The Crafty Huntress

Memorial Weekend 2012!

Long weekends are always good, no matter what you've got going on!  We use to always go camping, or riding and this year we had no plans!  It was kind of nice!

Friday I got off at noon, ran a few errands and  picked up Gabe from my aunt & uncles house, where he hangs out on fridays.  (He only has school 4 days/wk.)  We were home early and went fishing at our pond.

Gabe spotted a big bass and that was the mission for the afternoon!  Catch Big Bertha!  No such luck!

Saturday we got up way too early to go fishing with Christopher on our local river.  I may have said before that going on the river is not my favorite thing, I prefer lakes or ponds!  But taking pics from the boat is always fun!

The sun coming up!  Very pretty!

Main Umpqua River, also very pretty!

There's also some hugging on the boat! 

And some napping! 

And lots of hanging out by the heater!

And goofy self portraits!  Obviously Christopher had no idea what we were doing!  I don't take my fishing as serious as he does!:)

This is where it got real hairy!  Lets just say when I go on the boat, don't expect me to do anything but take pics, bring food and chit chat!  I suck at bringing in the anchor rope!

Look, we did make it to shore!  It was such a happy occasion!  Thanks Babe for putting up with me!

I'm pretty sure we were home by noon!

So back to the pond for Big Bertha we  went!

No Bertha that day either, but Christopher & I each caught a bass this size!  The guys thought I was crazy when I grabbed my little pink 2-ft. pole, but I was the first to catch a fish!  Pretty fun on that little pole!

Back up to Friday, I had stopped by Goodwill and got a like-new pillow form for $2.  I also got 2 like-new big pillow shams that were Martha Stewart brand, very cute stripes.  Saturday I sat down and whipped out 2 cute pillows for the patio furniture!  The shams had the envelope closure in the back and were easy to cut down to fit my pillows.

On to Sunday...

We got up early again and headed east.  My parents and my brother and his fam were camping and we went to visit for the day.  They were less than 2 hours away and we took our ATV's to do some riding.  Thanks Mom for having the good breakfast ready!

Yes, I think I did wear and wash that sweatshirt and jacket a few times over the weekend!

Not sure what's up with Gabe's buggy eyes!

Nephew Kasen, taken on my phone, edited with Instagram.

He's such a cutie!

View from the dusty trail ride.

I'm still cleaning dust out of my eyes.

Kasen thought he was too fast for me to get a picture!

Gotcha again!

We ran into too much snow and headed back to camp.  We lounged by the camp fire and roasted hot dogs for lunch.  Gabe stayed the night with my parents and we headed home.

And we went right back to the pond to try and catch that bass!

This was the view from Gabe's little lawn chair that I packed down there with me.

Bullet was seated right in front of me!  He's always had one ear up and one down!

Success!  8 lb. Big Bertha!  We snapped a quick pic and put her back in the pond to have babies and live happily ever after!  She's lived in there for 15 years and this was the first time we've seen her!  Very exciting!

Monday...well it sucked!  I did finally sleep in, but also caught Gabe's head cold and didn't feel good all day.  Christopher went on the river fishing with a friend, but didn't catch anything.

Hope you all had a good weekend!

Kauai!!

Last week hubby & I were in Kauai and it was beautiful and amazing!  We had a great time!  This was our first time to Hawaii and we loved it!  Lots of pics to share!  Very photo heavy post!  This was also my first vacation shooting in manual mode, go me!  That only took almost 5 years to accomplish!:)

Hyatt-We stayed on the south shore at the Grand Hyatt Kauai Resort & Spa!  The grounds there are so lush and pretty!  We arrived on Monday and after looking around we decided we didn't want to leave so we canceled our rental car for later in the week!

The view as you walk into the lobby!

The salt water lagoon!  Looks like a postcard!

The opening up there is a terrace where we had dinner and drinks a few nights.  To the left is another terrace where we had breakfast.

