Ali Edwards's Blog, page 211

Packing For Peru

In just a little over a week I'll be heading off on another crazy world adventure with Jim West of 
Scrapmap and a group of like-minded memory keepers to Peru. 

This is the fourth year in a row I've traveled with Jim and a crew of really fun people in the fall. The last three trips have taken us to Italy, Ireland, and China. 

This year we're heading to the Amazon jungle, Machu Picchu and the Galapagos Islands. 

Seriously, there is no way I could have imagined twelve years ago when I first started scrapbooking that it would lead to stuff like this. 

This trip has felt a little tougher to pack for - it feels like there's more adventure involved (because there is) and I think my clothing options are going to be more casual than in the past as well. I spent some time tonight looking at other's people's packing lists online, writing up my own list, ordering a few things, and trying to simplify my packing process. 

Here's some of the things that will be coming along with me this trip (seen in the image above): 

Lowepro LP36434-PWW Photo Hatchback 22L AW | New camera backpack.  | Love the color and the vintage feel.  Globejotting: How To Write Extraordinary Travel Journals (And Still Have Time To Enjoy Your Trip) | Getting some new ideas for storytelling on the road.  Cetaphil Cleansing Cloths | I have sensitive skin and these have been great - especially that they don't irritate my eyes.  Anker® Ultrathin Bluetooth Wireless Keyboard Aluminum Cover with Stand for iPad | Elise recommended this keyboard attachment recently and it's been great. I'm thinking I might leave my laptop at home this trip and just travel with the iPad.  Outdoor Research Sombriolet Sun Hat | Much needed.  Athleta Equator Tank

I've got a list of work-related things to get through before I leave - lots of product design happening around here the last couple of weeks. 

PS | A million thanks for all the wonderful feedback on the Story Stamps™. I can't thank you enough for the positive response. There is still time to jump on board for this first month (the theme is "prompts") and gain access to the subscriber-only education content. 

Also, the Week In The Life kits are available for those of you who'd like to play along next month. In reality you can use these kits any time you want (they are not date specific - expect for one small 2014 perforated word). The grey album + kit is close to selling out so if that's the one you were thinking about ordering I'd jump on that soon. I'll be documenting my week from October 27th through November 2nd - you can get more information and watch a video about this project here. 

The Lens Of Joy | New 4-Week Workshop

What's your story with photography? 

What do you want to communicate? 

What do you see when you look through the lens? 

Designed with the storyteller in mind, 
Lens Of Joy is a 4-week photography workshop (running November 3rd through November 30th) that covers processes related to capturing life through the lens of your camera. I'll walk you through my personal workflow from picking up the camera, looking through the lens, establishing the story, experiencing the moment, composing, uploading, organizing, editing, printing and pairing the end result with words to tell a more complete story. 

Lens Of Joy Workshop Overview from Ali Edwards on Vimeo.

What you'll learn
Seeing through the lens/establishing your vision Composition and design Taking & choosing photos that support the stories you want to tell Self-portraits and the importance of getting "you" in the story Cultivating a present-moment mindset while photographing Organization, workflow and editing Developing confidence in your own photo voiceWhat you'll get
Full color PDF handouts each week Weekly shooting and writing exercises to help you examine, reflect, and practice A minimum of one video presentation each week (some will have more depending on the topic) One live chat Message board and gallery for sharing your thoughts and your photosWhat you'll need
A willingness to think about the way you look through the lens A willingness to think about the ways you use your photos to tell stories A camera (can be any kind of camera - phone, film, DSLR) A way to take notes/something to write with to complete the assignments

I'm looking forward to spending time with you guys focusing on the ways we each see through the lens of our cameras. Click on over to the class page
here to sign up.

Paypal Update

Also just a heads up that Paypal is now available as a payment option for classes and digital products. I know some of you were asking and hoping for that update. We are working towards having that as an option for the subscriptions and pre-orders as well.  

Let me know if you have any questions!

The Weekend Lens + Story Stamp™ Is Live

I don't remember whose idea it was originally. 

Let's get together. 

