Memorial Day Weekend in San Diego

We got to visit our beloved San Diego over Memorial Day weekend! Dan was asked to speak at his former high school (Calvary Christian Academy's) graduation ceremony, so we decided to make it a family vacation.

It was a long day of travel, I think 9-10 hours total including our layover. We landed at 7:30 pm San Diego time, which was 10:30 pm our time.  We didn't get settled in or the kids to bed until about midnight our time, so everyone was exhausted that night.

The next morning, we hit the ground running seeing friends! Dan had to be at school early to prepare to speak, so I took the girls to my former office to meet my boss and coworkers. My coworkers Fatima (left) and Teri (right) were fighting over who got to hold Hallie. And I don't think they were kidding.

We also squeezed in a quick visit with my friend, Kat, and her kids.

Kat has 2-year-old twins (Alyssa and Mateo) and baby boy (Aiden). We joined them at their weekly garden club meeting.

Emma got to pick a fresh tomato and carrot from the garden, rinse them, and eat them right away. She thought that was so cool!

Next, we drove to CCA to hear Dan speak. As he walked up to the podium, two of the administrators put on sunglasses and followed him, pretending to be his bodyguards.  Apparently, the minute Dan stepped on campus, he became a celebrity because everyone was so thrilled to see him again! :) He gave a great speech about holding onto the peace that God offers us while living in a world that has no true peace.

We got a nice family photo while we were all dressed up for graduation.

We stayed with our good friends, Paul and Ann, and their kids. Our mutual friends, Chris and Adessa, brought their family to town to visit with us for a day, also. Left to right: Dan, Paul, and Chris. The three of them used to work together at CCA, and became great friends.

Left to right: Adessa, me, and Ann. We got to know each other through our husbands and we're so thankful we did!

The six of us enjoyed spending time together for years before any of us had children. Now it's so fun to watch our kids play together!

Silly faces!

Since we were staying at their house each night, Emma and Hallie got to play the most with Paul and Ann's kids, Eli and Eva. Emma had lots of fun jumping on the trampoline and playing in the sandbox with Eli.

And she enjoyed taking baths and playing with doll houses with Eva.

Hallie was very happy playing with Eli and Eva's old baby toys, too!

We attended our former church, Barabbas Road Church on Sunday, and reconnected with the pastor and our friends there. Then we had a lunch reunion with other friends we had attended Kaleo Church with years ago. It was great to see them, and I love that we've maintained our friendship despite the time and distance.  Left to right: Judy and Chris (with their sons Ian and Jon standing in front), Ray and Peggy, Dan holding Hallie, and me holding Emma.

Emma got to reunite with one of her best San Diego friends, Jemma!  We attended Barabbas Road Church with Jemma's parents, Jackie and Jessie, and all lived in the same neighborhood.  So Jackie and I would get the girls together for play dates at the beach, the library, and each other's houses.

Now two years have passed and we have new little ones who were born just a couple of weeks apart! I wish we lived close enough for Hallie and JJ to grow up together.

Emma's other best San Diego friend, Ellie, was in town with her mom, Stacy, for the CCA graduation. Emma absolutely loved getting to play with Ellie and her younger brother, Daniel, again!

We spent an afternoon with our friends, Dave and Cynthia, and their girls, Olivia (center) and Kailey (right). Their family will move to Virginia Beach very soon, and we can't wait to get together with them more often!


Besides his speaking engagement and seeing all our friends, this was Dan's top reason to fly all the way back to San Diego. The California Burrito. He still craves them at least once a week, after living in Virginia for two years where they don't exist.

Dan had to get back to work the Tuesday after Memorial Day, so he and Hallie flew back home on Monday morning.

Their flight wasn't full so Hallie got her own seat for a little while. She didn't get to keep it, however, since she kept grabbing at the poor guy sitting next to the window and trying to lick his watch. She has no concept of personal space.

Emma and I left together very early on Tuesday morning. She did a great job pulling her own suitcase through the rental car area and airport! Such a trooper!

We played with sticker books on the flight.

And found a store with stuffed animals to play with during our layover.

Back home at the LOVE sign in the Norfolk airport!

Honey, We're Home!

We've moved into our house!!! We actually moved back in May, but we just got Internet service, so I can finally share the news and some photos.

Our first breakfast as a family in our new house. Hallie's life was at risk at mealtimes for a few days since the only seat we had for her was that saucer, which she was able to scoot by kicking her legs.  We alternated taking a bite of food and saving her from plummeting off the table. 

