The Gift of Friendship

It's the people in our life that matter so much to us.  The gift of friendship is one of life's very greatest gifts and we are fortunate to have had the time and ability to spend time with so many friends this summer!  We are down to the last of our summer days and we have been rounding out the season with lots of time with friends!  Luke and I had a quick turnaround from our PacNW trip and we headed to the opposite ocean for some time with family and friends.

K and H!  The cutest little duo I have ever seen!  These two kiddos have the best personalities and just light up a room!  Luke and I were so thankful to be able to get to spend time with them and my dearest friend, Katie!  Katie and I have been friends since the mid/late 80s!  A true testament of friendship and longevity and admiration.  She is a beautiful person and one of the funniest people I know!  I am thankful for her friendship and her role in my life story.  Her family is absolutely wonderful and we always look forward to spending time with them! 

I mean!!!  Can you stand the cuteness?!  Love these little ones! 

S and B joined us for two days in HH and we went with all the classics!  Beach time, boat time, bike time, pool time.  Friend Time!  

B is a natural! Multiple sharks, multiple whiting, and a ray!  Not bad for a little fishing excursion!  Many thanks to the Captain!

That is Luke's catch in the background!  A massive ray that nearly pulled the child in the water! 

Substitute captain

Water Buddies!

This thing was no joke!

Thanks to S and her fancy underwater camera!

Jasper turned 2!  We think.  His birthday is August 8th.  We made it up.  We are sticking with it.  He had a great day! An extra treat and a new frisbee.  

Oh my oh my oh my, the next batch of photos means so much to us!  Our dear friends from....well, from most recently Russia came to visit!  The Gonzalez family is such a wonderful part of our lives.  We have known R and T since our days in NC.  We met each other soon after both couples got engaged.  We planned weddings, enjoyed our first homes, became references on our first pet adoptions paperwork, and had weekly Sunday night get togethers to watch Desperate Housewives.  We met in 2005 (I think?) and have been friends ever since.  We watched as R embarked on making his dream a reality and now we have been so grateful to follow their beautiful family around the world as they live their extraordinary life!  How wonderful it was to have them here, with us, in the place we call "home".

The American Dream - 100 snocone flavors to choose from!  Ha! 

Luke = 8

C and K = 6.5

Luke's homemade car got A LOT of use!!

Floor air hockey

K and Luke descending the wall of tires

C was the camera lady and these two headed up the news desk

A little boy's dream...paper airplane challenges

Such patience and focus

I had each of them paint three small canvases.  One for them to keep and two for them to give.  It was so interesting to see what each one painted for the other.  

Walkie talkies and a dog walk!  So fun!!

A lesson in remote controlled cars for C

The three of them created so many different marble runs, it was awesome!

L arrives in time for story time!  We certainly missed R but L did his best to take over the storyteller role, character voices included. :-)

How wonderful it was to see T!  To chat and to just be together!  Last summer we got to spend time with R while T was away and this time it was reversed.  Next time we will have everyone together and we will be thankful!  Love Does

These kids!  Such beautiful minds and souls. Love

Speaking of love.  Luke loves bugs!  This love is getting very official! 

On to our next adventure with our favorite coastal family!  Lisa and I met each other when C was 2.5 and Luke was not yet 2.   We clicked.  We clicked over shared interests, shared senses of humor, shared experiences, shared motherhood trials and triumphs.  I respect her as an amazing mom and I love her as my friend!  A wonderful day spent with wonderful people! 

The aquarium!  What an awesome place!  Luke feeding a stingray.  What an experience!  Such a cool feeling and an amazing interaction.

A big one!

The gang!  

Hilarious little faces! 

LOVE this family!  

C = almost 9

Luke = 8

L = almost 7

A = close to 5

K = 2

Back home to spend time with this friend!  Ha!  Jasper loves to be as close to us as possible.  Some would say that he is "in the way" but we choose to say he loves us!