Went sight seeing in a couple nearby beach towns south of us this morning and spent a little time exploring the Mission in the historic little town of San Juan Capistrano:
Mission gardens
Go with God
Original church bells
fragrant rose
church alter
church window bathed in sunlight
garden walk
hummingbird lunchtime
famous church bell tower of San Juan Capistrano
Went walking around the little neighborhood we are staying in yesterday afternoon. The “Somebody’s House” (as Clara calls it) that we are in backs up to a canyon and a park:
Laguna beach is SOOO vane
a kids-eye view
one of many palms
a great tree for climbing in
Later in the evening some friends drove in from the San Diego area for a casual dinner at Somebody’s House and good conversation:
Tim
Matt
Ryan
Chad
We are on a family vacay in Laguna Beach and I wanted to share some of the pictures I’ve been taking in all my relaxed free time. I hope you enjoy them as much as I’ve enjoyed taking them in this sunny, warm, beachy, seaside town!
House on the cliffs overlooking Dana Point Harbor
Caution!
Citrus inspired tree
Public Restroom tile work
seaweed
swim at your own risk
surf's up!
who needs sunglasses?
what's that?
splish, splash, more fun than a bath!
these waves are makin me nervous
the ladies' man
Oops, we’ve did it again!
Chad, Clara and I are in Georgia visiting my family for just a week. It is flying by, so tonight we had my mom’s side of the family over so we could be sure to see them all – Karen, Joanne, Hugh, Connie, Mike, Sheryl, Mark, Hammy, Emmie, Kristin, Scott, the twins – Parker and Preston – the whole gang that lives around these parts. Since I haven’t posted in a while here are a few pictures from our family gathering this evening.
Hamilton and his Tennis Mortar:
The men of the family supervising the experiment:
Setup of the dart air stomper thingy:
Execution:
Mark and Sheryl:
Uncle Mike:
Not sure who this guy is:
“The Hammy”:
Parker observing the antics:
Preston tinkling the ivories:
Cousins Clara, Parker, Emmie Ruth, and Preston.
All done.
Uncle Brett is here for a visit that is almost over. Until today he had seen only the numerous malls that the greater Seattle area had to offer for Xmas shopping and taking Clara and JackGwen to see Santa Claus at the University Village for pictures.
Jack was a little anxious at first about meeting Santa. According to Gwen, all morning he was saying, “Santa. No Santa. Santa. No Santa . . .” But, as you can see here, shortly after giving the jolly ol’ elf a high five, Jack was no longer loosing sleep over his big red buddy:
Alas, Santa’s elves were having technical difficulty with their printer, so we got to hang out a bit longer than some and Santa even read them the story of Rudolph:
That was yesterday. Today Clara and I took advantage of the unusually nice Seattle weather – in the 40s, windy, but NOT RAINING! – to take Brett on a ferry ride to the quaint little Maine-like town of Port Gamble. Here’s us enjoying our day:
In time for Thanksgiving, I replaced my stolen camera and was excited to try it out on Thanksgiving day over at the in-laws’ house with all the extended family in attendance.
Clara-bell:
Uncle Jim:
His daughter, cousin Traci:
Her hubby, Floyd:
Their son, cousin Ian:
Traci and Clara decided to have some fun playing dress up in Grandma’s old hats:
Hope y’all had as good a Thanksgiving as we did!
The twins came over this afternoon for one last playdate and I was finally able to get some better pictures of Parker. Look at those lashes. Lloyds is going to take out insurance on those things!
Here’s mommy watching over him as he pouts in a corner:
Could you even say “no” to those eyes. It hardly seems fair to Kristin.
This morning we had a little playdate with my cousin Kristin, her husband Scott and “TwinsParker” (or “TwinsPreston”, whichever of their two names Clara says first). I thought Brayden was a mover, but these boys are doulbe the trouble when it comes to capturing them on film!
Parker:
Preston:
Say “cheese!”
Coon hats:
I did manage to have a little photo shoot with Preston for a few minutes when Parker and Clara were off playing Luke Skywalker:
By the end, he was ready to take on the role of photographer. May I present Preston’s first self-portrait. We’ll call it Portrait of a Photographer as a Toddler:
