Kelley's Last Day in San Diego

I loved watching Sara with Andy.

Andy could go from tired....

to fussy in 0.34 seconds.

And then asleep if Mom was sitting next to him to rock him and keep rocking him.

We went out for lunch and Jack had fun playing with his lizards in the fountain while Sara ordered our food.

Andy behaved very nicely while we were out for lunch.

And then it was time for me to be dropped off at the airport to catch my plane home.  I was sad to leave my friend and her two boys (I missed seeing David as he was in Northern California with his Dad...his step-mom had just passed the day before I flew out to San Diego), but looking forward to flying home to see my family.  Even though I was gone for just a few days, it felt like longer than a week because I did sooo much.  I learned sooo much about photography in the workshop.  I went to the San Diego Zoo.  Twice!  To the Scripps Aquarium.  To La Jolla.  To the beach multiple times.  I could not have asked for a better min-vacation, except to have had my family with me.

Day Four in San Diego

Sara picked me up from the photography workshop house and we headed straight for the Scripps Aquarium.  This house was right on the ocean and had a gorgeous view of the beach with floor to ceiling windows.

I have never been to an aquarium before, so this was a fun experience seeing so many sea creatures.  I loved the jellyfish, but was very thankful they were behind glass.

Jack liked the little jellyfish.

This tank is filled with water coming directly from the Pacific Ocean and had many different levels within filled with different species.

Outside was another area for children to explore and play.  This little sailboat racing station kept Jack's attention.

Andy slept through most of our visit, but woke up when we walked outside and the sun shone in through the top of his stroller.

Once we finished walking through the aquarium, we packed up and headed to the beach so Jack could play on a playground.

The day ended with a quiet evening and baths for the boys.  I loved this time with my friend Sara and watching her be a mom.  She is filled with so much patience and made me wish that San Diego was within driving distance.  I miss my friend and not seeing her children grow up in person.

San Diego with Blue Lily - Day Two

On day two with Wendy and Tyler, we learned about file storage/organization (because when you're taking 300-800 photographs in one photoshoot, it's helpful to have a method in sorting and storing all of those files!).  They also had a two siblings come to the house as models for an indoor studio session.  Since I have no plans for using a flash, I only watched the others in setting up the lighting and how to use with their cameras.  Before sunset, we drove out to a deserted bridge and met a couple who would be getting married in April but were willing to don their wedding duds and allow us to photograph them.  They were a great couple and the bridge was a great sport.  It was very chilly and she never once complained about being covered in goose bumps.

We learned more about shooting into the sun and how to get the correct exposure.

We had fun checking out each other's photographs on our camera's LCD screens.

We went out to dinner at a Mexican restaurant afterwards.  Wendy and Tyler were not just awesome photographers, but they were wonderfully positive people to be around.  I loved that I was there in the back of the van to see this quiet moment as Tyler reached over just to hold onto his wife's arm as she drove.

I could not have asked for a better weekend for learning more about photography, running a photography business and making new friends.

San Diego with Blue Lily - Day One

My second day in San Diego was Day One with Wendy and Tyler of Blue Lily.  We started off the day learning about posing couples and families.  We were rolling as Tyler told us how we can teach a man to sit.

And how to stand.

Just before sunset, we drove out to the beach to practice catching catchlights in each other's eyes before the model family arrived.

I always love the long piers found at beaches!

Wendy and Tyler photographed the family first, showing us how they typically run a photoshoot.  Then they let us have a turn.  As you can see, there were people in front of me.  I'm not very good at telling strangers to move out of the way and let me take a turn, so I paid more attention to the lighting and positioning of people/cameras to learn what Wendy and Tyler were teaching us.

It was a fun first day.  I had been very worried that I would be one of the least knowledgeable photographers in the workshop, as it was geared towards teaching amateurs how to make the jump to shooting professionally.  This day was a major confidence booster in realizing just how much I had learned about my camera over the past year since I started shooting in manual mode.

After this shoot, we went out for dinner at the In n' Out burger restaurant.  I tried to stay up and hang out with everyone back at the house after dinner, but I ended up slinking down to my room to go to bed before 8:30pm PST.  Traveling across three time zones is tough!

Kelley's First Trip to the San Diego Zoo

Kelley flew into San Diego for a two day photography workshop with Blue Lily. Always love flying out West and seeing the mountains!

Kelley's good friend Sara picked her up at the airport with her three year old Jack and four month old Andy.  We headed straight to the San Diego Zoo!

Jack was excited to show me his favorite place to visit and led the way through much of the zoo.

We saw enormous lizards.

Monkeys named Eloise.

Orangutans named Clyde and Janey.

Monkeys who climb as high as they can.

We even saw stretchy monkeys that go as far as little arms can reach.

We saw little crocodiles who looked hungry.

Bright coral flamingos.

We saw swimming otters.

And koalas that woke up for us after getting a little medicine and vitamins squirted into their mouths.

What an awesome first visit to the San Diego Zoo!

Bey Blades with the Grandmas

The night before Kelley was to fly out to San Diego for a photography workshop, the Grandmas came over for dinner.  Afterwards, we hung out in the family room.  Grandma Eloise rocked and rocked.

While Grandma Suzanney tried to beat Owen in the Bey Blades arena with their spinning tops from Christmas.  The kids were thrilled to have a Grandma on the floor playing one of their games with them and giving fun reactions when the kids won.  :)

A Belated Birthday Present

Kelley's friend Tabitha has had this present in the works for weeks.  They have been online Scrabble buddies for over a year, playing tiles, earning points and keeping up with each other's family's ongoings over each board.  She created a custom board with words and phrases that have become commonplace, yet brighten our days.

Kicking Tiger, Flying Dragon

During Owen's lesson, Chloe was showing me her moves and punches.

Owen practiced his round kicks.

And did a great job kicking the hand-held bag for practice.

Chloe wanted to take pictures of ourselves while we waited for her class to start.

Chloe got to practice her running, jump kicks.

She was flying by the time she kicked the bag!

Jezzie Thinks She's a Bird

Today, Jezzie learned how to climb the willow tree.

For quite awhile, she has thought she was a bird.

Jez routinely perches on my shoulders as I walk around the house.

Now that she has learned how to climb the tree, she doesn't stay out of the tree for long.

Jezzie likes being about 15 feet up in the tree and then drops to the ground from around 8 feet as it seems more difficult for her to get down than getting up.

Valentine's Candy

This was such a nice day we ate lunch out on the deck.  Once we finished eating, the kids pulled out their Valentine's loot from school.

Owen used his Valentine's box that he made last year.

They had just as much fun re-reading the Valentine's cards as they did finding candy to eat.