life

I've disappeared for the past few weeks, but not for any particular reason other than life has been good and busy and filled with summer things. Most days involve swimming, and my two little fish wouldn't have it any other way. One of the first words out of Adrienne's mouth in the morning is "Pool?" and Marianna has made it clear that the summer out of doors is misery if she's not in the water. Because of that, we're grateful Nathan's parents have a pool ready and waiting just ten minutes away!

We've also had some really good news about our baby on the way. Several weeks ago I went in for a nuchal translucency ultrasound that would screen for trisomy 18 and several other things. Both the ultrasound and the blood work indicated nothing other than a perfectly healthy baby, and we are thrilled and grateful. I feel nothing but peace as we move forward with this pregnancy, and that is something I know is straight from God.

What else? I am just about to dive into John MacArthur's 12 Ordinary Men. I thought Toy Story 3 was amazing. The girls are teaching me patience in this hot summer season as dawdling seems to be the order of the day getting in and out of the car. I love patriotism and the 4th of July. For some reason the summer has brought my picture taking to a total halt, so I have zippo to update. My summer blog break is now officially over.

back in the saddle

We were gone for seven days, and I feel like it has taken me almost that long to catch up on everything again. Traveling can really take it out of me evidently. Up until today, a nap was in order every single afternoon since we got back on Wednesday. I'm not complaining or anything; a nap (and I mean one longer than 15 minutes) is a welcome part of any day lately. I'm just giving the reason behind the delayed update.

Our trip was fantastic from beginning to end. We began in New Haven, Connecticut where we toured through the quaint little New England city with Nathan's older brother Micah. Micah has lived in New Haven for the past three years, so he was able to give us a wonderful tour of Yale, a New England beach, one of the two mountains of New Haven, and the local airport where he is currently getting his pilot's license.

From there we headed to Boston, one of my all time favorite cities, to go to a game at Fenway, walk through the historical part of town, and go whale watching. The weather was amazing and the city is picturesque in every way. Best of all, we finally got to see the Red Sox win!

We ended the trip with a couple of days in New York, and again, the city is amazing! Nathan and I have been twice before, but seeing it through Marianna's eyes made it exciting all over again. We toured the city from a water taxi, went to the Museum of Natural History, explored FAO Schwartz and Toys R Us, had lunch at the American Girl Place, and experienced Mary Poppins on Broadway. It was such a whirl wind, but every bit of it was terrific.

We knew the pace and scope of the trip was not really two year old friendly, so Adrienne had an adventure of her own, which began with my parents and ended with the wonderful Pepper family, who she was with the first three weeks of her life before she was able to come home. She had the time of her life as well, but we were so happy to get home to see her by the time Wednesday came around!

The normal ho hum pace of life has been very nice over the past five days. Vacation is fun, but it's hard to beat home sweet home.