Well guess what?  I’m all grown up now, and I really haven’t been able to share very many fun things from my youth with my own children, we are just always swamped and so busy.  Not to mention the cost of things has sure gone through the roof. (now I really sound old)  Mike and I have been very frustrated about the “grind” that our life seems to have become.  We have both sacrificed so much for our family… but where is the fun!  We try to make even the mundane thing, like washing the car, fun!  But we both miss some of the adventure from our youth.  I used to begin my high school summers with a trip to the Colorado River, complete with heat, friends, boats, jet skis and bon fires.  I miss that feeling.  That feeling of time standing still.  That feeling of relaxation.  That feeling of being so stinkin’ hot that you just want to lay in the water all day! When we were first married, we used to surf, go to the beach, stay up late, watch movies, go to Vegas for the weekend.  For goodness sake, did we give up all of the fun by having kids?  I think NOT!

A few months ago, I began a dialog with Mike about all these things that I missed and hoped to share with our family.  We talked about renting a boat and taking a trip to the river.  But man, have you seen the cost of a decent boat rental. We were facing $500 a day, for 3 or 4 days, in Lake Havasu.  Then Mike started talking about hobbies, and that maybe we should consider purchasing a water craft.  So I began to do some research.  I was looking into a 3 seater Sea Do.  Then we decided that wouldn’t work, because Rylie and Griffers really probably wouldn’t be able to enjoy the water play on a Sea Do.  So we began to search small boats, to see what we could get.  Then we took it a step further, and actually rented a boat in the Oceanside Harbor, to see how the kids would respond to time spent aboard.  They had a BLAST!!!

We found a lot of boats on Craigslist, but did not feel comfortable buying our first boat off of Craigslist because, come on now, we don’t know anything about boats really.  So we searched local boat dealers and set our budget.  At the end of our hunt, we found a little 2006, 17.5 ft Bayliner, and it has taken up residence in our garage.  It is a great boat for our young family.  It is rated very well, as an entry level boat, and because we bought it from a dealership, it is in excellent working order.

Please forgive the poor image quality on this one.  It was taken with my iPhone, on the day that we purchased the boat.  Obviously, Wesley was excited about the new family toy.  At one point, he hooked up his PS3 in the garage, and sat in the boat while playing his new Shawn White skateboarding game ;o)

We’ve been on a steep learning curve.  Suffice it to say, just trying to get the boat launched has proven to be a bit difficult with 4 kids!  But Wesley has been very helpful.  He can follow directions to put out the fenders, or tie the boat off to the dock.  He learned the hard way, to wait until we ask him to untie the boat! (but that’s another story)

So our adventure has begun.  Apparently, there is a saying in the boating world… “The best days in the life of a boat owner, are the day you buy the boat, and the day you sell the boat!”  I hope that isn’t true.  We’ve been on the boat a half a dozen times in the past month.  We are hoping that Wesley will learn to be a shredder wakeboarder!  It has been fun for the whole family… and so far, we are very happy to have an excuse to do something fun as a family.  Mike plans to also use the boat to rekindle one of his favorite hobbies… fishing!  He is already talking about taking some guys out on the boat.

kids boat video

Ohhh… and we’ve also been “Rolling in the Deep”

I’d love to take on this project! The idea of this “generational table” is so cool. I’m sure that mine would take a good beating, and the nice thing is that is exactly what these type of tables are supposed to look like! I’ll just add another layer of paint each year )

I really want a plank table for the kitchen table, with a bench along one side! I’m not sure that I can convince Mike to help me make a “fancy” one for the interior, but maybe we could make one like this for the back patio?? I’ll keep you posted, if we actually make one.

I remember the day!  It was a beautiful summer day.  We had wasted away the entire day and somehow didn’t even make it outside.  I was still trying to figure out how to balance the newborn with the other 3 kiddos.  Anyway, I remember the evening beginning to fall, and  I could feel the light fading.  I just had to get outside!  The baby was sleeping and the girls broke out of the front door.  They both went over to the large daisy bushes on the side slope, and then they tried to make a break for the neighbor’s houses to play.  Even now, as I think back, I can almost hear the warm summer breeze blowing through the large palm trees at the front of our house.

Ohhhh summer… come again… SOON!

I was trying to throw the image out of focus, by placing my focal point at the very bottom of the frame.  Then I judged the focal distance and set wide… and put the camera down on the curb- SNAP!  Here are the two images I caught.  FOCUS!  It’s Campbelle walking the line! Rylie is sneaking away ;o)

Griffyn is getting so big now.  He wakes up, kicks around, and smiles for the camera… all at a whopping 3 months old.  This made it a bit difficult to make the skateboard look like a skateboard, because he kept kicking it! How dare he??

The hot chick Barbie fans were a fun little added detail.  Campbelle is excited that her dolls are making it into this photo series.

Also, the hat/helmet, is the same one that I photographed Griffyn in on his way home from the hospital.  It barely fits him these days!

Enjoy!

I’m still aiming for 12 of these for a calendar.  I’m running out of time these days, now that I’m back to work.  I’m going to have to get a move on it.  Griffyn will be rolling over soon, and then these type of images will become even more difficult to capture.

Have a blessed day. (images to come of our first days back to school)

XO,

Katrina