Showing posts with label grandparents. Show all posts
Showing posts with label grandparents. Show all posts

Monday, January 18, 2016

Trip to Seattle | Holidays 2015


Yesterday I mentioned posting this week's Retro Sketches card, then the Seahawks played this afteroon (and lost!) and I completely forgot to photograph my card! Of course it's dark now and I don't have a good setup for photographing projects at night. So... I swapped a couple of posts around and today I'm sharing some photos from our day trip to Seattle, Washington. The boys and I spent two weeks with my parents (they joined their father for a few days around Christmas) over the holidays.

A couple of days before we flew home my parents treated us to brunch at the top of the Space Needle. If you haven't done this before I highly recommend it. The food is amazing and you can't beat the view!

We had 10am reservations and I was told we could arrive 30 minutes early and check out the observation deck. I'm guessing the receptionist didn't realize the 10am reservation was right at opening because they were not expecting us at 9:30. We were told to hang out in the gift shop until 10am, which worked out great because it was freezing outside. Of course Jack wanted to buy everything in the gift shop and he managed to hit Grandma up for a Seattle snow globe before we left. Even she can't turn down those big blue eyes. 


I admire bloggers who can take fantastic food photos, and I had every intention of taking photos of my amazing meal but I was too busy eating it! The best part about eating at the top of the Space Needle (besides the food, of course) is the incredible 360 degree view. The restaurant rotates while you eat, making one revolution every 45 minutes, and you end up seeing something new every time you look out the big windows. It's pretty incredible. 

After brunch we moved to the observation deck. This is always the boys' favorite part of visiting Seattle, although it was super busy at the top by the time we finished brunch. 


There was a ton of fog on our drive into Seattle and I was concerned about visibility but once we got into the city the fog dissipated and the view was spectacular! 

 




Jack spotted a park while we were at the top of the Space Needle and we decided to check it out when we got back to ground level. It was an awesome playground with a large rope climbing gym, swings, and interactive musical instruments. The boys had a blast and I got some great pictures of them and my parents. 





After about an hour at the park we were all freezing and ready to head home. The kids and I are planning to visit Washington again this summer and we will spend a few days in Seattle checking out some of the other attractions... the Pacific Science Center, Woodland Park Zoo, Seattle Aquarium, EMP, and possibly a Harbor City Cruise. Until then this day trip will have to hold us over. 


I used my Canon 70D camera and 50mm 1.8, 85mm 1.8, and 24mm 2.8 lenses for these photos. The 24mm 2.8 was great for capturing all of the Space Needle in the frame and for photos with sun flare. It was such a crisp, cool, clear day and I'm extremely pleased with how these photos turned out. Now I need to decide which photos to frame for around the house! 

I have my Retro Sketches card on my desk, ready to be photographed in the morning. Hopefully nothing will come up and I will have a blog post up in a timely manner. We can always hope!

Saturday, July 4, 2015

Grandpa | Traditional Layout

After I created a handful of card using the July Gossamer Blue kits, I pulled out this photo of my Dad and Jack, taken a couple of years ago, and created a layout. The large black letters were the inspiration for my page. I wanted a bold title that took up a portion of the lower half of the page. 

I used a variety of kits from the July release on my layout, including the Life Pages Main Kit, the Main Add On Kit, and the Bits and Pieces Kit


The "always choose the adventure" stamp is one of my favorites from this month's Life Pages Main Kit. I added a wooden button, a "special day" stamp (from a previous Life Pages kit), and a couple of puffy stars as accents.


In the bottom corner I created a cluster of elements, starting with a Simple Stories tag (not from the GB kits), "happy memories" tag, flair, a few stars, and some sticker strips. 


I measured the inside of the slide frame and printed my journaling out to fit. After I adhered the journaling/slide to my layout, I added the arrows and "fun" cork stickers, orange and white label, "observations" wood veneer, and more puffy stars.


Make sure to check out the rest of the Gossamer Blue gallery for more inspiration! You can purchase the July Gossamer Blue kits and add-ons here. Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful holiday weekend!

Tuesday, September 23, 2014

Autumn | Digital Layouts

I was delighted when Scotty Girl Designs' newest kit, This Year 2014 Fall, popped up on my Facebook feed... it is absolutely gorgeous! 

We don't have traditional fall weather here, so I had to go through my photo archives to find photos for both layouts. The first layout features photos from our year in Ohio (2010). Mark's parents were in town and we visited an air museum with the kids. It was October and the leaves were turning colors... it was beautiful. 



My second layout features a Layered Layout V. 12 template from Deena Rutter and the same This Year 2014 Fall collection from Scotty Girl Designs. These two kits worked so well together. Digital templates were my initial draw to digital scrapbooking, and Deena's template is exactly the reason why.

On this layout I used photos from way back in 2005. Mark took the camera to campus and took some beautiful fall photos for me. I was pregnant with Evan (and very sick), but he knew I wanted photos of the campus in autumn. He is such a great husband. :)


You can check out Shannon's newest collection here, and Deena's template set here.

Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Lego Land, Florida

A few weeks ago we took a mini-vacation to Orlando and Lego Land with Mark's parents. The kids love amusement parks, and I had heard really good things about Florida's newest theme park. We had a wonderful time, and despite the heat, enjoyed our day at the park. Jack especially enjoyed going on rides. He just hit 36 inches (with shoes on), so he could go on a quite a few rides this trip... even some by himself! He looked so little compared to the bigger kids on the rides, but he loved it. 


Jack wanted a blue Angry Bird painted on his face.

And Evan wanted a red bird... he really liked it, so I'm not sure why he is so serious!









I am still taking care of a very sick 6-year-old, so I better run. Poor kid cannot get over a nasty cold/flu. We are off to the doctor tomorrow to make sure he doesn't have something more serious (Mark mentioned bronchitis...).

Have a great week!

Sunday, October 9, 2011

Ohio Photo Book

Last year I created a photo book for my in-laws and I don't think I've shared it on my blog. I made the book 7x9 inches and had it printed through ArtsCow.

I can't believe it's been a year since these photos were taken. We only spent one year on Ohio, but we did so much during that time & I'm glad I have the photos to remember our adventures.

Cover of album:


Title page:


Pages 2 & 3:


Pages 4 & 5:



Pages 6 & 7:



Pages 8 & 9:



Pages 10 & 11:



Pages 12 & 13:



Pages 14 & 15:



Pages 16 & 17:



Pages 18 & 19:



Page 20:



A lot of this miniBook is dedicated to our trip to the air museum. Mark and his Dad are both really into airplanes, so I thought it was important to include a lot of those photos in this book. And while I love the beautiful weather we have in Florida, I am going to miss the beautiful leaves in Ohio.

Have a wonderful week!