Showing posts with label Vacation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Vacation. Show all posts

Hello, Spring!


I honestly didn't think that I would like living in the south.  It's far from home, hot in the summer, and a totally different culture, right?  Well, yes, but it's far more than that!  The people here are friendly, the pace is more laid-back than the north, and they get Spring in March!!  I think I can and am getting used to this place :).

However, as much as I like the south, there still is no place like home!  And that's where I get to spend next week!  Spring break is here, and I get to travel the long way home - road trip, here I come!  I'm bringing a good friend from school who will get to stay in dear old Pennsylvania for the first time - I'm excited to show her all around my home town :).  

Tonight it's packing time, and then tomorrow after morning classes we will head out.... I can't wait!!! 

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...of songs and swells, sun and sand...


No, no, I have not dropped off the face of the earth :).  I have only been busily engaged in various tasks and various places and have not had the time nor the internet to update this little blog.  But here I am again, trying to catch up with my work hitherto left undone, wistfully remembering the week we just spent in paradise-on-earth.

Michigan is a place we vacation every year (I think I've only missed one year in my entire life) and it holds so many memories.  Spending a week on a beautiful private beach with precious family really can't get much better. 

I have so many pictures to go through, from finishing up wedding pictures to the senior pictures I took of two of my cousins just a couple days ago, so for now I'll leave you with this, one of my favorite pictures of the week.


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Maine!



We get to go here tomorrow.  

The great, beautiful state of Maine.  We've all been looking forward to this for sooo long, and can't wait to just get there!!! 



See ya later!!
 

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The Beach!

We had a great time at the beach two weeks ago!  The whole week was great, even though the weather at the beginning wasn't the best.  The first couple days the red flags were up, so unfortunately the ocean was off limits,
but we found lots of things to do besides swimming in the ocean,

and just enjoyed being together :).

Mr. Smith {and his shoes!} played basketball with us :).


Dave is so adorable!!





Mrs. Smith playing "hostess" at the huge house near where we were staying!

Up on the lighthouse (I made it all the way up to the top, Mr. C, but facing my fear didn't seem to take it away....)

More cuteness :)

A sunrise beach-walk


We saw sooo many dolphins this year!  There were probably hundreds of them passing by one evening....


So ever since I saw a silhouette that one of my classmates took at IPS, I've wanted to get a good one myself.  However, I didn't think it would be as easy as it looked, so when I saw the boys standing in front of the water towards late afternoon, I snuck behind them and soon decided to try to get a silhouette.  I was sooo excited when I got this!!  I loved the fact that it was a silhouette, but I also really liked the message that it portrayed - if you know anything about how much Pete looks up to Ben, I feel like this picture totally captures that.
After capturing the candid shot, I got them involved and had them write with their hands. ("What can we spell with only two people?"  "Yo!!"  :D)
Then we enlisted Samuel, and got WoW :).  (Or, according to the boys, it is also a face. {It took me a minute to see it!} :P)  Needless to say, I was ecstatic!
Later on with Elizabeth A., we dragged the boys back to the beach to be our jumping models :).  They didn't turn out as well as I'd hoped, but I loved Ben's pose in this ;D


We had sea kayaks this year, which was great fun!  I've never kayaked on the ocean before, but I enjoyed them ;).

Epic candid pose :).
We adventured into the unknown parts of the sand dunes searching for wild horses, but although we found really pretty places, we never found the horses....
 
Our towel creations!

Crabbing!!

More adorable-ness :)


Trying to catch a seagull :)
 
 
 
At IPS I learned about lens-flipping (which makes you able to take macro pictures, which I love!), so Liz and I tried it on the prickly thorns that covered the "grass"
 
Our group - you guys are the best!!

- a week in michigan -





Beach walks, glen roads, sand, ice cream, the little stone church, hymn sings, family, laughing, blueberries, cherry point market, the lighthouse....the perfect vacation :).

Here are a few pictures from our trip - they don't convey how special the trip was by any means, but they're a start!  


(By the way, sorry for the lateness of the post.  The past weeks have been so crazy!!  With road trips, learning how to sail, wedding photography {and all the work that comes after the weddings!}, Heidi being on break, and just helping around the house, I've had trouble keeping up with everything!  Hopefully I'll do a better job now, but you never know :).)

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A Sneak Peek.....


...of our trip to Michigan!! Leaving tomorrow, we are heading up to spend a week with our grandparents and cousins!!! I love it up there, and can't wait to see family, pick blueberries (hopefully!), have fun in the sun on the beach, take walks to the lighthouse, play crolf, and so much more! Lord willing, I'll be posting pictures from this year's trip when I get back....

But for now, adios!


"To our God and Father be glory for ever and ever. Amen."
~ Philippians 4:20 ~

Maine


Maine. What a wonderful state to vacation in! We had such a nice time there this past week, and although it is good to be home, it was a lot of fun to be there too! The weather was rather chilly and overcast most of the week, but where we go {on the "pond"} there are other things to do besides swim and have fun in the sun.

Like reading, for example. We always take up a box full to overflowing of books, and although we don't ever finish them all, it's so nice to be able to sit down and read a book all afternoon, and the next, and the next, if you want to.... :) We also play a lot of games, like Double Deck, Trouble, Parcheesi, Colorku {a great game! - like sudoku only in board game form}, etc.

Grandma is always up there with us {none of us can imagine being there without her!}, and Aunt Jayme usually manages to take a day or two off work to come up as well. They add so much fun and laughter to our trip!

We hold to a lot of traditions while we are there as you will see in a minute, but we enjoy them all, year after year :).

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We got two kayaks a couple years ago, and they have been well used ever since. Weber Pond is a great lake to paddle around on :). Jesse uses them the most of any of us though, and he was out in them often.


Our incredibly nice neighbors gave us a ride in their speed boat {we only have a little rowboat with a motor attached}, and the dad even gave Jesse the chance to drive for a bit :). Jesse loved it....



Gifford's Ice Cream is one of the {best} ice cream places ever! They have four or five different locations in Maine, and we managed to go to several of them during our week-long stay ;). Yum!


We also played putt-putt, another Maine family tradition.


Another tradition, started two years ago, is having a graduation ceremony for whoever is graduating. Since that was me this year, Aunt Jayme baked blueberry pies, Daddy made me a hat and gown {very sophisticated, right?!} and gave a speech, which meant so much to me! The whole evening, complete with smiles, tears, and sparklers, delivered a grand end to my years in school. (special thanks to Jesse for the picture!)


Every year we take a day trip to the Pemaquid Point lighthouse and then go to Shaw's restaurant for lunch, a tradition that we continued this year. Even though it was different than most years because the usually clear, blue skies were overcast and gray, the day was still fun and enjoyable.



The only thing missing in this picture is...Heidi..... :(


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Here are a couple miscellaneous pictures that I took....





The morning we left, Mommy pointed out the sunlight sparkling on the water, and I grabbed my camera and started snapping away. The little starbursts in the water were so amazing!


Despite the cool weather and the discovery that our water {which we knew not to drink, but brushed our teeth in and did dishes in and cooked food in} had e-coli in it, our time in Maine was still memorable and fun. I can't wait to go back next year!!


P.S. I tried to change my comment settings, so now even if you don't have a google email account, I think you can still post a comment. If it still doesn't work, please email me and let me know and I'll see what I can do about it!