snow

each year, around wintertime i wish we lived in a place where it snowed. i always think it'd be so nice to wake up to and have it around for the holidays. i almost feel like we are missing out on the fullness of the holidays by not having snow. it's so pretty! but then we get a little dose of snow and i am quickly reminded how much i love southern california in the winter 🙂 our family can only take snow for a few days before we realize how wimpy we truly are 🙂 we took a little trip to lake arrowhead and stayed with some friends. when we woke up, we looked out the window and saw the snow falling. it was beautiful!

nice to get the car cleaned again 🙂 i like how the snow covers my dent that the post office pole made on the side.

we didn't expect snow so we came unprepared in regular street clothes. we don't even own clothes much warmer than this 🙂

we took a little walk to a tea shop and this is when i want to quit and stay indoors and not get back outside till it warms up.

good memories! chris posted one of my favorite arrowhead pictures here. he'll be posting more eventually.

happy new year! my two resolutions for the year: exercise and blog more. i never put exercise on my list because i know i will never go through with it. just putting it on the list this year makes me feel like at least i will attempt it at some point. 🙂

January 1, 2010 9

new york via iphone

we spent a few days in new york for a wedding recently and i was naughty and only took photos with my iphone 🙂 chris took some film and polaroids so we'll have to wait for those. the thought of bringing my big camera out in the city with the sometimes rain just didn't appeal to me 🙂
looooove stone paved streets. sigh.

just cute.
so excited to walk pass her little place here!

i wasn't crazy about the subway.

skinny, tall alleys that remind me of italy.

we were very tired from shooting 10.5 hour wedding so when we reached this bridge, i knew i didn't have much in me to make it all the way across and then back. i am very happy we only went 1/4 way across 🙂

we arrived in soho a little early. the streets were very quiet.
mid afternoon stop for a latte. loved the view from where i was sitting. i love all the tall apartments and fire escapes. this neighborhood made me plan on moving here when all of the kids are on their own. i loved it!

thank goodness for iphones! chris remembered eating at this other little cafe once so he googled, eggs in a bowl, soho and we found our way 🙂 i am totally fascinated by apartment living in NY. part of me wants to take the kids out of school for a year just to expose ourselves to living in NY- just for a year, then we'd come back and they'd finish back at home!

the wedding was an hour out of the city. the greenery along the freeway made me think of living in virginia, we miss that kind of scenery when driving along!

a little glimpse of the wedding site, their home. we love that google is how this lovely couple found us. she was dating a jamie waters and googled him, this blog here came up and she followed it for quite awhile. and when he proposed, she thought it fitting that jamie waters in california come shoot jamie waters in new york. we can't wait to share their wedding pics, we adore them! 🙂

one day i had about 4 hours alone, walking the streets with my iphone map to guide me 🙂 i remembered that the last time i was there, i was pregnant with kira. so long ago! i don't spend a whole lot of time alone in the first place so i tried to not be too much of a chicken 🙂 we laughed that in a taxi we were watching the weather forecast and it said adjectives like, sticky. muggy. ha- we don't have those kind of forecasts here… but the weather was surprisingly nice, one afternoon we came out of the subway to buckets of rain. it was kinda fun, running to our next destination in the rain! and on the day of the wedding, it poured all morning and afternoon…. and stopped just as the lovely bride walked down the aisle, and the sun came out. it was truly amazing. another great trip for our books 🙂

August 24, 2009 10

seems like so long ago

but it's only been 2 weeks since we got back. i think it's the weather change that makes it seem so drastic. i look at the clothes we are wearing in the pictures and it just seems like forever ago since we wore winter clothes! a few glimpses that caught my eye the other day while browsing thru our enormous file of pictures. i l o v e this one. the kids at a maze with chris, in the rain. you can see the raindrops in the picture!
also love these so much.
one at merrick's- with our auntie jo who took very good care of our massive crew. she fed us yummy dinners and our first kangaroo. she also took a family photo of us right after but for some reason it got lost along the way. im so sad! 😦one of her tasty meals 🙂
we fell in love with fitzroy and came back to do one of our family shoots there. you can see that one on the jac blog, click here.

kira said it was the best hot chocolate ever:
we thought the flat whites were especially delish.
sorta family pic, without moi.
luna park:

chris' dad who graciously had us over for many night and days, trekking our big family to his beautiful home in the mountains as well.

at the cabin, chris and caleb went on a fun gnome hunt in the village:

these guys geared up to go skiing/snowboarding as i stayed back with the little two.

a night of scrabble. NO KIDDING. caleb drew all of these letters. seriously!!!!! driving back to the city, through areas where the fires had passed.

st kilda, this shot is wrong with the water being crooked. but who cares. look at els' little hand gripping chris' jacket and caleb's little face watching in horror or amazement 🙂

sea glass in aus…that i later found in my bag once we got back to the US

maling road. love this area. chris' mom grew up around the corner. favorite little spot. found dr pepper there for 3.75 a can. i missed it but just couldn't stomach that price! we didn't get to see any koalas in the wild this time, we sure looked but didn't find any. the kids one request was to see some. 🙂 these are at healsville sanctuary. special treat, a bunch of active koalas and a little baby on it's mothers back. sweetest thing! and up close with a kangaroo…. they even got to pet it.

time with cousins.
we think their icy poles are better than our otter pops!

we were fortunate to have some really beautiful days of weather while there, kira was saying she wished she packed her flipflops and cam wished he packed shorts! but it was still chilly for me!

long chats with donna and snuggles with baby max.she housed us as well… both families together = 12. such good times. we are so grateful and will always remember it. thank goodness for ichat 🙂
and one more. though it's blurry, such a good memory. girls performing for us. learning a routine and practicing till it's time to perform. (i used to do this with my cousins, so i love seeing kira do it as well) 🙂

chris will have some of his film shots posted at the jacshoot blog sometime today.

as my air condition is blaring beside me, i think of our family so far away snuggled in their winter coats….missing them lots and wishing they weren't so far.

