Hello May!

This serves as my first blog for the month of May, and a closer look at Justin's ALC graduation. Since Justin came home from his advanced leader course, we have pretty much stayed on cloud nine. We've also spent quite a bit of time traveling and exploring with Ava bug. This past weekend we celebrated Justin's 25th birthday with good food, good people, and an overall good time, Among exploring, we have been running around trying to get the final touches for Ava bug's birthday decor, and we are trying to fit in a trip to the coast sometime in the next week. I can't believe that my little girl will be two years old in just a matter of days. It honestly feels unreal, so we have definitely enjoyed soaking up all this family time. I remember mentioning that although our family wouldn't be present for Justin's ALC graduation, we would still have a photographer present to capture this career milestone for him; The photographer took pictures of the brief ceremony from start to finish, so I thought I'd share some of those images with you at the close of this post.

Getting back to our normal was extremely easy, but it did present a few challenges. The challenges were more so with Ava, and I know they kind of got Justin in an emotional place. The first couple of days he was back, she couldn't get enough of daddy. She wanted to hold his hand, give him kisses, pretty much she didn't want him to leave her side. Justin and I started cuddling and being affectionate (like normal), and it was then that Ava started giving him the cold shoulder. Getting her to give "lovins" to daddy was more challenging, she didn't want him to bathe her, or lay her down for sleep, without me. It was frustrating because we'd never really dealt with this before. I was pleased with how patient Justin was, and we worked through it in a matter of just a few days. I'm pleased to report that pretty much everything (including our schedule), has gone back to the way it was before he left us back in March.

I try to remind myself that Justin leaving is going to be apart of our lives for a long time, so it's best to get a system down pat now. Moving forward, I'm really glad we won't be separated like this again for a long while. Block leave is coming up in just over a month, and two weeks of full on daddy time is definitely what this family needs. I'm excited to spend time with our extended family in California that i literally haven't seen in years. These next few months should be one for the books (largely because it may be our last summer in the state of Washington), and I can't wait to share our experiences with all of you. Aside from blogging, I've been telling/capturing stories with my camera, I absolutely love it! I'm started to get back in the groove of taking my camera with me everywhere, so stay posted for some of those pictures!

Photo cred: VSP

♥- Leilani