<data:blog.pageTitle/>

I missed my children so much. They had been at their Dad's for two weeks. I picked them up on Thursday after I went to the gym. Now that is pure joy. PURE JOY. I had a movie theater gift card a student had given me for an end of year gift. It was burning a hole in my pocket. We went to see Tarzan. Two words. GOOD CHOICE.

How does someone even get abs like that? He probably doesn't eat carbs. Sigh. I give the movie two thumbs up. I liked the female role too, she was feisty.

We only have a few days of summer vacation left. I feel really good about this upcoming year. I also want to do a few fun things with my kids before putting our noses to the grindstone. So today we had an adventure.

We packed a lunch.

I didn't tell the kids where we were going, I just said wear a swimsuit and tennis shoes.

We drove north through Payson to Tonto Natural Bridge. It was an easy hike for all of us and a great way to disconnect. We listened to Harry Potter 4 all the way there and all the way back.

We sat and ate homemade peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and apples. My kids ran around and played in the cool air under the bridge and as I sat there and watched them I thought, "There is nothing better than this." There is nothing better than watching your kids be strong, brave, and play. To just be kids. Aydan is climbing in this picture but in the corner there is a cool pool of water. I watched the light trickle from the sky and highlight the ripples of water. They winked at me and I felt like this was a perfect moment in a perfect day. All of the tension in my body left. I resolved to do more fun things like this and to be outside in nature with my kids. It was well with my soul.

There is a water hole at the end of the hike and it is ice cold and sooooo refreshing. We all got in and cooled down before we hiked out.

We drove home and I took a long two hour nap. I then woke up to make dinner. Ellie insisted on cooking so I let her. I supervised...she made waffles and did an awesome job.

Then I had them both working in the kitchen. Ellie was peeling carrots and Aydan was whipping up some fresh, homemade hummus. We then left for a walk to catch Pokemon but there was a haboob. So we went to the school to feed the guinea pigs and stopped at Sprout's to get some fresh veggies.