Home

It's not our home, my typical definition, but it is the place we are happiest and most comfortable; the beach. Third weekend of every October we find ourselves here. We find ourselves happy, and we leave renewed. So here's a photo tour of our weekend.

This burrito is good reason to leave happy, or to never leave at all. I made have had it leftover, in bed, Sunday morning -- don't judge!

The joy of children tall enough to take picture!

This is the infamous Patrick. 

*shudder*

Look at the dirt on my sensor! Geez!!

These ladies are all about playground. All day, everyday. 

I used to be completely fine, but school has changed playground time. They used to happily go off and play together, but now they have these games that they want me to join in. While I have no problem playing along, I'd like to do something fun that holds the least bit of interest. Playing the evil dragon, not so much. Chasing you, not my cup of tea. Taking directions continuously, I'll pass!

This girl takes on a new persona when we're one on one. Here she was delighted to hold a wooly-bear caterpillar. Any other time she is anti-bug.

We climbed to the top of the observation tower and watched the Husband turn white.

I think the best part of this trip was getting on the same page. It's not that Husband and I have been at odds, we've just been casually drifting along together. There hasn't been a true path we've been traveling when it comes to long term planning but the tide has turned. He has agreed to downsize and we both want to move to the ocean. That's another post entirely, but I'm glad that we've at least gotten in the same car for this road trip called life. 

Beach Weekend (Pictures)

 Every October, the third weekend in, you'll find us at the beach. It's more relaxed off season, and the beach is always amazing. I only took pictures our first and third day, and mainly of scenery. Not one family picture was taken, or even mentioned. I've already got the shot for the season, so why push it?

Ok, so I got a few shots of people. 

The ladies were excited by the "ponds" on the beach. They also were quick to point out the "ships", which were actually dredgers(?) that left me scrambling to simplify beach erosion and restoration. 

*Guilty*

This one might be a little over touched.

Hello Harvest Moon!

Have I ever told you I secretly dream of restoring a barn into a house?

A barn exactly like this, in this general area!

We also picked out pumpkins on our way home. I may have partaken in the painting. 

I love white pumpkins! I have high hopes of landing a Cinderella pumpkin Friday when we hit the patch. There are also half a dozen or so mini pumpkins/gourds/squashes lining my dining room table. It's far from pinterest perfect and looks more like I dumped a bag of fall on the table. Sigh. 

Favorites??

Does anyone else hate carving pumpkins?!

Home Sweet Beach

Do beach photos need explanations? Do I need to tell you what we did? Us, sand, water, sun. Also, grapes and blueberries, fruit snacks, and a bottle of tea for this mama. There was a breeze. It wasn't too hot or humid (miracle in itself!). 

Lastly, I already miss it.

Model strut?!

I *HATE* how grown up they look!

This little old man and his flag chased away the guy with the super yappy dog. If your dog barks at every. single. wave. go home. 

This lovely lady, for the first time in her life, didn't hate the beach. She was on a mission to collect shells!

Fast camera, fast enough to catch both children and flies! 

(I'll have to edit him out!)

Ignore the cute child, and look at my feet! Those strips of virgin skin that NEVER see the light of day, saw the light of day. Now they are a nice shade of pink, because "Oh, don't forget the tops of your feet" never crossed my mind. 

I'd love to share the pictures of Miss Claire T. Bear IN THE WATER but I think the hubs would kill me. Major victory over here! She didn't even flinch. I was amazed. Apparently Daddy has magical water powers. Who knew?!

Favorite!

I stripped them down and they "showered" in the foot bath. They gleefully walked back to the car naked. Emma was care free, running to the car. She will be a fun girl in college, sigh. 

This sad little face is afraid of new kids. That make the playground rough. :(

Favorites?

B'Cation Pics

 We spent our Easter at our favorite place! Only it was rainy and blah, and it was Easter. We still ate great though! Room sharing with the little people, when are they old enough to have an adjoining room?, meant we had an early bedtime. That's ok, early to bed means early to rise!