We say it a lot when we meet up at work-related events when we wish we had more time to just sit around and chat. 

We should meet up just for fun sometime. 

This past weekend was about making that happen. 

Kelly, Elise and Carrie all flew into Eugene for the weekend to just hang out. No agenda. No schedule. Just get on a plane and come to my house and be together. 

And it was rad. 

We talked and talked and talked. 

About life and friends and passions and work and what's past and what's next. 

Paolo and Megan and Wyatt came down too. 

Aaron and Peter joined us for dinner. 

We did breakfast out at Katie's favorite local breakfast place (Brail's) and then in the afternoon we made up a big cheese plate followed by a spaghetti dinner. 

I love a full house. And I love all-night conversations and laughter and sitting outside with the white twinkle lights and sitting on my big brown couch watching hilarious You Tube videos. 

Thanks for getting on planes and in cars and making this happen friends. It means the world to me. 

That "awesome memory" circle on the top photo is available digitally as part of this set:  Messy Daily Circles

It's the 15th of the month and that means the Story Stamp™ subscriber education content is now available. 

To access the classroom go to your My Classrooms tab under your user name in the top right corner. 

If you haven't subscribed there are still stamps available. You can get all the details and sign up here. 

This month's set - prompts - will be available until it sells out or the 15th of next month when the next stamp set will be available. 

Thanks for all your support of this new program! I'm excited to tell stories with you!

Rounded Or Square?

I haven't had a ton of time to catch up (no guilt about this) on Project Life® recently but I did print out a bunch of photos from some of our adventures last week. I've been trying to print them out at the same time as I edit the photos for my blog posts - you know, that whole "one touch" thing (vs. doing one thing now and then having to come back to them all over again to print).

Which brought me to this thought: all along I've been rounding the corners. I like the look of rounded corners. 

But I might be tired or rounding them. I'm thinking about not caring about that anymore (or doing it sometimes and not other times) and wondering if I can be cool with a mix of rounded cards and square photos and REALLY who cares if they are rounded or not or a mix. 

So today's question to you: square, rounded, or a mix? 

Hope you have an awesome weekend. I'm super excited that the Story Stamps™ will start shipping next week and I can't wait to start telling stories with many of you in the member community. 

The Back To School Stories

As I was eating lunch today I was thinking about how smooth back to school was for my kids this year. 

Almost too smooth - like when is it going to be tough? 

It obviously hasn't always been this way. There've been tears and frustrations and conflict and really rough transitions, especially for Simon. 

So far this year has been calm and, dare I say, happy. 

Well, you know, except for my own personal anxieties and such. Ha.   

Sometimes the hard part comes creeps in a after they've had a chance to acclimate to the new schedule. Sometimes Simon's tics (what he calls his "habits") get more exaggerated as new stressors come up.

But so far, so good. 

Simon was the first to head back to school last week. 

He's in the 7th grade this year. Around here that's the middle year of middle school. 

He's back with his regular crew of awesome teachers and aides. He's got one main teacher and two aides for four periods (language arts + math + support periods) then he has science (I think his favorite) and his elective is culinary arts. 

On the first day back at school he got out of the car on the first day and exclaimed to Chris and me, "there's no place like school."

And he smiled all the way in to get his schedule. 

He had a little bit of anxiety the night before when Aaron and I were tucking him in - totally normal pre-teen stuff. It might have been about a girl. He might of been showing us her photo in his yearbook. He might have been asking questions about what to do when he saw her again. 

(Dear Universe, any girl would be freaking insanely lucky to be adored by this guy. His heart is so full and he sparkles like nothing you've ever seen.)

When I picked him up after that first day he was super happy. That girl might have walked by him when he was in line for his schedule and said hi. 

A little kindness goes a very long way. 

Go Simon go. 

Anna started Kindergarten this week. 

She was ready. She asked for a new purple backpack with pink and blue and white polka dots and a cupcake embroidered on the back. She was excited and so looking forward to seeing her friends that she had made in the Pre-K program at this school last year. 

She had literally been counting down the days. 

