Every October, we spend a week at Lake Tahoe.  It’s my most favorite vacation that we go on… One week with no schedules and no commitments.  We just have time.  Time to spend together…

Exploring:

Taking in the beautiful views:

Some years, (like this year) winter comes a bit early and there is snow:

I hope you enjoyed this peek into our wonderful vacation.  Next up in the Life Story series is Chattanooga Photographer, Beth Lofgren of Beth Lofgren Photography , go visit her blog for another Life Story.

Until next time,

Nicole

And, this is my entry.

This photo was submitted to the I Heart Faces photo challenge – friendship.

Until next time,

Nicole

We said good-bye to summer with a late September camping trip to the coast of Mendocino.

I loved watching my little ones explore the beaches and the forests.  They found magic everywhere – searching for “treasure” on the beaches, protecting caterpillars crossing trails, roasting marshmallows… It was all worthy of excited giggles and exclamations of delight.  I couldn’t imagine a better way to say good-bye to summer.

I hope you enjoyed the images from our little getaway.  Next up in the life-stories series is one of my favorite people and favorite photographers Amber Anderson of Amber Anderson Photography. You won’t want to miss out on her story for this month.

Until next time,

Nicole

This week marked a very anticipated event for my three year old. After a long 2.5 month summer break, her ballet school FINALLY opened for the 2012-2013 school year.

The night before the first class all that was on her mind was ballet… So much so she had to sleep with her ballerina doll.

She was so excited when she woke up in the morning, she actually let me put her hair into a ballet bun!

While we were waiting for the other ballerinas to arrive, she got a little nervous… She didn’t say anything, but I could tell.

Then, she remembered – she was in a ballet studio and it was time to dance!

So, she danced.

And danced some more.

After 40 minutes in the ballet studio – all was right in her world again.

I hope you enjoyed this peek into one of our ordinary days.  To see another photographer’s life story, please head over to the blog of the amazingly talented Danielle Frank of Danielle Frank Photography.

Until next time,

Nicole

At the beginning of the summer, my daughters and I made a big summer to-do list and we’ve been steadily ticking adventures off one-by-one.  One of the things on our list was “Go to Traintown”.  And early this week, that’s exactly what we did.

Traintown is a little amusement park in the beautiful town of Sonoma.

My girls were excited to go.  When we arrived, the train conductor had stepped away for lunch.  That news ended up being okay with my two just as soon as they spotted the carousel…

And then the airplane ride…

Then it was time for use to ride the train.  Here my girls are waiting for the conductor to get the train going!

After looping through a darling countryside and town, the train stops so all of the passengers may disembark and stretch their legs and FEED the GOATS!  Yes, there is a sweet little petting zoo on the train’s route and both of my girls loved the goats.  They loved that they could feed the goats, too.

When it was time to leave, they both asked if we could come back to Traintown again.  A sure sign that it was a hit with them!

I hope you enjoyed this peek into our trip to Traintown.

Next up in the Life Story series is my friend and very talented photographer Kathleen Weibel of Kathleen Weibel Photography.  You won’t want to miss her lifestory about going to Disney World!

Until next time,

Nicole

Summer is in full swing here and after skipping swim lessons for my oldest daughter last summer, I have vowed to have her in lessons as often as possible this summer. She started this week and before her first lesson, there were several protests along the lines of “Swimming is boring!” and “I don’t want to learn how to swim!” (All of her protests stemmed from her great dislike of putting her face in the water!)

After some tough love from me (“You have to learn how to swim, it’s not negotiable!”) she relented and apprehensively got ready for swim lessons…

Flash forward to day three of swim lessons. While she’s not ready for the Olympics just yet, I feel confident in declaring she no longer thinks “swimming is boring”.  In fact, I would say that she thinks everything about swim lessons is fun!

First, there is the wardrobe. For some reason, picking out a swimsuit to wear to swim lessons is far more exciting than picking out regular clothes…

When she is dressed and ready to go, we head to the pool.  When we arrive she scampers over to the pool and hops in.

The lessons are thirty minutes long and there is a lot going on during those thirty minutes.

They practice all sorts of things, like kicks…

And back floats…

And then it is time for the dreaded “putting her face in the water” part of the lesson…

I am not so sure what happened to my child who hated putting her face in the water…  I wonder if she drank mermaid potion when I wasn’t looking?

She is super proud of the progress that she has made and no longer thinks “swimming is boring”!  And I am really proud of my mermaid girl!

I hope you enjoyed the Story of Learning how to Swim! The next photographer in the Life Stories circle is Jen Snyder of Lux Amoris. Swing by her blog to see her Life Story for June!

Until next time,

Nicole

Last weekend I celebrated a pretty big birthday (I won’t be revealing any numbers here – so let’s just leave it at a big birthday) and the forecast for the weekend was gorgeous.  So when my husband asked what I wanted to do for my birthday weekend, I didn’t pause before I answered “Go to the coast!”

And, that’s just what we did.

There is something magical about the coast of California on a beautiful spring day.  Spending time near the ocean is one of our favorite things to do as a family and I hope you enjoyed this peek into our weekend getaway.

Next up in the Life Stories circle is the very talented Beth Lofgren of Beth Lofgren photography. Make sure you check out her story of a spring afternoon

Until next time,

Nicole