Part of the lazy river that connects to the adult pool.

Our room was ground level, just to the left of the middle of the pic.

Oceanview room, view from our patio!  We laid in the hammocks on our last night!

This koi pond was next to where we had breakfast!

See the kayak and swimmers in the lagoon!

Where we spent our first full day!

This bird was fake sleeping in the lobby!

During dinner one night they did this tiki lighting ceremony and dance.

The sun sets on the other side, but it's still pretty!

View of the resort.  The green roof tops all the way down are the Hyatt.

View of the Hyatt from the other side.  We had just left an outside banquet where all the tikis are lit across the water.

Fishing-We went up on the rock cliffs next to the Hyatt and found some guys fishing.  They caught a bone fish while we were there!  They also almost slipped off the cliff in their flip flops!

You can see the poles sticking up from the rock in the middle.

 Helicopter Tour-Late in the week we decided to do a helicopter tour and we were booked for a 7:30am flight.  This meant we had to meet our taxi at 6:10am at the Resort!  It was early, but it was so worth it!  This was the best way to see the whole island and it was amazing.  After doing this, we had no regrets about canceling the rental car!

I started getting queasy over half way thru the trip.  I had to put the camera down and watch ahead so I wouldn't need to use the "comfort bag"!

There were 3 couples plus Jimmy the Pilot!  4 across the back and 3 across the front.  I was seated right behind Jimmy and Christopher was next to me.

Self portrait!  The guy next to us was a big Nikon fan and he was dying to take our pic, I told him no!  We do alright by ourselves!

Us-all of our self portraits!  We had so much fun!

Handsome!

 Waterslide-so fun!  I went more than he did!  The pools, slide, lagoon and lazy river are what made this resort so amazing!  I loved hanging out by the pool in a cabana!  The day I took these pics we chose the cabana right across from the slide and it was so fun seeing everyone come down!  I miss Kauai!

Here I come!

There was Christopher!

Seals & Turtles-One morning we went for a walk up on the rock cliffs and a seal was snoozing in the rocks on the beach.  That night we saw there was one on the beach.  The resort ropes them off so no one will mess with them.

On Friday night I heard at dinner that there were sea turtles just down the beach.  That night it was too dark and we couldn't see anything.  Saturday between breakfast and going to the Airport, we went down there again and spotted some in the surf!  It was so cool!  There weren't any on the beach, but saw quite a few in the water!

The spot in the middle of the screen is the seal going back out.  There are always surfers on this part of the beach.

There's a turtle hanging out in the surf!

Ocean & Sand-if you're still reading, I've saved my favorite for last!  I love all the landscape photos!  Enjoy!

There were at least 3 weddings while we were at the Resort.  On the left side you can see the bride getting her picture taken on the beach.

No, we didn't make it!  It was already there!

There were always people on the rock jumping off into the ocean.  We walked up there, but no way was I jumping off!

 

If you made it to the end...Yay!  What did you think?  Hope you enjoyed our pics!  We had a blast and will remember this trip forever!

Spring cleaning...

Lately my hubby did spring cleaning in his shop.  I was out there the first few days of going thru the toolboxes, then him and Gabe finished it up.  It's always fun to write love notes on the shop table!

Now all the tools are organized and everything has it's own drawer/space.

First week of April!

I love April!  Spring is in the air, and it's time to start tanning and get out the capris and flip flops!  This last week was my birthday, a few changes at work, I wanted to continue photo a day and start a new project (more on that later!).  I think I did okay, only skipped two photos.  I don't always take the photo on the exact day, but as long as I'm taking pics it's better than not!

day 1 your reflection

I took this the morning of my 35th birthday!  So far it seems I was worrying about that number for no reason at all!  And I haven't taken many pics in the mirror, so that was a little challenge.

day 2 color

sewing pins

day 3 mail

a birthday card I had received

day 4 someone who makes you happy

day 6 lunch

We had my birthday lunch at work the day after my birthday and we got Applebees!  I had the Wonton tacos and clam chowder!  So yummy!

day 8 inside your wallet

I actually thought this picture was pretty boring.  Maybe the inside of my purse would be more fun.  Or just a purse in general, you can never have too many of those!

