Photodyssey: Sepia and Zipline

It finally stopped raining in Altadena and I could finally go outside and take some photos/mess around with my camera. Very exciting! And then John goes and surprises me, literally, with a mini trip to Solvang, a tiny Danish-esque village on the Central Coast.

Our first stop, was a park near the Ventura Marina that beheld a zipline! We packed a picnic lunch and while we ate, Hartwell explained his many plans for the zipline. He was pretty sure there was no height requirement and was positive it was free.

He's six going on fourteen.

Beckett with his self-inflicted haircut.

And...zipline! What's better than a seaside zipline?!

We spent a couple hours at the park, Hartwell zipping, John and Beckett exploring. Then back in the car. Where I messed with my camera some more.

Sepia? Yes, please.

They just wanted to get to the hotel. They LOVE a hotel.

They didn't want to leave the tiny room with the bad art. But I promised Aebelskiver.

Everybody loves Aebelskiver.

Malibu Father's Day

 The boys got their dad a picnic kit for fathers day and that morning, dad conspired with them to go on a beach picnic. Which was a little odd until I spotted the fishing gear in the back of the car. That's the boys checking out the bait.

It was overcast and a little cold and the waves were huge. But they stood next to dad while he waited to catch nothing.

 

Beachy Keen?

My tiny California Bungalow needs some fresh make-up. I had like a million ideas. I had an epiphany a few weeks ago where I thought "I can keep the house navajo white and just repaint the trim!" Then it won't seem like a crazy project that never gets done. I can work on one window at a time and move as slow as I want.

Sunday I was in my local hardware store, where I learned they can make ANY color of paint I want from any company, and I saw a color card. It featured a creamy white with a sage-ie green and a taupe. It reminded me of my beach phase when I wanted the house to look like a beach bungalow, except with forestier colors.

Before we had a reddish brown on the trim and windows that drove me bananas. And here's what I did today. Spruce and Taupe. It took FOR-ever!

Subtle. Blend-ie. Kind of totally unlike me. But I really like it.

Sons of Beaches

Hiatus started for John so we took a little seaside jaunt. We stopped along the way, for what we call "Crazy Picnic," a term coined back before we had kids to denote the drive-to-the-beach-really-early-while-it's-kinda-drizzlie-and-overcast-to-eat-sausages-with-Barkley kinda days we used to have. I can't imagine going to the beach that early right now. Bananas.

The beach was fun, in photographs, in reality it was so windy we spent a lot of time chasing our stuff down. The boys also spent a lot of time stepping on stuff. Hartwell stepped on a plastic fork tine and Beckett stepped on a tiny hot coal that got away. Lucky we had our bag of Old Indian Tricks*. Along with a flashlight full of beans, John found a special foot rock that helps to heal foot injuries. So the boys rested their bloody and burned feet on it and instantly felt better.

We finally got to the hotel and Hartwell never left the Jacuzzi. Beckett was too cold and wanted to sit inside and watch TV. And was puzzled as to why he couldn't just watch whatever he wanted, but had to watch whatever was on TV. Did not see that coming with my no network TV situation.

Anyway, good times, including a restaurant that had a coke machine that offered 5 different flavors of Diet Coke and a stop at a biker seafood place where Hartwell muttered, "Where's the crab? I didn't come all this way for shrimp!"


*Racist Placebos

Beach Boys

Last night I was stumbling and found a blog with a picnik tutorial, homemade by jill. She was creating cupcake toppers which is sort of ingenious. It's an online photo editing software. I have been trying to find a free photo editor for a long time. Mostly for red eye removal. Lots of light eyes over here.

I think I may even upgrade to the pay version. Because I could finally print some stuff. iPhoto makes me mad when I try to print, it's all bossy and expensive.

I think I'm gonna print these photos for my kitchen nook. I need to change what's in there and these are pretty cute. I used a Lomo effect for these. Which makes the color crazy awesome.

Endless Spring

We took a mini-vacation this last weekend. Much needed. Much. It was John's and my sixth wedding anniversary. Hartwell kept handing me things and saying, "Happy Aversary, Mom!"

The best part was overnight in a hotel. There's nothing better than going to the beach and then not having to drive home. And maybe going swimming. In a saltwater pool! With heat!

I can't wait 'til the boys know how to swim and beach vacations aren't quite as nerve wracking. And I can sit and read while they swim with their dad.