The Raining and the Pouring...

I'm looking out my window right now and it is bucketing down outside...so cool! I was just remarking to Isaac how every season I am convinced that that season is my very favorite (with the exception of winter of course, which is a tad too cold for my liking), but then the next season starts to bud and I remember how very much I love the next season as well. And this year is no different. I love the sunshine and warmth of summer, but this past week has been gray and blustery and I am now so excited for the falling leaves, the rains, the brilliant oranges and yellows, the cool, crisp, clear days that only fall brings, the sweaters and mugs of coffee. God did a good thing when he gave us seasons that change all year long. The rains of fall are bringing even more adventure to Isaac's and my lives as we have decided to continue biking everywhere until the snows fall and the roads become icy, which means we'll be riding through a lot of rainy days on our way to and from work. Not a problem, though, as the drowned rat look is one of my personal favorites :)
Well, we're home! And it's great to finally have the same home. The wedding was a wonderful, intimate gathering of family and a few close friends at a beautiful old historic home up here in the 'ham. It was just what we wanted and so much fun! We won't have all the pictures for a while, but when we get them, we'll be sure to share them with you guys. We headed down to Ocean Beach in California for our honeymoon and spent a lot of time just relaxing on the beach, exploring on our bikes, taking walks, and playing with the animals at the zoo. Isaac made a couple pretty incredible sandcastles and succeeded in wowing the under-seven crowd with his masterful designs. It was fun to see the little tykes ooohing and ahhhing and dragging their dads over to let them play with us and our sandcastle. Interesting fact of the day for you - Southern Californians apparently really, really like the single-speed bicycles. Up here, road bikes and mountain bikes are huge and the more gears you have, the better the bike is. But down there, everyone (literally everyone) was riding these one-speed cruisers around. It was a nice touch to get to bike around while we were down there, and the cruisers turned out to be a lot of fun, but going up hills is definitely more of a challenge when you only have one gear. The week away was nice, but we were ready to be back in the northwest by the end of it. No more hot, sticky days and smoggy air for us...we love the trees and fresh beauty up here! We came home and opened presents, and then spent the rest of the afternoon and the entire next day putting together our house, unpacking Isaac's things, putting away the new gifts, throwing away all the wrapping paper strewn all over the floor (as you can see, that was quite the job on its own), running errands, things like that. And the best part of it all? Isaac didn't have to go home to sleep at the end of the day. He already was home. And that, sigh, is a wonderful advantage to married life, my friends. Well, there will be more tales to come, but work is calling my name right now. Happy weekend!