bsmiles and sunny days

Dale laughed when his dad pulled a lawn chair out of the car port and started to read a book, but it was no surprise to me when this place became our reprieve at the end of each day. It never occurred to us that this was exactly what we did back home, and maybe it's what we need to do more of here. Our neighbors are moderately reclusive so it's hard to not feel like we're sticking out like a sore thumb, but it didn't matter with Lonnie and Dana here. It just felt like home. This is the Avila Barn's petting zoo. You can't really pet the animals because most of them are biters, and that only because they get fed from morning till night, day in and day out. What they know is that when little fingers come into the cage, little bits of garden scraps usually come with them. I do not enjoy visiting this part of the barn because most of the animals have abnormally distended bellies, which upsets me every time I see them. Then again, they have these sheep with this man

We have regular shows around here- sometimes Karate, sometimes theater, this time dance. Tre obviously interpreted the show as a lip sync contest. Jasmine, full of grace, floating through the air like a hummingbird... ...pausing only long enough to hear Leila scream, "STOP JUMPING!" Kennedy came to show us all how it's done. She saved her money for weeks to buy this outfit, the leotard, the skirt... ...and the shoes. Clearly, she is full of natural balletic ability. This is the opening act- everyone doing their own performance on the trampoline at the same time. Next is Jasmine along with her assistant performers... ...and then Leila put her best foot forward to show us how it's done. ... and then Tre did this for about 36 minutes. And for the grand finale, this girl did what she does best. Sorry you can't get the full effect of her performance. I'm going to have to fire the cameraman.

...we took this job for a lot of reasons. A: Dale went to school and racked up a serious amount of debt in order to become a chaplain for the Bureau of Prisons, so when they offered us a position, it would have been silly to turn it down. I mean if God inspired the vision and then came through with the open door... I think we would've gone to Puerto Rico if that was where the opening was. B: We have all these kids that are like little birds with their mouths open to be fed all the time. Like, every hour then need nourishment, seriously! They're like little moths devouring groceries almost as soon as I come through the door with them. We needed to know that every month there would be enough money in the bank to feed the children. C: We have all these kids that have this Daddy shaped hole in their hearts and when he can't spend time with them everyday, they get all out of whack. They need their dad to be present as much as possible. A couple of hours a week just wasn&

It's so fun to take the crab net out on the pier because you just never know what's going to come up in it. Usually we are able to catch a couple of little crabs and some starfish. Micah and Dale usually man the net. Usually I man the kids while they're manning the net, but this time I sat in the car for most of the time they were out standing guard over a desperately sleepy baby girl. (Side Note: notice Leila's bracelet - those are so cool, Mom!) This is the salmon head that they used to bait the net. Sadly, crabs and starfish prefer squid to salmon, and the net came up empty every time. But we still had fun because how could we not? Mawmaw and Pawpaw were with us!

For St. Patrick's Day, I insisted that we go to Solvang, even though Dale had been looking forward to having dinner at the famous Klondike pizza buffet in San Louis Obisipo for weeks, because I thought a little tourists trap would have lots of fun activities and maybe even a parade to commemorate the great Saint Patrick who brought Christianity to Ireland so many years ago... Apparently the Dutch don't celebrate St. Patrick's Day. Not in Solvang, anyway. But this nice old man insisted on taking this family picture for us. Good enough! The braids Kennedy is wearing were actually Dana's, but she took wore the headband over the back of her head so she wouldn't mess up her hair; I didn't get a picture of that before she took them off because Deisha kept trying to eat the braids. Deisha has a darling little pink and green outfit on, but it was still chilly in when we arrived, so you don't get to see it this time, but she also wore that tiny little barrette in

She thinks she looks "so cute in dis picture!" ...green underwear... A year late, but the sentiment is the same. Don't they sound rehearsed? They are naturally in unison... harharhar.

Have you met my son Tre? Oh, well then, let me introduce you! Did I mention he's a rock star? He is.

This is the new clubhouse. Well, it was new on Valentine's Day and then shortly after Valentine's Day it was disassembled by some neighborhood vandals and the club dispersed after a game of war gone wrong. This is the view from inside the club. The members of the club collected various items on from people's yards on trash pickup day to adorn their new hangout. That woman standing there, the one that's as tall as that tree, is Kennedy. You might not have recognized her because she was a little kid yesterday and woke up today fully grown. The other little darling in the photo is Jasmine. She was a little kid yesterday and when she woke up this morning, much to her dismay, she was still a little kid. This is the other angle from the inside. Each little piece has some significance. The trees create the walls all around the perimeter of the club. There's a perfect little clearing created by nature alone and destined to be filled with children. This is the

Avila remains our single most favorite place to escape to. Somehow we managed to visit on the most beautiful day in February last week. This is Deisha's first experience in the sand. For as feisty as she generally is, she sat there mesmerized for a long time. The sand is remarkably fine so it's like standing on shifting silk. She couldn't quite figure it out. After she realized she wasn't going anywhere, she tried to pick some up and have taste of it. Needless to say she didn't like it too much. I would've loved to catch that on film, but I was frantically sweeping out her mouth and hands. It wasn't long before she was climbing up the rocks with the rest of the kids. Kennedy brought along a Spongebob kite that she and Dale got up high and mighty in no time flat. After he set sail into the wild blue yonder, Kennedy lost interest but not Dale. He stayed and flew the Bikini Bottom hero long after she abandoned him. We never swim.I don't know if you know