hi dad, It's been a long time again, we know, but boy have we been busy! Last time we chatted we were kind of down in the dumps but mom has been keeping us going nonstop..After a busy week at work mom took us to visit great grandma and great grandpa in Huntington beach.

We started off the trip by going to the beach and hanging out with auntie Kimmie, Brennan and Faith. It was very crowded because it was Father's day...what better way to keep us busy but to take us to our favorite place!(mom's too of course) Uncle Joel had to work so it was just the moms and the kids! We played and played..Gunnar loved waiting for the waves to knock him down, then rolled on the ground while waves were going over his head. He was literally getting toppled over and over.He would recover jump up and head out for more....Guess who slept the best that night?

Jessica had a nice time letting the waves come up to her toes and laughing at her brother getting"beat up" by the waves..But most of all she loved playing in the sand with Brennan and Faith.

Dad, needless to say if we can keep making regular trips to the beach with mom, everything else will be tolerable. We can tolerate eachother and mom can tolerate us..She LOVES the beach. We talk about all the time how you told us when you get home we're going camping there as long as we want. Just a little "reminder"!

After the beach we took ourselves over to Great Grandma's...We're pretty sure they might never be the same.

They have a pretty house with lots of pretty things. They also have a pretty front yard and a pretty backyard that they work very hard on. We tried to be on our best behavior and didn't do too bad of a job. Mom said though, if we had stayed much longer than we did, things wouldn't have stayed "pretty" for long. We think it had something to do with mom saying great grandma and great grandpa are "fragile" and they like things quiet. Our little "hurricane" brought them plenty of excitement for a while.

We ate out at a couple restaurants. Mom took us to her second favorite place, South Coast Plaza! Lucky for you, we were with her, and Gunnar wasn't in the "shopping" mood. You can thank us later! We rode the merry go round about 10 times and had about 10 snacks...Great Grandma said she never saw so much eating!! We reminded her 3 and 5 year olds eat more and more often than 88 year olds!!

That night we were exhausted but mom still took us to see Toy Story 3. Great movie..a little traumatic near the end but we made it through.

Got up and left everything in it's place,b..a..r..e..l..y!

Next stop?? Where else? The beach in San Diego...Nope, can't get enough. We got home eventually and got back to somewhat of a normal routine..We finished our swimming lessons and mom let us play hookey from preschool the rest of the week..AHHH the life!

Mom's still going to the gym..She's working out with someone who she says makes her feel like she's going to throw up for a couple of days. Doesn't sound fun to us but she says she loves it..oh well, whatever she needs to get along without you is fine with us..She's holding up o.k. She's tired but we don't know if she would know what to do if she wasn't..She loves talking to you on the phone and we know she misses you because she talks about you all the time. We miss you too. We're getting more used to you being gone except when Jess hears a sad song we have to turn it off and when Gunnar see's another dad he wants to know when you're coming home.

We love you dad, and we hope "Assghanistan" is treating you well....

dad, it's been a while since we've written but you'll probably understand when we're done with this conversation.
Last time you read what we were doing Jess had just graduated from preschool and we were planning on starting our busy summer. We talked to you that night and we loved it but it made us miss you even more. Mom has had to make the "busy" in our schedule even busier! If we're not distracted and constantly on the go it seems we miss you a lot and want to know when you are coming home..We will feel better soon but we're having a hard time understanding why you have been gone this long eventhough mom keeps telling us it hasn't been that long..Needless to say, we're in survival mode and mom misses you a lot too. Our temporary new life is hard to get used to it seems lately but we're all trying very hard. We're going to school every day this week but only for a half day..This way we get to go somewhere for a little while and Gunnar doesn't nap which means he won't be up till midnight. Mom has joined a new gym and is going to meet with a trainer who is supposed to "whip her into shape". I guess she really must need to blow off some steam because she's never done that before.
Enough of all that...Let's talk about what we've been doing to distract us from how much we miss you.
Grandma and Grandpa came to visit for a few days after Jessica's graduation..We had a great time.Gunnar went on a couple of jeep rides, a couple of scooter rides and fed a lot of ducks! Jessica went shopping, baked cookies for mom's customers at the beauty shop and we both loved the new slip n slide at grandma and grandpa's house. You know there was a lot of roasted marshmallows inbetween all that too and a sleepover at their house..Very weird for mom but she slept like 9 hours in a row which hasn't happened in months!
They left and then next came Brody's pool party..Great time of course but after that party mom is even more determined to get us swimming lessons which we start by the way this week!
The next day was something called your anniversary??We really could't grasp that idea but mom said it was a good reason to take us to the beach so we were willing to go along with it. Mom said you wrote her a nice email and then called her and you talked for a while before we woke up..Thank you for that because she was happy and smiling all day long! Twelve years sounds like a long time to us and yet we're still trying to figure out why we can't remember this event..Anyways mom says next year hopefully we'll all be camping at the beach when it's your next anniversary and it will be a great celebration...
Brody and Taylor went with us and their mom too.We all slept in the same room and it went surprisingly smooth. However you know that if mom and lori set their mind to getting something done, it will get done and go great! Needless to say we can't wait to do it again and we love that hotel! Mom said it's her new favorite place because you had a great time with her there and now we have too! We can't wait till we can all go together.
This will be a busy week mom says..She has a lot of people that need their hair done before we go on our next trip..She keeps telling us to just be patient while she works because if she does then we can keep going on our beach trips. Next is off to Great Grandma's house in Huntington Beach on Sunday. Mom said we'll need to get away on that day and keep busy. She hasn't told us why yet but she said we will be talking to you for sure that day and we're getting a special package together to send to you.. We miss you dad. We're just plugging along waiting for our hearts to not feel so heavy. Be safe and know that we love you and are very proud of you for staying and working. We have been telling mom to call you and tell you to quit and come home but she says once you start something you finish and another dad will get to come home and see their kids because you are staying there. Stay tuned for more beach pics!