Pilot Country: July 2013

Sunday, July 14, 2013

Zoo

We love going to the Sac zoo. It's just about the perfect size for kids. We were lucky enough the go with our 2 of our friends whose husbands are also deployed. It wasn't crowded at all and we even got to feed the giraffes. It was such a fun experience (and also the most expensive lettuce I have ever bought ;))

In the mail

We try to be creative with the packages we've sent off to Ben. We have sent out both birthday packages and Father's Day ones too. I sure am glad he won't be gone for Christmas. It's pretty challenging to come up with mailable things that he can actually use while he is gone.

We always try to send along some of his favorite treats, crafts the kids made and pictures for him to hang on the walls. We send our favorite Isagenix vitamins and drinks to keep him going too. And most importantly we send prayers for him everyday.

For his birthday, we sent cake in a jar along with all sorts of party decorations. It was fun for the kids to help make it and bake it in the jar. We decorated pillow cases for him and made a photobook for too. We also include functional things like new socks and under shirts.

For Father's Day we vacuum sealed cookies, sent lots of cute things the kids made, a fun calendar with a picture of us on it. We also surprised him with stickygrams for his locker and an iPad case that had a cute pictures of the kids on it. Ben is sporting a rocking mustache right now- so we went along with that theme.

We are running out if new ideas. What do you send in care packages?

The kids have gotten some fun packages from him too. We can wait until he is back with us so we don't have to go to the post office any more.

Birthday cake on top and and his favorite coffee cake on bottom. We sent a jar of store bought frosting and candles too.

Rhone designed and painted the pillow case by himself. We used freezer paper to cut out the stencils.

We send random pictures of us snuggling in bed.

We made earths to send on earth day.

We thought about sending a crate is Sylvie, but thought she might not get there.

Pictures of the everyday things he missed

The kids are good at packing and decorating. Sylvie was pretty insistent on packing her toothbrush and toothpaste- I had to sneak them out before we taped the box up.

Flags for flag day and the 4th

Our proof for his iPad case. We ordered it from a lady right here in town. I love keeping it local.

Playing with the mustaches

Peeking into the package from Dad. Did you know people donate boxes that already have the shipping paid for Ben to use from Afghanistan? Pretty cool huh.

Sunday, July 7, 2013

Water time

One of our favorite places to visit is the river. It's a little bit of a drive, but it is simply gorgeous and I wanted to get all the time in we could before it gets busy with summer. It's not the Delaware beaches we are used to, but I sure do feel at home in the mountains.

We have also filled up the backyard pool and played. Plus we did angry birds with water balloons too. Summer and water just go together.

Can you spy my kiddos?

At the river with friends.

Getting into the groove

The rhythm of life naturally changes when Ben is gone. Instead of fighting it and trying to keep life the same, we embrace it and enjoy it as best as we can. While I miss Ben- I don't just wish that time would fly bye. I can't imagine wishing away half of a year of my children's childhood. There is a line in a hymn thats says, "Time doth softly, sweetly glide when there's love at home". I can't think of a better way to sum up how I hope these 6+ months go.

Here's a recap of things we have done in Cali. We made crafts, we played, and ate good food, we did gym class, we went to birthday parties, and face timed with Ben and visited pioneer days and learned about mining. Rhone also had his first trip to the dentist. He's a cavity free kid.

The waiting room at the dentist office