Lauren's new doll (left) from Build a Bear: Friend's 2 B made workshop. She named her Princess Emily Brat.
Adult night out!
Lauren's parade signs for the 4th of July!
The "fun" pool at the newest condo that Mary and Jeff own.
Lauren enjoying the lazy river at the "fun" pool.
Lauren adores Penny!
Uncle Jeff the grand marshall.
Watching the 4th of July parade. Aunt Mary bought a crown for Lauren to wear.
My little yankee doodle girl!
Somebody help Philip!!!! Wayne, you're a police officer...do something! What do you mean you can't!!!!
Our new best pal! ARRRRR!
These pictures were taken at the Atalaya castle in Huntington
Beach State Park. All of the pictures with the family were taken
by Aunt Mary on my tripod. Years ago, I got into the hobby of photography.
One thing that motivated me was the idea that I could do this
myself and save tons of money by not paying another photographer.
Of course, it is not always easy when you want certain pictures with
yourself in them!
These sepia tone photos look awesome!
I love this picture!
Our annual summer/beach portrait
The Ratledge-Grace Family.
The happy newlyweds!From July 2nd until July 8th, 2008, we made our annual visit with Aunt Mary and Uncle Jeff in Pawley's Island, SC. We took Aunt Becky and Uncle Wayne along with us for the first time and had a blast! Aunt Mary even babysat Lauren for a couple of nights so that we could have two adult night outs! We had so much fun at the beach. I believe that Becky and I could stay there all day-every day if our family would let us! Lauren really enjoyed playing in what she refered to as the "fun pool" at their new condo. She even made a little friend there one day!
I took some awesome portraits of Lauren and a few of all 3 of us at Atalaya in Huntington Beach State Park. It was soooo hot, the sweat was rolling down my back. Lauren was a trooper and did a good job. I also tried to do family pictures of all 5 of us on the beach, but the wind wouldn't die down enough to cooperate. I tried to edit our fly-away hair as best as I could!
I took some awesome portraits of Lauren and a few of all 3 of us at Atalaya in Huntington Beach State Park. It was soooo hot, the sweat was rolling down my back. Lauren was a trooper and did a good job. I also tried to do family pictures of all 5 of us on the beach, but the wind wouldn't die down enough to cooperate. I tried to edit our fly-away hair as best as I could!
We celebrated the 4th of July for the first time at the beach. In the morning, Lauren made signs for everyone to "wave" at the parade. It was so cute! They each had the person's name written on the sign, a drawing, and the words "parade today." Unfortunately, when we arrived on the parade route at Pawley's, we discovered that the signs were still at home! To make it up to the very, very, very disappointed Lauren, I believe that it was Aunt Mary who might have cooked up the idea for a parade in their neighborhood that night! So, we had a BBQ for dinner with Jeff's brother and wife in attendance. Then, on to the festivities! Aunt Mary and I provided lovely vocal renditions for the patriotic parade music, Uncle Wayne was the camera man, Uncle Jeff served as Grand Marshall, Lauren rode on a bike with Philip, and Becky was dressed at Lady Liberty with Penny the dog bringing up the caboose! It was a hilarious sight and I really need to post the video on this blog! After dark, we drove over to the new condo to watch fireworks on the beach. It was a bit crowded, and we had to stand. It was really awesome for a while, but then we all started getting gunk in our eyes, so we ended up leaving. What a neat thing to experience, so much different then the 4th of July festivities around here!
