Daddio

My dad came to visit!!!!!!!!!!!  We had the greatest time with him.  My heart is still overflowing with joy from our time together.  We spent a lot of it just showing him around life, playing lots of games, doing puzzles (or for Elliot, doing the SAME puzzle about 1,462 times) reading books, and just being together!!!  This past week was such a gift and we are are so so grateful for him coming and loving on us!  Here are some of the pictures from the week

His welcome committee :)  We were all ready and waiting but then he came through the other gate and snuck up on us.  Elliot was so surprised and happy that he literally could not talk.  He just kept wiggling around in Pop's arms, laughing and beaming!  

There could not be happier boys in the whole world at this moment

Snuggles with Pops

Saturday we spent at the beach playing in the sand, doing ham radio stuff, and hanging out in the kiddie pool at the hotel.  Elliot just had his head covered in sunscreen and his hair was WILD!

Keenan and Pops playing in the waves.  

Just inserting random picture here to go with the one below.  My dad made a new friend!!  This is Joel who is a part fo the ham radio club here in Abidjan.  He helped my dad get a license to operate here and this was taken the day we got to pick it up from him, then he got to use it the day we went to the beach.

One of the coolest parts of the trip was my dad brought a little ham radio that he built, set it up on the beach, and was actually able to talk to someone from Brazil!  After that one contact, he has now talked to people from every continent!  Pretty amazing!!

Sandy face boys!!

Little girl loving the kiddie pool

Eating some chicken, fries, rice, and beans for lunch

All of us at the beach

Sunday we went to church, then to one of our favorite restaurants here, and then off to the pool!!

For some reason, Elliot is terrified of really getting into the water, so we have to take it slow with this guy.  Just some jumps off the steps

Craig and Lucy relaxing

Me and our little gal

Floating.  When did he get so HUGE?!

Keenan, not terrified.

Monday we were off to the market to find some treasures!

The food part of the market

Mmmmmmm.  Hungry, anyone?!

Reading.  Classic Pops picture

Tuesday we stayed home and hung out with this little cheese ball.  We made a guitar  from some trash laying around, and while I was proud of our work, Elliot was only excited for about 30 seconds.  Then he went off to find something new.

My dad brought a bunch of craft stuff for the boys.  These were flexible wax strings that you can mold together.  Elliot made a tree, can you tell?!

On Wednesday we went to a Bible Study at Lycee Clasique, one of the high schools here that we work on to show my dad a bit of ministry.  The boys were very excited about the meeting

The book that my dad is reading to the boys was his from when he was little.  It even has his name written in the inside cover in his little kid cursive :)  Such a fun thing to have

We heard of a miniature golf course here and thought we would give it a shot on Wednesday.  The couse was not so good, but we laughed a lot!  They squeezed 18 holes into the median on a busy street, each of the holes were only concrete and not level at all.  The ball would roll around for quite a long time before finding the bottom of a small hill.  Sometimes it did work to our benefit, however when the hole was at the bottom of a dip!

Elliot never did really get the hang of it

I think that we all tried numerous times to get the ball to go through that little opening.  Even if you hit it super straight, you would hit a bump in the concrete and it would be all over the place.  After this was taken, my dad finally hit the ball perfect, and Elliot started swinging his little legs back and forth.  Right before the ball made it into the opening, Elliot kicked it, and off the green it went!!

This might have been one of the only shots of Keenan actually playing the game.  He just loved running around hole to hole whacking his ball however he liked.  We were the only ones there, so he got to have his fill :)

Just hanging out between holes

Pops helped build a massive train

Thursday we hung around the house and just played.  Had some baseball time in the yard

Wide eyes!  Like he could not even believe he hit the ball that far!!

Keenan's pitching is hard core.  As hard as he can

Batting with Lucy on my hip

Keenan's serious pitching again

Intense

Pops with Lucy girl

My daddio took a little family picture for us!

awwww...

We are so so so thankful for the time we got to spend together!!!!!!!  And now the boys have a count down until we get to see him again!  Only 5 more weeks, and we will be heading back to America for a bit!  It sure did make the good-bye a little easier this time.  Thank you thank you thank you for coming out here, Dad!!!  SEE YOU SOON!!!!!