We took her to the open house on Monday to meet her teacher, see her classroom, drop off her supplies and generally get back in the building. In the afternoon she met with her teacher in a one-on-one sit down meeting to check out her skills and give the teacher a chance for meet her individually. I sat in the hall in a kindergarten chair and waited patiently for her to come out. 

On Tuesday they started with an all-school assembly in the gym and then the kids walked with their teachers to their classrooms. There were multiple times Anna looked over at me during the assembly, checking to see if I was still there. I stuck around and walked with her to her class, holding her hand the whole way. Once the kids were all in the classroom the teacher had them sit on the floor and she started the day by writing "Be Brave" on the board. 

Awesome. 

It's something I so wish for both my kids. The ability to be brave in all the best ways (and to know that being brave doesn't mean you always win in the traditional sense). There are so many different kinds of bravery in our world - in doing things you might be afraid of/stepping outside your comfort zone, in standing up for others, in believing in yourself. Such a wise, wonderful lesson to begin the first day of Kindergarten.  

Go Anna go. 

Here's to a great school year for all our kids. 

SHOP UPDATES

Heads up that four new digital products went up on Tuesday. You can check them all out in the digital section of my shop. 

Here's my favorite one this week called Everyday Life Cursive - I used it on the photo at the top of this post of Anna. I also think it looks pretty cool really big across a photo: 

Also, I shared an image of the first Story Stamp™ set on Facebook and Instagram yesterday. The theme? Prompts. 

In future months I will just be sharing these sets on the day they go live (the 15th).

If you've already signed up you are all set and these stamps will start shipping next week. In addition you'll have access to the Subscriber-Only area on Monday (pretty sure this will be via the My Classes tab under your user name). 

And speaking of classes, I did a quiet launch of my new workshop Lens Of Joy. You can check all the details about this workshop (a four-week class running during the month of November) here. I'll post about it again next week.  

Week In The Life™ Kits Now Available For Preorder

Are you ready to embark on the adventure of documenting seven consecutive days in your life? 

One of my favorite annual projects is approaching and I hope you'll consider joining me in capturing the mundane little details of your own life.  

For 2014 I'm planning to document my Week In The Life™ from Monday, October 27th through Sunday, November 2nd. 

You can watch a video and see past examples of how I approached this project here. 

This year I'm going to be using a 6x8 album + divided page protectors (including my new favorite - the 3x8) and products from this kit: 

The Week In The Life™ kit is now available for preorder here. 

When purchasing the kit you can choose to include a 6x8 album / page protector pack + the kit (see color choices below for the albums) OR the kit-only. There's a drop-down menu on the order page that allows you to choose which color album you'd like to have: 

The white and the matte gold are pleather. The blue and the grey are cloth.

I'll be using the white one. Of course.

In addition to the page protectors that are already inside the album we're including an additional variety pack of page protectors which will enable you to follow along with my design plan. Click on over to the pre-order page to download my 2014 Design Plan. 

I will also have some digital layered templates and other digital products (as I've done in the past) that coordinate with the kit products available soon to help you document your week. 

THINGS I WANT YOU TO KNOW

You don't have to have a kit to participate in Week In The Life™. What you need most is a willingness to document your life over the course of seven days with words and photos. 
There aren't specific dates on products in this kit. Actually, there is one little "2014" on the perforated word/phrase strips but that's it. This will enable to do this on a week of your convenience if the week I've selected just doesn't work for you. 
You can do this project even if you are already doing Project Life®. For me, Week In The Life™ has always been more in-depth (into each day) compared with how I approach Project Life™. For those of you wondering about doing this project in addition to (or in) Project Life®, you can see how I tackled that in 2013 here.
My hope, in offering a kit for this project, is to simplify the process and enable you to focus on the documentation. 
You totally don't have to do this project the same time I do. That said, it's really fun to do it when a bunch of other people are doing it too. 
On Sunday, October 26th a free-community area will open up in the classroom section of my site for people who want a place to share words and photos and projects related to Week In The Life™. This isn't a class, just a place to connect with others embarking on this adventure. You are welcome there even if you don't purchase the kit. 
I'll be documenting and sharing on my blog during the week of October 27th through November 2nd just like I've done in the past. The following week I'll share more about putting the album together and share my completed album. 