Onto a new week!  Hope you had a great Easter!  We had a great family day together!

Tillamook, Seaside & Astoria oh my!

(Long photo heavy post!)

Years ago I had gone to the north Oregon Coast on a trip with our church group, but my boys had never been.  Last year I booked this trip for a long weekend in Seaside and we'd go up to Astoria for a visit.  So a few weeks ago, we headed north after work on a Thursday.

We stopped in Springfield at Five Guys Burgers and Fries for dinner.  Then went around the corner to Cabelas!  We always have to stop there!  Then on to Salem where we stayed the night and did some hotel swimming before bed!

Friday morning we headed to the Coast!  By the way, I love the Coast!  My boys, not so much!

Our first stop was the Tillamook Air Museum.

The building is just huge and very neat to see the video on how it was made.

Picture of a picture, the blimps that use to be stored there.

He totally did not want to pose for this photo!

Or this one!

Gabe & I in half of a helicopter!

We look thrilled!  Gabe took this one!

Back in the car and on our way!  While driving thru Tillamook Christopher asked me to go around the block because he thought he saw something.  In front of this little diner he had spotted a JM Browning log truck!  (They use to be on the show Ax Men)  Gabe is all about logging and log trucks so it was probably his favorite part of the trip!  The truck was either new or freshly painted and very nice looking.  No one asked me to stop for a closer look, so on we went!

And since I was driving, I stopped at a few ocean viewpoints!

 

We arrived at Seaside and got all checked in, then hit the beach!  Remember it's the Oregon Coast where sweatshirts and coats are usually a must!

A few of Gabe's shells.

Gabe at the end of the Oregon Trail statue with Lewis & Clark!  Our balcony was 2nd floor behind his head!

Our first self-portrait at Seaside!

 

Ocean view and the turnaround on Broadway from our balcony.

View down Broadway from our balcony.

That night we walked downtown and went to the Seaside Carousel Mall.  Gabe was the only one riding and he chose to ride on the buck deer!  He looks so bored!  I probably should have rode with him!

Saturday we got up and headed to Astoria for breakfast.  Then we went to the Astoria Column.

View from the top of the bridge going to WA!  There are 164 steps to the top of the column and they kicked my butt!  My legs were sore for a few days!  But doing down is much easier!:)

Another view from the top.

Ships on the Columbia River.

 

We made it down all those stairs and took a picture in the parking lot as it was starting to rain!

Then we went to the Columbia River Maritime Museum.  They were thrilled that I asked for a photo!

Columbia Lighthouse Ship

Ship and a log barge on the Columbia River.

We decided to drive across the big bridge into WA just for fun!  Here we are headed back across to Astoria, OR.  You can see the Astoria Column on grassy hill, left side of the photo.

Back in OR!

 Back to Seaside for our last night!

We had promised Gabe that we'd go to the Seaside Aquarium.  It's one of the oldest on the West Coast and known for the seal feeding.  You buy little containers of seal food and you can feed them over/through this fencing.

When this guy wanted attention he's start slapping himself!  It was so funny!

Then back to the beach!  It was a beautiful day!

We had a nice weekend together!  Sunday we woke up to snow at the Coast!  That was a first for us!  We had a snowy drive towards Portland, then down the freeway!  We made it home safe!  Until next time Seaside!

MPAD 26-31 done!

I have a hard time blogging during the week, so I'm catching you up and I did it!  I'm done and I took more pics in March that I had so far this year!  And guess what?  There's a photo-a-day challenge for April, which happens to be my favorite month!  Here it is, hope you can play along!  There are no rules, just take pictures!

