The Goodall Life: Unabashed Avalon

The story of our time in Avalon is always best illustrated and so with no further adieu........

Jonah and Heather at the beach. Jonah's normally fair self, is even more photosensitive post treatment, so this year he wore a full body swim suit and had a special beach tent for his sand time. We also had a special floating beach wheelchair to help us manage the sand with him. Although the beach was generally too cold for Jonah, the few days he was there he had fun.

What is better than friends at the beach?

Jonah got the chance to play at the playground and tried the world's slowest slide. Seriously, I know were a "safety first" world these days, and now especially do I appreciate a slower slide, but Jonah had to push himself down the slide to get to the bottom. He had fun though, so that's all that matters.

One day it poured rain so we went to an airplane museum. The kids had lots of fun running around getting in and out of planes, helicopters and trucks as well as posing in the open creative cutouts. It was a great way to spend a rainy day. Here's Julia the astronaut and Jonah the gunman.

Julia grabbed the broom on day and started running around saying, "I'm a witch". Because Julia is such a joy, we couldn't help but laugh and take a picture. In the background, Uncle Peter is teaching the masses a new board game.

This year, because we couldn't commit early enough, we ended up in a different house than our friends by ourselves. This new house had a pool, which was revolutionary to our family. The kids ended up wanting to spend more time in the pool than at the beach because the water was warmer and it was protected from the wind. Luckily our friends would come to us for pool time. Having Jonah's central line out for this trip was a blessing beyond words. He took to the water like a fish - without fear or hesitation - and had the most fun I've seen him have in months. The first time he got in the water, my eyes welled up with gratitude for the gift of the ability to be together this trip.

Anna and her pal, Lily at the Avalon Freeze.

Jonah, riding in style

A subset of the 26 children on the trip

When Noah's at the beach, he's in the water. He was a hard one to catch on camera this year as he was always running around and making the most of his trip.

Julia & Liz. Because of everything that this past year has brought, Liz and Margaret joined us in Avalon this year as extra hands. We were so thankful for their help as it allowed us to be in more places at once and really connect with our friends.

Leslie & Jonah at Noah & Brenna's birthday party.

Every year we get a little smarter, and this year we moved Noah & Brenna's annual birthday part to the park. This gave us much more space and the ability to have silly string!