paradise in paradise valley

this friday the kids and i went to paradise valley to support my girlfriend with a fundraiser her students were putting on. my girlfriend, becky, is an awesome awesome woman. she's in my small group, and she just is a big ball of love. she loves her family, she loves her job, she loves Jesus, she just loves. she's all kinds of wonderful.
so, this year, she has had a huge task to raise tens of thousands of dollars so that she and two other teachers can take a hand full of students to hawaii next year, as they have been selected to represent Arizona for a Pearl Harbour ceremony. it's an honour and a burden. a very expensive burden. and it's made all the worse since becky's students are on the lower end of the socioeconomic line. but these kids are trying very hard to raise money and to have fun doing it.
they have already held a number of fundraisers, and this week they had a little fair at their school. so i decided to take the kids and go. i didn't really know where paradise valley was, but i heard it was near scottsdale, and i've been to scottsdale plenty of times, so i didn't think it could be too bad. until i started driving. and didn't stop for about 40 minutes. and it was amazing to think that my friend becky makes this drive twice a day five days a week. yowsers. that's true love for her job- she goes the distance. and i was driving opposite to where traffic was, so i can only imagine her drive is actually longer than mine was.
the fair was quaint and cute, and PERFECT for my kids. they thought they were in paradise. and i guess they kind of were. ah to be two and three! give these kids some face paint, cupcakes, and some bouncy houses, and the world is a darn good place to live.