BFFs

This past weekend our friends Nate and Jenn came to visit, remember them from last year? Love these two!! So anyway, to add to an already fantastic clan, our friends from home Jayson and Beth also came down and stayed with yet even more friends from home Marc and Heather, who are currently living in the area while Marc attends Law School. This meant that Jack had a friend too!

We had an awesome time together! The men got to do lots of cool guy things like play volleyball, solve world problems, and watch the Tour de France. The ladies got in plenty of girl time chatting on the beach, making delicious food and entertaining the kiddos. And the newest BFFs, Jack and Trenton, learned a lot about sharing toys and eating sand.

Nate and Jenn celebrated their 6th anniversary while staying with us (according to them they spend so much time "just the two of us" that they don't mind celebrating the occasional anniversary with good friends). Six years and going strong, with no kids. :) Our mission last year was to convince them to join us in Parentland. It seemed to easy then, me with my cute, little 7-month pregnant baby bump. No swollen ankles in sight. Motivated by that amazing middle-of-the-pregnancy energy boost! Setting up an adorable nursery for our little man to enjoy. Well, if that didn't convince them then there's no way that a whiney, poopy, always-hungry-when-mom's-trying-to-enjoy-her-dinner, clingy, nap-fighting, don't-let-him-out-of-your-site-or-he'll-eat-sand 9-month old boy is going to do it. So for now, we're just going to enjoy our childless friends and the way they spoil their "faux-phews" Jack and Trenton. And should they choose to forego yet another year of baby-ness to spend a year in the Cayman Islands, well we'll support them in that too. Especially if they have a guest room, we'll totally support that. :) And someday they'll change their minds, and then I'll get to enjoy their babies while mine are, I don't know, going to HIGH SCHOOL!!

Bear with me here, lots of pictures to share ... it was hard choosing just a few favorites from among the 376 thar Jenn took!

The boys loved the water, and took turns cruising in the floating airplane. The best part about being at the bay is that the waves aren't so overpowering for the little guys.

Brawn and Brains were a riot! Jack would use his strength to yank a toy from Trenton, and Trenton would use his quick-thinking, fast moves to steal it back from Jack when he wasn't looking. In this picture Jack is playing with Trenton's shovel (a.k.a. giant spoon) and Trenton is scheming a way to get it back!

I think this picture is funny. The boys playing volleyball. It was especially crowded on the beach this weekend, which made for a nice crowd to volley around with. There was a tournament going on down the beach, so our boys played whoever was sitting out a round.

My big man and my little man, in coordinating swim suits. ;)

This guy is so entertaining. We'd say, "Trenton, show us your old man face!" and this is what he'd do.

Dinner out at Dockside. I ALWAYS order grilled salmon when we go out for seafood. But I knew we were having it later this week so I opted for the crab legs. I love crab meat but hate having to work for my food. Thankfully my big, strong hubby was there to help me crack (and eat) my crab legs.

Nate and Jenn, our childless, accounting friends who work extremely hard during tax season so they can take vacation time to spend with us! Or at least, that's what we tell ourselves...

Nate ordered crab legs too, suffice it to say, while the rest of the table was chatting over cleaned plates, the two of us were still trying to dig a sliver of meat out of our crab toes.

Our latest addition to the fun friendcation - Beth, Jayson and Trenton.

Jenn is the BEST fauxntie.

A great night out, even if it involved extra loud live music, slightly intoxicated middle-aged women all up in our babies' faces, and an old man who kissed Trenton.

"Fauxntie Jenn, stop tickling me! Ahhh, I can't take it!!"

On another note, anyone else have a child who magically gets 10x happier about 2 minutes before bedtime??

Lovin' up on her Fauxphews.
Enjoying our frozen hot chocolate, mmm soo good!

BFFs! Both boys are nearly "off the charts" for weight. :) Trenton is 4 months older than Jack, and just a little smaller ... and quicker.

What we like to call "The G-5 Summit." Our men tackling the nation's greatest problems over blueberry coffee.

One of my favorite pictures for two reasons: (1) Jack is cuddling with me! He never cuddles. But it was way past his bedtime. Which brings me to reason (2) proof that I can be flexible (ahem, Nate). Although I can be a tad of an uptight, regimented mom, I would just like the world to see that I occasionally allow my child to stay up past his scheduled bedtime. He did survive, even if he could barely keep his eyes open in church the next morning.

Those who know me best are well aware of my love for all things Central Pennsylvania. I miss my homeland, family, church, friends, mountains, cheap groceries, snowy winters, etc. with a passion. :( But one of the main reasons these things are all so special is because I can no longer have them on a daily basis. The other day I was trying to remember what I imagined our life would be like when Jon asked me to marry him. I knew we'd be living at the beach for a year or so, I knew I'd be moving 8 hours from home, and I guess I knew we'd probably be living oceanside someway or the other no matter where we ended up in the future (note: I was wrong about this one, apparently there are plenty of Coast Guard jobs that are not by the sea! Imagine that.) I think I was more concerned with wedding plans, homemaking and hot hubbies to give much thought to my future. It wasn't until month/years later that it occured to me, "Hey, I've left my home forever and I don't know if I'll ever be back!"

For the better part of our 3 years of married life, and despite my husbands stern reality checks, I always pictured that at some point down the road, more than likely post-military life, we'd be moving back to PA where our kids could spend the night at their grandparents, where we could have picnics with our friends, where we'd go to football games at our old high schools, and where we'd wake up every Sunday and go to the same church our parents took us to when we were just little tykes ourselves. And then one day I realized, it's not going to happen. It wasn't a slap in the face, it wasn't a stunning revelation, it was as if I had known it all along. And, for the first time ever, I am perfectly okay with that. I know that we're not all called to live in Central PA. I know that God has a reason for giving Jon the jobs He does, and for moving him into certain fields. I know that wherever we go, He's got a plan. And I know that as long as I'm within a reasonable driving distance from our favorite place in the world, I'll be pretty happy (so stop talking about moving out west Jon!!). So although our life will probably not look like I always imagined it would, it's still going to be good.

Now you're probably wondering where I'm going with all this and what on earth BFFs have to do with God's plan for our lives. Well, ALL THAT to say - we love our friends and we so appreciate when they take time out of their busy lives to come visit and spend even just the weekend with us. Who knew that the people who bless us the most, who share so many of the same values and beliefs as we do, and who challenge and inspire us to be better people, were the same kids that we used to get in trouble with for talking during Sunday School? So while we greatly miss our friends and family, we're so grateful when they choose to bring a little Pennsylvania to Virginia so that we can get the occasional taste of the "back home life." And that is why I don't mind having houseguests all summer long!