This summer has been crazy so the weekend before last we packed up the car last minute and planned a little day trip. We went to Fenwick Island beach and then into Ocean City, ate at the dough roller and played putt putt golf. Then we went in search of a park or something interesting. We stopped by Assateague and actually got to see some ponies and then made our way to Assawoman which turned out to be really neat. It was a long day but we had a lot of fun! I didn't bother with my camera as much as I usually do... for one I didn't want to get any sand on it and I was having a lot of fun with everyone instead of documenting everything. I did stop to get some pictures when we stopped for breakfast that morning ( a little park was right next to the subway/ dunkin donoughts) and when we came across this tower at the entrance of the park. Andy actually took the panorama of the park and it turned out really neat.

Man that looks like a lot of candles!

Short story short... A friend of mine from high school sent out a facebook invite to get us shutterbugs to stop complaining and start shooting. She proposed that we try to keep a camera of some sort on us all the time, and she would contact us via text to "shoot" and we would, in turn click away. Shooting on command, wherever you are and whatever you are doing. Cool idea! We'll then send the photos to her and she will post them somewhere online... more on that later. As it is the first text came this morning at 11:47 am and Sam and I were just getting in the car to head home from the library... this is what filled my line of vision at the time so that's what I snapped my first photos of. She requested notes and I didn't know if she meant technical notes or just a note so I did both. This is a really neat idea! I've had fun so far!

For those of you who think that there's a lot of "Nothing" in Massanutten, you are wrong! This week our whole family was suppose to head up to Massanutten for vacation. Unfortunately John wasn't able to get off of work until thursday night/Friday morning. I decided to stay home with him for the week, because I haven't seen him in about 3 weeks because of all the fun we were having with our company! We just needed to slow our life down a little... so we drove up at around midnight on Thursday night. It's only three hours away but it was a rough three hours. Luckily Sam slept and went right back to bed when we got there and slept in late the next morning! Anyway, once we were there we had a great time! In the two and a half days of vacation we went putt putt golf, went to the water park, broke Whitney's nose, hit some balls at the driving range, enjoyed the butterflies at the butterfly house, did some shopping, attended a farmers market, went to the park and enjoyed some beautiful scenery. We also had some nice family time playing card games and chatting. Overall it was a great trip, short as it may have been.

In a little more detail... Massanutten opened an indoor/outdoor water park a couple years back and while it was a little spendy we did enjoy ourselves immensely. I don't have any pictures because I didn't want to get my camera wet but it's really neat. They have an outdoor area that has large water slides and a place to play basketball in the water and a wave pool. There's also a spray park for the little ones. Sam really enjoyed it and would run into the water and out. He ran a little too fast and the lifeguard actually blew his whistle at Mom as she was chasing him. He also enjoyed the wave pool. He waded up to his tummy and just let the waves crash into him and laughed every time. When it was time to move inside I was a little worried that there wasn't going to be much for him to do because of his age. But really he could do everything except go down the huge tubes and slides inside. He enjoyed walking through the water under the huge jungle gym like structure they have there where he could get sprayed by all the things that spray and he went down one of the smaller slides and was even able to ride with us in the lazy river as they have two person tubes where the front tube has a bottom on it so small children can ride. The whole place was very family friendly and that was great. Also children under 2 are free! We had a great time playing with Sam there and also going on some of the big kid rides too. Though Whitney got the short end of the stick when John, myself and Whitney went down a slide tube together. When we hit the water at the end my head flung back and hers forward and all I heard was *Crack*. Sure enough I broke her nose. I felt really bad... for a little bit but it didn't make it too crooked and the swelling has gone down now. She's fine and it's a good story. I've now broken her nose and my mom's! Be careful!

The other really neat thing that we got to do was go to a butterfly exhibit. Mom, Sam and I went and had a really fun time. Basically it's a greenhouse that you go in and get to see all sorts of butterflies. They have you put sugar water on your fingers then the butterflies will come land on your hands. I was more interested in the photographic opportunities but mom got several to land on her. Sam was more into grabbing the butterflies so they stayed clear of him... smart bugs! One butterfly, however, was brave enough to sit on his collar for awhile.

John and I got to go for a little drive so I could take some pictures of the countryside out there and I happened upon this broken down barn and silo... what can I say, I really have a special place in my heart for silos!

After Sam woke up from his nap we decided to take a drive up the mountain to see some of the pretty sights. We stopped at a place that they call painters perch because in the fall all the trees are so beautiful that people actually come up there to paint the scene of the trees reflecting on the water.

We also stopped by a park on our way back to let Sam have some fun on the big toys. He climbed this rock wall all by himself!

And this was the last picture of the trip I took... I had John pull over so I could take a picture across the street of the rolling hillside and snapped one of this farmhouse with the trucks outside just for fun. I rather liked it though!

This month has been amazing! I've got to visit with two of my best girlfriends and also get to hang out with my Dad at the beginning of the month! The latest houseguest was non other than Amanda! We had an incredible time just hanging out, running around and making a quick trip up to WA DC where we were taken on Matt Sickle's guided tour including the special "Name That Plant" part of the tour! We watched a couple movies, had a pampered chef party which was a blast... like 13 people in my little dinning room! Thanks to those who sat on the floor... we're so dignified here! Anyway, it was great to have Amanda here, she's so laid back and ridiculously entertaining! I had the pleasure of getting some portraits of her while she was here, they'll make it to my site eventually but I thought I would post them here as I'm currently battling technology and am unable to update my website!

This first set was taken in DC outside of Union Station where we waited for the Andy and Matt to show up and admired all the people running to work in their suits and dresses. I am amazed at how some women walk in those heels!

Later in the week, between thunderstorms and me forgetting to put the memory card in my camera (stupid Alex) I was able to get these shots outside! Because of the rain all the colors outside were extraordinarily bright! I love it!