I'd love for you over the next month to really start thinking about what you'd like to capture during your week. What's special about your life right now? What's different than last year (and likely will be different from next year)? How can you visually, and with words, capture what's most meaningful to you during these seven days. 

Get ready for another awesome Week In The Life™ experience!

Sometimes & Thankful Thoughts

On Friday night I posted a photo of myself with the following words on Instagram:

Sometimes I have a hard time adjusting to new routines. Sometimes I'm much too much in my head. Sometimes my list feels like it's going to swallow me whole. Sometimes I forget to be thankful for a million little things. So that's what I'm going to do this weekend - for every worried/panicked/negative thought I have I'm going to counter it with a thankful thought. Starting now. 

And I did it (and those sentiments seemed to resonate with many of you on Instagram too). 

I opened up a blank page in one of my Moleskine's and started my list:

And it worked. At least a little bit. I ended up just writing things down as I thought of them - not necessarily in response to a negative thought but rather just as they came to mind. 

Of course it doesn't take it all away. My list is still my list. My brain is still my brain. And I've been feeling under the weather this whole last week that I'm sure isn't helping. Cough + fatigue + mentally out of sorts = challenges. It's hard to feel zesty and on top of your game when you're tired and having coughing fits. 

I also remembered, as I was writing out my list and as I was thinking about my upcoming photo workshop, how much of a positive impact photography has on me in terms of bringing joy via the process of looking through the lens. When Aaron and I took a walk on Sunday morning I snapped a couple flower shots and gave thanks for that as well. 

And then I came home to an email from my Mom which included this poem that my sister had recently sent to her which pretty much sums it up: 

So here's to a week of crossing things off my list. Here's to a week filled with a perspective of thankfulness. Here's to a week where I get to see some special friends this weekend. Here's to a week of remembering what matters most. 

Those little "remember" 1/2 circles are from my Half-Circle Sentiments package. 

Dave Matthews At The Gorge 2014

When I started putting together this post I thought for sure I'd written a post about our adventures to see 
Dave Matthews Band at the Gorge Amphitheater Labor Day weekend 2013. 

I didn't find a post but you can check out how I documented the trip in 2013 in Project Life®
here. 

Last year was my first time traveling to the Gorge (
ended up there twice last year) and my first time seeing Dave Matthews in concert. 

It was all Aaron's fault. 

I think he's been to the Gorge five or more times now and seen Dave at a couple other places as well. He's an experienced fan and man do I love getting to go with him.

Here's a look at our adventure via iPhone photos:

Word art on my photos are all available here in my new shop: Half Circle Sentiments No.1, Messy Daily Boxes,So Long Summer, Beautiful Fantastic Imperfect and Alrighty Then. 

It's a long drive from Eugene to the Gorge in Washington. Think 6+ hours depending on traffic. We drive up to Portland, head East along the Columbia River (what I usually think of as the Gorge before these trips), cross over into Washington at Biggs Junction, and then head north towards Yakima and then Ellensburg before reaching the Gorge Amphitheater outside George, Washington. 

It's totally a long haul but it's a really beautiful drive. 

We left early on Friday morning in order to make it there around 1pm before the opening-opening bands started at 3pm. 

At the Gorge they have a few different camping options and we go for what's called The Terrace. It's an upgrade but so totally worth it. It's quiet (
meaning people go to sleep vs. staying up all night in some of the other areas). Each site includes grass and a picnic table. There are showers and toilets without super long lines. There's a shuttle that drives you over to the venue. And they have coffee and doughnuts in the morning. 

Coffee and doughnuts for the win of course. 

After getting all settled in we headed over to the venue to check out the bands that were playing before Brandi Carlile and Dave. 

First on my personal agenda was to check out the merchandise. I was hoping for a new hat and was freaking-out-happy to find this blue trucker hat. 

I really need to stop this craziness with using the flip around feature on my iPhone (lower resolution that way). 

Maybe it should be brown eyes for the win.

