San Juan con't...

I'm finally getting around to post photos (from my big camera) of our vacation to the San Juan Islands.

We had so much fun doing nothing, but enjoying the beautiful landscape, eating yummy seafood and just hanging out together. 

This is our idea of a fun, relaxing vacation.

 This is a lighthouse on Limekiln Bay.

I took this same photo last year, it's just beautiful.

 This part of the hiking trail on Limekiln Bay.

While we were hiking, Jeff struck up a conversation with a photo journalist and he told us the whales would be coming through in about 30 mins!

We were beyond excited and sat ourselves on the rocks and waited..

 It was truly an amazing sight... 

This is our 3rd trip to the San Juans and our 1st time actually seeing whales!

 These are cute little cars you can rent on the island.

Olivia was wanting to drive one of these.

 We went to our favorite little seafood place located on Friday Harbor to get oysters, lots of oysters! Yummy!

 Here's our ferry pulling in to take us to our cabin on Orcas Island.

 The kids love riding on the ferry..

They have puzzles set up to work on while you ride to your destination.

 This was taken early one morning during low-tide. 

Jack loved searching for sea life.

 The tide was so low that we were able to walk out to this little island.

This is where we saw tons of starfish. 

 Having my mom join us was such a special treat.

She loved it too!

If you look close you can see the starfish in the bottom right corner.  

 This is all normally underwater... 

while we were there we were told to hurry before the tide came back in or we would be swimming back.  :)

 We went to Bucks Bay Oyster farm not once, but twice to pick out dinner. 

We were able to pick our own crab, oysters and clams.
We brought them back to our cabin to cook them in white wine and tons of garlic butter. 

I'm not going to mention any names, but a certain someone ate their body weight in clams.  :)

 We hiked up Mt Constitution.

The views were amazing!

 I loved taking photos of the light coming through the trees.

 The roads on the island are so thick and lush.

 Our cabin was located on West Bay and every night we were able to sit out, roast s'mores and enjoy incredible sunsets. 

We can't wait to go back again!

This is truly our favorite vacation destination. 

China Sisters

We made it home from Nashville late Sunday night. 

Lucy and I had SO much fun!

These girls lived together in the orphanage in China.

It's hard to believe they knew each before they knew their parents.

They share a special bond and truly had a great time together. 

I fell in LOVE with Nashville! 

The people, the food, the beauty.

I've told Jeff to look for a job there.  HA!

I took a ton of photos, but here's just a few.

We are moving this weekend into our townhouse, but I'm hoping to get caught up soon.

 Sweet, little Kayley... she has the cutest southern accent you've ever heard.  :)

 Beautiful, sweet Zoe.  This girl is so creative, her art is amazing!

Hoping for another reunion with the rest of group 669 in the future!

Zoom Zoom

I'm trying to catch my breath and catch up on blogging and my photo editing. 

Lucy and I are headed out of town tomorrow to visit a very special friend.

I feel like I just unpacked from the San Juans, now I'm off again.

To top it off... we are moving again.  

We have a found a cute brand new town home to rent for the next year and we need to be out of here by the end of the month. 

I'm starting to feel like a professional mover... :) 

I did have a chance last night and tonight to go out and shoot some photos.

I've been working on this month's photo assignment and I'm working on teaching a basic photo composition for a few friends.  

Rarely is Jack in front of my camera, but last night he was a willing participant. 

Just look at that smile!  

What is it about boys and their mamas?  He still melts my heart. 

This month's photo assignment is motion.

It took me a while to figure this out... 

I think it's funny... Jack says, "it's the ultimate photo bomb.  HA!

I'm going to try to get all my San Juan photos posted when we return.

Lookout Nashville... here we come!

San Juan Islands

We took a mini vacation to the San Juan Islands again this year.

We fell in love with the islands last year and have decided to make this our annual vacation spot. 

The kids love to ride the ferry and look for sea creatures.

We enjoyed whale watching, hiking, eating lots and lots of fresh seafood (oysters, clams and crab), making smore's by the campfire each night and viewing beautiful sunsets. 

We packed a ton of fun into 4 days!

We can't wait to do it again.

These are just some of the photos I took with my Iphone. 

I plan on posting more photos of this beautiful place later this week. 

Birthday catch up...

I realized the other day that I hadn't posted any birthday photos.  

I've feel like I've lost my "mojo" with our move, my moms move and the end of the school year activities. 

The first birthday was Capucines. 

She left days before her 16th birthday and we had a birthday party for her instead of a goodbye party.

 A few days later we celebrated Jack's 12th birthday...

 he requested only one gift, Beats, the headphones, not the vegetable.  :)

Then we celebrated Olivia's 15 birthday with a Marion Berry Pie.

This girl LOVES Marion Berry Pie!