Dreaming of Summer...

As I was going through some pictures from last year for my photography class I'm currently taking, I submitted this one and the instructor suggested I try it in black and white.  She was right, I like the effect.  With all the snow we've been having this week, this made me miss warm summer, walking in the waves out at the ocean, feeling the sand between my toes and watching the kids fully enjoy themselves. 

My challenge for now, is to fully enjoy the season we are currently in, because time goes by so quickly.  But this picture can help me remember and dream...

Fun with Collages - Labor Day Weekend at the Coast

So many pictures, so little time!!

(Addendum: Just had to add this little pic.)

Maddie all ready to head down to the beach!

 I just feel like I can't stay caught up with all the things I want to share on this blog.  We had an incredible time out at Pacific Beach on the WA coast over Labor Weekend and it was the last hurrah, and last days of warmth and sunshine out there before school started.  The weather was just beautiful!

So I started playing around with collages, and wow, how addicting! 

(I think I spent one entire afternoon putting some together, oops, shouldn't share that!)

What a great way to post a lot of pictures that tell a story! I found it saved me time, because it was easier to pick just 5 or 6 of the ones I liked the best and put them all together.  I used Picasa Web for this and if you haven't tried it, it's SO easy.  All you do is pick what kind of configuration you'd like, select your pictures, and Picasa just drops them in the windows for you and aligns the configuration for you.  If you don't like it, just re-do.  It was so easy!  (I probably created about 30 collages that afternoon, hopefully to post more later!)  On a side note, you can do these in Photoshop or Elements, which is what I have, but there's quite a bit of tweaking and more learning to do before I have it all figured out to do there. 

So enjoy the collages, just a few from that weekend.  They work well to show the fun we had, without having to write a lot about it.  I hope to write more later, (I know, I keep saying that!)

Playing around on the beach.

Flying that kite....

The water wasn't even cold!

See how far away that rock is?  I was just enthralled with the pictures I'd seen of it in brochures about Pacific Beach and knew it was called Copalis rock.  So we just decided to walk out there and get as close as we could to it!  It was so beautiful that day!!  There's no better feeling than just walking and walking with bare feet in the sand on a sunny day at the beach!

Maddie loved trying to chase all the birds away!

Some of these pictures were taken at earlier times we've been out there, but I decided to include these collages as well.

She is such the collector! 

We have buckets full here at home and I need to figure out something creative to do with them :)!

The Washington beaches are so rugged and I love it!  Wouldn't it be fun to take a horse ride along the beach?  We see that everytime we go.

Well, that's all for now!  This is my favorite of all the collages -- the sunsets there are absolutely gorgeous!

We're so grateful we have such a fun place to get away to...

Spring Break at the Ocean

We just got back last night from our getaway to Pacific Beach at Ocean Shores, and I'd love to be spending more time posting the ton of pictures I took, but instead I'm tackling mountain loads of laundry. 

Here's a sneak peek at some of our fun!

More to come, hopefully soon!

Fun at the Ocean - Pacific Beach

Jeff's parents bought some property out at Pacific Beach by Ocean Shores, and built a manufactured home park model on it. We went out there for the day to see it with them. (We were so excited to get down to the beach, that I forgot to take a picture of it!) But we'll get some later. It's beautiful with a huge window in the front and looks like a little log cabin. From the picture below, it's up on the bluff and near a trail that leads down to the ocean. What a fun place for the family to go and spend time!

Maddie and "Bumpa".

Their favorite thing was to follow the waves as they were going out and then run back to shore before getting all wet!

I had to take a video:

(Why I forget, and take all my videos sideways on the little camera,

I don't know! So sorry!)

Pure joy!

I love this picture below of Tyler and Maddie in the waves.

Tyler has a new thing! Ever since seeing some older teens skimboarding out on the Olympic Peninsula last summer, he really wanted to try it. So we got him one and Grandma and Bumpa got one for the beach house.

Here are Jeff and Tyler ready to try it! It definitely looks easier then it is, they kept reminding me!

Maddie loved playing in the waves.

Fun day!