No, really, we're still here

 

Did you feel like we'd run out on you?

We haven't, I promise.

We've just been too busy relaxing to spend time blogging.

Actually, that's not true.  In fact,  it couldn't be further from the truth!  Okay, it's a little bit true and a little bit not true.

The past few weeks have been jam-packed for us.  Aside from Madeline's surgery, here's some of what's been going on here lately:

• Daddy studied for and then took his second comprehensive exam.  (He took and passed his first this fall.)  Once we confirm that he has passed, he will become a candidate.  For a PhD.  (Not, hopefully,  the kind of candidate that gets chased around by a smoke monster.  That would stink.) 
• Nan and Grandpa came to stay with us for a few days while I was under the weather.  They read stories, played cards, helped with dress-up, and got their workout for the year, hauling Indy up and down the stairs and in and out of his crib and pack 'n play.  They did great work!
• We joined Nan, Grandpa, and all the aunts, uncles, and cousins, for a weekend at a gorgeous beach house in Stinson Beach to celebrate Nan and Grandpa's upcoming 40th wedding anniversary.

The house, as you can see, was quite lovely. And since that doesn't impress children, it had some amenities for them, too.  

An amazing playhouse....

an a similarly amazing swingset.
  There will be more about that weekend, I assure you. I'm still wading through the photos.
• We celebrated Daddy's birthday in grand style. The kids and their cousins joined us for cake (that got just a touch overdone in the beach house's convection oven -- whoops!) and some delicious strawberry frozen yogurt.
  
  
  
  Then, when the littles were all tucked away, Daddy got to relax in front of the fire pit, with a cigar and a beer, while the sun set over the pacific ocean. Not a bad way to end your birthday. (My parents joked, "Yeah, but he had to spend the day with his in-laws!" )

• And, once home, we celebrated our eighth anniversary. It's no fortieth anniverary, but we were happy to celebrate it nonetheless. We've packed a lot of moving, a lot of adventure, a lot of challenge and a lot of happiness into eight years. We wouldn't have spent those years any other way!

And that's why we've been away. We'll be back, though. We promise.