i could get used to this

still stalling on the ever-elusive ikea and elephant's butt post, but i am trying to get back to posting in real time about our lives. we may feel a little out of place in our new life here, but it is still our life. and i want to live it. and blog about it, of course.

and our real time involves some pretty sweet things lately. my nephew lane is our first house guest as he received a trip here for his 13th birthday gift. it was his gift, but also an incredible gift to us. my kids have lived most of their lives in consistent contact with this sweet kid. in fact, even though we have only been gone less than a month, that may be one of the longest stretches they have gone without seeing him.

it was a sweet reunion...

we wanted to go to disney quest at downtown disney, but i wanted to save some money. so i found out about some discount tickets online. when we showed up, it was this place...

no thank you. i drove in (snapped this pic) and drove out. i decided just to bite the bullet and pay the price at the door. but when we got there it was  even more than expected. i had excited kids, but could NOT do it. i wanted to cry. that's when god provided two FREE tickets to us through unexpected means. such a kindness! we had some fun times...

i sure could get used to having family around again. i think it's gonna be a hard fall when we have to say goodbye again. but it has been such a joy to have him.

it was also fun to head to the beach for the day. 'cause we can do that now!!! we came home sun burned and sand-filled, but what a fun day we had...

there have definitely been hard things about this move, but living close to the beach is not one of them. i can definitely get used to more days like this!