Our little guy is FIVE!  He had a lovely birthday filled with cards, balloons, packages, and love.  And pie.  He requested apple pie for his birthday dessert, so we made our first deep dish dutch apple pie and it was delicious!  

This guy is such a gem.  He is still our little introvert but he has several neighbor friends and a few church friends he doesn’t mind being silly with.  His favorite things are construction (building houses/forts/hotels from boxes, blankets, chairs, etc.), pluggers (anything electronic with a plug), the color blue, and exploring.  We are back to doing school at home, which is what we both prefer right now.  He can read many simple books and is really good at sounding out new words.  He can write all his letters and takes great pride in this.  He can count to 1,000 and enjoys doing so.  His audience enjoys this less.  He asks the most insightful questions and memorizes long passages of poetry and scripture with ease.  He is nearly always a wonderful big brother to his little sister, though his sense of justice is mortified regularly by her disregard for personal property.  He is starting to mature and handles these situations better all the time.  This has been a year of such growth and I feel like I can see him starting to become more and more of his own person.  We love you, Max Amos!

Dinner last night.

Ben’s new job keeps him traveling quite a bit more these days.  Korea, Australia, Tokyo, Iwakuni… sometimes I have a hard time remembering where he is these days!  When Daddy is away adventuring, we like to have little adventures of our own to make the days without him a little sweeter.  The past few weeks, we’ve gone for a mid-week sunset meal at the beach, stopping by the burrito truck to pick up some guacamole goodness.  Then we play in the sand and sea until it’s dark and come home sandy, ready for a bath and bed.  We usually see our friends there, too, which makes it that much sweeter.  

Still incredibly grateful for this island, and amazed that these seats with amazing views are less than a mile from home and require no reservation, no money, no planning.  Just show up and enjoy.