July 31

Since one of the major purposes of this blog is to document how these kiddos grow, I'm excited that today I get to share with you three of Caleb's favorite things:

schoolbuses

motorcycles

our neighbor, Drew

Our church happens to meet at a local high school.

That high school happens to have schoolbuses.

Caleb happens to love schoolbuses.

So every Sunday, without fail, we visit the buses after church. Chris and Caleb walk over to the buses, while I take Daisy to the car, then drive over to pick the boys up. Every Sunday, I wish that I had brought my camera, because Caleb loves the buses so much. Today, my wish was granted!

He. Loves. Buses.

This afternoon, as we returned from a shopping excursion, Caleb noticed that our neighbor was out washing his motorcycle. He immediately shouted, "There's DREW!"

I asked him, "What is Drew doing, Caleb?"

"Checking his motorcycle."

Close enough, kiddo.

Chris and Caleb went over to chat with Drew, and for the very first time, Drew let Caleb sit on his bike. 

Caleb was in little boy heaven.

What a happy guy! And what a great neighbor we have!

I'm not sure if it's just because of the motorcycle, or if it's also because Drew is a fun guy, but Caleb loves him. Several times each day, Caleb will gaze out our front window, looking for Drew. Every motorcycle is Drew's motorcycle; every loud noise is also Drew's motorcycle. 

These two guys are BFF!

On to other topics...

Chris and I will celebrate our 9th wedding anniversary on Tuesday. Last year, I realized that now that we have kids, I'm not really interested in quiet, romantic dinners. All I really want is to re-visit the park where Chris and I were married, have a relaxing family picnic, and take a family photo or two.

Unfortunately, our anniversary is on a weekday, and Chris is running low on vacation days.

Also unfortunately, we chose to get married in August, when things are HOT!

So we compromised by having a breakfast picnic a few days before our anniversary.

Here's Caleb in front of the big tree.

Remember how cute he was in front of the tree last year? No? It looked like this:

Now here's sweet Miss Daisy in front of the tree: 

(I can't help it; there's something about the contrast of small baby/big tree, young human/old tree that I just love!)

Our family + old tree.

(Many thanks to my mom for sweating herself silly to take these photos for us!)

In the background is the gazebo where we were married nine years ago. We've come a long way, and we are so thankful that God has protected, guided, and blessed us in all of our adventures. Here's to many more years to come!