Double Happiness

Black & White Wednesday: Simple pleasures

I spent most of the day dragging mattresses from one room of my house to another (swapping bedrooms) and finally relaxed at the kitchen table to enjoy some of the season's most delicious cherries and a nice chilled glass of my new favorite wine, Moscato.  Ahhhhh..... so nice!

 

I processed this photo using my new Florabella actions.  This one is from the Luxe collection and is called "Mink".  I am really LOVING Shana's photoshop actions!  I tried all of them on this photo and liked Mink and Gypsy best.  Here's Gypsy:

 

I took this photo at the kitchen table but didn't like the distracting background (my messy family room) so I grabbed an old poster and propped it up on the chair and it served as the perfect backdrop.  I like what it does for these photos!  Just curious tho... does anyone recognize the famous painting on the poster I used?  :)

____________________________________________________________

For more Black & White Wednesday fun, check out The Long Road to China.
More of our Black & White Wednesday posts here:  Black & White Wednesday

Someone turned six!

Thirty six days after Gwen did it, Maddy finally turned six years old too.  It was a happy day but it was a very long time coming.  In fact, Maddy couldn't have been more annoyed about the dreadfully slow passage of time even if a ticking cuckoo clock was duct-taped to her head.  One that announced the arrival of each new hour by opening a trap door and producing a remarkably authentic looking miniature replica of Gwen (dressed as a bird, of course) that struts around shaking her tail feathers while singing a little taunting tune about how cool it is to be six years old. 

Yeah, 864 long hours of that.

So the day arrived and Maddy was pretty excited!  The first thing she did was run into the bathroom and look at her teeth in the mirror because (even though I've clarified this many times) she was still under the impression that her baby teeth would suddenly pop right out of her mouth when she turned six.  After verifying that they were all still present, she looked a bit disappointed but just as quickly seemed relieved.   

We never celebrated Gwen's birthday because she turned six the day we boarded our cruise ship in Italy.  We were jet lagged and there were no presents or cake on the ship so we promised her that we'd celebrate after we got home.  We meant to do it before Maddy's birthday but our schedules have been so busy (with the sailing weekend in San Diego and my weekend in Bethlehem) that time sneaked up on us and we ended up combining their birthday celebrations.  Even though Maddy would have LOVED to have a day all to herself, it would have really pained her to have Gwen get one first.  So this really worked out for the best.  Maybe next year it can be different.

Here are the pretty birthday girls!

Something funny:  While I'm writing this post, the girls are splashing and playing in the pool and a few minutes ago I heard them spitting water at one another.  I hollered over the top of my laptop that they shouldn't put the pool water in their mouth "because it has butts in it!"  And now they're cracking up and chanting about there being butts in the pool.  

I think age 6 is going to be a delightful age!

Black & White Wednesday: Photography Workshop

I just got back from Pennsylvania where I participated in an awesome photography workshop hosted by Lisa (the originator of Black and White Wednesday).  This just might be my FAVORITE Black and White Wednesday post ever!

Here's our leader, Lisa.  It was incredibly hot and humid in Bethlehem, PA.  The heat index this day was 115 but you'd never know it to look at Lisa.  Isn't she lovely?  And a beautiful personality to match!  It's almost impossible to believe that in less than one month, she's going to finally have her referral from China.  Yes, that was a very very LONG road to China, my friend!

One of the best things about this workshop (other than learning what the buttons on my camera do) was being able to meet many of my long-time blogger friends in person.  I'm so grateful to Lisa for making this possible and making it fun too!     

 

There were models for us to practice our newly taught photography skills but I preferred to photograph the behind-the-scenes action.  You know, get the story behind the pics of the models...

This boy really enjoyed all of this attention.   :)

When we were finished taking photos for the day, he poured some water on his head and ruffled up his hair and asked me to take his photo so he could look at the camera and see what he looked like.  I love spontaneous photos -- especially of children.  They're so much better than posed photos.

This little boy was four years old.  He was soooo stinkin' adorable!  I loved his ratty old sneakers and the crooked way he was standing.

This "bride" and "groom" have actually been married for two years.  They were incredibly sweet and you could tell their marriage is still fresh and fun (like my marriage and just like all marriages should be!).  Wouldn't it be great to get to pull your wedding dress out of storage and put it on again?    But, of course, the real story behind this photo is all of us standing around them taking their photo and waiting for the moment they look at our camera!