As you can see, there weren't a ton of people hanging out to see these opening-opening bands. 

Aaron was totally into one of them called 
Moon Taxi. 

I decided I needed a temporary tattoo for the weekend adventure and happened to have this one from 
Kal Barteski. She's got some of her awesome script phrases available as tattoo's and she's getting ready to re-launch her shop soon. Follow her on Instagram for all the latest details on when that will open again (think neon). 

I imagine if I was ever to get a tattoo that would be the place I'd get it and it would be some sort of life-reminder phrase or word. Maybe
length and width or open. 

When the opening-opening bands were done we headed down to the main stage to catch 
Brandi Carlile. She opened for Dave all three nights and I loved, loved, loved hearing her sing a cover of Fleetwood Mac's The Chain. So good. I also loved her song Keep Your Heart Young. 

One of the magical things about the Gorge is the changing light throughout the day. 

And then there was Dave. Each night they started with an acoustic set as the sun went down. 

Before meeting Aaron I was already a Dave fan - but definitely not a super fan. I listened to him most when I was in college. And then a few years ago - probably before Anna was born - Chris and I happened to be flipping though the channels and came across a Dave & Tim acoustic show on PBS - I think it was
Live At Radio City Music Hall (you can see some of those videos/songs on you tube here). I remember it so specifically how I was mesmerized again by his music - one of those take-my-breath-away-because-it-was-so-awesome moments. We ended up staying up super late because it was so great.

Life is crazy people. 

I'm telling you. If you ever get the chance to experience music in this place you must do it. 

Okay, forget about Dave, check out that sky. 

Back to Dave. He plays different songs all three nights, which is pretty great because you
almost always get to hear what you might want - and that's why we go all three nights. 

Now I'm sure there are a lot of you out there who totally don't get this Dave love. Like I mentioned above, I liked him before but I like him even more now after seeing six shows (three last year and three this year over the course of the two Labor Day weekends). And it's not just him (but man, it's him - the words, oh those words) - it's the other guys in the band too. I have a much greater appreciation for each of them as musicians from watching them at the shows. Boyd with his violins. Carter on the drums. Stefan on bass. Jeff on the sax. Rashawn on the trumpet. And Tim on guitar.

I like that fans talk about them like they know them.

And these guys look so darn happy up there. Big smiles between all of them and I enjoy watching how they communicate together on stage.

Again, this is all Aaron's fault. 

Favorite Friday night songs | Oh, Stolen Away On 55th & 3rd, and Crush

Photo I wish I had | Aaron in the trucker hat. He never wears hats and I don't know why because it looked so great on him. 

On Saturday we slept in and then spent most of the day lounging and chatting with our camping neighbors. 

We had reserved seats on both Saturday and Sunday nights in section 203 (center section, left side). It's a great spot - the only thing I missed was being able to look back up and see up into the general admission/grass and the sea of people in the dark. Next year we need to get tickets to the right of center to be able to get that view when you turn around to see all the
thousands of people up on the grass (the Gorge holds 27,000 people). It's so awesome. 

Favorite Saturday night songs | One Sweet World (this was actually a new-to-me song), Sister

We hung out Sunday morning around the campsite again and then headed over right at 3pm to catch the opening-opening bands. 

I might of had a few fantasies about being a music photographer as I watched these guys capture the action. 

The line-up today included 
David Ryan Harris, Dumpsta Phunk (who rocked - they are in that photo above), and Blind Pilot (an awesome Portland band - photo below). Seriously, just clicking over to these bands sites and seeing some of the photography - so rad. 

Took this shot of Blind Pilot with the panorama feature on my iPhone.
Why don't I use that more? 

So yeah, we were in the front row dead-center for the opening-opening acts. Here's the story about that: I was buying a beer and the woman at the counter told me that supposedly Dave & Tim were going to show-up and play on the smaller stage in just a few minutes. You better believe I hustled back over to Aaron and told him we needed to get up to the front immediately. Unfortunately that ended up being only a rumor but it spurred Aaron and I to action to move ourselves right up to the front which wasn't difficult because there weren't a ton of people there at that time. 

