Weekend Away

Summer is almost here although you wouldn't know if from the terrible rain we've been suffering with the past few days.  Last weekend we headed to Parksville for some R & R. I love this place...I always feel instantly better when we arrive in this tiny quaint town.  It's so untouched in so many ways. 

I spent my childhood summers in Parksville and it still has the same feel...family and friends on the beach, kids running everywhere until after the sun sets...sandcastles and bonfires...it's really my favourite place in the world.  We had a great weekend just hanging out as a family...can't wait to go back.

Spring and new beginnings

I've been ignoring this blog.  I'll admit it.  Things have been cloudy for a while and I just haven't had any motivation to blog or to take photos for that matter.  But now it's spring... it's warming up..it's sunny again...and things are shifting under my feet.  The clouds are finally lifting. 

I picked up my camera last night for the first time in forever.  How could I not with Miss Kyla in the house.  I just want to kiss those cheeks and listen to her little giggles forever....

Mt. Washington

A little skiing...a little sledding...some hot tubbing...lots of laughter.

A birthday celebration...my youngest finally up on skiis and flying down the hill...taking my oldest up to the very top of the mountain for the first time...the best four days of the year.

Pink Sugar Cupcakery

It's liberation day!  For those of you who don't know, Lily is anaphylactic to milk protein.  Since birth we have always had to be so vigilant about everything she eats. Her entire life she's had to avoid any store bought goodies.  Birthday parties, classroom treats, goodies at birthday parties... she's never been able to partake.  Well that has all changed.  Today I discovered the Pink Sugar Cupcakery.  Every delicious cupcake is completely dairy-free.  I emailed the owner to chat and she confirmed that they are all made with soy milk and milk free margerine.  I want to hug her.  Finally someone has come to our rescue.  So tonight we sampled the merchandise and omg they are good.  And watching Lily eat her first store bought cupcake ever was the best treat of all..  Thanks Pink Sugar Cupcakery... you will be seeing alot of the Wray family.

 

iPhoneography

So the gadget addict in my life, my loving dh, gifted me with an iPhone recently... and I have to admit it's changed my life....I'm officially addicted.  Since then, I've discovered the world of iPhoneography.  There are entire flickr groups dedicated to photos taken with the iPhone...and the post-processing apps available for this thing are endless.  While I can't really say I'm in love with the quality or clarity of the photos taken with the iPhone, there is something about it that reminds me of the instamatic cameras of my childhood.  And unlike my heavy DSLR, the iPhone is always with me... and as Chase Jarvis says, "the best camera is the one you have with you"... here's a recent sampling. 

These kids of mine..

...I love them.. and I love that they love each other...

Today we made "potions", went for a walk,  played at the park and cuddled up to a movie.  Just another Saturday.  Saturdays rock.

Hurry up Baby!

I really need to cuddle and squeeze you and kiss you and hear your sweet little baby giggles..  Hurry up will ya?!  Get out of that belly!!

Some Exciting News!

I mentioned earlier this week that two of my photos were selected as finalists for Pioneer Women's photography challenge...Well I was so excited and shocked and amazed and honoured this morning to discover that one of my photos actually won!!!!  Wow... little ole me?  really?  I never win anything.. Wow.  And if that wasn't enough, my screaming fans (literally...they were screaming when I got home..) greeted me at the door tonight with a beautiful surprise...  Actually it was my loving other half who brought them home to me.. he was my biggest fan even before I became famous. Fame, flowers and the love of adoring fans....Life is pretty good today....

Rain boots, chickens and pumpkins...oh my!

It's that time of year again.  Fall always brings at least one trip to the farm.  Every year one of the kids, if not both, gets the chance to visit Oldfield Orchards to learn about local farming, see the chickens, pick some apples and pumpkins and taste some local treats.  I think I've been on this trip at least 6 or 7 times with the kids but it's always fun. This past week I joined C's kindy class for the morning.  I think I might have mentioned once or twice on here how much I love fall.  There's something about kids in gum boots and rosy cheeks running through the pumpkin patch.. it's just so awesome to see the excitement as they choose the perfect pumkin.  I never get tired of getting out to the "country" at this time of year.  It was a perfect morning. 