Here are my pics from the last week of March:

day 26 key

This is my house key.  I don't keep it on a key ring, just in my pocket.  And I usually forget it right there in the door and my sweet hubby ends up finding it later!

day 27 your name

Sign at the end of our driveway

day 28 trash

Last year we got a dumpster at our house.  We were having a hard time making it to the dump on the weekend, especially during the good fishing season!

day 29 feet

This foot belongs to my parents dog Patty.  We just watched her for a week while my parents took Gabe on a trip for Spring Break.

day 30 toy

I found this picture on my camera, taken this month by Gabe of course!  Good angle!

day 31 where you relax

Our bed, taken earlier this month when the sun was shining!  We haven't had much of that lately!

Yay!  Glad I stuck with it!  Everytime I've ever started a photo challenge I never finish!  Go Me!

MPAD update!

Last weekend we went out of town for a little getaway to Seaside and Astoria!  You'll see a few pics from that trip!  I've skipped a few days, but it's all good!

day 12 Fork

I have a dishwasher but I don't like it!

day 13 Sign

Walking on the Seaside Promenade to the Aquarium.

day 14 Clouds

Beach at Seaside.  The weather was beautiful!

day 15 Car

Loaded for a roadtrip!

day 17 Green

We were all wearing green for our self-portrait on top of the Astoria Column!  See the bridge to WA in the background!

day 19 Funny

Gabe chasing a seagull on the beach and totally falling on his face!  We were laughing so hard!

day 20 Before/After (this is the before!)

My Aunt gave me this swimsuit cover up (Thank you!), but it just wasn't doing anything for me.

day 20 Before/After (this is the After!)

So I did some modifications to make it my own!  The green ruffle matches my swimsuit!  Much cuter now!

day 21 Delicious

My family loves this juice!

day 22 Kitchen Sink

day 24 Animal

Bo dog

day 25 Breakfast

Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal

One more week then on to April photo a day!

MPAD 3 thru 11!

I almost slid off the marchphotoaday wagon, but I'm still here!  I have been taking pics and leaving my camera out!  Bad thing is, some of my pics won't come off my camera card, so I've had to settle on the blurry ones that did transfer over.

Day 3 neighborhood, taken at the bottom of our road.

Day 4 bedside, this is obviously Gabe's bedside!  And if you can't tell...he wants to be a log truck driver and loves all things logging related!  My bedside is nowhere near this fun!

Day 5 smile, from across the kitchen counter while he was doing homework.

Day 6 5pm, I kept forgetting to take a pic at 5pm.  Yesterday Gabe called me from my parents at 5pm to remind me to take a picture!  At the time I was cutting squares for a quilt top!

Day 7 something you wore

Day 8 window, this is the narrow window next to our front door.  Bo & Jack hanging out.

Day 9 red, toys from my childhood that I love!

Day 10 loud, satellite radio playing on our tv yesterday

Day 11 someone you talked to today

Okay, I'm all caught up!  Bring on the new week!

Day 1 & 2...

March Photo A Day (MPAD)

Day 1 Up

I took this from my front porch before I left for work.  That's the view, looking up.

Day 2 Fruit

I don't think there was any fruit in the house, but my new lipstick is Plum-Tastic!  Yummy!

And today is Day 3 and I'm supposed to take a pic of my neighborhood.  Hmm, kind of difficult!  I haven't left the house and don't plan to!  And I can't see any of my neighbors from our property.  So when I leave the house next, I'll take my camera and come up with something!

But I did jump ahead and already take a pic for Day 31!

March photo a day...

found here.

Can you believe it's March already?  Holy Cow!  I have hardly picked up my camera in 2012.  Sad.  Last night I charged my battery and tonight when I get home I will set my camera out where I will remember to use it!  I've tried these photo challenges before and lets face it...I have a hard time finishing anything!  But I'll try again!  Join me!  It will be fun!