I feel so blessed to be a part of Rekindle once again.
I've made the journey to Laguna Beach so many times now, I now know how to plan pit-stops at all the Starbucks along the way of this 12-plus hour trip.
For Joe & I, this makes our 8th consecutive year at Laguna Beach Christian Retreat; its Rekindle's 7th year; and believe it or not, at only 5 years old, this was Alathea's 6th year (she was a mere 3 weeks old on her 1st trip). We are blessed indeed to see God powerfully work year in and year out in these college students lives. What a pure joy to watch!
This was Ava's first trip to the beach.I had high hopes for her, as she is a Lechner, but she was not at all in love with the beach!
This was disappointing :) I'm hoping she quickly changes her mind before her next trip in May.
I cannot complain though...overall she was an amazing baby, especially during the car ride there and back. We'd forget she was in the car, except for her occasional happy sigh!
This is how little bean preferred to spend her beach days.
I can't say I minded too much!
pretty Abigail...
I adore her beach weather curly hair
The big sisters were troopers as well. They were a little less than happy about the loooong car ride (especially an unnamed middle child), but the torturous journey was immediately forgotten when they caught sight of their beloved beach! The first words of Alathea's mouth when we stepped on the sand was "this smells like home". Thats my girl, a total beach bum.
This is Abi's "happy beach dance". No joke...she'll tell you!
can't beat waking up to this view from your balcony
Daddy and his girls
The only bummer this year was the much colder temps than we are typically used to.
Thankfully this didn't stop my girls (or the rest of the M28 crew) from enjoying the beach most days.
Until one afternoon the thunderstorm of all thunderstorms rolled through!
Look at the BLACK sky in this picture!
The beach cleared out quite quickly as this storm came through...
But even thunderstorms can't stop this happy crew from enjoying the week.
I'm bummed to have not taken more pictures of the incredible meetings, hilarious Rekindle cup games and the many, many people we loved on this trip. On a week like this, with so many unfamiliar faces, Ava becomes quite the Momma's girl...making one-handed pictures hard to come by. We were incredibly blessed to have our friend Emily, who is a senior in high school, come along this year to help with the girls and to watch them during the morning and evening session so I can attend. It makes a trip like this with 3 kiddos possible! We are so grateful for her.
Another sweet year.
Lord willing many more to come...and maybe I'll be blessed to see all that God does yet again.
Until then, its beautiful gulf-coast beach dreams for me!
