Old Houses and Good Friends

This weekend we went back to our old hometown, spent time with some good friends, drove by our old house, and visited our old church. It was kind of surreal. So much was totally the same, and so much was completely different. Our old house is really cute. Cuter than when we lived there, to be honest. It's good to see that it's getting some love and attention. I didn't even recognize the house I grew up in because it was so different. Then we drove one neighborhood over. The kids asked if this is why we moved. The answer? No, we moved because of Daddy's job. But this is why we'll never move back. That neighborhood is sketchy with a capital S. I'm glad we drove through it. It helped to keep the nostalgia from getting out of hand.

If we ever do move back to California, it will be because of Daddy's job. And people like these--my beautiful friend Vienne and three of her four kids. Well, we like her oldest, Jacob, too, but he was at church with his girlfriend. And we adore her husband Paul as well, but someone had to take the picture.

Mason has grown a foot since we last saw him. Seriously. A foot. As in 12 whole inches.

These crazy kids stayed up till 1 in the morning! And then got up and went to church together. My favorite comment came from Colin: "I didn't know all you had to do was say you were a Radcliffe and everybody would know who you are!" Yeah, well, when you have 6 kids, you kind of make a splash, whether you want to or not. You can't exactly slip 6 kiddos into the children's program without somebody noticing!
Now the real reason for our visit to Californ-i-ay has to do with a dog named Nana. More about her later.