adventures in ireland

while the girls and i were visiting the fam, a headed to ireland for two weeks. he went with a group of people from our church to help run a camp for a week. afterward, he was able to do a little backpacking, which was a dream come true for him. here are some of his memories...nestled among some amazing photographs.

a and his backpacking buddies, ryan and ian

that little speck at the bottom right corner is their tent!

um, fall is here

so...apparently july, august, and september were busy months for us as well. dear me, how did i lose touch with the blogging world so easily? sad, sad, sad. anywho, better late than never, i suppose. i'll start with one little event at a time, and slowly but surely, you'll be updated!

here's the first set of photos: our memories from a two-week vacation. the girls and i visited d and c and had a glorious few days together. then we visited a and her fam. i captured some video footage of both visits, but only have photos from our time in san fran (thanks to a). one day, when i edit some video (which i haven't done since before e was born over a YEAR ago), i'll be able to share some of our time with d and c, too.

a and m strut their stuff on the beach

e and me

the girls

m perfects her bubble-blowing and abstract-face-drawing skills

Where did June go?

Apparently June was a busy month for us. Fortunately we were able to capture some moments as the days flew by. I'll let the pictures do the talking...

B & E on a bike ride/family picnic

E doing a little exploring of her own

A & M, the proud climbers

Our first family camping trip

M's first s'more

Yummmm
Putting on multiple layers on top of pajamas (it was really really cold)

Time for bed!

A's first day kayaking with his new boat, and M's making sure it's ready to go

Practicing on a little rapid

Taking on a significantly larger rapid (feel free to click on any of these five pictures for a close-up view of A's true feelings during the adventure)

He made it!

Smooth operator

The Boon family visits!

Jason and C

B and Jen

Funny daddy

E and M sip their lattes (okay, waters) and eat their scones

E and E share a fun moment

M and Jen work the camera

Happy E

Us (E 10 months, M 2.75)

A on a backpacking trip with the boys

College and camp mountain-top reunion: A, Brian, Niles, and Jason