Then Dan's sister, Robin, and her family came to help us unpack and settle in.

And they brought an awesome, real high chair for Hallie! Much safer!

Emma and her cousin, Naomi, tested out Emma's new bed.

The girls enjoyed the playground that we added to the dirt spot in our back yard where the giant oak tree used to be.

And played on the toddler roller coaster in a grassy area of our yard. 

My dad and Dan on the day they finished laying the kitchen floor!

 And Dan and his dad finishing the dining room floor. Our dads are the best!

This is how the kitchen looks now. We have some finishing touches to add, but the sink and appliances are in place and working, and we absolutely love all the space we have!

The island with a view of our den behind it. Dan and our dads tore down the wall between the kitchen and den, added the island, and reconfigured the plumbing and electricity. These two rooms are the best part of the house now!

The view from the den into the kitchen. We've dreamed of having an open concept in our house, and now it's a reality.

Another view from the kitchen into the den.  Emma loves to run circles around the island, and we love watching the girls play while we're fixing meals in the kitchen.

The girls loved their new beds and rooms and have slept through the night since day one. We gave Emma a giant teddy bear as a "welcome home" gift, and she was happy to sleep on 1/3 of her mattress so he could join her.

Hallie and Emma are both having a blast rediscovering toys that have been packed away for 10 months!

In other news, we have a brand-new nephew, Micah! He was born on May 19th and is the sweetest thing!

He's the fifth boy for Dan's brother, Tim, and his family!

Emma graduated from the 3-year-old preschool class at StoneBridge School.

 Their end of year performance was adorable, and Emma sang, did all the hand motions, and didn't cry. It was a complete success! She is front and center, standing to the left of the boy in suspenders.

Each child in her class was given a character award, and Emma received the "kindness" award. We are thrilled that she is so kind to her classmates in school. We will remind her of this every day at home. Heh!

After the last day of school, we joined Emma's best friend, Elisha, and his mom at the beach. Hallie refused to look at the camera during the group shot.

There she is!

I've gotten back into running and ran a couple of races in May. A group from my company ran the Corporate 5K in Norfolk.

My coworker, Lori, and I also ran the Children's Hospital of the King's Daughters (CHKD) Run/Walk for the Kids 8K together. We have been running during our lunch break 3 days a week and have each lost about 20 pounds since January. We signed up for this race because both of us have daughters who have had major surgery and treatments at CHKD, so it's a cause that's near and dear to our hearts. CHKD is the biggest children's medical center in this area, and I've met more than one family who drive hundreds of miles to bring their kids to CHKD. It was a cold, rainy day for a race, but we had fun and did even better than we expected to!

The day after the race, we celebrated Mother's Day. We had a wonderful day worshipping at church, going to lunch with my parents, and spending the evening with Dan's parents.

In not-so-fun news, Emma had a routine, follow-up ultrasound in late April, which revealed that her left kidney and ureter are significantly swollen. That's her "good kidney" and more normal side, so it was discouraging to find a problem there. Her urologist recommended an outpatient surgical procedure with the intent of pinpointing any obstruction that was causing the swelling, and to place a stent in the left ureter. We agreed to the procedure in early May, and although her doctor scoped Emma and was able to see some of the issues, she tried for a half hour to insert a tube or stent into Emma's ureter where it meets the bladder, and couldn't get anything in because of a "kink" that's developed at that section of Emma's ureter.  So the procedure accomplished nothing and Emma suffered terribly for 5 days afterwards.  It was just awful and we weren't at all forewarned about the amount of pain and bleeding she was going experience. We assumed that an outpatient procedure meant that she would be back to normal quickly, but this felt more like recovery from a major surgery!  I'm sure that unsuccessful surgeries happen every day, but this was the first time we'd experienced it. We are definitely more skittish about signing up for any more procedures unless it's a life or death situation.

The (very) good news is that Emma has been infection-free since early February and her surgeon is confident that the last surgery Emma had (ureter re-implantation) is still preventing any reflux to her kidneys.  We are so thankful for that and are asking God to clear up the swelling in Emma's left kidney without another surgical procedure.   She has an upcoming kidney function test (done under general anesthesia) in a couple of weeks that will show if the swelling is causing kidney damage. If her kidney function is still fine and they don't find a severe obstruction, we will wait this out and see if the swelling decreases on its own over time. So please pray for good results from her test when you think of her.

This was our poor girl after her procedure, getting some rest on the couch in between the pain.  

Now she is back to being a saucy little diva! We are always thankful for healthy and pain-free days!