Sea Creatures.

(That would be the Armstrongs.)

We have something intense tugging at us.

It constantly feels like we are being pulled, pulled, pulled westward. Dragged there. Yanked right along I-80, past coastal hills, over a long bridge, through a big city. And we end up in a little town called Pacifica. We can't even help it.

We can only go so long without visiting the ocean. Richie has long been like this. Bethany has caught Pulled Disease by living with someone who has a highly contagious case.

So although Richie is determined to get this PhD done, and has worked like crazy on it, he got a really bad case of The Tugs and took this past Saturday off.


This was the first time we dared take Zeke in the car for more than about 20 minutes. We made sure Zeke was super tired first, and then arranged for him to sleep in the car. Thanks to Mom in the back seat and some really elastic milk producers, everyone remained buckled while Zeke nursed right to sleep. You should try it sometime. It's pretty crazy.



Meanwhile, Luke remained mum--literally, nothing more than a whisper--for more than 45 minutes. Did you just read that? Yes, it's true. We were flabbergasted. He sat there looking at his books the whole time. WHAT????!!!



"I'm awaaaake!"



"And look at my two bottom teeth!"



Zeke woke up just in time for a stop at Krispy Kreme. Let's just say that when the word "donut" was mentioned by Dad, Luke wasn't exactly quiet anymore.



Eating a donut is a very, very serious feat.



By the grace of God and without any crying, we made it safely to the ocean. Zeke, meet Pacific Ocean. Pacific Ocean, meet Zeke.



Time for another Zekersnooze. This time he fell asleep instantly in the papoose. The older two men dug a brilliant sand chair for Mommy, at a 45-degree incline. So there the mama and the baby slept.



Well, the mama tried to sleep. The view from her sandchair was too cute not to keep her eyes open.



Any time and any place are the right time and the right place for baseball.






Happy, overexposed boys in the stroller.



So they're not always happy in the stroller. Tired? Hungry?



Hungry. Rockin' Rob's Diner. Remind us never to take a tired two-year-old to a restaurant ever again. This picture hints at why.



Zeke tends to be a pretty SteadyEddy kind of kid, and he just hangs out.



So after our diner dinner gone awry, a beautiful hotel room awaited us; and Luke got to sleep on a chair! Lucky boy! He only woke up a few times... <:-\



Sunday Morning Brotherhood.



Wishing this picture wasn't blurry. But man, these boys are so stinkin' happy together.



Ocean view? Overrated. The really exciting thing about the hotel was that it had new curtains to hide in. "Wheeeere's Luuuukeyyyy?"



It was also exciting to sleep in a king-sized bed. Zeke didn't know what to do with all the space.



Chipper little man on Sunday morning.



Daddy reintroduces Zeke to his new pal, Pacific Ocean.



Okay. The hat is too much.



Pretty much fatherhood bliss.



Fatherhood bliss, continued.



Continued.



Sword fight!



Bye-bye, ocean! 'Til next time...