music)

"Oh, say can you see....

Out of all the fun things we do on the Fourth, these five minutes in the morning are always some of my favorite. Thank you Dad for making and keeping this tradition alive for us all!

And then it was off to the parade with the birthday girl (yay, Alice!!),

 (Here she is texting you, Juanita- I know she was missing you especially on this day. xoxo)

Our cousins,

(Including Indy, of course :))

And many old and dear friends.

This is why we come to this parade :)

37 years since Alice was born and made this guy a father- a day to celebrate for them both!

And being loved by this cutie is a good reason to celebrate, too :)

Real Men eat Otter Pops

 

Seriously, who are these BIG kids and where did all the babies go?!

National Anthem in San Anselmo, check!
Patriotic Parade in Novato, check!!
And now it's time to finish the day off with Fireworks in Davis!!

 We hung around to see our friends and share some root beer floats, but Oliver is still not a fan of the fireworks, so we left Daddy and the little ones at the park and enjoyed our own celebration from our comfy couch inside.  I love the fireworks, but I love getting this guy to myself even more.  There will always be time for more fireworks :)

And in other random news from Week 9, Summer has decided that the doorway to her room is the perfect place to fall asleep each night.  We tuck her into her own bed, but by the time we are heading to bed ourselves, this is where we find her. She has a million cozy blankets and pillows to use and yet here she is on the carpet, with a laundry pile pillow. This girl manages to brighten up every room she is in, even when she is fast asleep :)

Goodnight World.  Goodnight Week 9.

Only 11 more to go!!