its one of my favorite trips of the year. we do a TON of traveling, but this trip is one of my top priorities each and every year. Its tradition. and I LIKE tradition. With how often our lives change and we're constantly forced to go with the ebb and flow, I like the things that I can count on staying the same. This is one of those things. Since Miss Hailey was only 18 months old, we've made this trip to my parent's property each and every year. In '06, we bumped the trip up to the 4th of July weekend, but that's because otherwise we would have made the trip with me a whoppin' 38 weeks pregnant...no thanks. :) But most of all, I think I look so forward to this trip for the relaxing aspect. Its so nice to have 3-5 days (depending on how long we can sneak away!) to just BE.
This year, my parents, with the help of some our lifelong, family friends that came up for a visit (Don & Nancy), made two full size tee-pees. And my mom had the most magical idea to let the kids paint them. No plan, no direction, just let them go. Only restriction was to leave the doors alone to allow for the kids to put their hand prints on them. LOVE IT. Seriously I think this was the BEST trip yet b/c I LOVED seeing all the kids (and all of us kids) get creative and let go. Alexis' precise cursive and astronomy-inspired creations, Mikayla's cafefree polkadots and designs, Vance's "splatter-mon" (I think he was attempting a Jamaican accent), Hailey's careful printing and designs, Evie's abstract creations, Xander & Kinzie's haphazard mayhem. I LOVEd it all. The adults even got involved adding some of our own ideas and bits of beauty to the tee-pees.
Seriously, Mom. BEST. IDEA. EVER.
With being in FULL SWING of our busy busy season (really, I barely have time to breathe), I love having this trip as our last hurrah. Not to mention getting out of the 115 degree madness, to a sweet high of only 74 degrees. LOVE.
Here's just a glimpse at our weekend...
getting started..
Xander HAD to have a rocket. I painted the rocket and he added the little einsteins inside. And that orange thing to the left? that's big jet. LOOK OUT!
this pic is SOOO blurry, but I LOVE it. His expression just melts my heart.
not sure why miss Kinzie is so sad here, but I love this one of my sis consoling her little chica.
HERE WE GO!
Steve adding his tribal influenced designs.
I want this print HUGE in my office. so inspiring.
...and the finished product...
my mom making sure that Xander knows what to do if he gets lost in the woods. Each kid is REQUIRED to have a whistle around their neck each time they set foot outside. Its just the rule.
I like it.
Perhaps one of my new favorite things is my Mom's trip to the farmer's market -- I've never been there with her, but was INSTANTLY jealous of the pick of fresh fruits and veggies. Everything was SO fresh. SO beautiful. Made me want to grab one of each thing, and get all domestic.
YUM.
oh I so wanted to sneak off with this gorgeous scale!
all of the yumminess that we brought back...
we also celebrated our little man's 3rd birthday! :)
Lastly, I told my beautiful nieces (well...the two older ones), to bring something for me to do photos of them. We drove down to the clubhouse and spent about an hour playing and shooting. I'm not even done sorting the pics, but wanted to give my girls a little preview....
I LOVED this very Alice-esque door knob. delish.
I wanted to do photos with a big bouquet of these HUGE dandy lions that I saw on our drive in, but we had a MASSIVE rainstorm the day before we did pics, and sadly, the rain took out almost all of these beauties...we managed to find 2 on our drive over...
aren't they INSANE?!
and my goodness. I could just swim in those clear blue eyes....gorgeous...
And my word, what a beauty..
this photo is the epitome of the girls' relationship...always whispering, sharing secrets, laughing. I LOVE THESE GIRLS!
Alright...I simply MUST get to work. My to do list is WAAAAY too long...
love.