My husband has been deployed for the past few months and when we were within 3 weeks of his return, I foolishly told the girls that "Daddy would be home soon." Seeing as they are 2 and 3, their comprehension of the term "soon" was only loosely based on an actual time continuum. Our days were consumed with tears as they repeatedly asked if Daddy would be home tonight, tomorrow morning, will he ever return, what if I make him a yummy cake? My eldest usually wakes up early, exclaiming "Happy Morning Day!" but instead, I'd go check on her and find this:

Needless to say, our hearts couldn't handle it anymore, so I decided to pack the girls in the van and head out to visit all of the grandparents! Our first stop was just outside of Memphis where we celebrated their uncle's birthday, fed catfish in the lake, and visited the zoo.

After spending a few days there, we piled into the van again and drove to Pensacola, FL, my hometown. We spent most of our time at the beach where the girls chased seagulls and pretended to be a lifeguard like Mommy (in her past life). We also treated ourselves to cheeseburgers at a favorite local joint!

After Pensacola, we drove down to Tampa with their uncle to go play at Busch Gardens with their cousin! I didn't dare to bring my camera into the park, so no shots of them but rest assured that they had a fantastic time ;-) After making the three day drive back to Oklahoma, we only had a couple of days to wait for Daddy to come home...

We promptly hit the road again soon after he came home and took a couple of weeks to explore the Southwest. We went to San Antonio, Marfa, Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Ouray, and Mesa Verde and it was truly one of the best vacations of my life! I shot 5 rolls of film and just sent them off to my lab today...I cannot wait to get the scans back. Be ready for a large photo share in a couple of weeks!