A Gift

4 Years ago yesterday we were given a most precious gift, our first grandchild, Savannah.

She loves to spend time with us doing anything we are doing and she loves to use my camera to take pictures, so it was a no brainer that this year she would receive her own for her birthday.

Now I know enough to know kids don't want a pink non breakable frustrating picture taking camera. They want one just like yours. I also wanted her to have a camera with a viewfinder, not just an LCD screen to learn with. Not easy to find in a 4 year old price range. So i decided on this one that she could grow with.

She stayed at work with us for awhile and after having lunch and ringing the big bell and having everyone sing her Happy Birthday, we went off on our first photo shoot.

We chose the Assateague Island wildlife refuge as it was a beautiful day and we hoped for some wild pony pictures.

We were not disappointed.

Her Great Grandfather, my Dad, was along for the ride and was a help for those difficult shots.

A very patient Great Blue Heron waited as she composed just the perfect picture ( this is my photo, we didn't have time yesterday to upload hers) 

Then we took a stroll up to the lighthouse for some closeups, she was hoping to see some deer but none were out yesterday, they must know it's hunting season!

I was taking some closeups of the wonderful textures for later use and turned to see that she was following my lead, can you just feel my pride and joy?

It was a great day enjoyed by all. Can you tell her 2 favorite colors are purple and lime green? A real artist in training! And she told her Mom that she wanted butterflies and dragonflies on her cake!

I don't know about her, but our wishes have definitely come true!



Summer Ends...Fall Begins

The past 2 weeks we have celebrated many things.

The official end of summer, Labor day,  always marks the slowing down of our pace at the restaurant and is a welcome time. My daughter always has a picnic at her house and this year was no exception.  However, they surprised us with a cake in honor of our 30th anniversary and then my parents surprised us further, arriving from Florida to take part in the fun! 

Our family remembered how we enjoyed our visit to Ocracoke Island N.C. so they got together to give us a trip back whenever we can schedule it ( hoping the hurricanes leave us something to revisit!)

We spent several days at the beach soaking up the last summer had to offer. This is my favorite time at the beach, only a few people, warm water and temps in the 80's.

There are some things that never change, generation after generation

-kids will forever run away when waves approach

-They love to be buried in the sand

-they don't mind at all if you have to dig, redig and dig yet again, their little tidepool

By the third time while I was digging I asked my Mom why was i doing this again? She replied , "you are making memories" I told her to remind me of that the next morning when I couldn't move!

At one point while I was taking some pictures I heard all this ruckus behind me and turned to find that a flock of seagulls had ventured over to our cooler and stolen a bag of chocolate animal crackers and were dividing them amongst themselves. I'm sure someone has a pix of me retrieving the bag, thankfully, it hasn't surfaced!

We enjoyed the unexpected company and my parents left to return home this past sunday. On monday the 20th our son left on his first ever flight, a trip to Alaska for his new job ( started Aug 27th with LJT and associates, an electrical contracting firm for NASA, as a remote telemetrist)

He did well for his first flight and is very excited to be there. Can't wait to hear all the stories and see the pix when he returns. The aurora borealis is over where he is staying and I told him to take plenty of pix for me, i envy the opportunity! Our daughter ( pictured above with her boys) began nursing school on the 20th also. 

So we have had a busy couple of weeks and now I am playing catchup getting ready for ArtBliss this weekend, making charms for our swap and gathering tools and supplies!

So goodbye to Summer, and hello to Fall and all the adventures it holds!