my new hobby

so, i’m basically obsessed with my mac/digital slr/photoshop elements combination.  if i get a free minute (a big “if”), you can pretty much guess that i’m at my computer playing around with some of the pics that i’ve taken.  the hubs got me an amazing 100mm lens for my birthday, so that’s my latest obsession...but the best thing about this hobby is that i feel like there will always be something to learn.  so, a few weeks ago i posted this little pic of my ballerina but i complained that it was too dark.  with the help of rita from coffeeteaphotography.blogspot.com, i was able to lighten it up and give it a vintage look that i absolutely adore.  i’m sure there will be millions of iterations of this photo (i heart it) but check out the most recent! 

i also took the pic of the dandelion, above.  i love it for some reason...it reminds me of ballerinas in point shoes, wearing white tutus.  (well, the bottom half of the ballerina, at least.)

before

after

hola! we're ba-aaack!

So, I would classify the vacation as a resounding success.  We had a ton of fun (despite some truly terrible weather), hung out with great friends, spent quality family time together, and kept the kid SUNBURN FREE!  Little A (and her BFF, Little L) both LOVED the water.  Pool, hot tub, bathtub, jacuzzi, kiddie pool .....it didn’t matter.  If the girls were in water, they were thrilled.  We definitely saw our share of pruny baby toes over the trip. 

It turns out that Little A was definitely more high-maintenance than her identically aged counterpart, but she was really good nonetheless and only got fussy when we forced her to stay in the room too long.  (She also hated going into the town, but whatever...I give her a pass because it was pretty hot.)
OH!  And she was AWESOME on the plane.  We spoiled her with a first class experience, and she was just SO good.  SHe didn’t sleep on the way out to Mexico, but she slept half of the trip back and was quiet the rest of the time.  You could tell that the other passengers were nervous of the little wildcard, but she was on her best behavior. 

We were astounded by the generosity of our friends, just for inviting us to stay with them in their GORGEOUS timeshare...and the timing couldn’t have been better.  We were truly in need of some time away.

As for the weather, it sucked.  Hard.  That’s actually the reason for not having many pics -- we thought we’d have many more outside-y days than we ended up having.  But here are a few of the few.  (Oh, and we didn’t bring the big camera...so these were taken with the P&S.)

on the way there:

enjoying some sunshine:

chillin' with dada:

bathing suit in t minus 5 days

yes, you read that correctly...in just five short days, this little family of three will be heading south-of-the-border to enjoy a week in paradise with another family of three.  are we crazy to bring a 9 month old baby on a plane?  probably.  but i’m SO excited that i could squeal...we could really use a vacation, and i can’t wait for little A to go swimming for the first time.  i’m not thrilled about wearing a bikini but hey, that’s a small price to pay for an AWESOME trip!  mexico, here we come!
 
oh, and it will also be my first full week in my thirties.  don’t know how i feel about that, exactly, but i can’t think of a better way to spend it than with the sand between my toes!