It was so fun to watch both Dumpsta Phunk and Blind Pilot from the front row.

I gotta make that happen for Dave one of these years. 

After we finished up with the opening-opening acts we headed back over to the main stage for some more Brandi and eventually, Dave and his band. 

The Sunday night show was the best of the three. 

He played a bunch of my personal favorites including Loving Wings, Crash Into Me (
which he didn't play last year), Lover Lay Down, Grey Street and The Stone. 

The one song he didn't play that I love is #41. Aaron really wanted to hear Laying In The Hands Of God. 

So good. So good. 

On the way home we talked about what we wanted to remember. 

Aaron calls them "micro stories" - those little stories that make up the one big story of our shared experience. 

I sent him a text message last night and asked him to remind me of what he wanted to remember. A few hours later he sent me a message that was so awesome I got weepy. He gets details. He pays attention (even when I don't think he is). He gets moments. He collects them just like I do - even if he doesn't say them out loud. 

Here are some things from our combined list of things we want to remember from this weekend at the Gorge:

Our wonderful campsite neighbors who came all the way from Maryland - Chris & Ruth. Part of what we've enjoyed both last year and this year is meeting people at the event whether they are our camping neighbors or our seat neighbors during the concert. Chris and Ruth were the kind of people we wished lived a whole lot closer. It's so great to just sit around and talk about our lives at home and Dave and music and kids and what we hope to hear and all that good stuff. 
Experiencing the box seats on Friday night to try something different. It was pretty cool but I think we both prefer to be even more in the action. You miss a bit of the intensity of the crowd when you are in your own little space. 
Having awesome seat neighbors and great conversations before the music on both Saturday and Sunday. We know this isn't always the case. 
Front row for the opening-opening acts on Sunday after the tease of Dave and Tim.  
Dave singing Loving Wings. "My heart was made of broken bones // My Soul's a bag of stick and stone // And out along this dusty road // You have come my love to take me home"
The wind. Whoa. Watching the lights sway on the stage. Seeing it blow through everyone's hair. It was intense. 
Meeting Rachel and her husband on Sunday. Hi Rachel!
Hearing our seat section roar and cheer on Sunday night each time Aaron tried to throw one of his many glow-sticks at a glow stick spider hanging from a pole about 15 rows ahead of us to the right (between Dave sets). Then happening to bump into that guy later on when we walked back to the campsite and realizing that he was the guy we had walked back with the night before who had gotten one of Carter's drum sticks at the end of the show on Saturday night. 
Aaron wearing the trucker hat. Aaron liking wearing the trucker hat. 
A conversation about being "that guy" over lunch at Burgerville on the drive home. 

See you next year Dave. Thanks for sharing your creativity with the world. 

My thought for you today is to invite the people you love to contribute to your memory keeping, to your details of life collection, to your photo taking. They might just surprise you with the things they notice and the things they want to remember.  

New Digital Products Now Available

Hey guys! I'm excited to let you know that you can now purchase new digital products from me here at aliedwards.com. 

I'll be keeping a schedule similar to what I had in the past with new digital product uploads happening each Tuesday. This week I've got eight new products for you to check out and add to your memory keeping toolbox.

We will be adding physical products (stamps, art prints, general supplies) to the shop over the next few weeks. 

HOW IT WORKS // VIDEO OVERVIEW

I've put together a video to show you how the process works including where you can find your digital products after you've purchased them, how to download and how you can organize them under the My Digital Files tab.

When you purchase digital products via aliedwards.com you will have immediate access to them via your
My Digital Files drop-down menu (under your username up in the top right corner). 

Once you click on
My Digital Files you will be taken to a new page where you can organize your digital purchases. On that page you create folders to easily organize your digital products. You can move products between folders and then click on the preview image to download or move to a different folder. 

WHAT'S NEXT 

Next up this week will be the preorder for a
Week In The Life kit. I'll be doing Week In The Life this year from October 27th through November 2nd and using this kit as the base for my album. As in year's past I'll be offering supporting digital products and printables to help you tell the story of your week. For more information on this project check out my Week In The Life projects page. 

