August 10

Today we celebrated a birth and mourned a death.

My dear friend Amber gave birth to her fourth child on August 8th (check out the link for a really great birth story!), so the kids and I headed out this morning to meet little Gussie. He was perfect. Daisy was fascinated with him, but Caleb played it cool until we got into the car. Once we were safely out of Gussie's range of hearing, he was all Caleb could talk about. It was pretty funny.

Then this afternoon, we received the news that Chris' Grandad had passed away. He fought his lung cancer mightily, and today his battle ended. Chris commented that it was appropriate that, in the midst of this blistering and dry summer, Grandad left us on a perfect, autumn-like day. Grandad was a man who loved the outdoors, and this was his kind of day. 

We are choosing to celebrate his life, rather than mourn his death, and tonight we celebrated with a picnic at a new-to-us park near our house. 

Caleb stole my sunglasses and vamped for the camera.

Not to be outdone by her brother, Daisy put on her shades and gave us a big grin.

We introduced the kids to Jimmy John's tonight.

It was a success.

Family picnics are my favorite.

After our picnic, we enjoyed the setting sun and the rock wall overlooking a lake. 

Bear with me - I had a bit too much fun taking pictures of Daisy in the setting sun. I was trying desperately to get a sun flare.

There - Daisy, lake, tree, rock wall, sun flare.

This girl has never kept her sunglasses on for this long before!

Then she started randomly giving Chris big kisses. I think she knew that he was the keeper of the cookies, and she really wanted another.

It was a lovely evening. I think Grandad would have been pleased.

We drove home, and Chris and the kids went for their customary pre-bedtime run. Lately, though, Caleb has been more interested in "flying" than in "racing". 

Here, he's being a helicopter.

Daisy loves to fly!

I love my little helicopter!