Thursday was SUCH a great day with so many fun spots (and one REALLY crappy one). I had a surprise planned for Thursday night that had been in the works for months and as the day went on I just kept getting more and more excited about it.

First, I woke up at 5:15. And had gone to bed past midnight. UGH! Why body why?! (I know why – that is when I normally get up). So I got up and worked on a blog post and downloaded photos and did a few things until Val got up and we went for a walk with Dad around 7:00 and walked almost 4 miles.

Dad, me, Val

When we came back we had cake for breakfast! Val said it’s just like having a muffin or donut, and honestly, I can’t argue with that logic! (I just can’t get over how good cake from Pie, Pie My Darling is. I picked up this cake June 30 and it’s been frozen since then and it’s still the best cake I’ve ever had! I was so excited to surprise Val with it – we had been discussing this cake since last year.)

Val and me and CAKE!

Ugh. Then the really bad part of the day. I got on my work call and it ran long and was a complete disaster and I was a crying mess and my snister consoled me (I took the call at her house).

When we got back to the main house it was close to lunch time and everyone had been painting and hanging out all morning. I felt like taking a shot or something, but my snis suggested a hot chai so I had that instead. Good idea, snis.

Val, me, Mom, and Tiff

I started to feel better as I chatted and hung out with everyone. It was so nice to just sit and paint and chat. We had leftover pizza and sandwiches for lunch, and painted some more, then got the boat out just after 3:00 to go to the beach.

Me, William, and Tiff’s son

Will (my brother-in-law) and me

It was actually on and off overcast and a bit windy, so not super hot at the beach, but it felt absolutely lovely to just sit there and chat and eat and goof around and take photos and be silly. What a treat to have so many relaxing parts of the day after such a stressful one in the morning.

Tiff, Val, Snis (Christina), and me

We got back at 6:00 and I instructed everyone to be back to the house at 6:30 for a golf cart ride to Abel Island because Abel Island has a grass air strip and… Steven has been working on getting his pilot’s license since April (specifically so we can fly to Guttenberg! More on all that in another post!?!?)! He flew in with his instructor (and another instructor who wanted to come along), went on a boat ride, ate dinner with us, and flew back! The flight(s) counted for cross country and night hours he needs! And he wore foggles on the way in.

I had told most of my friends about Steven working on getting his license, but not my family – we wanted to surprise them! And it was so fun to! I had the dumbest grin on my face, waiting for Steven to land.

I hadn’t seen him fly yet so that was really cool too. The instructors offered to have me go up with him sometime, and I’m excited to!

Steven and his instructor Josh, another instructor Lily, and Leo

After they came in and went out for a boat ride, we made Mexican food for dinner – crunchwraps, guacamole, sauteed onions and peppers, and crisp rounds (potatoes). It was fun making everyone crunchwraps! It’s one thing I feel like I know how to make.

After dinner we went back out to watch Steven fly away, then came back and cleaned up. We went outside to see all the stars in the dark (there is very little light pollution here), then painted and chatted for a bit. And… I went to bed close to 1:00. Oops? I was just excited from having such a (mostly) great day!