In addition I'll be launching registration for a new workshop, The Lens Of Joy. This will be a 4-week workshop, running in the month of November, that walks you through my photo processes (the way I see through the lens, how I edit my photos, how I use photos to help tell my stories) and encourages you to examine your own relationship with your camera, images and stories. More details to come later this week. 

AGAIN, THANK YOU

I just want to say thank you again for all your support since the launch of this new site. It's been an awesome feeling to have so much positive feedback. The beginning phases are always a little crazy as we all get used to the new processes, get things added to the shop, learn the new navigation, etc. As always, I appreciate you coming along on this journey and don't hesitate to let us know if you have any questions. 

Summer Adventuring | Part Three

This has been a pretty awesome summer in terms of adventures.

After our fun times 
camping with my brother & family & friends + and our Seattle experience we stopped at home for one night before heading out to a local favorite: Fern Ridge Reservoir. 

Friends with boats tend to be very fun friends. 

We're lucky to have a couple friends from college who have boats and one of them has a membership out at a boating club at Fern Ridge which enabled this big group to head out there and bring all the kids and set up tents and enjoy each other. These are college friends that Chris and I share - they are all doing pretty darn good adapting to our new relationship. 

Photos included in this post are a mix of iPhone and DSLR. Digital brushes featured on photos include: Summer Activities, Because I Love You Labels, and We Do Love.

Aaron and his kids came out which meant Anna and his daughter were attached at the hip. They are mischief makers. 

Simon had lots of room to explore and check things out on the docks. 

Say hello to Heather - my friend of twenty years now. 

As I mentioned above, going out in the boats is a special treat for my kids. 

Both were super excited for the experience. 

Anna might just be the kid standing on the tube.
Might. 

Don't worry, we were going really slow at this point. 

But yes, that's her. 

I have fond memories of spending time with family friends when I was a kid and getting to go out on their boat. We had a boat but it was a drift boat which is absolutely not the same thing. Great for salmon and crab. Not great for going fast and water skiing or tubing. 

Needless to say, they had fun. 

And so did I. 

That's me and my friend Jonathan doing a double-cannonball off the back of one of the boats. 

Ah, yeah. 

I love the water. 

Always have and probably always will. 

I think that love of water has been passed on genetically to my kids. Especially to Simon. 

I posted a version of this image on Instagram and wrote, "This kid. I can guarantee you right now he's out there talking through The Hobbit or The Wizard Of Oz. Love that he loves the water and wanted to go out again on his own."

He'd been really repeating both movies during our time out at the lake so I know he was out there enjoying uninterrupted time running through his favorite pieces of dialogue and seeing the images in his mind. 

It was one of those moments I just sat on the grass and watched him and marveled at life and the light and his awesome spirit.  

Another story that's missing a photo from this weekend was Simon having his first experience on waterskis.  

He was so excited after watching the other kids his age (and younger) and had his heart set on trying and there was no way I was going to dash that enthusiasm. He got in the water. My friend Heather who has been waterskiing since she was a kid and is awesomely patient and an excellent teacher, got in with him. They got the skis on and talked him through the steps, reminding him to make sure to let go of the rope if he falls.
Number one thing is to let go of the rope. 

Have you ever tried to waterski? 

It's HARD. It's hard for people who are physically fit. It's hard for people who are coordinated. It takes practice and persistence and more practice.

It didn't go so well. 

He let go of the rope a little too late. 

To say he was pretty upset would be an understatement. He was past the point of listening to us talk about how many times we each had to practice and try and fall before we were able to get up on those skis. That part was really hard for him to understand. 

But HE TRIED. 

And man I was so proud of him for being excited and for simply trying. That was a pretty big step for him.

The crew. I've known these guys for over 20 years. I attended each of their weddings and they were all at mine. I'm thankful that we all continue to care for each other and our growing families. 

Good guys. Hilarious. Smart. Fun. 

For some reason we didn't do a picture of the ladies.
Next year. 

Of course, camping would not be the same without S'mores. 

Super thankful for these adventures. Super thankful for these friends. Super thankful for this life.