hugs & pumpkins

Two posts in one week!

Yesterday, we visited Cox Farms in Virginia with my best friends Elizabeth and Mary Kate! Can I tell you how special it is to be able to see my girls any time I want?! We've been apart for many years, and so we like to get together now as often as our schedules allow. Mary Kate and Elizabeth waited patiently for us to arrive after some icky traffic.

Emma and Charlotte were having the time of their lives. I don't think they stopped smiling the entire time. We ladies commented that we could have sat and watched them play all day. :)

I'm sure you'll see from the photos how great our day was. It's absolutely gorgeous here - fall is blooming, and I've waited a LONG time to enjoy these colors and the cooler air. Oh Happy Fall!

Oh yes! I almost forgot to mention that you'll notice my fancy shmancy watermark. What do you think?

Emma calls down to Charlotte: "Hey Charlotte! I'll help you up!"


Squeals and giggles all around...

Ring a round the rosy.....

pocket full of posies...

ashes...ashes...we all....fall...

...DOWN!


Emma and Charlotte perfecting their sorority "lean-in" during snack time:


Taking turns pulling each other in the flower carts..



sliding down the slide together..


Then it was time to do a little shopping. Emma wanted to buy some "baby pumpkins"

and Charlotte wanted some delicious kettle corn. When Elizabeth asked her how she was going to pay for it, she said, "mommy give me money!" So here she is with mommy's wallet :)



Then it was time for more hay time!

LOTS of hugs and kisses this day. I am so excited about their friendship. I'm thinking summer Europe backpacking trip in 2018?? :)

Finally...we have handsome AJ, who was perfectly content to watch the action enthusiastically. I would have gotten a bunch of awesome shots of AJ and his sister, but in my haste I didn't realize that my auto focus accidentally switched to manual focus during his series (slaps forehead). I'm so sorry, AJ! We'll get you next time I promise!! :)

Catalina!

I still have photos from July to post (and yes, I realize it's October!) but I did want to post a slideshow from our trip to Catalina before we left San Diego. We had never been and I am SO glad we went! Our fantastic neighbors Chris & Jean invited us to go and we had a blast (we miss you guys!!)

Catalina Island was once the weekend destination belonging to the Wrigley family (as in Wrigley gum!) The island was entirely theirs and slowly, it came to be knowns as a playground for the rich & famous in Southern California during the first part of the century. People would take a ferry to the island, to dance the night away at the penthouse casino. In the 80's, the family sold off a large portion of the island to the local government as a tourist destination and the island exploded.

There are SO many fun things to do there - snorkeling, hiking, shopping, beaching and just enjoying the Mediterranean-like setting. I wish we'd had more time, because I definitely would have gone back again!

Pals in Portland

This past weekend I went to Portland (OR) to visit my best friend, Mary Kate. It was also my first night away from Emma. The time just felt right, and I really wanted to see MK8 before we both left the west coast. We had a great time, and Portland is a beauuuuutiful place - so lush and green. It reminded me a lot of home. I got to meet her friends, and see her apartment, ate yummy food and wine, went hiking at the Gorge and we shared lots of fun memories and laughs. MK is moving back east soon too, so along with our BFF Elizabeth, we'll all be reunited! Trouble! :)

Emma did great and had a blast with her Dada. She was happy and rested and excited to see me when I got back in time to celebrate Mother's Day with my family!

Maternity Shoot!

I am working on a photo blog, but for the meantime this is the only place I can post. I drove up to L.A. last Friday to take pictures of Monique's 38-week belly! She looks amazing, what a model to have for my first maternity shoot. She and Carter had a blast putting up with all my 'posing'. We finished up at the beach at sunset. Not a bad life this kid's coming into :)

Enjoy!

Celebrating Babies!

I had the honor this weekend, of attending my friend Monique's baby shower. Roger, Emma and I drove up to L.A. so that we could make a fun day out of it. It was a GORGEOUS, warm, sunny day and we enjoyed getting out of SD (which is rare for us, sadly).

This was also my first official photo shoot! Don't get me wrong, I didn't do this for any money, because I wanted to practice what it would be like to actually document a whole event. Luckily, I think I did ok. I was honored to be a guest, and even more honored to capture it for Monique's baby girl coming in about a month!

Monique and I went to high school together (in Ecuador!) We reconnected through Facebook, and before we met for lunch in November, I hadn't seen her in almost 15 years! Wow! Gotta love the internet.

Without further ado, here are my shots (complete with editing, thanks to my current photo class!) :)

Happy Halloween!! We had a great Halloween, and our neighborhood totally came alive!! Wow! I think every single house within a 6 block radius was open and welcoming. Tons of kids at all ages everywhere. How fun!

We went trick-or-treating with the twins up the street - Lily (ladybug) and Jorin (dinosaur). Emma has never been afraid of anything in her life. But that dinosaur costume really got to her. She was scared for a good half hour. She finally warmed up to him, just in time for us to hit the neighborhood haunted house!

Emma is giving Lily a kiss. She is getting really good at that! We are also working on giving hugs too. Mom's nerdy costume was Pippy LongWitch. Not terribly creative, but it was the best I could come up with!

Emma is the walker in the group, so getting a picture of all three of them together is not an easy task!

This haunted house was AMAZING! The owners spent the better part of the last month putting it all together. It was a full maze through their backyard (although you could barely tell you were in their backyard)- they had floors, walls and ceilings completely covered with halloween decorations, lights, sounds, etc. I would have LOVED this as a kid!! Emma was fascinated by all the lights. It was kid-friendly so nothing jumped out at you. It was really cool!

Saying goodbye to the talking head before we left! Trick or Treat!!