Brave!! (the daddy, not the movie!)

Cris and the girls are well into their cross-country road trip, and are already well past St. Louis on the way to Ohio.  The idea of driving 20 hours as the only adult in a minivan with two 4 year olds gives me chills, but Cris is one brave daddy, and non-chalantly loaded the sleeping girls into the van at 3 a.m. yesterday, and started on his way! They made great time to their first travel stop.

Of course, there was some expenditure of energy in the hotel pool! I knew I was forgetting SOMETHING in their suitcase (this is not counting the fact that they were carried from their bed to their carseats without shoes, and so unfortunately were also shoeless for this trip. Well, not totally shoe-less, just croc-less. And as any parent of 4 year olds knows, crocs are the only shoes that matter. especially on a road trip!). Anyway, I forgot to pack their goggles and floaties.  They seemed to make do, however, with the lifesaving devies, and had a great time.

I had also accidentally booked a handicapped accessible room, which didn't have a tub! Nova usually really does not like showers, but Cris said they hopped right in, and loved this big walk-in shower.

They finished off the night with a visit to Cris and Nova's favorite restaurant, Cici's! Where else can you get UNLIMITED cinnamon rolls slathered in butter and sugar! She must have eaten her pizza REALLY well, because I see 2 cinnamon rolls AND a brownie on her plate :)

Meanwhile, back in colorado it has been very dry.  It has been over a week without rain, and temperatures in the 90s.  The wildfires have been raging, and this morning when I drove to Costco, this was the view of the nearest wildfire from the Costco parking lot. This fire is actually rather close, and the city has been evacuating the surrounding areas on the north end of town.  In fact, evening church was cancelled last night because the church became a shelter for a nearby camp that had to evacuate. The fire is moving in a NE direction, and we live on the SE end of town, so we are personally in no danger, but it is still such a strange sight to see the fire so close to the city.

I already posted these pictures on Facebook, but for our non-facebooky readers, our little birdies have hatched!!! The first one must have been a little premie, because he hatched 2 days before his siblings.  The mamma bird could not have picked a more perfect nest location, because the girls can actually stand in the play room and look out the window directly into their nest! They have been able to watch these little guys, and even catch cool moments like Mamma Bird bringing back food! Anyway, it's been so cute to watch these little guys, and the girls just LOVE to check on them, and see if they are growing feathers! I don't know how fast baby birdies grow, but i am hoping they don't take off before the girls are back from Ohio in a couple of weeks!

And finally, the baby Jude :)

Friday I was having a very frustating day at work. Cris and the girls were preparing to leave, and I was stuck at work until after 8 p.m.  So, i took my frustration into my exam room, and decided a look at our little guy might lower my blood pressure a bit :) It certainly worked! Jude was being an especially adorable and cooperative little fetus, and I got several cute profile pictures. He was sucking his thumb, and also swallowing, and I could see his little mouth and tongue and everything! so cute!

I can't remember if I blogged about it, but this summer the girls have gone on "tour de VBS"! Cris is still teaching a pretty heavy online load of classes, and as a full time daddy it was difficult to squeeze in all his school work. I was going to put the girls in part day day-care a few days a week (which I had been wanting to do anyway in preparation for full day school in the fall), when I discovered the wonderful world of VBS in a bigger city! :) There is a different VBS nearly every week this summer. I initially had them signed up for 5 different ones, but the last 2 weeks conflicted with their swim lessons, so they ended up only doing 3.  But they LOOOOOVVVVED it!  It also gave us an opportunity to really work with Juneau, and how she behaves in an organized group setting. She actually learned a lot, and I think she has a much better grasp of our expectations for her in school next year. Nova is a natural "pleaser", and even the thought of getting into trouble puts her nearly in tears. Juneau, on the other hand, isn't so intent on pleasing the world. She is more intent on being her own free spirit, which can at times be a bit disruptive :) I think she is "getting it", though, and although all-day school will be a bit of a transition for her, I think she will really like it.