August 7, 2009 7

so far…

our first fourth of july in the snow!
we missed the fireworks that we normally watch, but kira had a great time snowboarding and cam went skiing for the first time. the younger 2 and i snuck out for a few minutes to throw snowballs… then quickly returned to the warmth of the indoors!
then this past week, we stayed with chris' dear cousin Cameron and his amazig wife donna. Cam and Donna have four kids as well so they understand the unique madness that comes with a family of six! we were blessed with amazing weather and trips to the beach on the mornington peninsula! i especially liked these beach boxes!

it was so special to see all the friendships form between cousins who live miles away but meshed within minutes.
everyone got along so well, but it was these two pairs that especially clicked. just a few months apart.
and these 2 a few months apart.
it made me sad to think that perhaps the next time these guys see each other, it will be years from now 😦 hopefully with technology, they will be able to stay in touch! (we were looking for kangaroos here, more pics from that day here)
just a few more as i have hundreds of favorites already but am having a hard time sorting through them all. we have been welcomed with open arms here and are so touched at everyone's kindness. it has been such a special trip for us already, glad we have another week to enjoy it. tomorrow's footy for the boys and more play time for the little ones! (and moms!)

July 10, 2009 16

we made it

to australia! we've had 2 chilly days here but are enjoying the company of family and the beauty of the land 🙂 we're off to the snowy mountains tomorrow! crazy to think that our summer has turned into winter!

July 2, 2009 13

new york city and australia

i love trips! 🙂
we have 2 exciting trips planned this year! chris is in the early
stages of planning a trip to NYC first week of june (2-4). if you are
interested in a shoot of any kind, family or engagement, contact us at
info at jacshoot dot com.

then, the waters six clan is heading to Australia. chris is from australia and most of his family still lives there, we started this blog in 05 specifically to keep in touch with our kids as just chris and i went to AUS and we've long wanted to take the kids down there to see where he was born. we are so excited!

we'll be in melbourne and surrounding suburbs for the first three weeks of july. we've had some interest in shoots while we are there- contact me, we'd love to do some! i'm also planning on teaching a scrapbooking class while we're down there, more details to follow:)

April 2, 2009 25

“it makes me happy to be here”

that’s what elsie said when we were bike riding along the santa barbara coast. and i agree. if you don’t already know, this is where chris went to college, and where we lived for our first year of marriage. such a beautiful place. perfect weather year round a couple hours away from los angeles- close enough for a day drive but far enough from the LA of LA:) here are some random pictures of our day. starting the trek:
asleep so soon:

little pit stop for lunch and instead of dragging the crew out to eat, we decided to eat on this little hill near the car since E was still sleeping 🙂

we spent over an hour at our quick little stop and took so many pics. those trees!! chris took this with his polaroid and i love it sooo much. me and my crew. i want to take the polaroid and frame it with a ridiculously large mat and frame. i adore it.

finally in santa barbara.

i can’t decide which of these are my favorite. they are so sweet i could cry!

and the little dude who is almost always down to take a photo for his daddy:

i know we are goobs but it’s tradition and we can’t help it 🙂

it’s sorta funny how you’ll see many other bike riders along the trail- the trail is right next to the water, it’s this peaceful little journey… until the waters get next to you and there is just chaos and mayham and craziness in our little bike. but sometime in between all the mayham, elsie told chris- “it makes me happy to be here” 🙂 that’s what it’s all about. 🙂

so long santa barbara! we looooove you!

January 2, 2009 22

so inviting!

(click for bigger image)

for our 10th anniversary, we skipped the schmancy dinner and went white water rafting on the merced river instead. it's something i've always wanted to do (after i saw a kevin bacon movie that had white water rafting in it.. sooo strange but that's when the fascination started) and now we are pumped to do it again 🙂 so the next day, on our way home, chris takes one last swim in the river, and his daredevil sidekick, kira, follows along with him as they jump off this huge rock. so refreshing. 🙂 i for the record, also jumped off that rock the day before 🙂 so now, as i sit in the Los Angeles heat, i look at my new screensaver (this picture) and just daydream 🙂

July 3, 2008 9

london

i didn’t realize how little photos we took in london till i was looking thru them now. i think we were SO tired by this time.. we opted to do the red tour bus thing for our one day in london. we left the hotel bright and early and came home late.

we were so glad the sun came out for us that day.. the night before we came in to rain.. went to notting hill in the rain so didn’t get to really see it much or take pics. i want to go back!

this was taken outside of the national gallery where we checked out some van gogh and monet’s.. lovely. i fell in love with vincent’s yellow chair.

outside buckingham palace:

chris with a bit of guards behind him. teeny.

ben and a cathedral

and we ended our day with this.. there were so many good shows playing, it was hard to pick but this was spectacular! i’d love to take kira- she’d love it!

and the view from our hotel room. i am a hotel freak. i spent hours researching hotels.. and was sooo pleased that ours was clean and lovely and when we go back, im totally staying here again. earl’s court, we love you!

thanks for all the sweet annivesary comments… i need chris to get our yosemite pics off his laptop so i can blog those. we had a blast 🙂

July 1, 2008 11

away again…

in yosemite for the week with the fam… will be back next week to answer emails… will hopefully post some pics this week…this is our last trip we've got planned for the year. the kids are with us.. loving the introduction to summer..

June 23, 2008 8