Everything Else

I just realized I never finished posting everything from San Diego, so here are the rest of the pictures, now almost one month late. It's a long post of pictures, so in case you don't want to scroll through everything, here is one of my favorites right up front...

Sea World

We went to Sea World with the whole family and had a really fun time. Natalie really enjoyed watching the penguins and any other animal/fish that we could get fairly close to. It had been years since I had been to Sea World and my favorite parts were the Shamu show and the shark encounter. I think it is so cool to walk through the tunnel with all the sharks swimming around you.

Padre Game at Petco Park (Natalie's first baseball game!)

The Beach

Bowling

Fourth of July

We spent a fun and relaxing 4th at my Grandpa's house, swimming and barbecuing to our hearts content.

Modeling a new Outfit from Grandma!

Photography Class, Week 1

I am taking a photography class through the Smithsonian Resident Associate program with my friend, Emily, and it is awesome! I am actually learning how to use the camera I got last summer on a setting other than "auto"! So far I have been amazed that I have managed to take photos on the manual setting at all, and some of the pictures have actually turned out really well (or at least I think so)! Here are some of my first week photos...

We took Natalie to park and put her in the swing for the first time - she loved it!

Family

There are a million things to love about San Diego, but far and away the best part of being there was spending time with my family. We were lucky to have everyone there (aka "original" immediate family plus the husbands) for a few days of the trip and nothing beats that. In no particular order, about 25 pictures of Natalie with everyone (you're welcome, Mom!)...

Everyone after church

With Grandma and Grandpa in their fourth of July church outfits

Being adored by Rebecca, Grandma and Grandpa

Russel, Marc and Jonathon

Natalie and Marc

A solid indicator of most of our time there...everyone being entertained by Natalie while she hammed it up. Nothing eggs an entertainer on like an enthralled audience.

My uncle Robert and his cute family stopped by to visit one night for dinner. I hadn't seen them in 3 years, so it was great to catch up!

Natalie's cousin, N. They are only 6 weeks apart and Natalie was very excited to meet him!

Celebrating my Dad's birthday

Jonathon and Natalie making each other laugh

Listening to Marc play the guitar

With Great-Grandma Stansel

Deep Creek

We are finally back home after a wonderful two week vacation to San Diego and a very last minute weekend trip up to Deep Creek just two days after getting back from California. It is always nice to be back home, but also a little sad to have a fun vacation or get-away end.

We were invited up to Deep Creek (in Maryland) to a lake house by my brother and sister-in-law and I jumped at the chance to see this place that I heard so much about. It didn't disappoint. In fact, it may now be on my list of favorite places. The lake is stunning and the weather is perfect. I'm talking 78 degrees and no humidity and it's only three hours outside of DC! Who knew that was even possible?!

view from the lake house

She loves being tossed in the air. She gives the best laughs mid-throw!

Yes, that is Natalie in the tiniest life jacket ever. She loved being in the water and splashed around for a good 20 minutes.

Russ and our nephew Jimmy coming back from a canoeing adventure

My nephew Dane was so excited to be there that he was out fishing in the pond before the rest of us were even out of the car. So cute!

My first fish! (Ok, it was my second, but the camera was in the car for the first one.) I particularly love how unsure Natalie is of the fish in the picture. A little while after this picture was taken, Russ caught a fish and brought it over to show Natalie. It was thrashing around and touched her foot. After that she about lost her mind every time a fish came within 6 feet of her. Good thing we got this picture in first! :-)

We were only there from Friday afternoon through Saturday evening, but we managed to swim in the lake, go canoeing, go out for ribs, relax in the hot tub, stay up way too late talking and even go fishing - it was all so fun! Thank you Jamie and Anne for inviting us!