Normally I try to avoid the sun, but watching it rise was amazing. 

This is one of the handful of sunrises I've seen in my life time. I never realized how quickly it pops up! 

Yes, I have an entire photo essay of this sunrise. 

Aww.

Superhero: Self

After the sun was up, we went out! 

Sometimes, you just have to keep snapping. 

Hang your head over the pier, that looks great!

Walking with daddy.

Family outtakes.

Hidden treasures.

Never doubt what a child sees. They will ALWAYS prove you wrong. 

Mommy, Claire, and Lovie.

Beach Time

The worst things to have in life are expectations. They lead to nothing but disappointment.

Needless to say, I had expectations going to the beach. I expected everything to be hunky-dory and for the most part it was. We had wonderful weather. The ladies were well behaved, not too whiney when their schedule was broken, and bedtime wasn't too much of a hassle. I didn't expected to get much shopping done, I am a very indecisive person. I did decide, that if I am truly going to stop work, that I should spring into action with regards to my christmas shopping! The mound slowly growing in my closet is exciting me!

One of my only expectations, aside from too much food, was to take pictures. Lots of glorious pictures of the ladies, of us, and as a family. That didn't happen. Not at all. In the expectation of taking pictures is the hidden expectation of help from DH. Not even so much help, but compliance. I feel that as the other adult in the group, he could and should help. That's not to say he wasn't a help, he very much was.

He sent the girls on their first quarter ride. 

But I expected my requests to be honored, whether direct stated or implied, and they weren't. I should mention that neither DH or I enjoy having our pictures taken and unlike some people we won't make the effort for better shots. (Sorry, I had to Marcia!) I do feel that family pictures are important. Neither of us have many and I would like for our girls to have more than random snapshots. I clearly have the snapshots covered.

What hurt me most of all is what perceived as his lack of support. He didn't support me in my desire to take pictures. He didn't support family pictures in general. In fact he out right ignored two photo shoots, I used the term loosely, and ushered us along to our next destination. 

Does the elephant ride need to be shackled?

The ladies dined on fruit and cheese.

Best cheese and I have yet to ask them what exactly it is!

I snapped him leaving after a photo shoot was thwarted by the photomiser. 

I assumed taking pictures near crowds might have been putting him off so I pushed for a nice family walk at the state park. Early on a Sunday morning at a beach park would leave us virtually secluded. I let the girls have snack and mentally marked spots on our way through for the walk back. However as we walked back, he first huffed, then didn't hear me, and I lost it. I gave up. 

I was hurt. 

I was crushed.

I cried.

I literally walked ahead and cried. Then I cried some more because I felt like a baby crying over pictures. What I was crying over was the lack of support, but I guess I shouldn't export support for my hobbies. It's like it's my profession...

I did get a picture of a heron?

Apparently I was "cold" for the rest of the day. Then again, I decided to take action. 

I offered to meet up with family for a family picture. We loosely coordinated in black/white/gray and I made the best of it. I only did one shot, and hoped for the best. If you keep it small, you don't notice it's not focused. For some reason I went with my broken lens. 10 point there. So all the "editing" to make it look sharper get leads to rigid pixelation. But it's a shot none the less, and one I can use for a christmas present since my mother is legal blind!

Yes, I made DH get on the ground and he is probably still rumbling about it. 

While I hope to get out and try again with my better lens, I'm not sure that will actually happen. I had to pull teeth for this one so trying for one with my in-laws may push DH over the edge. I'm sad he doesn't seem to support me in this, so maybe I'll just focus on the ladies and myself from now on. 

I won't let this totally color my weekend blah though. 

We did enjoy some lovely time together as a family. We stuffed our faces full of yummy food! We ate local and I found a delicious, AND THICK, winter sweater in my favorite color-gray! I'm thrilled to be crossing things off my Christmas shopping list. I really need to get on this job quitting thing because if every weekend could be so family oriented, I would be a much happier person. 

So how was your weekend??

Tomorrow-the shower recap!