AJ was a travel rock star. On the way out she started getting grouchy on the second flight, then promptly feel asleep. On the way home we took the red-eye, which means changing planes at some pre-dawn hour you can’t even identify because you don’t know what time zone you’re in, and it wasn’t until the very end that she was ready to fall apart and melt down. But weren’t we all?

Our friends A&L arranged for us to rent the house right next door to them, which was awesome because we had plenty of space to spread our junk around and hang out in. Plus we could walk over there when we couldn’t find a bottle opener. Our rental car was a sweet Subaru sedan which was practically brand new before my parking skills got ahold of it (uh, oops). AJ called these things “our new house” and “our new car.”

Aaron got to see some of the high schoolers and recent grads he was close to when he youth pastored there. We also happened to be there for graduation, aka the whole small town’s family reunion. And I am a sucker for a small town graduation.

We were able to be at our old church two Sundays–once like weepy returning champions, once like a normal part of the family again. A hint of heaven. (Possibly more on this another time, if anyone is still up for a LOST analogy…)

When the weather was good (it was kind of 50-50), we went to the beach and let AJ see if she dared touch a wave and throw rocks into a creek until she practically built a dam. She would have happily done this all day.

We also went to the aquarium to see and touch fishy things and tidepooling to see and touch more.

We drove along the rocky cliffs and hiked to my favorite lighthouse. We took in the view that never, ever gets old.

I drove until she slept, and then I stopped for photos.

We hugged trees.

We rocked.

We rode a sweet tractor.

We ate a lot. Duh.

We acted natural.

We impersonated Lewis & Clark.

We hunted wild game.

And we took the BEST FAMILY PHOTO EVER.

No, not that one.

No, not that one either.

THIS ONE!

Vacation is ending? Aaaaaaaaagh!