Here are some of the highlights

OMG!OMG!OMG!OMG!!

Pioneer Woman is one of my favourite bloggers of all time.  She's a blogger icon in the world of photography.  Recently she started a photography group on flickr where she chooses a weekly assignment and members post their photos to the group and then she features her favs on her blog.  Well I just about fell out of my chair tonight when I discovered she had selected not one but TWO of my pictures for her blog!  OMG!  I've been following her blog for years and to actually be featured on it is a dream come true especially when I look at the other photos she chose. Wow. I'm so honoured that she thought I was worthy to be in the same league with some of those other photogs.  The first photo she selected was taken just last week as part of my 365 day project.  I snapped the other pic last spring in Beacon Hill park.  Check out her blog and see for yourself!  And since they're on her blog I'd better post them on mine too!

Fog horns

Finally some rain yesterday.  It poured.  I love those days when you wake up to the rain pounding on the roof and soccer is cancelled so you just lay in bed all morning snuggling and sipping coffee.  It's the perfect Saturday morning.

And then later in the day the rain stopped and the fog rolled in...the fog horns started up in the distance.  I seriously love this time of year.

J + J Part II

I couldn't resist posting just a few more of my favs.  Near the end of the day, we found this awesome part of the beach covered with graffiti and I tried to so hard for that grungey vintagey look that one of my absolute favourite photographers features so often in her photos.  She has such a signature style that I am totally in love with...

Clearly I have much to learn... but Julie and Johann were great sports and we had a hoot..

"Special" Saturdays

"What can we do that's special"... that's what I wake up to most weekends. My daughter has high expectations regarding her weekend activities. When I was that age my parents would chuck me out the door in the morning and tell me to come home when the street lights came on. Well, maybe not quite like that but still.. most weekends we just played in the yard or at the park. But my daughter expects more. More fun, more adventure, more more more. Now there are days when the house needs a good clean or the yard is a mess..and that's when we tell her to beat it and find something to do on her own. But some weekends we cave in and we're always thankful we did. This time it was a trip to the breakwater. It was a beautiful day and another great adventure...and I guess we have her to thank for that.

A walk in the woods

Well...not really the woods, but a pathway on the outskirts of one of our fav parks. Clearly I took waaay too many pictures of flowers this season. Here's yet another.

My garden...

August always feels a bit sad to me. Summer is winding down, the nights are cooler, the shadows are longer. The flowers in my garden are starting to die off :-( it's time to start cutting it all back. I'm so not ready for fall. I dread the shorter days. I want this heat to last forever. So here is a tribute to my garden as I say so long to it for another year.

Sharpay and Ryan

Lily has been "dying" to watch the High School Musical series and I've been holding off because I'm desperately trying to keep her from turning into a tween too soon. Well we finally caved last week. I'm embarrassed to admit I am now a closet HSM fan.. is it totally inappropriate that I have a crush on Troy Bolton? seriously...he's one hot wildcat. LOL. Anyhoo.. now we have the music too and the kids have gone crazy for it. All day long it's playing. In the kitchen, in the car, and I'm secretly in love with all of it but I would never admit that to the kids. So today we hit the beach and instead of Lily and Cameron coming along, Sharpay and Ryan Evans decided to make an appearance. The shades stayed on the entire time.

Summer

I love this time of year. The warm summer nights...just hanging at the beach until the sun goes down. Living so close to the beach, it's rare to have a night without wind. This past Saturday was one of those rare nights when it's warm and still and you can smell all the scents of summer in the air. My sister was in town so we decided to have an evening picnic on the beach. I've been dying to try to capture sun flares in my photography and I finally got the opportunity to really stretch my creative legs with my trusty 50mm lens and my new 35mm f1.8. I love so many of the shots it's hard to narrow it down to my few favs..but here they are. Happy Summer!