Trip Teaser!

While at the beach, I had grand plans of catching up on all my photo editing that needs to be done. I have a small wedding to finish and two portrait sessions, one of which is an engagement sitting for Auntie Jenn. Anyway, I of course also took a zillion pictures of everyone while in Washington. While I ending up opting for card games or sleep instead of the pictures I should have been working on, I did play with some picture edits from the beach while there. Here are a few teaser pictures to tied you over until I muddle through the rest. These are a couple of the group shots we took Friday morning. This of course ended up being one of the coldest mornings, but was the only day we were ALL together. My dad wasn't able to join the group until Thursday night and Guya & D had to leave Friday afternoon for their trek back to Vegas.

The immediate family. Right to left: Grandpa Prohaska, Grandma Prohaska, Boopy, Uncle Five, Jakub, Aunt Kathie (& my new nephew due late Oct!), Papa Vaughn, Big Boy, Me, Uncle D, Guya (Photo courtesy of Victor! Thank you!)

We were all amused that aside from the kids, D is the only one that didn't hear to turn his head.

The entire group that stayed at the beach house. Back row, left to right: Five, Jakub (on shoulders), Kathie, Laurie, Me, Papa Vaughn, Guya (holding Boston), D (holding Roxy). Front row: Grandma Prohaska, Grandpa Prohaska, Grandma Harriett, Grandpa Victor. Very front row: Big Boy, Boopy

A sweet picture of the 3 cousins. We took pictures together each day they wore matching shirts. This day they were wearing shirts Grandma Prohaska brought them. Jakub and Boopy's matched and said, "I'm 2 what are you going to do about it!" Big Boy's read, "I'm 4 and whatever it is, I didn't do it!" Too cute and too true!

I also did a family session for my brother Five, sister-in-law Kathie & nephew Jakub as well as new pictures for my sister (Guya) and brother in-law (Uncle D). Here are a few teasers from their sessions.

Guya & D are always so photogenic! I swear they could be models!

My adorable happy nephew Jakub. I'm glad he didn't mind the camera, cause I had it on him ALOT! :) Don't you just love his curls!! When you come from a family with poker straight hair, curls can be sooo much fun!

I love these pictures! Especially the one without them looking. I'm a sucker for trying to capture the moment. I'm so glad my brother has made such a happy life for himself and his family! Can't wait to meet the new addition!

No longer MIA!!!!

I can't believe I haven't blogged since Aug 3rd!!! Oh my! Well, we did go on our big trip to Ocean Shores, Washington where we didn't have internet access so I do have a small excuse. Papa Vaughn finished up fire duty just in time to go on vacation with us. That was a wonderful treat as I really wasn't looking forward to driving the 15 hour drive by myself with the two kiddos. I will have a plethora of pictures to share once we finish the unpacking, laundry, household chores and catching up on our sleep! HaHa! Just wanted to let you all know that we are around, alive, well and happy! :)

My son....the STREAKER!

So tonight just after I had just finished getting Big Boy out of his bath and walked into his room to get him dressed when I heard the doorbell ring. I peaked out his window which thankfully overlooks the front door and saw a handful of my neighbors standing in my driveway. Apparently my sprinklers had busted and my front driveway had become a swimming pool. With no time to even think about getting Big Boy dressed, I ran downstairs. I first shut off the automatic sprinklers and then went out front where we could still here water running. I ran back through the house and to the backyard to see where it was coming from. With some help from my wonderful neighbors and their friends we were able to shut off the sprinkler value that was gushing water everywhere.

So, anyway, back to my poor kids whom I abandoned upstairs. At first they had been nicely peering out the bedroom window talking to some of the neighbors. By the time that we shut off the value, however, I found both kids outside with everyone. Now this wouldn't normally be a problem, but due to the recent bath activity Boopy was already dressed but Big Boy wasn't. Oh, how I wish I had my camera handy because my happy naked child began streaking the neighborhood. His little skinny white body just gleefully bouncing around our long front driveway waving at all the neighbors. He thought this was great! I literally and I mean literally, had to chase him inside all while threatening to pinch his cute little butt cheeks. Awww... the joys of being 4 1/2 and free, really really free.

Papa - The Firefighter

If you ask the kids where Papa is you get the following answer: "Papa out of town at work. He help the firefighters."

It's so cute how excited they are about Papa helping the firefighters. At the same time, Boopy told Papa on the phone last night to "Come home soon, Papa". Well, today we got to satisfy a bit of both their request and excitement. Papa had today off as his 24 hour shift ended at 6am this morning. We took advantage of this and drove up to Mariposa to see him. While there isn't much to do in this tiny mountain town, we did have a nice lunch together and walked around the few shops that were open on a Sunday afternoon. Papa also drove us out to the area he's been working. Wow. Sad and yet impressive. Sad to see the damage the fire did, but impressive to see how fast the firefighters have put it out and how well they managed to save quite a few homes.

I was a bad picture person and didn't manage to get a single one of us together or the area he is "living". I was a bit distracted though with just spending time with him considering we haven't seen Papa in nearly two weeks, so I figure that's a valid excuse. Besides Papa has taken plenty of pictures of the base camp areas as well as the crews out working. We did find out that since the fire is completely contained they are pulling a lot of help out of the area. Quite a few fire crews are already on the way out and left today. Papa's crew will demobilize tomorrow and either be sent to another fire somewhere in CA or perhaps sent home. While the extra money is extremely helpful right now, we wouldn't mind him home either. Right now it's wait and see, one day at a time.

The pictures below are some of the damage areas.

You can actually see where a fire line was created with a bulldozer. Look at the light brown area. Excuse the dot in the sky, I obviously have something I need to clean off my lens.