Because ‘MURICA! Anyone who knows me understands that I am not super excited about the current state of our country or our leadership – but let’s be honest. If there is fire and explosions and bright colors, I’m all about it. On July 3rd, Dayton puts on a pretty awesome show down at Riverscape. And – this year – it wasn’t raining! So here’s what I got and I’m gonna blow you up (har har) with all of the shots rather than just a few.
Hope you enjoy these as much as I did!
So, way back when, I booked an awesome hotel and flights in the hopes that a girl’s weekend would work out to go see Denver, CO. Unfortunately, things fell through. Fortunately, I have a husband who would never turn down the opportunity for a long weekend, child-free, out of state. We planned to make no plans; so much so, in fact, that the only thing I scheduled was a 90-minute couple’s massage. Once we got there, we ended up deciding to rent a car for the day and drive into the Rockies. We spent the entire day there, and the next morning we hit the Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge and then Red Rocks. Per the norm, here are all of the high-res shots. And, if you’re wondering – yes, I’m wearing a Ren and Stimpy shirt because that’s the kind of classy lady I happen to be.
In the attempt to wear our daughter out, we have signed her up for multiple sports this year. She played soccer for the second year in a row, and started t-ball. Now, stick with me here, because when I say “played” or “sports”, I’m going to try to give you an accurate mental picture: in your mind, try to see… like… a dozen spastic kittens all chasing an invisible ball of yarn being blown around by a strong and unpredictable breeze. Sometimes these kittens chase the yarn, sometimes they trip over their own paws, sometimes they just wrestle each other or swat at equally invisible butterflies.
It’s hilarious. And adorable. I got a ton of shots of her practices, with the high res set here.
The cutest ones are usually the cheekiest ones, and Blake is no exception. But we got to celebrate his birthday in March with our ridiculous little family, and there was no shortage of fun or noise. Here is the whole set, full res.
The title says it all. We had our family Christmas in Dayton in the early part of 2017 because that’s how cool and chill we are and not at all because we’re all so ridiculously busy that it’s the only time we could all manage to be in the same room. <ahem>
Here‘s the whole set!
I love my family. Deeply, wholly, and forever. So when my brother and SIL initiated a conversation about using Thanksgiving as an opportunity to get out of town for a weekend, everyone included, we jumped at the chance. We all bundled into our cars and met up at Murphin Ridge Inn in West Union, OH. We spent time together, drank and ate all our meals together, and let the kids run wild in the countryside getaway. It was awesome and perfect. These are my people and I love them greatly. These are some of my best shots, but you can see every one here.
So a little while back, we decided it was time to take a short family vacation down to Florida to enjoy the sun, sand, and inappropriately attired beach-goers. I do have my favorites, but the whole set can be viewed here (for the 2 or 3 readers I still have).
We went to the airport and waited for the shuttle, and Emma was pretty excited.
Which she did not hide at ALL, much to the chuckles of the other travelers.
Since the plane was taking soooooo long to unload, Emma decided that the best course of action would be to insist on reading approximately 3 dozen books.
Once we finally arrived, I had scheduled an adventure the next morning for us to go on a cool pirate cruise!
Unfortunately, Emma barfed in the care en route to the cruise, resulting in the immediate and necessary purchase of the tour shirt. Methinks someone may have done it on purpose because she wanted a souvenir. But I digress.
Someone was very proud of her acumen with the water cannon.
She was officially sworn in as a Bluefoot pirate.
Thusly, she was conscripted to protect all of us adults against the dread “other pirate” who attacked our boat and stole our treasure. All’s well that ends well, and she was awarded with a bag full of gold doubloons and gems.
We did some relaxing at the hotel pool and shared some lovely frozen drinks to cool off from the super-heated, ridiculously humid environs.
We also managed to go on an airboat to see the Everglades and manged to catch a close (too close?) view of some of the area wildlife.
Emma was unsure how she felt about all of it.
Either way, we survived and can mark that one off of our lists.
Finally, we hit the beach one last time and Emma enjoyed digging with her new shovel while I enjoyed the shade and doing nothing much at all.
All in all, we really had a lovely time in Florida, “America’s Weiner”.
