While Mike was gone...

  Did I mention Mike was gone for 10 days?  During the summer...like when all 4 children are home ALL the live long day?  I napped multiple days during the time he was gone.  #fourkidswow

Here is a little bit of what we did.  10 days is a long haul!

  The morning he left, I got us all out of the sad/mad funk by letting them help make applesauce.  We have one of those apple peeler and slicer jigs that suctions to your countertop to make the process quicker.  They LOVE to do that and before you knew it we had a huge pot of applesauce cooking.

  Shortly after, I was given a special present wrapped in a blankie from Ava.  It was none other than my own shoes!  That she insisted I wear.  Haha.

  Post-dinner plays put on by the children

 Our weekly beach day!  Joel LOVES boogie boarding now too!

 Boogie boarding with human friends and sea lion friends.

Uh-oh, what happened to Hannah?  Haha!

  We stayed till 5 or 5:30 that day and we ate ice cream before dinner.  YOLO!  And Daddy's not home!

  Went to the pool every day, because swim team is still going on!

  Went to the doctor for Hannah after I passed on my summer long bout of bronchitis.  One little kiddie took a burst of 191 photos of another little kiddie and both kiddies laughed the whole time.  It was so fun trying to listen to the doctor at the same time!

  But gosh darn it, he is cute!

  As a weekend hurrah, since I had to really prove myself superwoman, the following all happened in one day.  We left the house at 6:30 AM to get to a swim meet, we left the swim meet at about 1pm to get to a birthday party in Emeryville (aka Really Far Awayville) at 2pm.  After realizing the birthday party was so far away, I proceeded to check in with our friends who moved really far away from us to see if they were around for a quick visit and so I could meet their new baby!  Lucky for me, they were, so after the birthday party, we went and had dinner with our friends in Lafayette!  We got home as the sun was setting around 8:45.  Whew!  What a day!

 This is a really awesome and gorgeous back drop for a pool, but spectator viewing was LACKING!  The kids however, had a great meet and that's what counts!

Birthday party at this fun gymnastics gym!

Dinner with our friends!!

 Little photoshoot of their little guy!!!!!

Enjoying their backyard!

  We have one last fun activity before Mike gets home that I plan to share about, but let me just say it here.  I freaking did it!!  I have done a 10 day stint before, but that was during school and was not easy, but it was different.  I feel like I am still recovering, in the sense that I just want silence.  Lots and lots of silence in my ears and mind.

  I usually shrug off any notion of someone saying that I am a supermom of any sort, but after 10 days of this, I will wear those titles as a crown!