New Orleans to Knoxville

This was Sophia's second trip to New Orleans to visit family, but Jason's first time in Louisiana.

Sophia recently received a violin for her birthday and had the chance to talk with Cousin Lulu about it, who plays professionally. Her son Benji and Jason are close in age and enjoyed playing together for a few hours after our flight landed.

My Mom has one sister who gave birth to a daughter Emilie (on the left) and Jesse who married Lulu. It was our first time being all together without any of the grown ups.

It was a quick road trip stop to the Birthplace of Jazz, but fortunately we still got to hear some music when we landed at the airport.

After leaving New Orleans, we drove a couple hours to Mississippi to see Emilie and Jesse's Mom, my Aunt Jan, her husband Ray and grandchildren Anna and Daniel. It was the first time all of us (except Josh for work) had been to the State. The pine trees along the Mississippi and Alabama highways were beautiful, but I am looking forward to returning to see more of both places.

Our next stop was Fairhope, Alabama to visit friends Blair and Blake and their sweet family, including an infant they were providing foster respite for who weighed only 5lbs.

We appreciated their Coastal hospitality and the time both the adults and kids got to spend together.

The longest and final leg of our drive was to Knoxville, TN.

We swam beneath the raindrops and stopped to smell the flowers.

The Dream More Hotel offered bedtime stories and Smores each evening.

We always participated in both.

Sleeping in the same room is one of the trickiest challenges of traveling as a family (especially after consuming sugary Smores).

The bunk beds however were a big crowd pleaser.

We spent one day at Splash Country.

 And one at Dollywood.

The kids would have spent the whole time in the cars.

In the morning it was just three of us and Joshua was able to join after he finished his work meetings.

Jason was eager to go on the train roller coaster. He rode next to one of the park employees with Sophia and I behind him. Sophia liked how it made her "stomach feel funny" and unfortunately Jason did not enjoy the experience as much as he thought he would.

Both children however were mesmerized by Dolly Parton's Stampede.

Before heading to the airport we made one last Knoxville stop to visit our friends Jeff and Becky and their lovely family.

They served us a delicious lunch on their beautiful back porch and our kids loved that there were children to play with every place we went.

We headed home for a final week of school to be followed by more Summer Adventures!

Sophia's Birthday

We have a tradition of low key birthdays. 

Beginning with breakfast in bed and ending with store bought pizza with Godparents, Grandparents and Aunts and Uncles.

We still did that on Sophia's actual 6th birthday, but we spent the weekend before in Philadelphia.

Sophia (and her Nana and I) loved going to the party store to pick out the goody bags she wanted to make for her class.

Instead of going with a specific theme, she chose as many different characters as she could with the number of bags needed.

Her Aunt and Uncle in PA and her Great Aunt and Uncle from Louisana joined us and her Nana and Bop-Bop for dinner our first night in town.

The next day we had a celebration with her Pennsylvania people including my friends from high school:

And our friends from college:

And their kids who have now become our children's friends:

So thankful for these first six years of motherhood with this girl.

Sophia's 6th Birthday Letter

My dearest Sophia (favorite nicknames this year: Monkey, Sweet Pea, Bug)

Happy sixth birthday!

Your kindergarten year at CKH has gone quickly. You continue to thrive at school with Ms. Steph for a second year, and you take delight in reading words on signs as we drive, or reading books that you know most of the words for. You have had good friendships with your classmates (Olivia and Monique to name a few), and I pray you find good ones next year as you head to 1^st grade in a new school.

You love to pack your backpack for the next travel adventure, packing the essentials like dolls and coloring books. You love playing car games like twenty questions, and ask for jokes at every opportunity. All things that were helpful as we drove from San Francisco to Seattle this past summer.

You started dance and swim lessons this year at the Y, and would sign up for something every night, if you set the schedule. You continue in your “all of the above” approach to life.

You love to bake, and I can’t wait to spend more time with you in the kitchen making new creations.

You love time with grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins.

You continue to have vision in most situations, and we are trying our best to equip you with the tools to be flexible, handle big emotions, and harness as much of your core awesomeness that we love so much.

You fiercely loved baby A for the year she was in our home, and told your mother you never want to stop fostering when she left. You are resilient, thoughtful, and big hearted.

These days you want to help “guide” Jason whenever possible. I have no doubt you will be a great parent one day, for now your mother and I will try our best to help you enjoy your kid days as much as possible.

You love going to church, Awana, and VBS. You love to talk, learn and ask questions about God and Jesus. And we can’t wait to see where God will bring you with your love of Him and His people.

Have a great seventh year, as the sixth was full of playing and reading.  

Love,

Dad