It's a BOY!

We are so excited to announce that the sweet baby growing inside me is a BOY!  This was the first ultrasound that Nathan didn't get to go to, so we were a little bummed about that, but also very thankful that I had time to text him before his ship went out of cell phone range!  Then I went to the store to get all the blue things I could find to surprise the kids with...I think I may have had more fun with it than they did, but that's okay. :)

Here are a few pics of the surprise!




Impatiently waiting. Zach is squinting just like his dad would be...apparently overcast is just too bright...LOL.






I love the look of joy on Zach's face here! He was absolutely sure it was a boy from the very beginning.









There they go! (I had extra balloons hidden in the van because I knew they would be sad about "losing" their balloons.)




Exploring some of the other blue goodies I picked out for them.  In case you're curious, the kazoos and chocolates were by far the favorite goodies...and the balloons of course!

Thank you to everyone who is sharing in our excitement.  We can't wait to meet our new little man, to watch Lydia learn to be a big sister, and to experience all the joys that adding another child to our home will bring.  We are so thankful to the Lord for our growing family!

Up, Up....and Not Really Away:)

Today we did something special together as a family.  We realized recently that we have very few memories of our time in San Diego so far where all of us are present.  We want us and our children to have positive memories of this period of our lives, other than the idea that "Daddy is never home."  In recent months his ship has barely been in port, and when it has been, he has rarely been home before dark.  He is getting ready to be gone again for a significant period of time, so we decided now would be a good time to do something that together that the kids will be talking about for a long time and take lots of pictures for them to hold on to when they miss their daddy the most.

A little over a week ago, a friend and I took our children to the Safari Park to see "the butterflies".  Every spring they import thousand of butterflies and put them in a greenhouse for people to walk through.  It only lasts a couple of weeks, so we opted to go even though Nathan wasn't home.  While we were there, we saw the huge helium balloon ride that takes you up 400ft in the air to allow you to view the entirety of the park, as well as the surrounding landscape.  I was a little apprehensive about the kids being scared of being up so high, but it was so reasonably priced (2/3 of our children were free), that I pitched the idea to Nathan anyway.  He thought it sounded great, so today we made it happen!




Waiting for it to be our turn while we ate lunch...it's really hard to tell how big it is, but the basket is about 15-20 feet across.




A better view of the basket, we loved that it had birds on the bottom!




Baby-wearing on a balloon ride!:)







A different perspective on the wildlife...




And some great views of the surrounding area.




Looking up.






Everyone was very happy to have gone up!




And especially to have gone with Nathan.:)