Here's Julie, Felicia and Denise.

And here's Maddy and Dita. 

I took several hundred photos this weekend but since I was shooting in Manual, many were mistakes and couldn't be corrected in Photoshop.  But thanks to Lisa's excellent instruction, most were really good!  I wish I'd gotten more photos of the rest of the group though.  Especially my bestest blogger buddy, Wanda.  I also wish I'd gotten some photos of the incredible storm we drove through on the way to the airport.  There were huge tree branches down in the road and visibility was near zero on the turnpike.  It was unfreakingbelievable!  I'm so glad I had Marla and Stephanie in the car with me to keep me sane and help navigate (and check flight updates). Thankfully my flight wasn't delayed but unfortunately theirs was (and many of my new friends were affected too).  But we all made it home safe and sound.  Phew!

I can hardly wait until the reunion!  :)

____________________________________________________________

For more Black & White Wednesday fun, check out The Long Road to China.
More of our Black & White Wednesday posts here:  Black & White Wednesday

San Diego Zoo

We spent our second (and last) day in San Diego at the zoo.  We like zoos and this one is one of the best ever.  Seriously, this place is awesome! 

We saw all of the animals.  The polar bears were Daddy's favorite and my favorite is always the elephants.  I think Gwen loved this snake best.   The zoo attempts to provide plants that are indigenous to the areas where each animal is originally from so it's very visually interesting and there were flowers and trees that I've never seen before.  It was shady and comfortable with something exciting around every corner.  We even got to pose with a mommy and baby elephant (above). 

   

Near one of the monkey exibits, there were masks you could put your face behind and pose for a pic.  Of course, the girls really wanted to do this and we were discussing how we'd get them into position when Maddy scurried over and scaled this pole!  Then Gwen assumed her pose! 

Our kids are such camera hams!

This was a really fun weekend! 

On our way back to the airport, we dropped off the rental car and threw our travel car seat in the trash!  Since Maddy is going to be six years old in 12 days, we won't need our cheapo travel seats anymore so it was a big relief not to have to carry it home. 

Here's Gwen pulling our suitcases through the San Jose airport.   She looks so grown up!  

Only one more flight this week and that one is for ME (alone)!  Yep, my very first trip away from the girls -- ever. 

EVER!   

I'll be flying to Philadelphia on Friday to meet up with 15 other moms (Casey, Dita, Denise, Felicia, Julie, Karin, Kim, Laureen, Leslie, Maddy, Marla, Stephanie, Terri and Wanda) at Lisa's photography workshop.  I'm so excited about this!    It's my first "Mom's Weekend Away" and I get to spend it with some of the funnest (and funniest!) ladies in Bloggerville.  And in such a beautiful place too!  And if that's not enough, I also get to learn what all of the buttons on my camera do! 

 

Sailing

Since it had been an entire week since we lived out of a suitcase, we flew to San Diego for the weekend.   Compared to international travel, this quick trip was a piece of cake. 

The purpose of the trip was to celebrate the birthdays of two special Dads:   Andrew's Dad (aka Granddad) and Kate's dad (aka Papa Ron).   Kate is our sister in law (married to Andrew's brother, Chris).   The Dads really dig sailing so Kate and Chris organized this special day for them and invited us to share the fun too.  So, 7 adults and 3 children boarded a 36 foot sailboat and spent 8 hours on the water under the beautiful San Diego sun!

I grew up in San Diego and we had a sailboat when I was in high school but that was a LONG time ago so this was the first time I'd been on one in many years.  It brought back memories.  I wish my dad could have been part of this day (I was thinking of you, Dad!).

Gwen was fearless and wasted no time getting to know every inch of the boat.   

She borrowed Granddad's binoculars and searched for sea lions (we saw many!).  We even saw a few dolphins.

Maddy searched for strange or unusual creatures too (and found me!).

This is Gwen and Maddy's Aunt Kate and cousin Paige.  Paige is two years old and pretty darn cute!

Here she is looking particularly adorable:

We weren't sure if the kids would do well on a long boat ride but they had a wonderful time!  If someone would have told me that a 2, 5 and 6 year old would be able to happily spend 8 hours on a 36 foot sailboat, I would have doubted it but I think they could have gone even longer!  

Here's Andrew:

And here's Maddy and me:

If you've still not seen enough, here's a slideshow of all of our best photos from the day: